Virtual Crossroads

The G Word!

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 02:10:00 +0000

This one of those Aha! moments when you're standing in the kitchen, waiting for the milk to boil so you can put in the tea leaves and get on with your Sunday.

Among all the mundane thoughts swirling around my head like the dizzy birds, I wondered how much I have changed, as a consumer, in the past few years. And with every passing year, the change has been even more radical. It was exactly two years back when I started a new job, and each passing year I have become even more particular about the stuff I buy. And with every month's salary, I march towards becoming a little more of the person I imagine to be.

Now that I think about consumer products and consumer marketing - how do people usually define their consumers aka TG? In many a case studies and briefs we define him or her as someone between 25-30 years, for instance.

Hold on, is 25 the same as 26 or 27 or 29? Hell no.

I would hate it if someone treated me like a newbie, 25 year-old at work. Certainly, normally people would mind.

Funny, if we hate it so much, how we succumb to laziness and generalize to keep things simple.

(Imagine - how much you can customize with advance targeting features, only if we didn't Generalize).

Facebook Want Button - The Tool for tracking Purchase Intent, Product Recommendations & E-commerce!

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:47:00 +0000

Do I really want whatever I want?

Well, that's another quesiton. But now you can really want stuff and make your sentiments very clear on Facebook! Facebook has been testing the Want button, that goes beyond the like and makes it one-step closer to making the statment - Social Media Works for your Business.

What this means for fellow marketers:

1. Hard Measure of Purchase Intent: That's the magic number marketers are tracing to make all their digital activities link to sales or sales intent. They WANT this. Right now, after every digital execution, a separate research is carried out to show ROMI of all the moolah that was spent.

Now picture this, with every thing on Facebook, as little as posting a picture of your latest variant launch, you can measure the desirability. What do you with this desirability index?

Can you turn it into a more sophisticated CRM program?
Can you make your sampling activity go beyond XX numbers of samples distributed and make work harder?
Can you show a correlation between want & sales?
Can you convert visitor on your website one step closer to buying your product after seeing the no. of wants?

Answer to all of the above, is YES.

2. Insights, Insights, Insights, Galore: So sweet is the power of data!
Have you ever mapped consumer journey against Facebook? Man, this is help to craft a purchase funnel on digital you have always wanted. Especially in Asia, where eCommerce has still not blossomed to household products. Your consumer, is no longer a stranger.

3. Facebook Ads Get Smarter, Still: What Facebok does with all the Want data can well be imagined. Ads can get targeted based on people you really want your products and their friends of friends. Can this ripple effect lead to you make your product the most "desirable" in different circles?

4. New Claims, More Product Recommendations: Brands need to move beyond hardcore product claims to social claims, as I call it, claims based on people's behavior. This maybe purchase or desire to purchase. Remember claims like the "Fastest selling Tea Tree Oil - 1 sold in 11 minutes". Now, picture this - "The Most Wanted Men's Cleansing Brand in Philippines" - now does that sound good? Does it help make your brand desriable? Can it lead to more sales if you display this at Point of Sale?

You know the answer to all of the above. With Facebook being more accountable for people's money, this is one of the things to come to measure the correaltion of your digital spend to your business objectives.

Google Analytics Plays the Sitar! Plus, more about Gmail Tap and Chrome MultiTask !

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 10:55:00 +0000

This morning, when I logged into my Google Analytics dashboard to see how by blog is performing I was surprised to see a little music icon. Clicked, and voila, my page views are singing in a soft symphony of the sitar (or the piano)!

Thinking of the rationale behind it, (assuming it's not an April Fool's Joke, which it is!), it's a pretty cool way to start off your day, if you're into digital marketing or analytics. Let the numbers sing! Haha! ;) Sit in the next room and listen to your Website Analytics. Or, better still, download the track and listen to it on the way to work! Wacky! Enjoy the video, not brilliant, but makes the point, by a fellow blogger.

And What's Gmail Tap and Chrome Multitask?

Gmail Tap is based on a morse code solution to help you write mails and text messages anytime, anywhere, without worrying about all the 26 letters! Watch video here.

Chrome Multitask turns your browsing experience into a socialable event, where you and your friend can together browse on the same computer, or you can explore your ambidextrous browsing skills using two cursors. Check it out here!

Here's to a happy April first!

Draw Something Stops Growing: Four Things Zynga Can Do By Being Social-By-Design

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:18:00 +0000

Yesterday, the news was breaking that the recently acquired OMGPOP app Draw Something is no longer attracting new users. Business Insider reported:

Bad news for Zynga, which just acquired Draw Something developer OMGPOP: Draw Something is no longer acquiring new daily players at the lightning-fast pace it once was, according to AppData.
In fact, it's stopped growing altogether.

As a former journalist, I feel several online content portals are desperate to create "breaking news" and "make it trend". (#ridiculous). I picked this story up when I decided to write a post about how Draw Something can actually become bigger than it is.

Draw Something is very powerful at the core of its idea. It's making friends share personal drawings with other friends. The app makes the user do a unique action. It's not - please water my plants, send me more ammunition, send me more token etc. It's a unique, personal piece of content that is produced every time a user initiates a game. That's a big break through - it's a stream of personalized, customized, unique content! And it can become bigger by using Social By Design Principles.

Social By Design Mantra #1

MAKE PROFILES VISIBLE: Learning from Zynga games - Draw Something should allow the users to check their friends total points, total drawings and total correct guesses. When in Farmville and Cityville, users are allowed to visit their friends farms or cities, they get to know more about their friends and they even compete with them on the friends ranking leaderboard.

I am playing games with my bosses, and I am very keen to know what's their success ratio! (And I do want to beat them and publish it on facebook #wickedsmile)

Social By Design Mantra #2

FEEDBACK MECHANISM: Some of my friends (blessed with styluses) make awesome drawings. I want to compliment them. I want to WhatsApp them and say - Hey ! I loved this!! But can I do that - nope! Imagine, after guessing or failing to guess a drawing - you can give stars and rate it - Fabulous or Rotten Tomatoes To You - and to either compliment or poke fun at your friends - you could share it on Facebook - to drive conversations. Simple, doable, fun and FREE PR! ;)

Social By Design Mantra #3

DRAW SOMETHING GALLERIES: What the App successfully does is it shows some "popular" drawings of Lady Gaga etc. It will be great to make a gallery where users can browse, get inspiration and even share the ridiculous drawings on Facebook! If it is ridiculous it has a higher chance of getting shared and there are more ridiculous artists without styluses!

