brandly yours

Moving Servers

2010-01-15T14:41:00.004+02:00

Dear friends,

Due to the fact that I have reached the limit of MB on my webhosting account, I decided to switch to blogger's free hosting.
As such please redirect your rssreaders and browsers to the new coordinates.

http://brandlyyoursone.blogspot.com/

Thanks and see you soon on google's servers. :)

How to Be Different

2010-01-02T11:17:00.003+02:00

Happy new Year!
I've translated the schnitzel article and uploaded a pdf file for nicer printing here.

How to Be Different

"I'm selling this schnitzel like my competitors do." Were they human beings, this is exactly how most of our restaurants would sound like.

I have used the example with the schnitzel in order to demonstrate one of Michael Porter's models used in marketing and strategy.
Business people know Michael Porter as the guy with the five forces.

Michael Porter assumes one has business which makes money by selling schnitzels and concludes that there are only three ways in which one can own a viable schnitzel business:
1. No other competitor is able to make the exact schnitzel we are able to make. Hence we are profitable;
2. We have the lowest cost per schnitzel. Hence we are profitable;
3. We only serve schnitzels which are profitable.

The unequaled Schnitzel

The first approach reckons that a company consequently succeeds to get closer and closer to the perfect product - or at least the perfection sought by the majority of consumers. But true craftsmanship comes when no other competing company can get closer to this achievements.

Everyone evolves at the same pace, constantly selling a better and better schnitzel. This is, I guess, the origin for many of the problems faced by Romanian foodservice companies. In other words, the Romanian foodservice scene is full of decent, easy to copy products.

You might say that only your restaurant sells schnitzels with sesam in their crust but Mr. Porter will tell you that any competitor is able to serve sesam schnitzel as of tomorrow.

Worth emphasizing here, is the idea of sustainable competitive advantage. Not every difference compared to the rest of the market can bring you profit. Here are some ideas capable of really differentiating your product: a secret ingredient - unique to your recipe, a special way of producing the schnitzel - ensuring unique taste or form and - why not - a little bit of both. The important thing here is that our schnitzel is not resembling the one across the road.

And, since we speak of schnitzels, the best example here would be the stake served on hot stones at the "Little Switzerland" for years now. Firstly, it is a unique and fun way of producing the food - other stakes are not that playful. Secondly, it comes with a set of sauces and side dishes which go great together and the meat marinated in a secret sauce. Not beating around the bushes any longer, the swiss stake is cooked exactly after Porter's recipe.

Ok, let us ask the key question: How can your restaurant differentiate, should you not serve a single product such as the one the swiss Hausmann does?

Probably the Most Profitable Schnitzel

The second choice could also be called "the low cost schnitzel". I chose however to talk about it in terms of profits, because I wanted to shift your thoughts away from cheap airline tickets and discuss a sound business model seriously.

In order to be different, a company can bring a unique product to the market, trying to differentiate it from other competitors. A company also can look inside itself for new procedures and ingredients which are able to lower the costs without affecting the core product.
These companies live out the following philosophy: "A schnitzel is a schnitzel even if we fry it in hemp oil."

If I tell you now that McDonald's seems to employ this strategy, you would argue that their brand is highly promoted and that promotion is their source of successful differentiation. However, if we look at how McDonald's does business, we will see that the founders had the passion for consistently finding cheaper ways of getting things done. McDonald's prints their worldwide packaging in the same place and changes design very rarely. The menu is strictly supervised in what regards the number of items offered. This means that the company does not spend money on stocking up fish fingers which are only sold ten servings per week. The standards are so well established that everyone can build a happy meal after only one day of training and this means that anyone can work at McDonald's, hence the wages can be kept low.

Lost in Transition

The third way deals with finding a profitable niche or with selectively minimizing costs. I would prefer not to get into these details because people talk that entering the third way almost always gets companies stuck in the middle.

And I think that this is precisely where Romanian restaurants are: stuck in the middle. We have schnitzels resembling one another like two drops of water and we're trying to sell them. It's clear that we need to pick one way or the other. This would bring us all something good.

Still breathing

2009-12-26T20:04:00.000+02:00

Happy Xmas!

I am so late in updating this blog that spider webs
have built around these corners :)

2009 is somehow... "atypical" as I had not only less time to write stuff for brandlyyours.ro
but also less time for reading just-for-fun books.

