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From Printer paper
to Pizza boxes...
Business supply market
top sellers overturned
The #OPocalypse has happened! 15yrs ago communication papers and ink were dominating the top 10 selling products. Today? Gone!. The shift towards tech, hygiene, foodservice and packaging supplies has been relentless. Often wrongly described by bigbox relics as 'adjacencies', these categories are mainstream with e.g. Clorox, tissues and pizza boxes topping the business demand charts. Analysis later today
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Is Xerox's 'Kodak
Moment' imminent?
Drupa withdrawal, disposals,
secular decline... augurs ill
Is once mighty printermaker Xerox following Kodak's route to ruin? Ever since Chainsaw Carl Icahn became the lead investor in 2018 sales have plummeted and market cap halved. Asset disposals, distribution rationalisation and savage cost cutting has ensued. Now its withdrawing from the global print exhibition Drupa in Dusseldorf in 2024. What's next?
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Differentiate! Stand
out from A1 flock
Bandwagon marketers jump
into an abyss of normalcy
"The value of differentiation will only increase as more brands follow the AI herd" writes Marketing Week's top columnist Mark Ritson. There are far more pressing issues marketers should be turning their attention to before getting distracted by AI. We discuss his article...
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Musk's X Twitter
self destructs...
'Pay to Post' sub proposal
kills content & advertising?
Is the richest genius in the world also the most stupid? Since Elon Musk acquired the #1 global #1 street broadcasting news platform Twitter for $44Bn almost a year ago, he has destroyed it. Musk has killed the spirit, the employees, the brand, and decimated readership. Now he has decided to charge contributors a subscription!? Desperate reversal of the successful advertising model that grows with readership. X marks the death spot.
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Supermkt shames
Shrinkflationists...
Unilever, PepsiCo, Nestle
named as cheating culprits
During Covid the big international supermarket chains inc. Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour came under critical consumer group pressure for over-inflating prices. Many diverted attention to the source of the problem: the brand makers who boosted profits by over hiking price increases and/or reducing pack sizes stealthily aka 'greedflation'. Carrefour has decided to expose the cheaters....
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Where in the World
have people RTO?
A city’s density; cultural norms
affect hybrid work patterns.
NYTimes reporters collaborated from locations in NYC, Seoul, London, Tokyo and Berlin to interview workers and executives to discuss levels of remote work have varied across regions based on factors like housing density, length of Covid lockdowns and cultural norms surrounding how much workers can fight for workplace autonomy, We discuss....
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Vulture voracity
e.g's highlighted
High retail failures expose
murky role of pro advisers
Vulture capitalists e.g. Hilco, Aurelius, Cerebus, Better Capital and Sycamore Partners have been responsible for asset stripping leading resellers in the business supply market over the past 10 years. Recent failures in the UK involving Wilko, backed by Hilco and advised by PwC, have drawn attention to the dodgy collaborations. The Times' Oliver Shah analyses and comments...
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Will BIG cities
lose their edge?
Or will hybrid work
make them stronger?
On Friday, NY Times economics correspondent Paul Krugman spoke to a conference of the Regional Science Association in Alicante, Spain. Given family commitments, he couldn’t attend in person, so this was a Zoom presentation from home. He asked will the new cconomic geography aka 'anywhere working', change the status of superstar cities? We discuss...
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Brand Bylines:
Brilliant v Brainless?
Meaningless messages
miss customer appeal
People love brands, especially memorable ones that have a relevant purposeful byline. Why then are there so many meaningless taglines that are production led and boastful? Surely, the objective is to attarct customer engagement and loyalty? We review the leading brand bylines in the huge broadline business supply market. How does your brand rate? Updated
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Let HyPac market
h e a t compete!
Imperial,Envoy-Brady,CNG
Bunzl,Veritiv,Grainger war
Last week's announcement that PE firms Kelso & Warburg were combining to acquire Envoy and probably merge with BradyIFS (Brandvoy?) looks certain to ignite the battle for the $50Bn US hygiene, packaging and foodservice (HyPac) distribution market. The rapid consolidation reminds of the 90's burgeoning OP market. Deja-vu all over again? Who will emerge as winners? We discuss....Complete
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