Social By Design Mantra #4

USING THE DATA TO WOW ME (and make money from me): I have 250 points on Draw Something. On an average, I have made 80-100 drawings.

Do I want to see the drawings? YEEEESSSS! Can I? Nope.
If Draw Something told me when I reached 500 points, I can choose any 5 drawings, make a collage and get a free printed mug, would I continue to play? YES!
Would I pay for the mug or gift it with all my drawings I made for my friend as a personal birthday present? YES!
Would I like to see a cool video of my photos? YES!
And would I share my great "modern art" on facebook - YES!

Here's hoping for more Drawings.

P.S. Zynga, if you're interested in hiring me, I'm here! ;D
P.S. : For publishing houses - explore this story angle - Draw Something leads to increase in sales for Styluses ;)

TV Drama 'Touch': Resonates With Digital Serendipity?

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 10:40:00 +0000

It's an ancient Chinese belief that an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.

Spooky? Rings a bell with the whole "Six Degrees of Separation" Theory? (somebody says its only two degrees now!) I think it's an amazing premise to start narrating your story. The new TV Drama Touch, starring Keifer Sutherland is about him and his son Jake, who connects everyday events with numbers, in a sort of in-between world, not talking or physically connecting with anyone else.

A scene from new TV Drama Touch

Martin Bohm is a widower and single father who is haunted by an inability to connect to his emotionally challenged 11-year-old son Jake. But when Martin discovers that Jake can predict events before they happen, everything changes. Source: IMDB

Is it only me, or do you also think the young kid looks like a young Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network! =)

Going back to where I started, I find the Chinese belief very fascinating. Let's apply it to our world now, just like Touch, we are all about connections. While watching the show, my mind kept wavering to the famous Facebook social connections data visualization, where it showed all personal connections on the social network. The network you have can stretch to cover the whole world if need be - fascinatingly resonates the Chinese proverb.

This is one for the tickles! Top 3 Applications of the Touch "Red Thread" Theory:

1) Social Ads: OMG! Can this be truly serendipitous? I was searching for a wedding venue and I saw this ad of a beautiful church which is liked my ex-boyfriend. Could this be a sign! Should we get back together!!

2) Big Bang Theory: I would love to see Sheldon Cooper make a joke/or apply this stuff in the coming episodes.

3) Use it for Ted Mosby: How I Met Your Mother is just dragging on. Perhaps they can make the girl Asian, link it to the Red Thread Theory, and make this season as #AWESOME and #EPIC as Touch.

When Twitter Introduced Facebook Timeline : Random Idea #612

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:03:00 +0000

It's funny when you talk about Timeline. It is actually something which Twitter owns. The newsfeed on Twitter is what is called the Timeline. And like the name suggests, it shows the most recent stories in your follower network on the site.

Facebook Introducing Timeline

Facebook, during the F8 conference, launched its owned timeline - pretty much, borrowing the name from Twitter. And if you ask anyone today, is Timeline native to Facebook or Twitter, you can assume who will walk with the cake.

The basic idea behind Timeline is - what do I do with all the fabulous data I already have? And how can I possibly collect some more.

Random Though #612:

What will happen when Twitter activates the Timeline according to the Facebook definition.

THREE BIG SHIFTS:

All the past tweets, those thousands of tweets you have ever shared, come to haunt you. - Possible for some brilliant data visualization - by time of the day, by most retweeted, most shared.
Big celebrity hunts: One thing is clear on Twitter - celebs are bigger than brands. And Twitter is an awesome way to speak to these celebs. If Timeline rolls out for Twitter celeb pages and Brands only, it will fun to see what the celeb tweeted when!!! (We cannot get enough of gossip, even if it is a tad bit old!)
Some valuable data: What Facebook gained by introducing Timeline, is they got users to add even more information of themselves. Twitter has very, very basic info. And this revamp maybe an interesting opportunity to get more data and monetise the site with interesting ad units, besides promoted tweets.

How Facebook Ads Can Increase Talking About This Metric To Unprecedented Heights!

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 03:09:00 +0000

There are a couple of things that every Facebook Page wants to do - increase likes and increase engagement. Growing their base and growing the Talking About This metric will be a sure shot way of assuming my Page is doing well and people are loving the content.

The Mechanic - page managers take is Facebook advertising. An ad unit that has a social context to it is just amazing and far more convincing than any other ads. So the result is - more people click on it, your ad performs well because you get your conversions and Facebook Ads becomes more and more profitable. As it has been said time and again, when it comes to Facebook Ads or any other online ad campaigns, CTR is never the metric to look at to measure success of the campaign. (#Notetoself - perhaps should write on this one!)

Now suppose, you run an ad campaign, with some flexible targeting options - your ad will perform decent. And what will be most decent - your talking about this metric. It will climb upto the total number of fans you have on your page, if not more.

Check out my Facebook Page for this experiment: www.facebook.com/readnext

How Is That Possible!?!

It's simple.

Fact#1: Facebook Talking About This metric by default it showing your figures from the last recording week. If you are running the campaign right now, you are seeing the numbers which are taking into account all the clicks you've received from your campaign.

Fact#2: Let's get down to the nuts and bolts. Talking about this - it is the likes, comments and shares on your page that week. If your ad has received over 3000 likes - guess what it is hiking up your engagement rates on your talking about this metric. It maybe a one-time enagagement from the fan - I like your page - but it leads to unexpected rise in your engagement.

And this is reflected in three places - a) your Facebook Ad campaign results; b) Talking About This metric c) the total likes on your page/or your fans if you will!

End effect on Marketer: All happy-happy.

What The Marketer Should Really Do: Look at the engagement after the ad campaign. That's the true number.

While We Wait for Godot: Here's to Social Reading!