One of the articles I am most proud of, is the one where I'm applying Porter's generic strategies to a schnitzel.
It's written for Food&Bar and I will translated in a few hours into English.

Rushing to update my blog

2009-09-08T23:56:00.001+03:00

Rush
Originally uploaded by brandlyyours

I'll update soon

Just got back from London with a few ideas but the most important asset: a little time :)

From Refinancing to Refraining

2009-08-11T22:29:00.002+03:00

As my recent article for strategic.ro was written in Romanian, I believe that blogging the 3 main ideas from the original text might be a good idea.

From Refinancing to Refraining

There are 3 main trends which will reshape business and marketing in the post-recession world

(1) inside the consumers' brains. Neuroeconomics will show how consumers make decision and will have marketers refocus budgets and tactics

(2) Thrifty consumers. During the next decades, consumers will be thrifty

(3) Simplicity rules. Simple, straight to the point products and services will win over consumers.

See this Data (Ep. 8.1)

2009-07-22T08:42:00.001+03:00

Animation Movies. Brief History.
Originally uploaded by brandlyyours

as promised, second take on animated cgi movies.

View This Data (Ep 8)

2009-07-12T12:35:00.003+03:00

How Many Times Gross Profit Covers Budget
Originally uploaded by brandlyyours

After seeing "Up" last weekend, I was asking myself who is the most profitable animation studio nowadays. I went to Wikipedia, jotted down the figures in Excel and here is what I found:

* Pixar has the highest profitability ratio overall
* Dreamworks has the highest movie budgets
* 20th Century Fox (has a studio, forgot name) has the shortest movies
* Critics love Pixar's movies (Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic)
* Up did not yet cover it's budget but Ice Age 3 is already in the black
(Update)* Titanic (1997) is better than any of these movies. Besides "Toy Story". Titanic had 8.24 score
So, there you go. Now you can see the most profitable CG animation movies.

I'll be back with one more chart :)

Shelf Sirens

2009-07-08T15:54:00.001+03:00

As cash flow is becoming crucial nowadays, brands need to actually touch consumers more often than they needed to a few months ago.

The Good

P&G’s Ariel – US readers might know it as Tide – is currently running a clever shelf promo.

Ariel employs a shelf siren dressed up as “consultant”.

She tried to lure me away from Ariel’s liquid detergent and into newly re-launched powder segment with “blabla-7” magic ingredient.

I appreciate what both the siren and P&G are trying to do. On one hand P&G is currently talking directly to me with real stuff such as:

· Bigger package means less money per wash

· Better detergent means less electricity which mean less money spent on utilities

· Better detergent means less fuzzy clothes B less money spent on new clothes

On the other hand, the siren was very well prepared and by no means one of parrots I usually meat in stores. She argued her points well, she even told me what I would lose if I stayed with my choice etc. She was good at selling by reason not looks alone.

The Bad

My mobile phone operator started to send monthly reminders via SMS and email:

“Dear customer,

your bill is due in 6 days.

Thank you”.

This is nagging me because they used to “trust me” and get impatient only on the day the bill was due.

At the same time, I keep getting Emails about their cheap phones and how my loyalty is appreciated. Combining the two messages showing me a somewhat schizophrenic brand. Almost like the Gollum in “Lord of the Rings”.

The 40000th day

2009-07-06T19:46:00.001+03:00

You know you’re an Excel junkie when you notice that today (6^th July 2009) is day 40 000 in Excel.

Excel’s calendar begins on January 1, 1900, and that date is designated Day 1.

Ok. I’m a freak too. J

Happy 40000!

Strong Brands Live Long and Prosper

2009-06-26T11:33:00.004+03:00

Solid brands last decades. (40 years plus)

At times, people even forgive them certain mistakes.

Strong personal brands are valuable ( more than 750 million albums sold, 13 Grammies etc)

Some brands innovate others redefine industries. (music videos)

Strong Brands Live Long and Prosper. Forever.

P-words

2009-06-11T13:36:00.001+03:00

This weekend, during supper, my mother asked two questions using P-Words.

It’s both striking and funny how mom can be such a good consultant.

The questions were:

“What are your future Projects?”

and

“Plans. What are your Plans for the next 12 months, 5 years etc?”

I am really looking forward to answering these two questions in the future and, more than this, I’m looking forward to be asked something related to brands and personal brands. B-words.

What to Expect from Brainstorming

2009-05-13T11:51:00.001+03:00

This is what hit me this morning: Brainstorming fails because we tend to expect too much from it.

