Neverending Inspiration

$10 from Google

2008-09-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

Online Bookstore

2008-07-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

Zoomi brings Amazon to a real-bookstore-like.

Community Marketing

2008-07-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

In this web 2.0 era, the internet has become most people's tool for their daily routine, for sharing ideas online by creating community of interest, forcing members to create user generated content. This is how to lurk business owner, by showing the strength of your community's Sense of Community (SOC).

Obama's Online Campaign

2008-07-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

This is how word of mouth and online social networking works for Obama's campaign.

We have raised money from a million dollars people just like you who have said, "We can bring this country together..."

A Mild

2008-05-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

Toni Darusman - a kinda good looking guy-, A Mild Brand Manager, a Sampoerna-Philip Morris product, was giving a lecture in our class.

A Mild is one of several products made by PT Handjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk., Indonesia's third-largest manufacturer of cigarettes, which in 2005 acquisited by Philip Morris International, categorized in Low Tar Low Nicotine, and a machine made cigarette. The cigarette is targeted to young market, aged 18 to 25, who are active, dynamic, music and movie lovers, and sport (basketball and billiard) lovers (am I right?)

Toni was talking about the constant wittiness of A Mild's ads. Given the undisclosed whisper of the next ad theme, A Mild will provoke a series of survey-like premise. And in the unwavering time, the result of those chain will be shown. Can't wait for that.

Also, for the next TVC, they are preparing something related with screwdriver and its partner. He even showed us the under construction storyboard of the ad :)

Except the ads, he also uttered about the hustle and bustle of smoke industry in several countries like Thai, Aussie, S'pore, HK, Korea, and Japan, and how those stern regulation compel them to perform an original approach, to find some possible crack, in order to act resourcefully. It was quite stunning, knowing that numerous government counsel on smoking risks to the health are shown sharply, directly, metaphorically, and not too literally, unlike the one we have here in Indonesia. Take a look at these packaging expressions:

face --------------------------- reverse side

Above, you see that creepy warning for Marlboro in Australia, showing that smoking could cause blindness. More thoroughly, irreversible damage to the back of the eye - or macular degeneration. Your central vision may lost and followed by permanent blindness, they said that. And you can call the quitline or visit quitnow.info.au. There, you'll see the tobacco campaign and also some other scary pictures that truly encourage you to quit.

face ---------------------------------- reverse side

On top you see Langham (of Poland?) The government health warning is also explicit and straightforward. Forgive me for the blur picture.

But I like the creativity of packaging. The sliding lid pack of Marlboro Korea, the menthol shield of Philip Morris Japan, they even have patented it.

face --------------------rear ------rear------------- reverse side

face------------------------- rear-----------------reverse side

In order to counter the more rigid government regulation, A Mild build an 'A Store' to maintain the brand, a store that trade non cigarette materials.

A little bit more about A Mild's brand manager: Graduated from one of universities in Liverpool, Toni started his career by joining trainee squad. He has now been working for up to 8 years in his profession. He was once handed over in Philip Morris Hong Kong for about a year. And he said, you don't have to be a smoker to work at Sampoerna. Interested?

Update: The TVC is now available in Indonesian TV. Have a look.

Dove Unslaughter

2008-04-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

Unilever is the biggest single user of palm oil in the world, they used it for their soap, and they got it from Indonesia rain forest, via greenpeace.
Watch the two videos:

Dove Unslaught - Unilever

Dove - Greenpeace

Muhammad Yunus and His 'Digital Aladdin Lamp'

2008-04-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Not many people could contribute for the poor, with a devout will, giving to the less fortunate, after they gain a degree, or after they earn penny. But an awarded Noble Peace Prize winner for his Grameen Bank in 2006 is an exception.

After awarded Morgan award, a James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award by the Tech Museum of Innovation, he then willing to accomplish another deed for the poor, not creating money from the poor. Salute!!

