THE BRAND WEAVERS

Balancing Functionality with Creativity

2011-07-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

I have always figured this to be a huge challenge!

A client brief traditionally moves from the Client Servicing/Account Manager to the Creative Head/Art Director and then onto the execution team in the Agencies.

The Account Managers are mostly hardcore networking and business development people, with good business sense and strong commercial acumen. But they are often a tad clueless about the creative aspects of their business proposals to the client.

On the other hand, once they brief their Creative head to handle the project, most of the "good business sense" is lost on the Creative genius , taking the brief. From hereon, starts a complex conceptualization process, which is an unpredictable mix of the commercial and creative needs of the customer.

I feel, often the end product is either highly commercial or highly creative but rarely an optimum mix.

And this is amply reiterated by the new "Most Effective Advert" category at Cannes. What it indirectly says is, that the most creatively wonderful adverts may be just that, "Creatively wonderful", but not really effective.

So getting the right balance is imperative for any collateral or advert to deliver a robust ROI , and everyone from the Brand Manager at the client end to the Account Manager, Conceptualizer, Visualizer and the entire creative team, need to be trained and sensitized to delivery the balance in full!

Look forward to A Brand New SOCIAL NETWORK: GOOGLE +

2011-06-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Google has finally unveiled Google+, the company’s top secret social layer that turns all of the search engine into one giant social network.

Facebook is huge today and it seemed pretty invincible till the near past. But not any more. It seems Google is all set to topple the proverbial apple cart!

Google+, which begins rolling out a very limited field test on Tuesday, is the culmination of a year-long project led by Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president of social. The project, which has been delayed several times, constitutes Google’s answer to Facebook.

The search giant’s new social project will be omnipresent on its products, thanks to a complete redesign of the navigation bar. The familiar gray strip at the top of every Google page will turn black, and come with several new options for accessing your Google+ profile, viewing notifications and instantly sharing content. The notification system is similar to how Facebook handles notifications, complete with a red number that increases with each additional notice.

SEE ALSO: VIDEOS | REVIEW | POLL: What do you think of Google+?

Until Next time

Am I just Me? Facebook dilemma

2011-06-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

I am a Mom of teenage girls, I am also a CEO of a small Agency, I am a family binder, bringing all members together, I am a "still-perceived-as-young" classmate to many old friends and of-course, goes without saying I am ME.

But Facebook considers it an integrity breach if I have more than one identity. Which means I cannot actually be the ME I want to be, in my different roles in life. So here is a gaping hole in the Social longevity of an individuals profile on Facebook. It is limiting and confusing.

If Facebook doesn't take note and make provisions , to allow me to effectively manage my various profiles and associated roles, soon someone else will.

Even for people with relatively quiet lives, Facebook, with all its merits and qualities, still tends to be a place where , no matter how candid the intent, one ends up only projecting confused parts of ones overall personality.

So here is a new niche....any takers??

Neuro Marketing

2011-03-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

Human brain is the most complex object in the known universe. Billions of neurons interconnect through trillions of synapses and constitute the densest information network in the natural world.

Marketing is all about appealing to the people, to their minds. Among those trillions of connections are the secrets to Crores of profit. What appeals to the mind? What triggers purchase behavior? How to connect with the sub conscious mind?.....so many questions...Unlock the secrets of the mind, and you possess the code to unlimited profits.

Increasingly, marketers are turning toward brain-imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in the quest for the Holy Grail "buy button." We call it Neuro-marketing. The brain, however, is reluctant to reveal its code.

A C Nielsen India recently forayed int Neuro Research to help marketeres. Dr. A. K. Pradeep, Chief Executive Officer of NeuroFocus shares an experiment of significance in this direction.

Every new product launch, ad campaign or package design takes significant research, time and resources to ensure success, but not every launch is successful. Suffice it to say that guess work plays a part to determine: Will it grab attention? Will it be memorable? Will it engage emotionally? And most importantly, will it drive purchase intent?

Taking the guess work out of the equation prior to launch is a marketer’s dream, which is now a definable reality with quantifiable results. Just recently the notion was put to the test to see if neuroscience could be used to help a magazine sell more copies. And the results were enlightening.