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:39:00 +0000

It's been a month that the social Godot - Facebook announced the new emotionally engaging developments on the site - namely the Timeline and social plugins like Netflix, Spotify and the works. Several curious minds followed with changing their accounts into developer accounts after the F8 conference, the rest are still waiting. What's up with that I don't know - perhaps it will strike as lightning as Facebook often does roll-out changes. What research agencies are doing in the meantime is write about how Timeline has reduced engagement rate - well don't think I buy all of the data.

But while we wait, there's already some social activity that's going on, gaining much traction.

Remember the days when there were apps like the Virtual Bookshelf, where you'd stack all the books you've ever read. Plug it in on your blog, on your Facebook page, on Orkut. I know it was very popular with bloggers a few years ago - especially if these bloggers liked reviewing stuff - the fundamental theme of blogging, ain't it. Yeah, I was one of them.

Though this app has died out in popularity today, what remains is the constant need to tell people - hey! I know my news. I'm updated. I read.

Twitter does it, to a great great extent. But it isn't possible to post every article you've ever read on Facebook. What's more difficult is you can always retweet stuff on Twitter without ever actually reading it - but you have to go that extra mile of posting stuff on Facebook after opening the article and then using the social plugins to do the trick. ;) Social currency, we all need more of that, don't we!

Say hello to the Washington Post Social Reader App on Facebook. I've been using it for over a month now and love the interface. I can see what my "influential and intellectual" friends have been upto and actually get pretty cool recommendations on what I should read. For people like me who love the news and want to know what's trending - this app is wonderful. And for those seeking social currency, it won't disappoint! ;)

While we wait for Netflix and Spotify to roll out, I can imagine the power of the social atmosphere - as most movies we watch and most music we listen to, are always almost recommended by our friends!

In Time Review: Much Meat Wasted

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:22:00 +0000

In Time: Good literal visualization of the world where time is money and really innovative implementation of dynamic tattoos that tell you how much time you have left to live. Buying, selling and stealing of time - determine it's supply in the market and it's true value - just like inflation and the stock exchange.

That's enough meat to keep you from leaving the theatre even in a plot that sinks with time!

What amazes me the most - that in a futuristic setting - where one is visualizing a world as "time-bound" as this, some common sensical things are just missing. How can people just steal by holding their hand against another without their consent, no "password protection" - when even the basic feature phones require consent before we push Bluetooth messaging to them. What's funnier - the rich who can live for centuries cannot even device something as silly as that to protect themselves!

How this idea could have been made really big and fascinating like Inception.

My Rating: 2/5

The marriage between Organised & Unorganised Retail

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:02:00 +0000

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove
- William Shakespeare

A perfect marriage is that when the partners do not have to change and the opposites continue to attract each other. Can that be said about two competitive retail formats in the country as well? Organised retail in India is a very small per cent of the industry. If we talk about numbers, then the Indian retail industry is valued at about $300 billion and is expected to grow to $427 billion in 2010 and $637 billion in 2015. Only three percent of Indian retail is organised. That means only that percentage of retailers are operating through a franchise or a cash-and-carry wholesale model.

What retailers have tried to do to attract new customers is communicate in their language. And the best example of this is Kishore Biyani's Future Group. Be it Pantaloons, Big Bazaar or his new home improvement stores HomeTown, he has always communicated to the masses instead of the classes. Which makes sense considering the demographic of the country and the location of stores.

But some recent movements in this organised retail segment, made me wonder, does organised retail need unorganized retail to attract more customers?

Sample this recent trend. And then try answering the question.

Malls renting out to the Unroganized Sector: Thousands of square feet of unused space — The corridors, the huge walkways — in retail terminology, this space has a zero return of investment (ROI). And at a time, when many weak brands are packing up their stores and people are also shying away from spending too much, malls are sending out a message of comfort: Please do visit, we stock the street.

Steet shopping has a positive effect on the customer: joy and also a reassurance that she is getting a deal. And now malls have invited boutique owners, housewives-turned-designers to have their own temporary shop space mela at the five-star zone. Why? Call it the pre-Puja, pre-Diwali shopping festival or a strategic way of attracting more customers. But there is a conflict in principle: the organised giant calling the unorganized lilliputs.

How Malls Benefit:
Unused space rented out. More revenue.
Customers who would not have come otherwise, called in. They might spend more.
Invitation at a time when the whole mall is on sale. August end-of-season. More revenue.
Branding for the mall: More for masses. Not a snooty expensive place.

How Unorganized small players benefit:
Brilliant platform to connect with customers.
Great ambience.
Builds their brand. They are selling at a five-star mall, after all.

The conflict:Organised retail counting on unorganized retail
When mall is on sale, the price war is on. Customer gets more choice.

The winner: Both I feel. But malls have the upper hand. They control how they market these melas inside and outside.

Now In 3D (Marketing)- Doo-Daa-Dew

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 19:24:00 +0000

3D is fast becoming the new selling proposition for a lot of things. Movies, for instance, is the first thing that comes to mind when talking about 3D. I was reading this post about 3D movies and why they were actually made into 3D. An easy guess is the action, the climax, some rib-tingling scenes which only 3D technology could do justice to. Another interesting insight was that many of these movies had less talk and more action. Take Wall-E for instance, which is ranked at the number 1 spot of most expensive 3D movies to be made. Wall-E could have been a drag, if not for the setting and the animation, to which 3D brought an element of excitement.

But in recent times, Harry Potter (with the first 20 minutes in 3D!), Despicable Me (I loved it, but was it a "3D movie"?), Street Dance 3D (Why??), were sold on the 3D ticket. A fast catching trend for some quick premium pricing.

3D has now moved to new platforms - automobiles, magazines, billboards.

Toyota Time Square Launch:

While launching its new hybrid CR-Z, Toyota came up with 3D advertising, immersing passers-by in the promotional activity.

Was 3D relevant in this, you would ask. Yes, it created a buzz, it broke the clutter in the busy Times Square, created scope for the statusphere.

More on the launch on AdAge.

Stop and stare.

It worked. Period.

An after-effect of this advertisement was that people complained the area had become accident-prone! Was the advertising removed? No way!

Who: Anna Kournikova in 3D

Maxim, after Vogue, has launched its first 3D magazine with the tennis star posing in 3D. The issue is due to release in October and comes with a pair of 3D glasses for the readers.

