The Marketing Guy™

Think Differently

2008-03-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

I finally found time on this Friday night to read articles of interest to me. Came across this post by Valeria Maltoni: Leading Brands Lead.

She pointed out 3 things that leading brands have, which are
1) Ability to improvise
2) Focus on one or two things that set them apart: Niches
3) They spend more time on things that count: their customers.

It was a delightful post overall, and it truly brings out the beauty of marketing - simple to understand yet sophisticated to achieve.

The part of the post that grabbed my attention was this advertisement.

It was just so inspiring, about thinking differently. On the personal front, it provoke many thoughts in me, allowing me to relate what was said and applying it to my personal life. And now, whenever I think of doing something inspirational, I will think of this ad and I will think of Apple. Simply splendid.

Marketing is not about how great your product is, it's really about how you can connect with the customers with your products and bringing in positive associations, like what Apple did perfectly with the ad above.

Something about Brand Advocacy

2008-02-26T09:07:00.000-08:00

Something about Brand Advocacy which I have keen interest in exploring. Will come back and touch on it when time allows. Let me know your views if any. Cheers!

http://www.webershandwick.com/Default.aspx/Insights/ThoughtLeadership/ThoughtLeadership/2007/Advocacy-TheNextWave

Brand Values versus Practicality

2008-02-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Currently doing a case study on a suncare brand in Singapore. Went for an session with the brand manager to gain an in-depth understanding of the brand's history, values and functions thus far.

The brand is actually looking at exploring into a whole new market: the youth market with a whole new product range. However, one distinctive point that struck me during the session was that the brand is extremely protective of its association with the pharmacies.

The original idea of venturing into the mass distribution channels immediately got sent packing. It led me to ponder, what roles do a brand's heritage play in formulating a brand's future approach to marketing?

No doubt, values add as the guiding principles for any brand to follow and adhere to. But does this discipline come at the expense of new opportunities left unexplored? I believe as marketers of the new age, values are meant to be shaped and reshaped as a company grows. I mean, what's the point of holding on to a value that is no longer feasible or practical to follow in the new world?

As marketers, should we be given the authority to break values and seek better positioning for our brands? What do you think?

Eunice Olsen - Redken's First Official Spokeswoman

2008-02-20T08:17:00.000-08:00

Caught sight of news of Eunice Olsen being chosen as the spokeswoman for Redken in Singapore from Marketing Interactive. A press statement issued by L'Oreal Singapore said Olsen was the perfect choice with her graceful sophisticiation and perfect marriage of brain, beauty, attitude and style.

This kinda made me wonder, what goes into the criteria for selecting a face of a brand? For the Redken brand, I don't think Eunice Olsen is the first person that comes to my mind as a spokesperson. When selecting a brand's spokeperson, do we want to appeal to the masses or stay true to the brand's character and personify the brand?

I guess it's really a tough choice. Personally, I feel that the selection of the person must take into consideration what the targeted consumers are looking for. I think many people are not able to relate Ms Olsen to Redken, at least not to me. And if the relationship isn't there in the first place, the effect of the spokesperson is immediately diminished.

Another reasoning that I have came up with on why I don't seem to particularly like the choice by Redken is because Ms Olsen isn't a "pop" culture face. I associate her with Ms Singapore, a Nominated Member of Parliment, someone with a more serious profile to her name. I immediately thought of Takuya Kimura as the face of Gatsby. The appeal is there. He is a cool popstar with star appeal, he uses wax, and he is Japanese. The draw is definitely there for people to buy Gatsby products, with Kimura as the face of Gatsby.

As marketers, I guess we often face the difficult situation of choice. Between what is a boring norm and a daring breakaway. But fortune favours the bold, and maybe Redken could just be spot on this time round.

Online Adverting - The Sequel

2008-02-18T07:55:00.000-08:00

This is a follow up from my previous post about Online Adverts.

Today, while on MSN, at the bottom of the window displayed the words " Discover the NUS difference for yourself. Visit joinus.sg " Then while I was on Facebook, this large and rather noticeable ad by NTU caught my attention at the side.

Guess the competition is really tough these days among the Universities. They are indeed spending their budget wisely on targeted spots where the youths are most likely to visit. But what's the click through rate? And how effective are these adverts in pulling the top students to the local universities?

Honestly, I think if I were one of the target consumers, I might be abit put off by the Universities' overenthusiastic approach to invade into my private life. haha.

Then again, I can't help but applaud NUS and NTU's efforts in making their advertising count as much as they could. Now Now, where is SMU? guess they are trying to be different yet again. looking forward to another exciting campaign by them.

Online Adverts - How effective are they?

2008-02-17T03:26:00.000-08:00

While surfing on Soccernet, an advert caught my eye. The words "Our Army, The Decisive Force" flashed across the top of the webpage (Notice the black banner in the picture above). Not that I was any tempted to click on it, but a question popped in my head : Just how effective are these adverts?

Well, maybe it's the organisation in question here that is doing the marketing which is causing some uncertainty. But seriously, what's a ad meant for Singaporean males doing on an international Sports website?

No doubt, Soccernet could be one of the most popular website visited by the Singaporean males species for the latest on the world's favourite sports, but what is the ROI on the advert? I really wonder.

This instantly reminded me of a recent report by Fournaise Marketing, on the effectiveness of Global Marketing. It was found that almost 65% of B2C marketing spend has no effect on the consumers at all. According to Jerome Fontaine, CEO and Chief Tracker for the Fournaise Marketing Group "our report shows that 70% of Asian marketers are still not tracking the effectiveness of their spending at all,"

A further navigating on the Group's website led me to a discussion on the effectiveness of digital ads. Mr Fontaine certainly brought out the woes of digital ads over here. He seem to suggest that marketers have to keep a close eye on the figures that digital ads are generating.