How come?

Easy: Brainstorming is about effective solutions to a given problem while people expect efficient solutions.

For example

Question: How can we get to the moon?

Answer: We build a ladder.

No matter how experienced and well trained participants are, they will always ask (themselves): “But how? We will not have enough oxygen”

It’s just a rough idea for the moment, but I think it’s a good start

Brainstorming rule #1: “We look for effective alternatives and then pick the most efficient one.”

Three Lessons

2009-05-09T12:12:00.001+03:00

Living in interesting conditions is always a good opportunity to think about hard learned lessons one relies on when making decisions.
Here are my 3 lessons so far

(1) Try again
While I did fundraising for I've learned that trying again and again, is one of the best methods to close the deal. Luck, personal chemistry and low prices can bring you business deals, but nothing works better than trying harder.
Despite being on a tight project schedule and a "enjoying" a pressure on funds, I once called more than 20 times a potential partner. The 21st call saved the project.

(2) Be human
People are buying holes not drills, right? This is both sales and marketing myopia 101. But, what I've come to believe is that people do business with people. I have always been true to my nature, with feelings and passion and faults. And this has, I believe, helped me get more business and more satisfied clients.

(3) Don't lie
You'll always end up as a fraud (and, boy, does news travels fast!). If you're lying in a meeting, you need two skills: (1) acting skills and (2) good memory. while I may have the first ones, good memory has never been a strength of mine.

As I'll get older, I'll get wiser. I hope... :)
Anyways,
what are your favourite business lessons?

I'll Dance No Matter What Happens

2009-05-02T21:40:00.000+03:00

There's a German tradition in Sibiu, my home town. In the first week-end of May, people gather in a forest near city boundaries and celebrate spring. Dancing, singing and having fun. As a school boy I used to step up on the stage and sing songs about birds and spring. Nowadays, kids have new, fancy shoes but they still dance the same dances. It's like a the spirit of spring tells you "I'll dance no matter what happens".

WPP: BrandZ Top 2009

2009-04-29T10:11:00.001+03:00

Substract almost ¼ of Google and you get Microsoft.

2 thirds of google are worth 100% of CocaCola

Click here for Brandz Top for 2009

Sensitive Heroes

2009-04-29T08:25:00.002+03:00

Brands are curious heroes.
They may be courageous enough to beat an entire army of enemies but
lack of enough love will almost bring them to their knees.

Here are three tokens of love, your brand will always understand:

(1) Consistency
Brands really really hate to change as often as brand managers switch
jobs or as often as a so-called design-guru tells you to change packaging.
I know at least two fmcg brands here in Romania which have lost brand
equity because they confused customers with horrible packaging and
with pushing two types of packaging design at the same time.
(2) Price wars kept at bay
Think of an elephant trying to compete at a weight contest. What are
the elephant's chance of getting a prize for the skinniest animal
around? Now picture this: brands command premiums. If you have them
competing on price for too long or too hard, they lose strength and
staying power. Enter price wars only if you're the sure winner and
the war is short lived :)
(3) Relevance
I'm positive that your advertising agency is mad about those pink
shelf-talkers saying "Have a minute?". But, think about how pink and
joyful fit to your aging maturing target market or to the nature of
the product itself.

Guard consistency and relevance. And keep price wars at bay. This is
how your brand will stay a hero for a long time.

300th Post

2009-04-21T23:14:00.003+03:00

Dear all, this is post #300 for brandlyyours.ro.

I want to thank you each and every one of the 2552 absolute unique visitors this blog has tracked so far.

Thanks too all bloggers who send referrals to brandlyyours!

Besides these few figures from above, I would like to greet and thank SundanceKiddo, Alina Popescu, Kit and Mihai Dragan.

During these, almost, 5 years I’ve managed to

lose a father
finish my studies at the university and get a master degree in strategic marketing
get my dream job at Brandient.com (and this blog was a great help in this respect)
return to marketing consulting with the same holding company I worked before Brandient (Daedalus / Visionwise)
contribute to the success of at least one romanian brand: metropotam.ro had a good start
grow a circle beard (Van Dyke, padlock beard or candado in Spanish)

Apple transitioned to Intel, lost the “Computer” tail of its name and launched telecom gadgets
Connex.ro became Vodafone.ro
Bill Gates officially retired
Romania joined the European Union
Sibiu, my home town was European Capital of Cultural

My High School. Interactive.

