Hormel Chili reported increase in profit despite drop in revenues. Unlike all previous CPG cases we saw last quarter, Hormel’s profit came exclusively from cost reduction. In fact they failed to capture larger profit because of the price cuts.

Their revenue declined 10% on a volume decline of 3%. This means their prices dropped on the average by  7.2%. That is pure profit given away in he form of promotions and lower prices while the customers really were not looking for it. Their frozen food line saw 8% price erosion (revenue fell 9% on a 1% volume drop).

The good news is Hormel knows it and definitely is going to fix it. Hormel Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey M. Ettinger said,

Although we are pleased with our earnings, we experienced disappointing sales in the fourth quarter,” he said, citing in part lower pricing for its pork and turkey products and planned production reductions at its Jennie-O Turkey business, which is in the middle of a turnaround.

They can only go so far with cost reduction, but their current lower price offers bigger headroom for profit growth. If Hormel improved its prices by 5% and if their volume fell by about the same amount, their revenue may not grow as much but their profits will increase by  $64 million, that is 60% net income growth from 5% price improvement!

If the stock  market really follows profits over market share, we should expect Hormel stock to heat up.

Recently P&G has been promoting a new line of Downy fabric softener called Simple Pleasures. This is a premium product compared to their regular Downy line and it offers at least five different scent choices. On top of that Downy brand is running a contest to generate more scents.

How many Downy scents does the market need or can support?

Brands have been competing for the shelf space and wallet share of customers by expanding their product line both vertically and horizontally. The reasoning is finding every niche and filling it with a version at a price customers are willing to pay. That is the reason a typical supermarket stocks 30,000 to 40,000 SKUs. That is the reason you see raspberry, strawberry, key lime pie, vanilla and all sorts of yogurts. While conventional wisdom may say to the brand managers to keep expanding, data show otherwise:

1. Customers do not value different variations  (colors, scent, flavors)within the same product line differently
2. Retailers cannot set the prices differently for strawberry flavored vs. raspberry flavored yogurts
3. Increasing products horizontally (color, scent, flavors) do not result in increase in market share or profits

In an NPR story on Walmart earnings report, they interviewed a few customers shopping at a Walmart. One of them said,

Ms. HAVENER: Do we really need to carry 19 different tackle boxes, or do we need to carry six different tackle boxes? And were so really looking at clarity of offering.

This is one data point, but the broader story line is Walmart has been systematically reducing SKUs, decluttering shelves and pushing back on manufacturers on number of SKUs they want to stock. Walmart is the leader in retail market share and it is by no means alone in pruning shelves. Retailers like Walgreens and those in UK are doing exactly the same.  Retailers, especially Walmart, are known for religiously tracking revenue per square feet (it is actually per cubic feet) of retail space. All the retails space and shelf space may be sunk cost, but there is an opportunity cost associated with every SKU they decide to stock. Retailers are finding that customers value fewer options more than proliferation and the reduced inventory helps with profits when sales are down. So why are we seeing increase not decrease in SKUs from brands?

When P&G’s customers were trading down to private labels, P&G responded by vertical extension of its product lines like Tide Basic and Tide Ultra. As a multi price point   strategy to keep customers within the brand family that is the right approach. But I am not convinced with their horizontal line extension.

When a brand is already $1 billion in annual revenue (P&G has at least dozen of them) is product proliferation the only way to find growth? Given the  pressure from channels and the data showing otherwise why is P&G flooding the market with a product that differs only in the scent but otherwise has no functional utility to the customer?

P&G is arguably the best in class data driven and customer driven marketer, not just in CPG space but across the entire brand space. May be Google edges them out but that is another story. What are they seeing that the academic researchers and retailers are not?

SITUATION

In the late 1980s, a leading CPG firm was a Wall Street darling based upon consistent earnings growth, high-margin core brands in slow-growth categories, and a steady stream of high-growth product introductions in emerging market segments. Numerous other products in an extremely diverse portfolio enjoyed more modest growth or profit margins and competed strongly for resources and the attention of a multibrand sales organization. 

One such brand – a boxed salty snack – had launched with great success 25 years earlier and almost immediately begun a downward slide as PepsiCo’s FritoLay behemoth introduced an approach to packaging and inventory management that was more appealing to grocers.  In order to maintain distribution, the marketing plan had become routinely focused on trade discounts designed to protect shelf space, encourage short term price promotion, and incent impulse buying by consumers.