How to Use 3D

To price as premium product: Gives an immediate edge to price your product higher than competition.
To launch an exclusive product: Like an exclusive campaign, an exclusive eyewear, accessory.
Create differentiation: Breaks through the clutter. Makes your product stand out.
Have a limited period offer: Exclusive for a short-term period. Riding on the 3D wave, while it lasts.

Is the 3D wave to last?

The Movies: Examining the figures, it is believed that 3D movies have generated 33% of total box office revenue since the release of Avatar last December in the U.S. This shows that customers are still buying into the argument.
But if you look closely, the number of 3D movies that are releasing are also on the increase, which would make the revenues being earned by these type of movies only higher.

Looking at this chart, which shows the total number of 3D movies to be released, one can imagine how many are betting on this wave. From September 2010 onwards, there is one 3D movie releasing every week.
That means, if on an average there are four movies releasing every week according to Movie Insider, 25% of these are 3D movies. On some good weeks, it could be 50%.The sites show till 2012, the wave is to continue and movies in 3D will continue to have a high share of the weekly releases.

The TVs: 3D TV is catching on with consumers. There are many debates about the cons of 3D TV as it will require glasses, is more expensive, might not excite TV viewing at all times, might soon turn into a bane than a boon. Investing in this technology might not be a mass-centric move and though early adopters will jump onto the 3D-wave, if this actually penetrates into the masses, is a question that only time will answer.

Bringing it to Innovative Products: My point-of-view is till is has the capacity to create a buzz, use it. Till it has the capability of breaking the clutter, it should work. Keeping it exclusive, is keeping your money safe and jumping on the wave. But making it permanent is swimming in dangerous waters, 'cause when it falls, it might drown the revenues.

So, what's Do-Daa-Dew Mantra?
It's simple. Doo - is an action word, Daa - is big in Chinese and dew - is the original brand name whose tagline resembles my fake one, which was created just to make you think!

For 3D technology:
do: ride the wave
daa: while it's big
dew: copy till it lasts!

Toodle Doo!

4Ps & A Neuromarketing Test: Media & FMCG 'Suit Up'!

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 21:56:00 +0000

The traditional ammunition is not enough. Marketers are suiting up with more science and more numbers to make their products and strategy - legendary!

Marketing is defined by the basic 4Ps of Product, Place, Price and Promotion, not to mention the several others that are fighting for official recognition! Neuromarketing as a research tool is fast gaining acceptance now, and what's exciting are the two diverse applications I read about recently - in publications and FMCG.(An older post on neuromarketing here)

Having been a journalist, reading about the use of science in the field of pure arts, does make one curious. Just a week ago, Newsweek had done an experiment to increase profitability, of course, and the method of research of neuromarketing.

What they did was created three sample covers for their August edition and put it through a test. They made a set of consumers go through a neuromarketing exercise - the basic agenda being which of these covers excite them the most. An electroencephalograph machine was used to measure brain waves of the subjects in the test. It then rated the results on a scale of 1 to 10, based on factors like memory activation and emotional engagement.

Any guesses which of these won? The first one. So, what could Newsweek possibly conclude- the red lettering worked, the uncluttered single image worked, and the curiosity levels increased with the revelation of some fabric and the tag line that went with it - Has the fabric of the universe unravelled. A teaser, a bait for the readers to pick the magazine up! Result - Sales increased by 12%.

Coming to FMCG, how can neuromarketing be applied here? Lays did a simple experiment last year. The objective was to increase sales of its baked chips among women. They conducted a neuromarketing study and made changes in the packaging and promotions. It is interesting to know that 50% of their consumers were actually men and they wanted to grow the pie among the female audience.

What the studies revealed :

Women's brains are more developed than men's in understanding complex advertising - give them more text and they will read
Women don't want to feel guilty - give them proof of the healthy snack. Recommend it, to make her guilt-free!
Women won't jump into a pile of chips display

Basically, the conclusion Sex-and-the-City-like characters will do to do all the talking! And they came up with the following change in packaging and communication. Results: Market grew by 8% and so did the sales.

Seeing different industries use it, only increases the credibility of this medium! Will surely be interesting to see how other FMCG brands or other media houses "suit up" to use this tool.

Shake it:Like Toyota & Levi's

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Two products. Two industries. Innovate to create two Font Types!

Was curiously studying some new trends and advertising and saw something common between both Toyota and Levi's. Not enough can be said about augmented reality yet - it is all about the "touch points" and the movement. And now Toyota and Levi's have come up with ways of letting you customize their moves.

Toyota IQ - launched a couple of months ago - was nominated for the Cannes Gold for creating a whole new font face. Yes, the movement of the car - it claims to be as nimble as that of a mouse.

The strategy, according to brandchannel.com: was to demonstrate its incredible agility, the new Toyota iQ is the first car in the world ever to create an entire font from A to Z.

How they did it: Two typographers and a pro racer collaborated to design a font using the IQ. The car movements were tracked using a custom software.

The result: The resulting iQ Font, distributed via a link to Toyota's website from the Vimeo page, was downloaded over 24,000 times. All this with 0 euro media budget.

Check out this video which demonstrates how IQ as a concept emerged and in action:

Now, how is this connected to Levi's? Well, movement it is. It's news that Levi's recently launched its new range of jeans that fits snugly for different body types - the new curves range. Now, what Levi's Japan did was launched an interesting campaign where 30 ladies shake their booties at three-storey store window, watch video here. What most people fail to notice is through the hip movement the ladies are actually spelling out letters!

Now, to create immersion, the Japan website of Levi's allows you to type in whatever letters you want - and gives you an innovative hip shaking font - made by the ladies! What's more you can share it on social media and create the free, ever reliable buzz for the brand. Shake it for yourself here!

Loyalty: Behavioral, Attitudinal or Artificial?

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:34:00 +0000

I meant to write this during my short stay back home -- short the stay might have been, it however did not impact the long hours of shopping I indulged in. To reduce the burden of my wallet, i gave away five loyalty cards to my mother, two of which I had been "worthy enough" to procure during my recent shopping expeditions.