Clever Covers
In a publishing industry’s first, New Scientist Magazine approached NeuroFocus to test three different cover designs for an August issue of the magazine using neuromarketing. Applying high density arrays of electroencephalographic (EEG) sensors to capture test subjects’ subconscious responses to the three covers, NeuroFocus identified one as clearly superior in terms of its overall neurological effectiveness.

By monitoring brainwave activity across the full brain as subjects viewed the covers, and using eye-tracking technology to identify which specific parts of the cover they were looking at, NeuroFocus was able to measure their immediate, subconscious reaction to the designs.

While all three tested cover designs performed well in the research, the specific design that ranked highest in terms of overall neurological effectiveness scored exceptionally well in emotional engagement—one of NeuroFocus’ primary NeuroMetrics, the others being attention and memory retention (cover design 1 below was the winner). From those primary NeuroMetrics, NeuroFocus derives measures of purchase intent, novelty, and awareness.

The August issue of the magazine achieved strong U.K. newsstand sales, making it the second highest selling issue of the year. This represented a 12% increase over the same issue in the previous year—a much higher rate of return than expected for the normally quiet month of August.

A new stream of Marketing & Research, a game changer indeed..

Re-engineer the 4Ps of Marketing

2011-02-17T23:13:00.000-08:00

The 4 Ps of Marketing have always been the framework of Marketing. Much effort has been made to redefine the 4 Ps and concepts such as "Probe", "People" etc. have been floated from time to time. But 4 Ps have stayed firm in their place.

But in the new Era, Marketing is essentially about CUSTOMERS. But the 4 Ps are about the Marketing Manager!! Thats a dichotomy now, isnt it?

Bob Lauterborn, James L Knight, Professor of Advertising at the University of North Carolina offers a very different critique of Marketings main framework. He suggests, that the focus needs to be shifted and the needle needs to rest on the CUSTOMER.

So folks, Reengineers your 4Ps into 4Cs.

CONSUMER Wants & Needs in place of Products

CONVENIENCE instead of Place

COST to the customer instead of Price

COMMUNICATION instead of Promotion

Time to translate the Marketing Tools into Customer Experiences

Good old Marketing channels!!

2010-12-26T00:26:00.000-08:00

Found this interesting article, which made me stop in my tracks and reconsider the changing scenario:

Google Inc., which helped popularize the idea of automated ad sales on the Web, has been quietly turning to an old-fashioned tool—phone calls—to compete in the hot market for local business advertising.

The Internet-search giant this year has hired several hundred sales representatives to call U.S. businesses such as spas, restaurants and hotels to promote new advertising initiatives, people familiar with the matter said. The effort includes an office in Tempe, Ariz., with around 100 sales representatives, one of these people said.

This clearly points to the need to integrate the New Media options effectively with what we now lovingly call "The Traditional media". After all , Google is pretty much our inspiration to steadily turn digital, and if they cannot ignore traditional methods of Marketing, its a lesson for our Brand Managers!

Amazing Site!!

2010-12-15T22:24:00.000-08:00

This is a special Christmas Season Treat for all my readers and friends.

Your very personal FACEBOOK NEWSPAPER

I absolutely loved it....Hope you do too!

DO Follow, for more such Treats soon :)

For the Youngsters here!

2010-12-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

Mike Newman and Cool Material have provided us all with this nifty flowchart.( Courtsey : Mashable)

Approximately 48% of parents friend their kids on Facebook.

But does that mean you have to accept said request ?Try out the above chart to decide whether you should just avoid, avoid, avoid, or welcome Mom and Dad into your Facebook realm

Breaking News : Google+1

2010-12-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

TechCrunch was able to get their hands on a confidential screenshot from Google’s headquarters on Google +1 [see below]:

Confidential Screen Shot of Google +1 | Please note the share functionality in the toolbar (source: TechCrunch)

Reported image of Google +1 (formerly Google Me)
Notice “Confidential” at the top and the share buttons
Toolbar would exist at top of Google properties
Key part is “loops” = “groups" in Google terminology
New toolbar expected to launch early next year

Google is trying to catch up with the Social Revolution. Just sharing a peek .

Stories behind the BIG NAMES

2010-12-09T01:29:00.000-08:00

A friend from Linkedin shared this wonderful set of information with me, which I am sharing in turn, with his due permission. Wonderful facts! I do not know 100% about the correctness. Yet....worth a thought!

The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.