Fortunately, the brand enjoyed both 80% gross margins and widespread consumer awareness and goodwill as Baby Boomers – who discovered the brand in their childhood – became adults.

ACTION PLAN

Based upon aggressive targets for corporate-wide growth in case volume and operating profits, our founding partner led a team that aggressively challenged the priority of trade discounts, tested the viability of demand growth vehicles such as:

• consumer-direct cable television advertising,
• additional SKU development (versus only two existing flavors),
• international distribution,

…and built a capital investment plan for the incremental production capacity necessary to support accelerated growth.

RESULTS

All three incremental growth vehicles were funded and case volume / market share accelerated due to:

• increased distribution,
• improved shelf turns of existing SKUs,
• incremental volume from new SKU introductions, and
• expansion into additional international markets.

CLIENT: The Goldstein Group

PROJECT: Opinion article on “brand malpractice” for publication in the November 9, 2009 issue of Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek.

From Twitter:

not sure yet if we’re on the trail of something or whether we (as an editorial board) have just been being dicks lately.

I’ve had the privilege of sitting, on and off, on the Communications Planning Group during my time on Council. It has always been one of the more enjoyable committees planning groups (the only planning group) that I’ve sat on. Sitting on it has allowed me to be party to some of the communications issues that have come up, including the disastrous aftermath of the release of the Provincial Election Report Card. Never, however, has something this … both important and silly come to the attention of the committee.

The President of the AMS and First Gentleman of the SLFS, Blake Frederick, has apparently been in a bit of a kerfuffle over the AMS communications policy. Apparently, they had been asking staff for comment, and getting it, contrary to AMS policy. A memo was sent out to staff, asking them to please abide by current policies, and now the Ubyssey is gearing up for another trip through southern France (whine country).

You can read the entire email exchange here.

I personally see Paul Bucci’s response as nonsensical bordering on hysterical. With regards to the policy itself, Blake is not acting in a vacuum – this policy exists for a reason, and we apply it equally to all media. If the Ubyssey wants to be taken seriously, it should act seriously. Histrionics doesn’t help. If Blake allowed this policy to be violated, he would be in line for censure, or at least a serious discussion of his actions at CPG. It also is not an unusual policy – only one person is able to speak on behalf of most organizations, and in the case of the AMS, that is the President. When I was VPX, I had to run my media requests by Jeff Frederich and Allison Henry, and I was elected. Nevertheless, I was a society employee, and would have been speaking on the society’s behalf, so protocol has to be followed.

I would also like to point out that Blake consulted with two senior members of the planning group on the motion,  and the response was the same  – policy is policy is policy. If students have a policy change they would like to see, they should bring it to their Councilors – that’s why we exist.

In the meantime, I’d like to pick out some of the more petty parts of the email exchange.

From Blake:

No AMS staff members are permitted to speak to the media unless authorized by Kelli Seepaul or myself.

This is totally reasonable. The Ubyssey has already criticized the AMS for sending mixed messages. Can they blame the person who, by AMS Code, is the only one authorized to speak on the society’s behalf?

From Paul:

This is a foolish policy.

Really helpful, especially since this was THE ENTIRETY OF THE EMAIL.

From Paul:

It is important for students to hear what the people who represent them and work for them have to say, and this does include staff members. This goes doubly for student politicians such as yourselves, where movement in an organization is extremely quick.

First off, students are not represented by staff. Students are represented by their ELECTED Executive, Council Reps, BoG Members, Senators, Constituency Execs, and Constituency Councils, none of whom (except the AMS Exec) are staff, and all of whom (except the AMS Exec, until clearance is given) are free to talk to the media. So, ‘double for us’ – does the paper want us to start yelling unsolicited comments at them? Here’s one: GO TAKE INTRO TO GOVERNMENT!

From Paul:

we are not evil people who are out to destroy the AMS at all times

Just part of the time, apparently.

From Paul:

The last point I have is that the policy has no precedent.

This is just blatantly incorrect. This has been the case for as long as I’ve been at the AMS, even when it takes the form of covering the phone and yelling down the hall “Hey Jeff, can I comment on the timing of the Vancouver Quadra By-Election to the Metro?”. Whether it has been enforced fully is another matter, but CPG gave Blake a directive several meetings ago to actually enforce our communications policies, as there have been problems with non-AMS policies being represented as such.

From Paul:

We care about students. If you do, too, you’ll allow us to talk to your people instead of just you.

