Simple analysis - but powerful messages

The old adage is that simple ideas are often the best. This is as true for marketing as other functions.

Victor Cook has written an interesting article on Coke vs. Pepsi and using some really basic numbers, he's determined that Pepsi may be a better run organisation than Coke (see http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2288180/17256626).

Whilst this article may ignore overseas earnings and the like, it does go to show that there is a wealth of data out there which can be used to produce a report on every competitor in an industry. You don't just want data from Nielsen, BARB etc - get the financials as well. Here in the UK, you have to pay £1 for a copy of an organisations annual accounts. That's great value and the lessons in the data may be far greater than anything hidden in some randomly administered surveys.