Walls' Conello Two Becomes One

2008-03-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

Newly released variants of Walls Conello Ice Cream of Unilever, Sweetheart Brownies dan Almond Praline in Love, promotes the blend of completely two different hearts to become one. The two icons from Indonesia and Malaysia sing 'Dua Hati Menjadi Satu' or Two Becomes One, created by Indonesian musician Yovie Widianto. Click here to see the TVC of Indonesian and Malaysian version via Youtube. It shows that when the two unintentionally crushed when riding bycicle. Dafi's back tire was broken while Gita's rear tire did the same thing too. Then the ice cream man fixed them and made one new bycicle from which available tires are used. Then they buy the two new ice cream flavor.

While in many gossip shows that the two ambassadors Gita Gutawa (id) the 6^th International Nile Song Festival winner and Gadaffi B. Ismail Sabri or Dafi (my) finalist and singer of talent scout Akademi Fantasia were really fall in love at the first sight, as proclaimed by Indriawati Lim, Senior Brand Manager of Conello Indonesia, Conello is the first brand that encourages Indonesian teens interest in reading through Conello Royale Luvlit Coll3ction, teens love series novel, with their cutie names Chocoluv, Luv You Berry Much, dan Blackforest Blossom. Were they novel titles or ice cream flavors? :) Align with their positioning statement, Conello Indonesia will also hold a workshop namely Word Shop to sharpen teenagers' skill in creative writing in order to write their own stories or novel.

These two variants also available in other asian countries like Singapore, China, Pakistan, India, and Thailand, with different ambassadors.

Google Inc

2008-01-23T23:42:00.000-08:00

Like any other companies who are already on the top position in their industry, Google is now enjoying his being market leader in search engine industry. It is something that people could admire, praise him like a god, use it everyday, make make him even more and more well known. Apple did it, like GE did. Those companies has successfully reached consumer's top of mind, gave them exactly what they wanted, kept simple, and positioning himself in a very peaceful place, just like Larry Page said about his very own company, "… is something that understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want."

We can read people expectations to the US' number one search engine here. All google lovers from all walks of life. Don't get stuck and keep thinking big. I couldn't agree more.

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Positioning Tempra Amongst OTC Drops for Infant

2008-01-15T22:49:00.000-08:00

In a marketing class a few days ago, we were having the STP theme as the heart of marketing practice, as mentioned in the program syllabus. The STP itself stands for Segmenting, Targeting, and Positioning. We were given so many OTC (Over The Counter) drugs from some categories, of all pharmaceutical companies inside and outside the country. In a group of eight, we chose one product, and obliged to mention, narrate, explain and argue the STP factor in it. Our group chose Tempra Drops, a pain and fever medication for infant aged 0 to 1. To make it even clearer, we put Panadol drops, also of the same category, and also for infant, in order to compare the distinctive differentiation, plus and minuses of our chosen product, start from the box design, packaging, dosage, ingredients, pharma company, flavour, price (Tempra Drops was IDR 34100, and Panadol Drops was IDR 24900), doctor advise, and the buyer itself. And here are our conclusion:

For mothers whose children aged 0 to 1 year old is having a fever, Tempra Drops is a great pain and fever relieving, after immunization fever, that contains paracetamol, alcohol free, hygienic, unbreakable plastic bottle, embedded with child-lock protection, safety drops with exact dosage: 1 ml per drop.

Another fun fact why Tempra and other categories of Tempra from this Bristol Myers Squibb so popular amongst those who understand and those who loves their kids is that Tempra previously prescribed medication. And the sales reached its quadruple times since it was no longer prescribed by doctor. In other words say, Tempra enjoyed its victory since it was advertised in media and became OTC drugs.

The 360 Degree Brand in Asia

2007-11-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Asia-Pacific region spans from India and Pakistan in the West to Japan and South Korea in the East. Asia is an emerging market for products and services. Its dynamic environment is easily able to absorbs new value and energy. It enlivening a new approach of marketing thinking and practices.