Uh huh. Notwithstanding the fact that nowhere did Blake say that he wouldn’t allow this, all it would take it a check in with the communications department to authorize it on a case by case basis. Which, to me, looks a lot like “allow[ing] us to talk to your people”.

From Paul:

You are destroying the community you are trying to build when you don’t talk to us. We want to be friendly, but you are not allowing us to.

This is my absolute favorite. No comment is needed.

Anyway, the state of things right now is that the Ubyssey has recanted their statement about not publishing an editorial (or maybe it’s just Paul – who has the authority to speak on the paper’s behalf?), and apparently feels that this is on the verge of an:

all out war

which is troubling to say the least. I don’t really know what they expect here, but our policies are not different from previous, and there exist no plans to change them. If the Ubyssey wants to start a war, I guess the AMS is just going to have to hunker down in its compound. But they can always check up on things with me – I’m not staff, and always up for comment.

Wow the what’s new blog is crazy today! Looks like a new play coming! The strange part is why is the dragon hiding? Maybe he dropped his glasses?

So what is the new cake gonna look like? Maybe red for Athletico96?

Lastly for those crazy CPG fans, I got a postcard from Confupenguen! So, I guess he’s out and about. Maybe you’ll find him?

In a previous Tin Whiskers post, I briefly introduced the concept of an adjacency guide.  This post is an expansion of that concept. 

In previous professional life, I sold software to many different industries.  I recall attending two executive offsite events that, on the surface, seemed similar.  But, in reality, were quite different.

The first was an executive retreat for the food and beverage industry held annually at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.  Attending were top executives of packaged goods companies such as Hershey, Kraft, and Coke.  I recall driving by the regional airport which, on most days, would have only a few private flights of prop planes by the local, rural, population.  But on this day, the airport was full of corporate jets, offloading senior executives from all of the big food companies.  The event itself, while ostensibly including presentations and roundtables by industry experts, was really about these executives golfing with their customers:  the executives from major grocery store chains, etc.  The average age of attendees had to be in the 50s, all dressed to perfection and working hard to live up to the standard in dress, politeness, and, if I might say “blue-bloodedness.”

I attended another event with senior executives of IT firms like Microsoft and Oracle.  Again, it included best-practice presentations by industry leaders but the entertainment couldn’t have been different from the Greenbrier.  Executives were generally in jeans or very casual wear.  Many were younger than their counterparts in the CPG world.  And all were more casual in the behavior and, of course, the geek factor was pretty high.  Rather than golf, I recall there was a geek olympics of sorts one evening which included a pugil stick  fight like we used to see on American Gladiator.  Some of the participants were the big financial winners from the dot com bubble.  But success hadn’t tempered their competitive spirit in re pugil sticks.  And they certainly weren’t interested in building a reputation as blue bloods.

Each of these events had its appeal.  And I can’t help but imagine what it would be like to pluck some of the more stereotypical participants from one and drop them in the other.  Geek-boy on a Greenbrier golf course or slicky- boy with a pugil stick; both hilarious.

So imagine these two trying to scout for innovations in each others industry!  Granted I chosen these two for the extremes but all industries have their cultural and economic peculiarities.  And most often the cultural peculiarities are tied to the economic ones in ways not apparent to outsiders.

CPG executives rely on multigenerational relationships with retailers to make their products successful.  Their corporate cultures, as represented in industry events support this economic dynamic.  They use them to build and cement important relationships.

Likewise, IT firms their own peculiarities, including attracting critical talent that changes rapidly.  They must maintain a young, dynamic culture to attract that talent.

So, how well would a scout from CPG do in approaching the IT industry to explore innovations?  Obviously, the two industries are so distant that the effort may not prove fruitful.  But even if there were more potential, the cultural barriers would prove daunting. 

The cultural and economic conditions of closer adjacencies vary in similar ways.  And that fact makes the case fo  adjacency guides.  Their role is to help innovation scouts explore specific adjacent markets and technologies.  They can help:

• Understand the market dynamics that drive corporate approach to partnering – (ex. the FDA approval process is important to the drug industry which has led to a robust set of third-party solution providers who know everyone in the pharma world, understand how each company approaches drug development, etc.  These solution providers can be great adjacency guides.)
• Bridge the gap in culture between your industry and the adjacency.
• Help expand your innovation network into the adjacency and leverage their relationships with parties to build trust and collaboration.
• Leverage their experience to put technologies from the adjacency into economic context – helping to bridge the gap between simple invention and true innovation once rehosted to your industry.