Hmm, will tracking really solve the problem? I guess the more important issue here is to hit the ads at the places where consumers can relate to it most. Serve the Army on a soccer website? I don't think so.

goodpurpose: Edelman's brand of social marketing

2007-12-08T23:20:00.000-08:00

Edelman and StrategyOne (their research arm) did a finding in October 2007 about what consumers' views on good causes and what they thought about brands and social purposes.

The Study
Across nine countries (Brazil, US, India, China, Japan, Italy, UK, Canada, Germany), 5600 consumers revealed their attitudes about social purpose, the actions they take on their personal beliefs, and the role of brands

Findings
56% of consumers are involved in good causes.Clear momentum around social purpose.

One third of consumers are unaware of any brands involved in good causes.

1. Consumers are more involved than ever in social action.
88% of consumers surveyed feel it is their duty to contribute to a better society and environment, and 83% say they can personally make a difference.

78% of consumers like to buy brands that make a donation to worthy causes.

2. Consumers will pay more for and evangelise good cause brands
57% of consumers have no problem with brands that support good causes and make money too.

70% say they would be prepared to pay more for a brand that supports a good cause they believe in.

When choosing between 2 brands of same quality and price, a social purpose is what would most affect consumer decision (41%), ahead of design & innovation (32%) and brand loyalty (26%)

Over half of consumers (55%) would help a brand promote its products if there was a good cause behind it.

56% are more likely to recommend a brand that supports a good cause than one that does not.
Consumers want proof of causes and the positive effects - they want a ROI (return on involvement): they need to know a good cause is successful in bringing about real change!

3. Environmental marketing is the new bottom line; other social issues such as health equality are tracking very strongly with consumers as well.
Protecting the environment (92%) is the top cause that consumers personally care about. The rest are enabling everyone to live a healthy live (90%), reducing poverty (89%), and equal opportunity to education (89%).

4. Brands need to communicate their social purpose credentials more effectively.
Brands are not getting enough credit for the social causes that they are already doing.

Top 2 prompted brands in each country associated with a good cause: Body Shop, Dove, Coke, Nike. Note that these are all global brands, with promise of quality.

For unprompted responses: Brands tend to be more localised for eg in Germany, it's Krombacher beer and in UK, Tesco.

5. Word of mouth is the most credible communication on causes
The Internet is important in this aspect.

In many countries, consumers are sharing information on good causes at least once a week. That is a very high frequency!

6. Brands have the opportunity to involve consumers on a deeper level in social purpose by 'making it easier to do good'
The main barriers for brands to get consumers more involved in their cause is time and money.
Brands need to find easy solutions for these barriers.

Consumer support causes and brands that benefit their local community.

The real challenge for brands is to break the awareness and informed barrier, before action and loyalty of consumers take over to spread the word of good purpose!

A few good examples of brands using the knowledge of goodpurpose
Rama, a brand in the German market for over 80 years, which put social purpose at the heart of their brand. Ambition to support families not only with their products but with something that was very important to them in their daily lives. The lack of childcare was found to be a major issue among families with a research study done with mothers, experts and the media. Mums are not able to go back to work if kids are below 3 due to state provided childcare regulations.
Wasn't fast enough to type out everything, read this PDF file for more details!

http://www.goodpurposecommunity.com/pdf/goodpurpose_Rama%20In-Depth_Interview.pdf

Marks and Spencer's Look behind the Label Campaign
http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/node/n/43452031

The Body Shop
http://www.thebodyshopinternational.com/Values+and+Campaigns/

The People are Watching and Expectations are high.
Evolution isn't perfect, it stumbles forward.

Conclusion
85% of consumers willing to change brands/ consumptions habits to make tomorrow's world a better place.

Mutual Social Responsibility is next key step in connecting consumers with brands via social purpose.

Return on Involvement is new metric.

Brands need to create POWERFUL OWNABLE IDEAS out of a social purpose platform to differentiate and rise above the clutter (e.g. Dove Real Beauty + self esteem)

Word of mouth, social marketing and new non-traditional channels are key to bringing a social purpose concept to life in a world of attention deficit disorder and 24/7 communications.

Social areas to explore
1) Cross Cultural understanding
2) Education/Arts and Culture
3) Environment
4) Human Rights/Civil Rights
5) Personal and Public Health
6) Poverty and Hunger
7) Self Esteem/ Self worth

Purpose as the 6th P in the marketing mix
Purpose,People, Price, Promotion, Product, Place

My own personal take:
Indeed, mutual social responsibility is the next big thing in brand marketing. But how feasible is it here in Singapore? I think Singaporeans in general are brought up in such a way that they are more concerned about their own livelihood and chasing after their aspirations. Often, they do not pay too much attention into such social causes. So maybe, this initiative may not work too well in Singapore's context.

However, having said that, I believe brands can leverage upon their appeal to get some social initiatives going. Let's take recycling in Singapore for example. I believe the recycling initiative by the government has been going weak for many years now. You often see all those big recycling bins for plastic bottles, cans, paper around, but how effective are they? I really doubt it has done much in the recycling efforts of the nation.

Now, imagine a big brand comes along and take on this social purpose of recycling and saving the environment, I believe it will have a greater impact than the government-led ones.

Source: http://www.goodpurposecommunity.com/