These cards are supposed to build loyalty and it's understood that the sales team would have a target to make enough sales or converts or loyal customers. So the objective here is build in more "accountable loyalty" based on sales volume of one customer at one unique shopping expedition that meets their convertibility criteria. If this behavior is repeated enough times, only then would it result into an attitudinal loyalty, which may give way to behavioral loyalty.

Attitudinal loyalty is more visible in developing markets for a particular brand or developing customers -- more new customers. Growing attitude, receptiveness, perception towards brands like KFC in newer markets like India for instance.

Behavioral loyalty is more visible in developed markets or extremely loyal customers -- say how frequently a consumer is behaving towards making purchases of a brand like Coca Cola.

Artificial loyalty is what I feel loyalty cards tend to evoke, with honest intentions of shifting it towards behavioral. The case is - if all stores start offering loyalty cards, then the differentiation is zilch. And what they build is only artificial loyalty -- measurable in loyalty count, not reflecting in sales.

In a rather optimistic view, it could only mean to bring all into the artificial loyalty zone and then shift them up. So cards should be used as a bait to make customers feel artificially loyal and then build an urge for them to move themselves up the ladder.

Question: how many of them would want that? After being a loyalist to so many brands do I, as a consumer, have the urge to do so? Have I become indifferent or numb or even perhaps irritated of being a member of your service

A complex call, but as a consumer, I know, I my "loyalty status" is 66% "artificial".

Robert Vs Robert: Who's Bigger Bucks on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Tue, 18 May 2010 05:30:00 +0000

Which Robert is more popular? Pattinson or Downey Junior? Who should you put your money on when it comes to social media marketing?

Say, if you are advertising on Facebook, how would you know what is the value of a Facebook page?

If one can quantify that then it would be easy for site owners to place ads and earn cool revenues. Vitrue, a social media management company, that believes in Think Global, Act Local, Go Social, has developed an approach to measure the value of each social media page in dollar terms.

It uses what it calls the Crawl-Walk-Run Approach that can help brands understand the true potential of social networks.

Crawl By simply creating or improving a brand page.
Walk Building applications to deepen brand engagement
Run Deploying campaigns including sequencing specific offers and exclusive content with more robust applications

One of their applications is the Social Page Evaluator. To understand how it works, I opened a page on Facebook - The Twilight Page.

On pasting the URL on the Vitrue Evaluator, one can get the following:

So one can get the current worth and the potential worth of this page on Facebook.

But is that enough to decide whether to place your bets on this page? What about competitive pages like for instance of Iron Man2 or Sherlock Holmes. Getting a comparative study is essential.

So now you get a comparative and comprehensive study of where to place your money or your ad. The potential trends also suggest where the graph is moving.

What Page Owners Should Do:
-Have more posts a day
-This will mean more wallposts on member pages
-Which will mean more visits
=Improved Ranking

What an Advertiser Should Do
--Study Trends
--Cross Analyse
--See Page ranks on other sites like Google

Who could tell that a girly, old-school and sensitive vampire could beat the mighty, modern gizmo freak Iron Man, but so it seems!

Twitter: Show me the Money, At Last!

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:00:00 +0000

There have been stories that this 140-character wonder has made companies in Europe lose to the tune of $2.25 billion/year. High on opportunity losses. Now it is time for it to earn something from real sources. After CoTweet, Twitter is all set to carry PromoAds.

Where it works:

Goes with the Twitter image of 140 characters. Consistent with brand image of the company.

Allows keyword search, geo-dimension searches: in the future if not now. This would help a lot of content to be shared with tweeters, including allowing companies to run instant gratification promotions based on locations. Tweets could replace SMS-based promotions or at least be a substitute in some cases: which companies would love to explore!

Allows tweeters to re-tweet a PromoTweet. All they need is companies to get wacky and start fun promotions! If they like it, they spread it. What better than an instant Word-of-Mouth advertising.

Less-of-spam-ads: only one tweet ad comes on the screen at a time. Challenge would be to manage it on Wap mobile applications. And even managing the ads for the non-iPhone users.

Twitter can easily estimate what percentage of its users are using new generation phones and focus these ads to them in a better way -- let the imagination run wild a little bit. Perhaps, interactive tweets. More conversation. Easy promos that can be used for instant gratification. Suppose they manage to run a promotweet for only iPhone users, thereby releasing it only in the twitter apps for iphone. This will allow to segment ads for a niche audience. And they can segment it for the masses anyway.

However it may work out -- it gives opportunity for a lot more creativity, a lot more exposure for companies -- and does finally shows the money for Twitter.

The Changing Japanese Consumer

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 06:32:00 +0000

The post-recession Japanese consumer is:

Spending more time in the retail outlets.
Loving the Indian touch-and-feel-before-buy syndrome.
Are more interested to know what a brand means than just the status of the brand.
Are spending more time at home
Are looking for value
Are game for environment-conscious brands

Came across a very interesting article in the McKinsey Quarterly.

Environmental consciousness has been emerging for some time. A survey conducted last year by the global advertising agency J. Walter Thompson found that 51 percent of Japanese consumers are somewhat or much more focused on the environment than they were a year ago; only 7 percent were less focused.

A November 2009 McKinsey survey found that 84 percent of the respondents preferred to buy environmentally friendly everyday consumer products, and that preference is translating directly into business success. Consider, for example, Coca-Cola’s I LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) water, whose selling points include a reduced carbon footprint: bottles are made from 12 grams of recyclable PET3 plastic (rather than the standard 26 grams) that can be twisted and compressed when recycled. I LOHAS is also bottled locally, reducing transportation costs. Less than 12 months after launch, it has become Japan’s top-selling brand of single-serve bottled water.

Another insightful understanding is how Japanese consumers are indifferent to athletic wear with regard to those endorsed by the sports stars. A tough challenge for brands.

Now, branding is now what it means to the company but what value can it add to the consumer. It is back to square one! Brand = status, no more!

FMCG VS Retailers: The Organised Retail Battle

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:12:00 +0000

There was a time when retailers were a friend indeed for FMCG players but there seems to have been a breach of trust in their friendship clause. It all started when retailers like Wal-Mart started their own range of private labels in direct competition to retailers. What started off as Great Value in 1993 and Sam's Choice in 1991 is now set to reign the market shelves, a distinct part of it.