The Greek root "xer" means dry. The inventor, Chestor Carlson , named his product Xerox as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying.

Founded by four Stanford University buddies, Sun is the acronym for Stanford University Network.

From the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.

"Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by four ex-IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group of IBM.

Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found by anyone!

Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The code name for the project was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or something such).

Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola.

It was coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.

Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company ' Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing email via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for Hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casings.

The name started as a jockey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel

investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google

The name is not an acronym but an abbreviation of San Francisco . The company's logo reflects its San Francisco name heritage. It represents a stylized Golden Gate Bridge .

Favourite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 o'clock.

The name came from the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock .

SLIPSTREAMING

2010-12-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Slipstreaming is Piggy back riding on a wave of success or controversy for heightened impact and more competitive performance with minimal cost.

The term comes from motor racing. By getting in close behind the vehicle in front, motor (and cycle) racers face no wind resistance and so they get ‘sucked’ along, going further and faster with less energy cost, because there is no air-resistance to plough through.

Competition is tough in Advertising and Marketing today. There is a huge battle for the slightest mindshare of the Target audience and their are budget constraints that dictate the need to be very innovative and creative since maximum Bang has to be drawn out of the smallest of bucks!

Golf Retailer Slipstreams Tiger Woods in Australian Open

A golf retailer took the opportunity created by the huge buzz of publicity surrounding Tiger Woods in the 2009 Australian Open tournament to place this tiny ad (actual size) in Australian newspapers.

Coke Zero To Slipstream the New James Bond Movie

Coca-Cola UK had teamed up with SONY to help promote the new James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," by renaming the Coke Zero brand as Coca-Cola Zero Zero 7.Specially crafted bottles had been designed with a picture of James Bond and the 007 gun barrel logo

Ikea Slipstreams Removal of Australian Prime Minister

Ikea moved quickly to take advantage of the removal of Kevin Rudd as Australian Prime Minister by his cabinet colleagues.

Traditional marketing uses price, product, promotion and physical distribution (the 4P’s) - to make a business fly. Slipstreaming is a way to make it fly further and faster at no additional cost.

Why Airtel??

2010-11-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

Airtel has repositioned its Brand Logo and Image through a well coordinated campaign.

Talking about the new brand identity, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Airtel, says, "Fifteen years ago, Bharti Airtel started its journey in India with a promise of delivering world-class and affordable services. Airtel is in now present in 19 countries - 16 African countries, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India."

Mittal adds that the brand was so far known as Zain in Africa and Warid in Bangladesh. "Thus, the idea was to give the brand a uniform presence across all these markets. Also, the world is moving towards digitalization. From now, it's also going to be about social media, commerce and 3G. Therefore, keeping the evolution of the telecom business as well as our expansion in mind, we decided to take brand Airtel to the next level."

While the logo is visually appealing, there is nothing outstanding in the choice of colours, the image, the typset or the concept. Yes, there is definitely a futuristic look and it creates a perception of progress and things to come! Also Airtel has consistently transformed its presence Online and Offline.

But the TV advert, which supports the brand repositioning strategy is a bit of a disappointment. In an effort to appeal to the 19 countries, Airtel has alienated its patrons in India. The models & locales do not seem to be in any way connected with Airtel or India. And so its hard to identify with the the advert. At best the changed Logo and Advert are causing raised eyebrows and confused smiles.Airtel TV Ad

When I think back about the cute pug of Vodaphone, and the Hi Hutch campaigns, I have to say, the connect is missing.

OLD INDIAN AD

2010-11-19T03:38:00.000-08:00

Reminds me of the Hero Honda ad........but nostalgic indeed

5 Tips to take your Brand into Social arena

2010-11-18T04:44:00.000-08:00

Its Free. Its right there. Its simple. Everyone is doing it...........If you are the Brand Manager, YOU DON'T!Not until you have it all properly figured out.

For a Brand, Social Media maybe mostly free, yet it has its own barriers to entry and more importantly, its own set of risks!

Make sure the Brand name is ALL YOURS.
Make sure you grab your Brand , all over the internet and do not allow anyone to use or misuse your Brand identity. Do it NOW, before you even launch your campaign. On the web, your URL is synonymous with your Brand identity, so its a crucial risk to your brand image, unless you have properly secured your Logo, Name and Brand Identity.

