CVS Caremark has revealed plans to remove all tobacco products from its 7600 plus stores across the country by October 1st, 2014. CVS is on course to lose $2 billion from the move, or the equivalent of 17 cents per share. But how can CVS reconcile a $2 billion dollar loss? What is the motive?
Author Archive for Jon Milenthal
A True Strategy Toward Civil Discourse in Politics
There's nothing new in talking about the public's sentiment toward how our elected officials are dealing with today's challenges. A recent poll by YouGov reports the lowest approval ratings for Congress ever - only 6% of American's approve of the work Congress is doing. And this blogger even makes the comparison that people have a better opinion of car salesmen than they do of Congress.
McDonald’s REAL Secret Sauce: Transparent Content Strategy
In the past year, mega fast food franchise McDonald’s has exhibited an unexpected change – a move towards transparency in its content strategy to the public. In an industry that has often been characterized for its opacity, controversial standards of cleanliness, and questionable practices, McDonald’s move towards pulling the curtain back on their operations, practices, and even their secret sauce has come as a welcomed move to many, and illustrates a change in how many organizations are marketing themselves.
Is the Rest of the World Ready for Facebook?
Mark Zuckerberg’s newest campaign, Internet.org, is aimed at delivering Internet access to the 5 billion individuals around the world who presently don’t have it, specifically by means of granting more affordable or free internet access to a rapidly growing number of cell phone users. John Griffin, in his CNN Money article, “Mark Zuckerberg’s Big Idea: The ‘Next 5 Billion’ People”, goes to say that Zuckerberg has invested a total of $1 billion into the project so far, with hopes to “do a lot more”.
Your Stakeholders are More than a Target Audience
Milenthal-DelGrosso is the local sponsor for American City Business Journals' first annual Social Madness challenge, hosted locally by Columbus Business First and sponsorsed nationally by Capital One. As your local sponsor, we have been including tips about social media and content marketing in each issue of Columbus Business First. We felt it would be prudent to share these tips with our own network, and provide some additional commentary relative to each tip.
Milenthal-DelGrosso Social Madness Tip:
Your stakeholders are more than just a target audience. Leverage them to create impactful content. Interview a stakeholder, create a blog post and then tweet away. Your stakeholder will tell his or her network that they are featured on your blog, increasing your brand’s visibility as well!Behind the Scenes at the Ohio State Fair
Creating TV and radio ads from scratch is no easy task, but for Carol DelGrosso, the Creative Director at Milenthal-DelGrosso, it’s just another day at work. In her fourth time working with the Ohio State Fair on its annual round of TV and radio ads leading up to the summertime event, Carol looked forward to finding out what the Ohio State Fair's theme would be for the 2013 advertising campaign. It’s like finding out what the key ingredient is going to be on a cooking show challenge.
Just Because You Could Doesn’t Mean You Should
A historic rules change by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC was voted into place yesterday (7/10/13). Since the Great Depression, private companies seeking investment were not allowed to advertise. When the sun rose today, that rule completely flipped.
OSU Needs Top-tier President
In the June 9 Dispatch article “Taking stock of OSU’s progress,” regarding the retirement of Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, Gov. John Kasich was quoted as saying that “momentum alone won’t take the university to new heights,” but rather, “It will take the right leader.”
Your New Television Season Awaits
The convergence of TV and the internet is moving at very rapid pace. It’s an obvious coming together, but there have been a few interesting stories in the news that really punctuate this inevitability.
NewFronts Becoming the New UpFronts?
Most people in the marketing world know what the Upfronts are. This is a conference of sorts where network and cable television invite the marketing community to see what’s in store for the new television season. New shows are revealed. Current shows that made the cut are promoted. A lot of money is thrown around on behalf of the advertisers looking to get eyeballs.Fuel the System
I had the pleasure recently of presenting and facilitating a workshop for many Columbus-area businesses as part of our Social Madness sponsorship with Columbus Business First. It’s always an adrenaline rush when you get an opportunity like this, but this one was particularly unique because the attendees for the workshops had a broad range of social media experience – some were already very active in social media, while others were brand new to the game. So preparing something relevant for all attendees was quite a challenge for me, and frankly had me pretty nervous leading up presentation day! But I think it went over quite well.