So, why is this worth a Tin Whiskers post?  Succinctly, it is because innovation scouts often confuse their role with that of adjacency guides.  They think their role is as the lone intermediary between their company and the adjacency.  In fact, their job should include building a network of such intermediaries when the adjacency is too distant for them to be directly effective. 

These observations expand to include different geographies, universities, industry consortia and other adjacencies.

Dans son article, Les CPG: une bonne option d’investissement, l’auteur, Brenda Bouw, recommande à ses lecteurs d’investir dans des CPG.  Probablement ici le véhicule de placement le plus idiot à investir à la veille d’une hausse majeure des taux d’intérêts.

Dans son article on peut lire que le président de GICDirect, à Victoria, recommande qu’un investisseur qui a 50 000$ à placer le fasse de la façon suivante.  10 000$ dans un CPG échéant dans un 1 an.  10 000$ d ans un CPG échéant dans 2 ans. Ainsi de suite.

Faut vraiment penser qu’à ses fesses pour recommander cela à un investisseur.

Avec l’inflation qui s’en vient en Amérique du Nord le CPG est la dernière place à investir votre argent.

J’ai été ce matin vérifié les taux qu’offre ING Direct sur les CPG.

Les voici.

Placement garanti (CPG) – 1 an    1,25 %
Placement garanti (CPG) – 2 ans    2,00 %
Placement garanti (CPG) – 3 ans    2,25 %
Placement garanti (CPG) – 4 ans    2,25 %
Placement garanti (CPG) – 5 ans    3,00 %

Donc si on revient à notre bozo qui aurait écouter la recommandation de l’autre clown voici le rendement qu’afficherait avant impôt les CPG placé aujourd’hui de la façon mentionné plus haut.

1 an.  125$
2 an. 200$
3 ans. 675$
4 ans. 675$
5 ans 1500$

Ainsi dans 5 ans, l’investisseur aura reçu 3175,50$ sur ces CPG de 50 000$.

Bon sens, voyez vous qu’il y a du monde qui rient de nous dans l’article de madame Bouw.

Il y a des façons plus intelligentes d’investir 50 000$.

Prenez par exemple le fond Yellow Pages Group à Toronto ( YLO.UN ).  Il verse 0,0667$ par part par mois.  Ainsi en date d’aujourdui, 50 000$ investit dans YLO.UN permettrait d’achetet 8 780 parts de YLO.UN.  Chaque mois l’investisseur recevrait 588,26$ en versement de dividendes.  Sur 60 mois ça donne un versement de 35 295$.  Oui 35 295$ vous avez bien lut.  Soit 10 fois le rendement de votre 50 000$ répartis dans des CPG sur 5 ans.

Bien sûr il n’y a rien de garanti.  Ce dividende peut être amputé et les parts de YLO.UN peuvent s’effondrer.

De un les parts se sont déjà effondrées.  De deux YLO.UN a de bonnes liquidités car elle a de bonnes entrées d’argent.

Il y a d’autres véhicules de placement également qui peuvent rapporter presqu’autant que YLO.UN et qui sont moins risqués.  C’est le cas du  fond BMO Revenus mensuels de la Banque de Montréal.

Aussi, l’impôt payée sur des intérêts sur CPG est plus élevé que l’impôt payée sur des dividendes.

Souvenez-vous qu’un CPG, certificat de placement garanti, ne garantie qu’une chose.  Que celui qui vous vend le CPG s’enrichiera davantage que vous.

Les CPG sont un bon placement lorsque les taux d’intérêts sont élevés et que ceux-ci auront une tendance à long-terme à vouloir baisser.  Dans la situation actuelle, c’est l’inverse qui est envisagé.  Les taux d’intérêts sont au plancher, ils ne peuvent que remonter, c’est donc pas le temps d’aller dans les CPG.  Vos intérêts seront mangées par l’inflation et les impôts.

Allez, soyez plus intelligents dans vos placements.

It is more and more challenging to grab the attention of the consumer. Fragmented advertising channels, hundreds of cable stations, and even blogs like this an all competing for a few seconds of attention. I have seen that 70 to 95% of all buying decisions are made at the shelf in less than three seconds – Seriously only three seconds! Unfortunately this is the way it is, all the work and expense to develop a new brand and someone only gives you three seconds – if they see your product at all.

Many CPGs have found the Holy Grail of branding and brand promotion – the package. The package is the brand, and the brand is the package. This is your last threshold in which to influence a buying decision. Foil, holographic, unique bottle shapes, 360-degree graphics, clear films, innovative dispensing, tactile surfaces, and scented packaging can all move your package into sensory packaging. Captivate the consumer, engage them, and present the brand in such a way that they have to touch it. Isn’t that what it is all about? Getting them to pick up your product and actually consider a purchase?

