Prologue. Recent Conversation with CEO B: Me: I saw your ad at the airport the other day. I have a sense for your challenges and Marketing objectives. I’m sorry, but that ad was heartbreaking. I sense it is trying to be too clever. And, it demands an immense amount of attention to understand, who in their right mind would give you that? You know I love Creative Pre-Testing (CpT). You should test the ad for effectiveness, before you spend money. CEO B: First: You are right. After a few months of the campaign, we have seen no impact. Second: Avinash,…
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By every indicator available, ecommerce is continuing to grow at an insane speed. Although it may seem impossible to imagine with ecommerce already totaling up to 5% of overall commerce, there’s astronomical growth still to come. Still, I’m heartbroken that some the simplest elements of ecommerce stink so much. It is 2018—why are there still light gray below-the-fold add to cart buttons? #youarekillingme There are numerous subtle issues as well. One strategic issue is illustrated by Timbuk2. Timbuk2 pays a huge margin to its resellers to sell their messenger bags. These resellers, in turn, give a bigger cut to Amazon,…