Q&As

Numbers abound in customer service centers. Without breaking too much of a sweat, marketers are able to track the number of calls received during an hour or a shift; whether representatives are able to resolve queries without needing to consult with a manager; and if calls are handled within a certain period of time. But are these metrics necessarily the most beneficial ones?

Confused about how to attribute credit for sales and brand-building success? You’re not alone. It’s a hot topic given the level of media spending in digital formats and continued media fragmentation. But there’s a way to do it called media mix modeling. And it should be at the head of every marketer’s priority list.

Measurability has made search engine marketing. In large part, its success as an online medium was built on two factors: One, everybody searches the Internet, and more and more they’re doing it before making a purchase. But what does that mean to brand advertisers?

Marketers wondering whether their Web site search engine optimization costs are paying off have a tool at their disposal to evaluate its ROI.

Sales of promotional products jumped 5.1% from $16.9 billion in 2004 to $17.8 billion in 2005, the third consecutive year of increases and a new record, according to The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI).

Over the past few years there have been some “A list” brands that have begun to effectively engage the consumer at the retail level. But only a few. Apple is clearly an innovator in this field, and the first brand that comes to mind when I think of a great retail experience.

Boston Market knows that its customers’ time is very valuable, so, in exchange for a shot at a trip to Hollywood, it is giving them a chance to tell what they would do with an extra hour in a day.

Maker’s Mark bourbon whiskey has launched its first major marketing campaign in the U.K. to bring attention to the brand and drive consumers to bars that carry the hand-made Kentucky straight bourbon.

For the fourth year in a row, I offer the following column. I am presenting it again because — just as the stories surrounding Passover and Easter are re-told every year — so too does this one deserve a re-telling.

Readers looking for Loose Cannon’s usual breezy gloss on direct marketing may wish to skip this column. This true story, of how one merchant who valued his customers acted when his business was threatened, does not have a happy ending.

Wal-Mart Stores and pedometer maker Sportline step off tomorrow with a 14-week tour of 12 Americans walking from New York to California.