H x H x H = #Lovemark

Breaking News - Landscape is the new Portrait

In search of marketing innovation for your brand ? 

This Kia car ad has an authentic picture of....well a Kia car (no-less), with a disruptive landscape placement that compelled me to rotate the page to look at it and share it (remarkable).

Innovate, disrupt, and become remarkable, seize the patently  obvious opportunity to be landscape in the portrait world !

An empty box of Roses

 Cadbury's Roses  are a British institution, a delicacy on par with Tea, Worcestershire Sauce and yes Fish and Chips. 

This battered box of chocolates lasted 10 mins in my office before being devoured by my colleagues in Hoffman estates (nr. Chicago, IL). Coincidentally, its near to the US HQ of Kraft  - the new owners of Cadbury.

Dear Kraft US - your market research is complete...launch this brand in the US and I'm sure it will be huge. 

What Marketers can learn from #RoyalWedding, Twitter & #cnntv

Its 4.53 AM CST (10.53 in London) and I've just been woken up by wife's alarm as she dashes to the tv and logs into facebook, while I remain in bed and bleary eyed fumble for my phone and  onto twitter.

The royal wedding proves that when you have a remarkable event and a motivated community people will connect and participate. This ranges from the truly devastating events in Japan, uprisings and political upheavals in the middle east and Africa and well yes who designed Kate Middleton's dress.

Right now the top 10 trending topics (aka brands) are of course all British including #BuckinghamPalace #ClarenceHouse #Royal Wedding and...... #Cnntv !!!???

So, despite the fact it's a (pardon the pun) Royal Flush, CNN have mastered the art and science of motivating their global audience of (consumers) to act, and simply use a hashtag. To be honest, I was expecting to see BBC.

I'm surprised at my own behavior, as well as the masterstroke of CNN. It goes to show that brands which understand their equity and consumer will thrive in this diverse new media web 2.0 age.......

Now ive woken up a bit I'm off to see that dress live...

Stop press.......Its BBC America on the TV....British marketers may once again rejoice.

Marshall Headphones - watch out Bose

In a 'sea of sameness'  - and dominated by plastic see through packaging,  the possession of a distinctive brand equity will help you win.

The genius move by Marshall Headphones is to hide their product in a brown cubed box design.... that provokes instant curiosity. 

My compulsion  to discover - and open the box proved insatiable. Although I like my Bose, I really want these as well! Marshall simply oozes lovemarks status. 

Milwaukee Day

could this go viral ?.... As i write there are 408 facebook fans...and with a population of 600K+  in Milwaukee theres a huge community who have pride in their city and could be part of this movement.... An  example of marketing at its very grass roots. Brand Managers take note

http://milwaukeeday.tumblr.com/

Dream Big at the Langham Place - Kowloon HK

A hotel is a hotel is a hotel right ?......Staying in a 5 star hotel is always a memorable experience but often not remarkable ...as the pampering and door opening is no different to any other premium experience.

The Langham Place in Kowloon Hong Kong is remarkable because It was able to use smart branding and simple communication - executed immaculately to catch my imagination like no other hotel.

....During the evening turnover service you get a chamomile tea in  cup shaped envelope with the message "Dream big".

I like to call this place the Langham Palace , because its more than a place.

The war of Nappies

A brand war between designer brands is underway.....The cool twist is that its happening in the aisle where you find nappies (aka diapers to my US! readers).  A recent visit to my local Target made me realise that the days of boring functional benefit driven (poo catching claims) are long gone in the category. 

The largest collection for this season belongs to Cynthia Rowley with c. 15 styles for Pampers.

Emotive marketing that focuses on child development and peaceful sleep may be taking a back burner for a while. So, are babies getting vain.... or is it actually their parents (rhetorical i know)? But it did provoke the thought  - how do the parents actually justify spending more for stylish nappies vs their regular brethren?

Could the cache of Fashionistas and celebrity style be enough to get parents to consistently invest more in the category? With two huge brands such as Huggies and Pampers slugging it out you know that this will be a battle worth watching.

Quitting Facebook

Will there be a mass revolt to leave Facebook - or will Facebook prove savvy enough to fix the privacy issues and still remain 'sticky' ? This post is my response to a great question raised by Bob Knorpp at the Beancast - you can find his full question here.

Quitting Facebook

This issue is so emotive, hence upfront I must say that I empathize with people's frustrations, however I feel a lot of the sentiment is a function of a lack of understanding of the new digital age that we are in....Here's why.

On a personal level I am shocked at the lack of inhibition and naivety people have when they use a medium such as Facebook. Having seen the expression "get off my Facebook" a few times - it is clear that some people have become desensitized to any implication of 'Liking/following/friending' a person, product, brand, company, or cause, (or poking them for that matter !). Doing this on a platform such as Facebook is intrinsically a public and not a private event.

Change your mindset

You can guess where I am going .......We are proceeding through a digital revolution. With this change (eg akin to the industrial revolution) the old mindset of how things "ought" to be, how people "should" behave, how relationships "should" work no longer hold true. 

Nobody told you the rules have changed !

It is up to the individual to adapt.  Facebook is ultimately a powerful and open communication tool with the world, and if you want to keep things private - you must now resort to meeting face to face, sending a letter or even making a phone call ! Under the digital rules it is fine to change your mind - but up to (you) the individual to know how to undo or unlike or unfriend (and don't be surprised if it is not as easy as you would like it to be !!). Remember the rules changed when 'free' services such as Facebook and Myspace and Twitter installed themselves as indispensable platforms - that have greater reach and influence than tv.

I have amazingly popular and friends who were wise before their time and understood that to retain their privacy and avoid any risk of compromising they simply chose not to: blog, tweet, buzz, digg, or use facebook etc !

Staying Close

On a professional level Facebook (as per blog's, podcasts etc) have been transformative, and are an invaluable listening, learning and connecting tool. Ironically, in some companies these types of website could be on a 'blocked' list - yet are a way to build absolute closeness with consumers.

In conclusion.... I am not quitting Facebook, but I empathize with those that want to.

50% Seth Godin - Books That Provoke Action

Seth Godin's writing provokes me into action each and every time, hence no surprise that 3 of the 6 books I'm recommending are by him, so check them out. Catch the remaining 3 books in my next post.

Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

The test of a good business book are if the core principles stand the test of time. In this case, c.9 years after publication the edict to be 'remarkable' holds truer than ever, (although innevitably) some of the brand examples are beginning to date a little.  Godin comprehensively undermines the traditional mass tv driven advertising business model, and as the sage he is - the social media phenomena has proven his core arguments to be fundemantally true.

 

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Tribes doesn't stray too far from the 2 topics of leadership and avoiding mediocrity. Seth Godin hammers home the vital importance of being remarkable and NOT wasting your resources on simply maintaining the status quo. He makes it plain that mediocrity is equivalent to invisibility and you cant help but love him for pointing that out.

 

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

This book helps educate when you should quit and move on or to stick and push through. Seth keeps it short and focussed so you only need 2 hours or so to absorb the key learnings. Perfect!