Characteristics
In Asia perspectives, branding is a marketing activity, which is adopted in the late 1980s and 1990s -- a new paradigm, compared to European market. Thus, the concept is very dynamic. However, Asian people are overall believed to tend to be 'future-focused', and looking forward, which are happen to be some of the advantages.

Asian are again, more receptive to endorsement, even more receptive than any other part of the world. Meaning, what people say about brand does matter. These practices are rely on channels, media, trade, and government relations.

A recent workshop in Kuala Lumpur shows us what differ Big Brands from the ordinary ones, among others:

its international in scope and feel
value to the experience
builds from an important universal human truth
multiple connections at various points of contact
consistent style
coherence in its marketing mix
fresh recognizable look
optimistic
consistency in building brand experience

None of them talking about exact numbers, its more to the intangible factors that bear up the experience.

So Where to Start?

"Everthing does mater"
Dave Olsen - Starbucks' chief coffee guru

What single things was most important to Starbucks' success? Was it the coffee? The stores? The baristas? The sofa? In this context, building an exemplary distinguished brand, all words ended with question mark matters.

Affinity
So what makes consumer buy brands? A study in consumer behavior and the dept of their loyalty to brand is shown in the pyramid below.

Millward Brown developed stages in which all characteristics being equal. In Bonding -the peak of the pyramid-, customer feels that the brand can express their value, conveying their highest loyalty to the brand.

Investing in Brand Equity What can we learn from Haier, the Chinese appliance manufacturer, ranked seventh in Asia Brand Top 500, which now has factory in the US and 25% market share of the US small refrigerator market? By operating in several global market, Haier can compete internationally and become less vulnerable even when crisis hit Asia in 1997. The company has practiced theory that acquired by Kotler & Armstrong in the Model of Marketing Process.

The Challenge & The Block
The marketing culture in Asia is still blurred between selling and marketing. Practitioners are tend to rehearse selling - an essential practice derived from trading, rather than accomplishing the marketing itself. Once the obstacle defeated, the 360 Degree brand thinking is acquired.

So whenever people asked to name 10 Asia's leading regional brand, it can easily spring into their mind.

Presentation about Corporate Social Responsibilities

2007-10-30T00:06:00.000-07:00

Corporate Social Responsibility has now part of marketing act in companies. It is also the tribute that capitalism everywhere pays to virtue. Here is the power point presentation about CSR.

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Cause-Related Marketing

2007-07-16T20:35:00.001-07:00

Never again until I browse the net, and I found just the plethora of term in two different subject: Information System (IS), and Marketing.

In IS, CRM stands for Customer Related Management, while in Marketing field, it's the short for Cause-Related Marketing.

"... a fair exchange between corporations in search of goodwill and non-profits in search of funds also raises a range of troubling social, political and ethical questions."

says Inger Stole in prwatch.org.

Examples:
Philips campaigns energy saving in coordination with Indonesia government owned electricity company, PLN in order to save the power through the lack of power generator in Jawa and Bali, known as Pembangkit Jawa-Bali.

Then to boost milk consuming in Indonesia, Tetra Pak a multinational food packaging company of Swedish origin in association with Perkumpulan Warga Tulang Sehat Indonesia (Perwatusi) held an 'drink milk together' on June 1st, commemorating World Milk Day, with Ricky Subagja, formerly badminton athlete as the ambassador.

It is a fair symbiosis to raise company's profit by selling its product and to government or the non-profit organization to spread its message to the targeted community the as well.

MIS Term in Marketing

2007-07-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Whooaaaa....!!!!
I was quiet surprised to discover that my new world (Marketing world) has the same term: 'MIS' in it. Interesting. Similar to the one we use in my lovely previous world (Information System world), this 'MIS' term in marketing, says Kotler & Armstrong in Principles of Marketing [Pearson Education, 11th edition, 2006]:

A Marketing Information System [MIS] consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers.

It can be used by Marketing Managers in decision-making process through the Marketing Environment. But eventually, the information has no worth, unless it can be used effectively by people related to it. In other words say: its value comes from its USE.