I challenge you to make your next visit to a retailer a reconnaissance mission. Give yourself plenty of time to float from aisle to aisle and observe the shelf facings, making note of the brands that catch your attention and identifying why that packaging stood out. One last little tip:  Watch out for the undercover cop because your behaviors may resemble a shoplifter. I have a feeling my picture is posted in the back room of many retailers in my area… I take pride in keeping them guessing.

Todd, Creative Director

Os blogs listados abaixo foram produzidos por alunos do curso “Criação e Produção Gráfica” da Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, no módulo Cultura e Sociedade. A fase atual do projeto é a capital paulista retratada em cada blog com temática voltada à  sociedade e à cultura.

- Além do Park
- Baladas Eletrônicas
- De Olho no Trânsito SP
- Mercadão SP
- Nordeste Sampa
- Superação

Por falar em blogs, no dia 1º estive presente em um café da manhã relacionado a este tema também:

Clique aqui para conhecer o registro.

Following are comments from a recent Retail Wire discussion about baby boomers’ shopping habits as they age. Kimberly Clark is collaborating with some of its big retail customers (like Walgreens) to pay closer attention to signing, accessbility and other mobility-related issues. My argument is that marketers and retailers need to pay attention to the Baby Boomer mindset, not just physical issues:

As a certified Baby Boomer (born 1954), I have always wondered why CPG companies and retailers have seemingly been more focused on a twentysomething target customer, at least in terms of their sales pitch and merchandise content. (But I may be just a typical self-absorbed Boomer.) I think there are a couple of issues worth focusing on: First, the very real physical changes that will affect the health and mobility of our biggest and most affluent population bubble. In this regard, Kimberly Clark and its retail partners are conducting a valid experiment.

But just as important is the psychographic makeup of the Baby Boomers, if it’s even possible to classify their mindset. There is likely to be a “forever young” mindset (just as there has always been with this age demographic) that runs somewhat contrary to the physical reality of aging discussed above. It’s hard to picture Baby Boomers suddenly turning into their parents or grandparents — attitudinally — no matter how much trouble they may have reading the labels or reaching the top shelf.

Pricing is about capturing a fair share of the value you add to your customers.  This method of pricing is called value based pricing. The opposite of this is called cost based pricing that is  internally focused and ignores  customers.  Your costs are irrelevant to pricing, as long as you are not selling below marginal cost and beyond break even point. After all if you are making a loss on every sale or on the whole operation then it makes no sense to be in that line business.

That said, a marketer can use costs signals to introduce price increases while assuaging customer concerns about fairness. I do want to stress that this is a pricing tactic and not a strategy. In their paper titled, Perceptions of Price Fairness, researchers Gielissen, Dutilh,and Graafland  validated their hypothesis,

Hypothesis 2: Options to pass on production costs are perceived to be fair.

When customers see the price increase is a result of cost increases, they are  willing to accept the new prices. Once the high prices become established, these become the new reference price and can remain sticky even when the original cause (production cost increase) is no longer valid.  We see that in the earnings results of CPG brands that used commodity price increase in 2008 to push through their price increases. Since they hit their peak in 2008, prices of food and utilities have come down but the CPG price increases remain.

Brands, despite their current pricing strategy, should implement tactics that take advantage of short-term market conditions. While we saw how P&G, Nestle, Cadbury, Heinz and Unilever taking  advantage of cost increases we also saw Lindt’s not using the increase in cocoa prices to increase its prices. The result is a 90% drop in their profits.

The net of this is, your costs are immaterial to your pricing strategy but short term price increases can be used as effective signals to fix faults in your pricing.

Over the past year, there’s been no shortage of press surrounding Peter Arnell’s failings with the Tropicana and Gatorade brand redesigns at Pepsi.  I just read Fast Company’s Masters of Design feature on David Butler, head of design at Coke, and was impressed by the stark contrast he represents to Arnell’s approach. David Butler’s philosophy (not to mention personality) certainly sounds markedly different from Arnell’s “purveyor of pop culture” approach which found him on a “five-week world tour of trendy design houses” as a major source of inspiration for the Pepsi assignments:

“It’s great that when David speaks, he doesn’t speak in the language of design,” says Joe Tripodi, Coca-Cola’s global marketing chief. When he talks to folks on the manufacturing side, to the bottlers, to the retailers, Butler’s message, Tripodi says, “is very simple: Here’s what I’m going to do to help you sell more stuff.”

