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Distinctiveness versus Differentiation
October 27, 2025

Distinctiveness versus Differentiation

Many marketers struggle with the comparison of brand distinctiveness, from brand differentiation, their relationship to patterns within a customer base, and the workings of human memory.

The Problem with Synthetics and “Customer Research”
October 23, 2025

The Problem with Synthetics and “Customer Research”

Inevitably, the arrival of synthetic data into marketing, and then into customering, is upon us. But sometimes, just because someone turns up at the front door, it doesn’t mean they’re welcome. We must choose who we let in, and there’s a gigantic difference between the use of such data for market research, and for what many call “customer research”.

The Nature(s) of an Industrial Complex upon the Management of the Corporate Customer Base
October 23, 2025

The Nature(s) of an Industrial Complex upon the Management of the Corporate Customer Base

One of the most exciting dynamics in marketing and customer leadership is emergent technology. One of most damaging dynamics in marketing and customer leadership is emergent technology.

NPS is a Cockroach. But There's Something More Important.
October 23, 2025

NPS is a Cockroach. But There's Something More Important.

You know, it's a funny thing. NPS, belatedly, is part of the curriculum in my class. But it sure didn't start that way, not that I was trying to diss it. It's just that once you understand valid customer management methods, it's simply not a system-relevant test, and so there was no reason to teach it. Oh, and it doesn't work, which I'll come to. 

Demystifying Customer Science
October 23, 2025

Demystifying Customer Science

Many people get confused by terms like ‘customer science’. They assume it to be some abstract and academic petri dish approach to a field that is full of nuance, culture, and context. Hardly the stuff of zeros and ones, or physics, they say. 

Beware Agenda-Based Research
October 23, 2025

Beware Agenda-Based Research

A feature of the marketing and customer industry(s) is a penchant for agenda-based “research”. Time and again, it generates claims that should trigger immediate suspicion. In July 2023, Barclays Corporate Banking gave us a prime example. 

An Inflection Point Beckons
October 23, 2025

An Inflection Point Beckons

There is no better example of a core strategic and fiscally critical function that is nonetheless characterized by widespread illiteracy than customer management.

A Load of Loyalty Bunkum
October 23, 2025

A Load of Loyalty Bunkum

If you work in or around the marketing and customering fields, you’ll no doubt have been accosted with all kinds of hot takes on loyalty. Almost always, they come from someone trying to sell you something, or someone who is part of a group that has strong “beliefs”. 

How to Support the Field Bell Institute
October 23, 2025

How to Support the Field Bell Institute

The customer base is the most strategic economic asset of every business, so it’s a quite staggering irony that managing it has not been a part of traditional higher education. Perhaps unsurprisingly corporate losses are now in the many trillions of dollars (USD).