2009-04-20T23:41:00.004+03:00

The city square where I spent four wonderful years while in high school. I took a few snapshots today and saw them together in Photosynth.
Sorry, but users with Macs will probably have trouble playing with this interactive media.

Click if this does not load

Equal Treatment?

2009-04-20T20:55:00.001+03:00

We are all created equal but this does not mean that we are treated equal. And this is great news! This means that we usually get the treatment that we want and afford. I came across this idea while thinking about sms greetings for this year's Easter.

For a few years now, I have tried to send an sms to all my friends and work colleagues. And I've tried to customize the messages as much as I could ;). Well, this years was different because I realized that some of them never replied or never appreciated the fact that they were getting attention etc.

And so I decided that starting this year I will change the rule and I will discriminate friends and colleagues. Discriminate them in the most brutal and economic way – just as a monopoly practices price discrimination, I – the MeMonopoly – will invest different amounts of time in different people.

While this may sound cruel or shrewd, I can assure you that it is nothing more than "The Brand Called You" meeting "Economics 101" and "Marketing Segmentation".

Also, I would invite you to apply the same basic question to some of your "traditions": "Why do I treat all my friends / colleagues / clients equally?"

Here's a few of the most probable answers:

(1) I don't.

(2) Because they really are all the same/ ask for the same thing

(3) Because it's easier/cheaper/faster that way

(4) Well… I don't really know.

If you answered 2, 3 or 4, call a consultant or email me. We've got work to do. If you answered 1, go get a candy and then email me. We've got work to do. :)

Two become one

2009-04-19T14:15:00.003+03:00

It's more fun when 2 become 1 :)

"Two Tails" From Bucharest

Clean Image

2009-04-06T11:20:00.002+03:00

From Bucharest

This weekend's Photo Safari had some interesting results. Two shiny new Mercedes cars were welcoming us in Herastrau.

In these days of tarnished economic reputations, we should also be on the look out for clean and bright images.
Don't look for shallow brands, look for true ones.
Don't look for yesterday's hero, look for true leaders.
And ... even more important...
Now more than ever: Don't be a shallow brand.

I'm not advertising for this brand. The choice for cars is entirely yours. :)

Heeeelp. I'm stuck

2009-03-30T08:50:00.000+03:00

Photo Safari yields only one photo...

But it's a pretty one. :)

Adapting vs. Adopting

2009-03-30T01:19:00.004+03:00

Sometimes free advice is... well... just free. :)

"Value-for-Money Strategies for Recessionary Times"( by Peter J. Williamson and Ming Zeng, HBR-March 09), otherwise a great read, made me think that not all marketing tactics are universally applicable. One must adapt general strategies and tactics for local impact. This is rule number one in Int'l Marketing)

For example, the text implies for multinational companies to use (promotional) tactics from emerging economies in their home markets. Acer "uses a novel channel": heavy-luggage trolleys in Asia's airports. Great idea, as business people and wealthy vacationers can be exposed to its logo while carrying their luggage. However, copy-paste-ing this initiative in Europe, for example, will most probably expose your message to more 'regular people' and 'low cost travelers' than you'd want to. When choosing a channel for one's brand message, one should put emphasis on efficiency.

'Optimizing promotional activities can be achieved by multinationals by adapting low-cost strategies from emerging markets. However, there's an important difference between adopting and adapting.'

I'm sure that the authors meant it this way as well, but the example with Acer is getting a different idea across.

Brd.ro celebrates 10 years

2009-03-27T20:54:00.001+02:00

Will be back to take better pics.

The Goal

2009-03-23T01:27:00.002+02:00

The Goal
Originally uploaded by brandlyyours

This squirrel almost makes any self-help book useless. Keep an eye on the prize, assume some risks and you'll get many goodies.

Is this a good way of living? well, it might be one, if you are a naturally born runner.

Applying the same logic to branding and marketing tactics:
(1) Doesn't this squirrel remind you of guerrilla marketing? Quick, nimble competitors sweep away market share from large, slow - moving giants.
(2) Let's say blood flow is cash flow. The squirrel normally has 300 heart beats per minute. On the other hand, a domestic swine, similar to wild boars, has a heart beat of only 60 - 100 beats per minute. Do these figures resemble the real cash flow for small vs large successful companies?

Anyways, don't let a squirrel get you to far from doing marketing :)