AdAge recently reported that Walmart has taken a decision to the detriment of brands like Glad and Hefty, and this is just the beginging.

Similar decisions are likely to play out across other categories over the course of the year, as Walmart steps up efforts to streamline brand assortments, often to the benefit of its fast-expanding Great Value brand and national brands that survive the vetting.

This must have been a long-term goal while introducing private labels. How to private labels help anyway?

>Higher gross margins
>Easy distribution
>More bargaining power against FMCG players
>Differentiator from other fellow retailers

The Quick-Win Strategy for retailers: Search for a monopolistic brand or a market leader winning the race with a high margin. Then practice backward integration and start manufacturing the product at home. Launch in the ready market!

It has happened: An interesting example would be the apparel segment that emerged in India thanks to retailers like Kishore Biyani. Besides, retail stores that stock international brands are also stocking more of private labels on the shop floor and running deals on the same.

What's the Itch? Relationship issues as conflicts arise in channel distribution. Plus, if this phenomenon fails to take shape, falling back to square one would be a challenge.

And the biggest itch is FMCG players are forward integrating into retail! Recently, Procter and Gamble announced that its online retail store is going to be up to study consumer behavior more closely. It will be a "research lab" kind of set-up to studying buying habits of its loyal customers. Store prices will be initially a flat $5. Targeting the US markets this would help P&G to increase penetration directly into homes and to the customer's shelf.

What it is turning out to be is -- organised retail eating into organised retail's pie!

Reviewing Wake Up Sid!

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:19:00 +0000

It felt I was laughing at myself on the mighty widescreen. And after the interval, it seemed like me, the writer. And I couldn't get enough of Sid and Aisha, and Mumbai. Wake Up Sid is a perfect concoction of innocence, masti, dosti and the city I fell in love with - Mumbai. This simple story touches several chords, and makes you feel, so much at ease.

At points where editors usually snip the scene or directors show the actor rush out, Sid and Aisha stay. They feel. And when there is nothing to say, they stop and think. I have rarely seen silence being treated so brilliantly. The characters are in no rush to finish the scene, it goes at a pace that life goes on in. Sid and Aisha are so natural and do so well in portraying who they are, it seems like you actually know them.

Ranbir, it's his most believable performance and Konkona, excels as always. The parents, the friends, the neighbor and most importantly Mumbai Beats, the magazine. Wow! It was a dream for a creative person. (Deep, deep sigh from the real-life newspaper wallahs).

The director, Ayan, has used no silly background goofy scores - typical in KJo productions - and has narrated his youthful and very simple tale so beautifully. Wake Up Sid has so many fresh moments and some so true. The music is so alive. It's like someone has opened a bag of creativity that so colorful, fresh and reverberating with energy. I wouldn't mind it being a little longer!

Wake up and enjoy while the fun a.k.a. life, lasts! And now I know I am not the only person who like photographing my shoes. ;)

Rating: 5/5

Marketing Mantra: Darwin Says Diverge, Not Converge

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:27:00 +0000

There is shampoo and conditioner.
Some brands introduce a 2-in-1 product: Convergence
One brand created a new category - Hair Serum - to be used after shampoo and conditioning: Divergence
Brand: Livon followed by several others

There is washing powder.
Some brands innovate and add micro-granules to make it a "complete product": Convergence
One brand created a new category - Stain Remover - as an add on to detergent: Divergence
Brand: Vanish

There were creams and more creams.
And innovations were on the same lines promising the world fairness, softness and stuff magical : Convergence
One brand created a stir, taking a stand - fighting 7 signs of aging - for audience 25 years and above: Divergence
Brand: Olay

There were shoes, sandals and sneakers.
Innovations, aplenty backed within the sneaker: Lightweight, air pumps, all-purpose or ultra specialised.
One brand brought school keds back in fashion - nice style, cool colors - for the young and trendy audience: Divergence
Brand: Converse

All these are examples from the recent movements in the Indian market. And as propagated by the Reises in their book The Origin of Brands. A classic for all upcoming marketers, it gives a fresh view on how brands evolve and how they survive like species.

It also takes a fresh look on how companies are losing out by giving the same brand to several new categories. Stretch too far, and you lose out. With a striking image of one jockey trying to ride two horses - it explains how brands are losing by focus by giving everything and missing out on development of their main product.

Red Bull surged by diverging from the regular cola bandwagon to launch an energy drink. Coco-Cola tried to match up with KMX - that's their energy drink. MC Donald's is losing out on sales in America every year and by expanding it's menu from trademark hamburgers to breakfast and the works. Convergence is not helping there where as KFC and Popeye's are continuing to score. Starbucks is continuing to win by focusing on their coffee only.

Coffee bars in India have definitely grown fast and now it is time for some tea. Diverging from the norm, Tea Junction, or the first branded tea chain has started serving to the family audience.

Thinking different, diverging from the conventional and creating new categories: that's Darwin for you, fellow marketers.

How Newspapers Assist In Brand Building (But They Don't Know It Yet)

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:41:00 +0000

It was during the time I was preparing for my MBA interviews that I wondered why can't newspapers be a medium of marketing? I was trying hard to justify why a journalist wants to get into marketing. And after plenty of observing, here's what I found out:

What Readers Think...

If it is in the papers, it must be good - be it tourist destination, a book or soyabean.

Can you imagine, her ad came out in The Telegraph, Times of India etc - it sure must be good. (An average reader doesn't know how the ad department in a newspaper house works.)

Do you believe she was quoted? She must be a great doctor/lawyer/beautician.

Did you see, between the two, their picture got such a big display. They are surely going to rock it this time.

...And What Editors Don't

My story is falling short. I need to fill this space. What should I do? The article is about Mr X. Let me put his picture.

I need more information in this story. There are no pictures I can take. Let me take a general politician/policeman/company's quote instead, although it has no add-value.

I am a reporter and I need to write on XXX topic again this year. Let me just do a quick job and take a few quotes on the phone from my known contacts of the same companies.