Whats your Goal?
What are you intending to achieve through your SM campaign? Set your metrics , be clear of your mission and goals before you design your campaign.Whats your goal

Create a Buzz around your Products/New Launch, Brand
Create Brand Awareness
Increase Brand Loyalty
More traffic to website
Leads, Orders
Get the pulse of your customers....

Be sure of what you want to achieve.

Whats your Story
Storytelling is integral to branding. so figure out your story before you step into the web arena with your Brand. Who are you? Remember, once you are out there, you will be , what your story online emerges to be.

The most successful Social presence is of the companies that have interesting stories to share, stories that up the interest meter of the potential customers and involve them into conversations. So define your challenges, history and mission through your brand story.

Select your turf
It is imperative to create a strong, tightly designed plan and be in all those communities and social sites, that have your potential customers . You would not want to waste all your efforts on sites and communities whose members are not conversing or are not relevant to your Brand.

So choose your turf carefully and then invite those who matter. Build your communities as you move along, to increase your footprints and get more and more potential customers conversing and discussing around your brand.

Engage them
Final, and most critical element is ENGAGEMENT of the members on your communities.Work out your strategy in advance. Once you are out there in public with your brand as the center-point, you have to be prepared for eventualities

How will social media be integrated into the company’s core strategy?
Who from the company will engage? Will there be one voice? A team using one branded account? Personal accounts?
How much time will be spent on social media?
How long will the company “test” the different sites before evaluating their success?
If a serious fire breaks out, what is the proper protocol and who needs to become involved?

Customers matter most. Listen to them. What makes them happy, what is annoying them, what gets them critical , whats making them go WOW.....And finally , it goes without saying, evaluate your success!

Social Media relevant for B2B??

2010-11-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

Some indicative numbers

32% of B2B companies engage with their customers on a daily basis via social media.
46% of B2B marketers thought social media was irrelevant.
60% of B2B firms have no staff dedicated to social media
10% of B2B firms use outside agencies or consultants.

Forrester Research is betting that interactive spending will double from 2009 to 2014 to total $54 million. While it’s not clear how much of that money will go into social media, the report was bullish on the new tools provided they’re used correctly. “Social marketing is great for building more intimate relationships with your clients and prospects,” wrote Forrester’s Michael Greene. “But many marketers are diving into social marketing without a coherent social marketing strategy.”

One of the key reason of slow adoption by B2B companies is the perception that Social media is a Marketing tool. Actually its more a CRM tool, with extended Marketing benefits. Its a listening tool, its a hub of conversation, its the opportunity to get the pulse of your market, your customers, like never before.

Its time B2B companies realize how they can connect with and engage their customers and targets and launch multi channel programs , like never before , through Social Media

Playing with words

2010-11-12T03:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I shared something interesting through this blog and an old friend of mine reverted with strong opinion, leading to a discussion. It ended with him, accusing me of "Playing with words", and that was food for thought indeed!

Being in the business of Marketing Communication and Brands, words are sacrosanct to me! And isn't everything about words at the end of the day? Be it, spoken or written or expressed mutely?

Because we THINK in words. When we speak nothing, say nothing, even hear nothing...there is this little voice in the head, chattering away , forming opinions, drawing conclusions, passing judgments, spewing words, words and more words.

Words are the key means of expression, and absolutely invaluable to a marketeer. A point in case is FCUK! ( Sorry for the controversial example folks!) but it proves the point beautifully. A meaningless anagram , immediately deciphered and sufficiently captivating. Another example was the smart choice of words :

BIGBOYSTOYS
Exotic Pre-owned Cars

Excellent creative expression . It invites the BIG BOYS! Calls the cars TOYS and takes the "secondhandness" off with the clever use of the word EXOTIC.....wonderfully played with words!

So here's to new games with words! CHEERS!

"That's Logistics" Cute!

2010-11-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

UPS has recently launched a communications program to demonstrate how it has vaulted past competitors to offer the broadest range of logistics services in the industry. And it has come up with the cutest depiction of the most hardcore Logistics services! Kudos!

“People often think of logistics simply as moving goods to the right place at the right time,” said Scott Davis, UPS’s chairman and CEO. “But with more than a century of experience, UPS understands that logistics can be a powerful tool to help businesses get products to market first, gain operational efficiency, save money and improve customer loyalty. Especially in today’s economy, companies need an edge and UPS’s mastery of logistics can give it to them.”