Contrast that with his counterpart, Pepsi’s design consultant, Peter Arnell, who titillated the blogosphere last spring with a 27-page memo he wrote called “Breathtaking,” defending his new logo design. He cited inspiration from da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to his Vitruvian Man, and described the “gravitational pull” of a can of Pepsi on a supermarket shelf. That was before he compared his genius at creating a 3-D Super Bowl ad to Thomas Edison’s invention of motion pictures. Many designers were mortified, fearing Arnell had discredited the whole tribe with his claptrap.

In many ways, Butler is the anti-Arnell, a first-class designer who shuns the latest trendspeak. “I read all the journals. I love design theory. I’m a junkie for that stuff. But that’s at home,” he says. “At work, I don’t use the phrase ‘design thinking.’ Here, it’s about creating more value. How do we sell more of something? How do we improve the experience to make more money and create a sustainable planet?”

David Butler is inspired by design theory and pop culture as much as the next designer, but his real drive comes from approaching big problems through systems thinking:

[Butler's experience at Studio Archteype] and a run-in with Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization changed the way Butler thought about design. He saw how systems thinking could be applied in a more holistic way. In the past, he says, design had been focused on straightforward problems: Come up with a drinking vessel, say. But now it was being asked to solve multipronged problems: How do we get clean drinking water? “We’re moving from linear problems to wicked problems,” he says, and the old default solution — hire a rock-star designer — no longer works. “The model of a master of design creating that magical object that is going to change the business is an old way of thinking. I can’t use it to work on wicked problems. I need to have capability internally.”

Side note: This trajectory was pioneered by Esslinger at frog design and is a major focus of his new book, A Fine Line:

]]> http://mymanuel.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/nueva-terapia-cura-a-ratas-paralizadas/ Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:56:06 +0000 Dr. House http://mymanuel.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/nueva-terapia-cura-a-ratas-paralizadas/

Las personas que han sufrido lesiones de la médula espinal podrían algún día recuperar el movimiento gracias a un nuevo tratamiento creado por científicos internacionales.

La lesión medular es una de las más difíciles de tratar

Los investigadores de Estados Unidos, Rusia y Suiza utilizaron fármacos y estímulos eléctricos para que animales, cuya médula espinal había sido cortada, lograran correr en una rueda de ejercicio.

El movimiento de los animales, afirman los científicos en Nature Neuroscience, era “casi idéntico” al de pasos normales. Sin embargo, no se trata de movimiento controlado directamente por la mente.

Las lesiones de la médula espinal -que pueden dañar o cortar completamente los nervios que conectan los músculos al cerebro- son unas de las más difíciles de tratar, ya sea con cirugía o con fármacos.

Los científicos saben desde hace tiempo que si se aplica una pequeña corriente eléctrica en el nervio justo debajo de la herida, se produce una contracción muscular.

Sin embargo, el acto de caminar requiere una secuencia compleja de ese tipo de contracciones que deben ser suministradas en el momento correcto, de manera que las piernas puedan soportar el peso del cuerpo y moverlo hacia adelante.

Circuitos escondidos

Lo que intentamos en el estudio fue simular la acción del cerebro, para lo cual usamos estímulos farmacológicos y eléctricos aplicados a la médula espinal, y transformamos a estas neuronas de un estado durmiente a un estado totalmente funcional

Prof. Gregoire Courtine

Anteriormente se había descubierto que estos patrones de señales motoras podrían estar gobernados en parte por la propia médula espinal y ésta es la clave de la nueva investigación.

“Se ha sabido desde hace tiempo que hay una red de neuronas en la médula espinal que tienen la capacidad de generar actividad en el músculo cuando no existe ninguna conexión con el cerebro” explicó a la BBC el profesor Gregoire Courtine, del departamento de neurología de la Universidad de Zurich, quien dirigió la investigación.

“Sin embargo, debido a la pérdida de la información que envía el cerebro estas neuronas están en estado durmiente”.

Se ha sugerido en el pasado que esta red de neuronas, o circuitos nerviosos, llamados “generador central de patrones” o CPG, pueden existir incluso en la base de la médula, debajo del sitio de la herida.

Tal como señala el profesor Courtine en su investigación parecen haber encontrado la forma de aprovechar la existencia de estos CPG.

