Comments on: Thoughts On Advertising: CSX Off Track http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/branding/thoughts-on-advertising-csx-off-track/ This site and its comments reflect our approach to the world, that while marketing is definitely an art, it must also be underpinned with reason, logic and science. Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:49:05 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Jeff Gwynne http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/branding/thoughts-on-advertising-csx-off-track/comment-page-1/#comment-15355 Jeff Gwynne Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:52:07 +0000 http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/?p=338#comment-15355 Katherine- Thanks for checking in again. I do enjoy hearing about this stuff. -Jeff Katherine-

Thanks for checking in again. I do enjoy hearing about this stuff.

-Jeff

]]> By: Katherine Ventres Canipelli http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/branding/thoughts-on-advertising-csx-off-track/comment-page-1/#comment-15354 Katherine Ventres Canipelli Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:23:57 +0000 http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/?p=338#comment-15354 What's interesting about freight strategy these days is that what you see at the loading dock isn't always what it seems. Intermodal shipments look like truck at the loading point and the delivery point, but are conveyed for the long haul via rail (as well as steamship for international shipments). The substitution of rail for over-the-road trucking trades off transit time and consistency for reduced cost, without consequential impact on product integrity. In our research on how logistics strategies are developed, we've found that most companies route freight mode based on what's been done in the past for any particular product; they're not really assessing strategic options or optimizing total logistics operations. There just isn't enough time in the day. But by the same token, if they could step back periodically and reassess freight strategy, they'd save $$$$, even if they paid a consultant to do the analysis. Interesting, isn't it? Katherine Ventres Canipelli You can find more insight about industrial B2B markets and how B2B execs gather info to make their decisions on our blog, The Industrious Marketer. www.marketingfolio.com/the-industrious-marketer You may also follow me in Twitter -- @kvcanipelli What’s interesting about freight strategy these days is that what you see at the loading dock isn’t always what it seems. Intermodal shipments look like truck at the loading point and the delivery point, but are conveyed for the long haul via rail (as well as steamship for international shipments). The substitution of rail for over-the-road trucking trades off transit time and consistency for reduced cost, without consequential impact on product integrity. In our research on how logistics strategies are developed, we’ve found that most companies route freight mode based on what’s been done in the past for any particular product; they’re not really assessing strategic options or optimizing total logistics operations. There just isn’t enough time in the day. But by the same token, if they could step back periodically and reassess freight strategy, they’d save $$$$, even if they paid a consultant to do the analysis.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Katherine Ventres Canipelli

You can find more insight about industrial B2B markets and how B2B execs gather info to make their decisions on our blog, The Industrious Marketer. http://www.marketingfolio.com/the-industrious-marketer

You may also follow me in Twitter — @kvcanipelli

]]> By: Jeff Gwynne http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/branding/thoughts-on-advertising-csx-off-track/comment-page-1/#comment-15264 Jeff Gwynne Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:42:24 +0000 http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/?p=338#comment-15264 Katherine- Thank you so much for your insights. My company ships a lot (sometimes 100s of pallets a day) of product out of my location but, of course, it's always on trucks. Every company I have worked for shipped with trucks. So, where is the decision to take a container off a truck and put it on a train made? Can my operations and shipping guys affect the routing of our stuff? I'm curious now. Happy New Year. Jeff Katherine-

Thank you so much for your insights.

My company ships a lot (sometimes 100s of pallets a day) of product out of my location but, of course, it’s always on trucks. Every company I have worked for shipped with trucks. So, where is the decision to take a container off a truck and put it on a train made? Can my operations and shipping guys affect the routing of our stuff? I’m curious now.

Happy New Year.

Jeff

]]> By: Katherine Ventres Canipelli http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/branding/thoughts-on-advertising-csx-off-track/comment-page-1/#comment-15262 Katherine Ventres Canipelli Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:22:58 +0000 http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/?p=338#comment-15262 Their messages may be blowing in the wind, but the CSX campaign is strategic in several contexts: #1 Railroads are the "new black" for shippers who want to reduce cost to source and distribute #2 CSX was the last of the big rail carriers to launch a brand campaign -- UP, BNSF, NS did this three or five years ago -- and their trucking competition is frequently heard on paid airspace #3 The average consumer may not follow the value or think freight transportation is sexy -- but supply chain managers and their bosses do, from manufacturing to distribution to retail, domestic and international #4 "Green" is the new corporate citizen brass ring -- and like the diversity push of the 1990s, many are scrambling to climb on the sustainability train (of which the "steel road" is one option) #5 Given the incoming Obama Administration's emphasis on reinvesting/renewing/reinventing US infrastructure, this campaign seems prescient, don't you think? To your point about the "new age of conversation", what surprises me is that CSX doesn't seem to have integrated new media / social media into their mix yet. I suspect that this gap is symptomatic of persistent belief that CXO types aren't online yet. The trajectory from social marketing awareness and engagement entree to face-to-face deal making endgame hasn't been proven yet in this gritty, industrial B2B world. (Disclosure: For 2 years in the mid 1980s, I worked for CSX as a market manager. Everything has changed since then. Nothing has changed since then.) Katherine Ventres Canipelli "The Industrious Marketer" www.twitter.com/kvcanipelli Their messages may be blowing in the wind, but the CSX campaign is strategic in several contexts:
#1 Railroads are the “new black” for shippers who want to reduce cost to source and distribute
#2 CSX was the last of the big rail carriers to launch a brand campaign — UP, BNSF, NS did this three or five years ago — and their trucking competition is frequently heard on paid airspace
#3 The average consumer may not follow the value or think freight transportation is sexy — but supply chain managers and their bosses do, from manufacturing to distribution to retail, domestic and international
#4 “Green” is the new corporate citizen brass ring — and like the diversity push of the 1990s, many are scrambling to climb on the sustainability train (of which the “steel road” is one option)
#5 Given the incoming Obama Administration’s emphasis on reinvesting/renewing/reinventing US infrastructure, this campaign seems prescient, don’t you think?

To your point about the “new age of conversation”, what surprises me is that CSX doesn’t seem to have integrated new media / social media into their mix yet. I suspect that this gap is symptomatic of persistent belief that CXO types aren’t online yet. The trajectory from social marketing awareness and engagement entree to face-to-face deal making endgame hasn’t been proven yet in this gritty, industrial B2B world.

(Disclosure: For 2 years in the mid 1980s, I worked for CSX as a market manager. Everything has changed since then. Nothing has changed since then.)

Katherine Ventres Canipelli
“The Industrious Marketer”
http://www.twitter.com/kvcanipelli

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