I need to choose a 5-column picture and there are these two political campaigns to choose from. The minister is handsome in this one, while here it's the same old boring crowd though they are of more importance. Chuck it, let me take the good-looking one.

There are such few ads. I have only two stories. This is about this saloon doing a new haircut and this is about a website launch. I can use pictures and give it a big display to any I want!

Need a headline. How about: Singh is King, The Tax Effect etc.

All examples of brand building, done unknowingly. And it is even better when the timing is right for the brand. Like the headline "Singh is King" was flashing on the TV and news when Manmohan Singh secured his chair. And the movie that was up for release then.

What Corporates Do

Tata Steel was celebrating it's anniversary/foundation day and it was certain they would be appearing on Page 1 next day. They booked an ad for Page 1 too. The newspaper desk (they usually don't know about the ad details till quite late) had done a full Page 1 feature story on them. And taking the ad, the whole page was about Brand Tata Steel. A coincidence?

A true salesman will surely try and communicate his brand. I was in this branded leather store and the owner struck up a conversation. He soon got to know I work in a newspaper house and he said pick any bag and I will get you a cool discount. For the second bag, I picked, he said - pay me whatever you want and I will take it! He sure got a loyal customer, and some word-of-mouth publicity for his store too.

Footnote

It is true that editors are alerted on how to handle brands in a copy. Whether to mention the car that rolled down the cliff in an accident is a black SUV or a Scorpio. Why? Because with a reach in a million houses, every word in a paper makes news to one person or the other. And some of these words might be a free endorsement for a brand. The readers, after all, are target audiences for some brand and even a news piece might communicate to them. Plus, there is another side too. Reviews. Writers can either write-off a brand (movie/product) or go all out with it.

That's the power of print, online or offline.

Four Clues to The Lost Symbol

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:25:00 +0000

I was telling a friend a few weeks ago that after reading Chinese symbols, I am reminded of my fascination with Egyptian heiroglyphics. And If I had a chance, I would have probably taken up studying symbols like Robert Langdon.

After reading all of the Dan Brown series, it is time to brace yourself for yet another page turner (509 to be precise). The Lost Symbol is releasing today, and it is believed to be the biggest seller after Harry Potter. Stores are remaining open past midnight, web-based stores are heavily discounting, up to 46%, and are even giving away goodies like Da Vinci Code DVDs with pre-bookings. According to some stories, early buyers are being made to sign contracts to not reveal the mystery hovering around the thriller.

What We Know: The story spans over a period of 12 hours in Washington, D.C. It centers around Freemasonry. Langdon is summoned to Washington by his mentor, a Mason named Peter Solomon. When Solomon goes missing and a ghastly clue is left, Langdon is sent on a rapid chase through the concealed passages of the city. He joins forces with Solomon's daughter, Noetic scientist Dr. Katherine Solomon, while matching wits with a tattooed and brilliant villain who is in search of an ancient source of power.

Who were the Freemasons?

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around 5 million, including just under two million in the United States and around 480,000 in England, Scotland and Ireland. The various forms all share moral and metaphysical ideals, which include, in most cases, a constitutional declaration of belief in a Supreme Being.

Freemasonry uses the metaphors of operative stonemasons' tools and implements, against the allegorical backdrop of the building of King Solomon's Temple, to convey what has been described by both Masons and critics as "a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.

Source: Wikipedia
What else is interesting is the slow unravelling of the atmosphere on TV. Here is a look at four clues related to the trail of the Solomon Key.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Smithsonian's Museum Support Center in Suitland, Md. It's the main off-site conservation and collections facility for the National Museum of Natural History (which explains the trays full of deceased squid) and has more than 31 million objects.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

U.S. Botanic Garden, a gem that sits just below the Capitol building

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

House of the Temple, Washington DC located near the White House. Houses information and lodge room for Freemasonry.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

GW National Masonic Memorial

Intrigued? I can't wait to read the book! And till I get my copy delivered, here is more to munch on:

Washington and Masons: Take a tour

A Picture Gallery that takes you through Masonic Washington

The Official Lost Symbol Quiz, hard nut to crack

Selling India in UK, Canada: The Wal-mart Way

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:00:00 +0000

I was reading an interesting story today, UK-based supermarket Asda to stock Asian-wear, including salwars, kurtas, churidars and even saris to cater to the huge South East Asian population (over 3million). Asda is an upmarket retail chain that stocks clothes part of the George at Asda line, named after founder of the Next chain and fashion enthusiast George Davies. A classic example of Darwin's theory of divergence.

What's more interesting is that Asda's parent company, Wal-mart, had run a similar exercise in Canada last year when it had launched a Bollywood Signature collection to cater to the Asian audiences there. And to celebrate the event, it had organised a fashion show too.

And now with Wal-mart's Indian connection with Bharti, the latter is also playing a role in the selection of clothes for the UK-based fashion house.

If you see the event invite for the Bollywood fashion show, it describes the ethnic collection in detail - an introduction those unaware. This small detail, somehow, western brands forget when they enter the Indian market.

An excerpt:

The inaugural line of Bollywood Signature features nine traditional and ornate Salwar Kameez. Salwar Kameez are three-piece suits that come with pajama-like trousers called salwars, a long shirt or tunic called a kameez and a matching scarf called a dupatta. These items can be worn together or paired separately with other clothing. The Bollywood Signature line is authentic, beautifully-made & characterized by rich and vibrant colours. The suits feature hand-sewn embellishments and come in varying cuts and designs

Ice-breakers can be important in brand launches.

When a Journalist becomes an MBA

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:46:00 +0000

Act I. Scene I

A newspaper office in South Mumbai. Situation: A staff crunch. Enter Amit Verma (BA, MBA) who was a sub-editor before joining the course.

Colleagues: (in chorus) Hi Amit! We are so happy to see you. And relieved too!

Amit: Hey you guys! Really? Why is that?

Colleagues: (in chorus, out of tune) Staff crunch, again. Help us out and just do some replies for the I Am Stressed section. You’re a consultant anyway. Please, please!

Amit: Sure, guys! Pleasure!

End of scene.

Act I Scene II

Amit is sitting in a shared cubicle, with a PC, having black coffee and writing. Sadly, our friend has lost his state of innocent writing to some experienced stock MBA jargon.

