It's no surprise that JC Penney has tweaked their pricing strategy again

I just read an article from Fox10TV.com that mentioned JC Penney has tweaked their pricing strategy again.

My June 20th post questioned the validity of the new "fair and square" strategy, as it required consumers to change their shopping behavior.

When I stumbled upon the latest news regarding "updated" pricing effective August 1st, I had to chuckle when I saw the following quote...

"We thought: 'Why are we trying to teach customers new language to shop?'" he said. "We're just trying to be straightforward."


I agree.  Clear and concise messaging is the ideal way to attract shoppers.
The company is also changing it's advertising to reflect a simplified message just in time for back to school shopping.  After JC Penny watches the impact of their updated strategy on revenues, they will have more data to determine if the tweaks were effective enough to ring in a prosperous holiday shopping season.  It will be interesting to see how Wall Street reacts in the coming months.

Global Social Media Check-up 2012 from Burson-Marsteller

Here is an insightful report from Burson-Marsteller on Global Social Media trends for 2012.  I will be sharing this with my students for the Fall semester.

Burson-Marsteller looked at corporate usage of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest.

• 2010 social media usage began
• 2011 engagement with users grew stronger
• 2012 10.4+ million mentions of Global 100 brands in just one month

What are the top 10 brands mentioned?

• HP
• Ford
• Sony
• AT&T
• Samsung
• Toyota
• Honda
• Walmart
• BP
• Verizon

 Interesting to see 3 of the top 10 brands are automobiles.

Curious about the rest of the findings?  View the Infographic for a quick glance at their findings.  Read the Executive Summary for a high level view.

The Social Media Revolution 2012 Video

This video is a favorite amongst my students.  Erik Qualman author of "Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business", put this video together.  It's a continuation of Carl Fisch's "Did You Know" series, that I've admired for years. (I'm happy to say that Carl Fisch is a Computer Science teacher here in Colorado, and I was fortunate to have met with him in person several years ago.)

This video addresses that social media is not a fad, hype or a buzz word.  It's an effective means of communications to assist organizations in their 1-to-1 dialogue with their customers.  The focus is to move away from broadcasting your message to the masses, and narrowcasting to those who want to know about your brand, and will more than likely become an advocate for your brand.  The video provides interesting statistics and insights.  Enjoy!