Gelb affiliate Lisa Lashaway shares her exciting news

At Gelb, our affiliates include specialists in a variety of areas who often play vital roles in helping us best meet client needs.  Lisa Lashaway is one of our trusted affiliates and has over 20 years of experience in strategic research and marketing. We typically reserve our blogs and articles for strategy-related content, but sometimes also like to share professional achievements, which is why we want to give Lisa and her family a special "congratulations" today. Lisa's son Nick has been involved in acting since he was young (he convinced her to take him to his first audition after hearing a radio advertisement for a casting call) and has played small roles in some well-recognized movies and shows, such as "The X-Files," "The 40 Year Old Virgin," "The Office," and "The Last Song." His most current movie, "My Soul to Take" was directed by Wes Craven and is going to be released in October. His diligence and talent as an actor is paying off, as he has a prominent role in the movie and is being featured in movie trailers and billboards. Congratulations to Lisa, Nick and all of your friends and family who have supported you throughout your career!

See a full summary of Nick here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1731478/

Gelb’s own, Alleen Mitchener recognized by the Houston AMA Chapter for AMA Volunteer of the Month

The NFL has Peyton Manning
The NBA has Lebron James
the MLB has Derek Jeter
and Gelb Consulting has Alleen Mitchener! 

 Strategic Marketing Analyst, Alleen Mitchener was recognized by the American Marketing Associations Houston chapter for AMA Volunteer of the Month.  Alleen has been involved with the Houston Chapter for the past two years and has been actively serving on the committee for the Healthcare Special Interest Group (SIG) for the past year. . Her role as a Healthcare SIG volunteer involves many responsibilities including assisting the committee co-chairs and other committee volunteers in developing ideas for speakers and topics, and  planning each event as well as fulfilling duties during event proceedings .

In addition, Alleen  has also volunteered her time at the monthly AMA luncheon assisting with greeting guests and working the registration table. 

 Gelb congratulates Alleen and is very proud of all her achievements!

John McKeever Recognized in HBJ’s “40 Under 40″ List

One of Gelb’s own has been recognized in the Houston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40″ list.  It is our pleasure to announce that John McKeever, president of Gelb Consulting Group, is one of 40 Houston leaders in this year’s list.

Leaders will be formally recognized on Thursday, May 20, 2010 from 4:00 pm – 6:00pm at the House of Blues,
1204 Caroline Street.   The event is sponsored by Sterling Bank, PKF Texas and the House of Blues – Houston.

2010 marks the second year the Houston Business Journal compiles a list of Houston’s leaders under the age of 40.  The list is made up of individuals who have excelled in their respective industries and  leadership in the community.  Honorees are nominated by their peers, colleagues and so forth.

To read the complete article, visit the Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 Honorees Named.

Filed under: Did you know?, Healthcare, Oil and Gas, Working with Gelb Tagged: brand equity, brand marketing, customer experience, experience management, gelb, gelb consulting, gelb staff, john mckeever, oilfield services, strategic marketing

A Lesson from One of the World's Great Real Estate Developers by Gabriel Gelb

We don't normally boast about who we work for, but Continental Airlines recently saluted our client, Hines, in its March 2010 in-flight magazine. So let us at Gelb join Continental in appreciating Gerald D. Hines, whose firm-very quietly-controls real estate assets valued at more than $25 billion from Moscow to Beijing and 100 cities in between

You might say that the 45-year-old Gelb firm and the 53-year-old Hines firm grew up together. Over the years, Hines has called on Gelb for a variety of market research studies-from feasibility of real estate projects in unusual locations to interviews with the pension funds that are investors in Hines' far-flung skyscrapers and mixed-used projects.

But of course it's the quality of Hines' buildings that are a hallmark of its success. Gerald Hines and now his son, Jeffrey C. Hines, have made their buildings stand out by hiring the best architects, from I.M. Pei and Cesar Pelli to Robert A.M. Stern and Philip Johnson. They understand that high-quality office tenants seek striking, sustainable edifices rather than plain-Jane boxy towers.

The lesson as Gelb sees it-A great product coupled with market feedback is an unbeatable combination!

To learn more about Gelb, visit www.gelbconsulting.com.

Filed under: 1, Did you know? Tagged: gabriel gelb, gelb, gelb consulting, market research, marketing consulting, strategic marketing

The Neglected Strategic Marketing Question

After going through several strategic marketing plans recently, it became clear that the hardest question to answer is also the most frequently overlooked. Strategic marketing planning often begins with a rigorous review of capabilities, market trends, and perhaps even market share data.  But while the best segmentation scheme can enable incremental and/or accidental growth, it’s most important to determine from whom you will take market share.

Through the use of competitive intelligence and customer value analysis, organizations can identify the competitors’ weaknesses against their customers’ buying behavior.   A deliberate focus on the marriage between customer needs and the supplier’s strengths in meeting them calls for increased attention in strategy development.

At the most simplistic levels, being “better, faster, cheaper” requires a target (i.e., better than x, faster than x, cheaper than x) to be effective.  This isn’t to suggest there can be more than one competitor from which you take share, but it does emphasize the need for competitive positioning.  This positioning is then utilized in developing pricing strategy, shaping product development and commercialization stage-gate criteria, brand management and communications, and sales process/delivery.

From whom will we take market share? This is an important, but often neglected question to answer when developing strategic marketing plans.

For more information about Gelb’s process for strategic marketing success, please see this article on our Growth PlayBook.

Filed under: Healthcare, Oil and Gas Tagged: customer value analysis, gelb consulting, john mckeever, marketing planning, oilfield services, strategic marketing