“Lo que intentamos en el estudio fue simular la acción del cerebro, para lo cual usamos estímulos farmacológicos y eléctricos aplicados a la médula espinal y transformamos a estas neuronas de un estado durmiente a un estado totalmente funcional”.

“De tal forma que pudimos reanimar al animal paralizado” explica el científico.

En efecto, con los fármacos y los estímulos eléctricos lograron estimular los circuitos nerviosos motores no utilizados para poder activar los CPG y producir el movimiento de pasos en las patas.

Así, a pesar de no tener conexión entre el cerebro y los músculos de las patas, los científicos lograron que las ratas caminaran.

Sólo con estímulos

Los científicos lograron promover el movimiento de las ratas con estímulos eléctricos.

“Después de que logramos promover la locomoción en el aparato de ejercicios una semana después de la lesión, entrenamos al animal durante 20 minutos cada dos días” explica el profesor Courtine.

“Y después de dos meses de rehabilitación, las ratas paralizadas lograron caminar cargando todo el peso de su cuerpo”

El científico subraya, sin embargo, que estos movimientos no eran voluntarios sino se llevaban a cabo sólo con la estimulación farmacológica y eléctrica.

Es decir, las ratas no estaban controlando sus movimientos con la mente.

Según el profesor Courtine, en humanos esta misma estrategia podría provocar “niveles importantes” de control motor en las piernas.

Y podría utilizarse conjuntamente con aparatos de “neuroprótesis” que se podrían implantar en el cerebro para ayudar a reparar la lesión de la médula espinal.

Pero los científicos subrayan que todavía faltan muchas investigaciones para llegar a eso y ya que existen grandes diferencias estructurales en las médulas de ratas y humanos, pasará mucho tiempo hasta que se logre aplicar este avance en humanos.

Fuente: BBC. Nueva terapia cura a ratas paralizadas

There’s a new newspaper today.
The comic is made from a visitor of Club Penguin Gang!

There’s also a Dot-to-Dot puzzle:

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The Scavenger Hunt is ending on Sep. 20!

Companies have been struggling with how to capitalize on social media in building relationships with their consumers. Has Kellogg cracked the code? Click here to read the Brandweek story.

Lindt reported almost 90% drop in its profit, while cost overruns was a contributor the main reason quoted by The Wall Street Journal is the failure to increase prices.

Swiss chocolate maker Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG has suffered from a failure to raise prices late last year to offset higher cocoa prices, underperforming rivals with an 88% drop in first-half net profit and lower overall sales.

The lead line from the WSJ article does not tell the full story. Lindt’s profit dropped from 22.9 million Swiss francs to 2.7 million Swiss francs.  There was a a one time charge 22.2 million Swiss francs in that expenses. Their operating profit, excluding these charges and taxes, is a better measure but still it includes factors unrelated to marginal costs, like currency fluctuations and depreciation.  So let us look at their gross margin numbers and compare the number for this six months against the same period last year (note we cannot simply use the previous six month period because of seasonality variations).

Compared to previous year same six months  their gross margin was 64% from sales of 1.03 billion Swiss francs  and this six months gross margin is  62% from sales of 0.985 billion Swiss francs. Their cost of revenue is almost identical to YoY numbers while their sales  fell 4.3% from its year over year numbers. This does support the theory that failure to pass on cost increases to customers as price increases resulted in loss.

To retain the same gross margin as YoY number, Lindt should have raised its prices by 8%, assuming its sales will not fall any farther than the 4.3% drop. They were concerned whether the sales would have dropped steeply if they had increased prices, a valid concern that can only be answered by looking at their market data on customer preference and price elasticity of demand at different price points. Their sales had to drop additional 7% (email me for the math) to make the price increase unattractive.

While costs are irrelevant to pricing (especially at 64% margin and for the premium product) the commodity price increase of last year should have been used as a pretext to increase prices. Customers are more willing to accept price increases when there is a reason (however trivial or irrelevant) than unexplained increases.  There are also other methods that would have increased margin without a direct price increase, one of which is using creative packaging that reduces amount sold for the same price saving marginal cost. Cadbury explicitly stated this in their annual report, and Nestle’s size reduction of Haagen Dazs was popularized by none other than Ben and Jerry’s (Unilever).

The net is, Lindt should have taken steps for better price realization (price increase , reduction in promotions and creative packaging) using the commodity price increase as a pretext.