Q. I have a weird landlord. He always pokes his nose in my business. He wants to know why I come home late, why I don’t get my clothes washed every week and if there are any stains on his precious white marble floor. OK, I agree it’s his marble floor but there is a limit to things. He is my landlord not my mother! I am stressed. What should I do to stay happy all day and keep my pestering landlord miles away?
---Abir M, New Delhi

Seeing that you have written this letter in June, we can come up with a proposal, which can be actionable in this quarter itself. Let’s analyze the situation from your landlord’s perspective first. His target is to monetize his plot of land. Assuming that you are making regular payments every month, his purpose should be solved, and he should actually be channelising his energy into other profitable sources. Since he is not, this is what you could implement to resolve the crisis. You need to have a dialogue with him. Bring it to the table, and tell him that following the "best practices" between a landlord and tenant, it would be most feasible that he does not interfere in your daily schedule. If he tries too hard, just tell him you are right on legal front, and have run out of bandwidth to handle this situation. Cheers!

Q I stay in Ranchi near Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s house. I have started believing I can be him. Actually I can walk like him, talk like him and can even act like him. In fact, I am taller, stronger and sharper (my health drink is the secret of my energy). I have amazing hair and I can play cricket too. But I am stressed. Now I can’t do anything but think about being like Dhoni and earning big money.
--MSD, Ranchi

The power of ideas! But MSD, my friend, what’s your value prop? First you need to analyze your core competencies . What is it that will make a connect with your target audience? Who are they? What are the key drivers of your goal and what are the deliverables? Is it a short-term proposition or you have long term goals? How will you be able to gain traction in your preferred consumer segment? I am all ears, send me a report and we can take talks to the next stage.

Q I am a 24-year-old girl in love with a 26-and-a-half-year-old boy for four-and-and-three-fourths of a year. We go to the same class and I have been observing him from an angle of 43.5 degrees for 75 per cent of the time I have been in love with him. But the response is not the same. Our rate of initiating a conversation is 25:1 (the latter being his initiative). I am stressed. I can do anything hook or crook, to get him to give me that look.
--T.S.R. Krishnamurthy, Hyderabad

Ah! I love the data you have provided. We need to peel the onion further to get to the bottom of the issue. I think you need to make a paradigm shift in the way you conduct yourself. Packaging is very important to grab the attention of your target. Roll out a robust action plan, which is scalable. Also, look at optimizing via network effects of your potential target. May the force be with you!
Amit mails it off, mighty pleased with his performance.

End of Act

Fortune 500 Analysis: ExxonMobil

noreply@blogger.com (Suchi Arya) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Company: ExxonMobil
Rank: 2
Revenue: $442,851m
Profit as % of revenue: 10.2%
Products: Fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals

About ExxonMobil: (Source: NYTimes) Headquartered in Irving, Texas, ExxonMobil markets products around the world under the brands of Exxon, Mobil, and Esso. It also owns hundreds of smaller subsidiaries such as Imperial Oil Limited (69.6% ownership) in Canada, and SeaRiver Maritime, a petroleum shipping company. Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon Mobil) through its divisions and affiliates is engaged in exploration for, and production of, crude oil and natural gas, manufacture of petroleum products and transportation and sale of crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products. ExxonMobil is a manufacturer and marketer of commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics and a wide variety of specialty products. It also has interests in electric power generation facilities. Affiliates of ExxonMobil conduct research programs in support of these businesses. Exxon Mobil Corporation has several divisions and affiliates, many with names that include Exxon Mobil, Exxon, Esso or Mobil. The Company operates in three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemicals. In November 2008, Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. completed the acquisition of the MagTex refined products pipeline system located in Texas, from affiliates of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Biz profile: In February 2007, Exxon Mobil announced that it had made an astonishing $39.5 billion in 2006, making it the biggest company in the world. And today, despite the economic turmoil, Exxon is worth around $375 billion — more than General Electric, Bank of America and Google combined. As a company, Exxon can be the toughest in court battles, which makes it Greenpeace's favorite enemy. And it can be the most generous when awarding its beneficiaries — the shareholders. Last year, it spent almost $20 billion on capital expenditures — and almost $30 billion buying back its own stock. Talking about deals, last year Exxon signed onto a $5 billion project with Saudi Aramco and Sinopec to expand an existing venture in the Fujian province - marking the first fully integrated petrochemical plant in China backed by foreign investment. Recently, it even sold its retail business in Australia to Caltex, which is 50% owned by Chevron, its competitor.

VC Analysis: ExxonMobil is, by far, the greatest company in the petroleum industry, if not the greatest company of all time. Recently, it celebrated its 125th anniversary. Being an old player, there is also something old-school about the company, call it discipline, values, tradition — which percolates into its employees as well. They call it John D. Rockerfeller's tradition, the legacy of Standard Oil of New Jersey (established 1870). Because of a public outcry, Standard Oil was split in 34 companies, two of these were Jersey Standard and Socony, which eventually became Exxon and Mobil, respectively. Both companies came together in a historic merger in 1999, like brothers lost and found again. Often it is said that ExxonMobil is misunderstood and however much it may invest in research of alternative fuel. Currently it is working on creating fuel through algae. Since 1999, it has spent about $125 billion on finding energy supplies around the globe and expects to spend $25 billion to $30 billion each year through 2012 to seek and develop hydrocarbons (petroleum in other words).

VC on Branding: ExxonMobil — one can say that it is grand, reserved, protective, disciplined and alert. It's brand associations, the greatest being with McClaren Mercedes in the Formula One (they recently completed 12 years in partnership), are there, but not screaming out loud on the web. Being a giant that it is, it does attract a lot of criticism, and is also nicknamed the corporate villain. A lot of this is associated with the historic Exxon Valdez Oil Spill on the Bligh Reef in 1989 — which will always impact the brand negatively. But in the end, it is a company, which has a similar standing like Coca-Cola in America — there is history, there is tradition, there is honesty, there is celebration and there is respect.

This is part of the series of analyzing Fortune 500 (Global) companies on Virtual Crossroads (VC). For complete list of analysis please click here.