Discount Sales, Discounting Brands

I recently met a retailer friend and as usual I chewed his brains on the importance of having a strategic brand vision in place for his family controlled chain of stores, for its long term survival and to avoid falling into the trap of 'Discount Sales' that seem to have plagued the retail sector, where the leader will be the one who can offer the lowest price.

During our interaction he had a few valid points about how the entire mid segment retail sector and specifically the category he is in is plagued by discount sales and he has no choice but to follow suit as competitors have been doing it and customers who walk in, walk out because they can get  the same item on sale at another store.
 
The category he is in fortunately DOES give him the opportunity  for his brand to differentiate itself from the rest of the pack.  So how does one get out of this rut? A common denominator for this is FOCUS!

Charities and cold calling

In the last two days I have strangely received a couple of marketing calls from some well known NGO brands. 

Anyway,the purpose of this post is to express my displeasure with such cold calls that subtly want to remind individuals of their social responsibility. I understand their pressures to raise donations, but I don't really agree with the concept of cold calling, insensitivity and  stating a  minimum amount that can be contributed apart from  subtly trying to induce a certain amount of guilt when rejected,hoping it can be converted to a financial commitment.

No doubt their causes are admirable, but their approach is something that has left a bad taste for me.Am sure there are better and classier ways to market their brands and solicit contributions for their noble pursuits rather than imitating our credit card companies and their tele callers.