If I shut my eyes and focus on the essence of what I hear, rather than watching the TV commercial or paying attention to the exact lyrics, it sounds like a young people’s nursery rhyme J.

And also, it reminds me of the refreshing feel of the Blackberry boys!

Wonderful work O&M Team!!

Mahindra Stallio

2010-11-07T03:14:00.000-08:00

I like the way, Mahindra chose to drop the N from STALLION to get this name. Along with the n, they seem to have dropped all the sense of wildness which ups the meter for risk. And who could've conveyed the message of SUBTLE LEADERSHIP better than our dear Aamir Khan.

From Brand Positioning perspective, its butter smooth, the way, every other sparkling, king of gimmick Bike has been trashed with a quite grace. Beautiful.Great Job.Jaan, Shaan and Itminaan. I love the 3rd virtue. No hurry. Patience. The way , one wants life to be today. Relaxed.

The mention of waiting mother, very effectively emphasizes the tendency of Indian women to worry about their dear ones on 2 wheelers and the need to take it easy...."not trying to overtake life!"

"There is a fast-moving rhythm to riding a Stallio; it has a sharp up and down movement, much like riding a horse," says Viren Popli , Sr. VP Marketing & Strategy of Mahindra & Mahindra.

No tall claims. Plain, simple but extremely impactful message.

Sensory Branding : What is this I smell??

2010-10-20T02:56:00.000-07:00

Marketing and Branding is all about appealing to the emotions of your target audience. Its about creating an intimate connect with them, by appealing to their feelings, aspirations, fears, desires and wants. Isn't it all about Senses?

Alicia Clegg shares the story of Orgasmic Chocolates, the brain (or perhaps love) child of two budding UK entrepreneurs, is a new luxury chocolate infused with “wildcrafted” Chinese herbs, which its owners hope will be the next big thing in chocolate indulgence.

The Branding , although making the most rash promise, is intent on creating a deep emotional connect with their target customers through texture, smell, taste and visual appeal.

In India, the use of Sensory marketing is quite limited to visual senses. While the field lies wide open to appeal through the touch, texture, smell and sound , creating a more comprehensive and wholesome brand experience.

Also interesting is the inherent ability of the Direct Marketing channel to adopt the most substance out of sensory marketing efforts.

In Brand Sense, author Martin Lindstrom predicts that the world of marketing is about to witness “seismic shifts” in the way in which consumers perceive brands, analogous to “moving from black and white television…with mono sound to high-definition color screens installed with surround sound.” The revolution will come about, he argues in the book, as businesses look beyond their traditional palette to include as many sensory cues as possible in their marketing and product development.

This should bring a new wave to the branding discipline. And we are already SMELLING it in the air!

Brand INDIA

2010-09-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

What a disaster! CWG is a classic case of a wonderful opportunity gone drastically wrong. What happened here? Did the government get overambitious? Did they misjudge the corruption capabilities of our officers and bureaucrats? Or is it just destiny and weather playing truant?

Whatever it maybe....the Brand India, stands tarnished for a very long time to come. India had positioned itself as a economic force to reckon with , when it fought off the recession to be some of the first economies to stabilize, and growth thereafter helped strengthen that positioning. And everything now gets washed out along with the rains that washed out CWG...

Why didn't we start in good time? Why did the Central Govt. not play a more active part to get all forces mobilized? Why was the participation of all other states not sought? ...so many questions unanswered, and a mess so huge, one cannot fathom how to wipe it off the face of India.....

...and the Games haven't even started yet!

Brands

2010-08-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere, Brands are not company names, Brands are not the Logo, Brands are not even what you say they are, Brands are simply the GUT FEEL of your customers and potential customers, about what YOU are. How true.

Today everything , everyone, every entity aspires to have a Brand Equity. The sentiment has acquired new proportions due to the advent of the Social Media. With so many different platforms for projecting your professional and personal ethos, one cant help being exceedingly nervous about equal number of platforms for being judged and evaluated.

Be it individuals, Professionals, Artists ,Stars ,Companies or Institutions, all are clamoring for some Brand Space. This is the time to delve deep into the very existence of the "Brandology" , to adapt oneself most optimally , to be able to make the most of it.

It is time to weave intricate Brands. Brands with ethos, with depth and with integrity.