Le contexte économique actuel fait en sorte que les garanties relatives aux taux d’intérêt minimums de l’assurance vie universelle (VU) attirent particulièrement l’attention. Et Manuvie en est bien heureuse! Pourquoi? Parce les taux d’intérêt minimums garantis du produit InnoVision sont très concurrentiels tant au niveau du compte qu’au niveau du contrat.

Niveau du compte
C’est à ce niveau qu’un fournisseur d’assurance VU précise le taux d’intérêt minimum garanti qui s’applique à un compte. Toutefois, il peut se réserver le droit de supprimer ce compte et en pareil cas, la garantie ne tient plus.

Niveau du contrat
À ce niveau, le fournisseur garantit qu’il offrira toujours un compte dont le taux d’intérêt minimum précisé sera maintenu pendant toute la durée du contrat. Les garanties au niveau du contrat, ou garanties contractuelles, sont donc essentielles. Elles procurent davantage de certitude au client quant au risque associé au réinvestissement et permettent aux conseillers d’afficher une meilleure confiance à l’égard des projets informatisés qu’ils produisent et qui sont basés sur les taux d’intérêt minimums garantis.

Plus que jamais auparavant, lorsqu’ils comparent les contrats VU, les clients et les conseillers prêtent attention à la garantie relative aux taux d’intérêt minimums. Comme l’illustre le tableau ci-dessous, qui compare les versions bonifiées de plusieurs contrats VU, InnoVision se démarque.

*CPG 25 ans

Here is the ugly truth about American soccer. It is something kids DO, not who they are. Yet many soccer clubs and tournaments focus their marketing and message around the assumption that soccer is central to the players lives and that everything else is ancillary or inconsequential.

The ASAE (American Society of Association Executives) produced the video below for their annual meeting just this past weekend. (It runs a little long, the movie beats you up a little with the message, but pay attention to the subtitles. They are really small, but perhaps the most important part of the whole piece.)

I get it; trade associations connect people together and that was the obvious point. But, the not so obvious point is that all these people who are working at trade associations during the day are spending their nights and weekends with their true passion; music.

We have seen this kind of thing before, but usually the talent is mediocre. But, these folks are darn good! The ASAE not only had the criterion of involving their members, but that the member had to have a high level of skill, proficiency and passion. Brilliant!

What does a harmonica have to do with biodiesel? Nothing except for Joe Jobe. Or a guitar with concrete or paint? For Joe Vickers and Phil Bour, the combination make perfect sense. Railroads and drum kits? Michael Fore makes it work. He probably taps out routines on his desk, driving his co-workers crazy. And there is no hiding the rapture Mike Skiados (ASAE) feels when he plays his guitar.

The Disney movie High School Musical (HSM) was a similar deafening intervention cry from kids, yet few adults paid attention to the underlying message, mostly dismissing it as bubble-gum entertainment. But the kids got it and that is what made the movie “stick.”

Social Media like Facebook gets this concept by allowing members to establish a core identity and then add interests and groups to them. More specialized sites like Meet the Boss, various Ning sites and sites like WePlay.com don’t. Neither do “gardens of brands” like Skittles or Ford. In their world, there is no room for “other interests” and no way to connect the person with them. (As an aside, the WSJ had an interesting article on fans. Worth a read… after you are done with this post and have commented/tweeted, of course.)

Anyone who doesn’t know me is surprised that among my passionate interests are newspapers, old typewriters, literature, photography, coffee, typography, dogs and harmonicas. Computers and soccer come in almost last on the list. Internet is the way I make a living and it is imperative I am knowledgeable and skilled in it, but it is not my passion. In their world, I develop Web-based properties therefore I must be a geek and only care about the latest technology. Sorry. Technology is a tool; no more, no less.

For sports organizations, the random connections that social media reveals is like gold. How many times have you approached a large brand for a sponsorship and gotten, “What does our brand/product have to do with soccer?” If you dig deeper into the social media networks like Facebook, you may well have a stronger answer. Your model is HSM and the ASAE video.

Our advice: Find the connections. The more random and strange, the better. Watch the touchlines and the space between games more intently than the games themselves at your next tournament. What are the kids doing? What are their parents doing? How many questions do your get about a particular topic? Why? Ask questions, observe behaviors. Your next sponsor may be in the non-soccer parts of the game that your sponsor’s target audience is most passionate about.

Note: This post was originally intended for just TourneyCentral, but because the medium here is also the message, we posted this on almost every brand we own. Dogs and soccer? Coffee and soccer? Marketing and soccer? Yeah, it all fits when you start looking hard enough. And, thank you Cindy Butts for the inspiration.