BBC News Magazine
Gap says it learnt from its mistake, on the right
Gap clothing company has ditched its new logo after only one week, due to an online backlash. So what are the perils of changing a company emblem?
Cheapy, tacky, ordinary.
Some of the adjectives used by Gap customers to describe its now-axed logo. After less than one week, it has been consigned to the graveyard inhabited by rejected arrows, squiggles and inadvertently offensive corporate emblems.
The clean font, with a small blue square overlapping the "P", prompted such an outcry that the US clothing firm initially enlisted the help of the public in rethinking the design.
But within days it announced, early on Tuesday morning, it was returning to the solid blue box and "GAP" written in a capitalised serif font, a look introduced 20 years ago.
British customers won't have noticed because the change had yet to be implemented in the UK.
But Gap isn't the first company to learn that messing with one's visual identity is a risky business. So what did it do wrong, and what other logo makeovers have come under fire?
Gap, 2010
For a few days, it was goodbye to the 20-year-old solid blue square and the capital letters, hello to Helvetica and a small blue patch.
Continue reading the main story
Other troubled logos
New logos like London 2012 and Cornwall Council, which was later ditched, can cause as many problems as revamped ones
'Don King' logo plan is scrapped
Gap scraps new logo after outcry
Last week, unveiling the new design, Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, said it was more contemporary and current, honouring the "heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward".
But after a slew of criticism, much of it on Facebook, the company promised to take on board customers' own suggested logos as it reconsidered the emblem.
Days later, the purveyor of preppy fashions folded, admitting its mistakes in not consulting its customers first, and reverted to the original.
Gap is trying to change its stripes without changing the product offering, says marketing expert Craig Smith.
"Where marketers often go wrong is they think they have identified an opportunity for the brand to evolve and become something else, become more modern, and they think they can shortcut this by changing the visual identity, and carry the customers with them.
"It's a fundamental error because customers may not be ready to go with you. The product positioning has to change first, then the logo should be the last thing."
More Helvetica
My personal feelings are that the typeface is fine, says award-winning logo designer Jon Pink of J Pink Design.
"The letter forms in lowercase have an attractive quality to them and the simplicity is refreshing. I think if that was really a complaint, there would be similar complaints regarding other famous logos which utilise Helvetica in their logos, like American Apparel, [US homewares retailers] Crate&Barrel, Jeep, Panasonic, British Gas and 3M.
"However the addition of the blue square seems to be hated on a united front - it just looks cheap, tacky and very dull. So whilst including some connection of the original logo makes perfect sense in business terms, this illustrates perfectly that logic and reason can play second fiddle to gut instinct."
BP, 2000
BP went from shield to flower in 2000...
In 2000, BP unveiled a new greener logo, replacing the shield with a green, white and yellow flower-shaped one. At the same time, it adopted the slogan Beyond Petroleum.
The move cost £4.5m ($7m) in brand research, with tens of millions more dollars to be spent supporting the change.
Environmentalists accused the firm of spending more on the logo than on renewable energy.
But it was 10 years later when the dangers of adopting a "green" emblem were clear, says Mr Smith.
...but the logo was subverted during protests in 2010
"They've only learnt the error of their ways with the Deepwater Horizon crisis, because you can't pretend that a fossil fuel company is in any sense an eco-friendly brand.
"You immediately lay a trap for yourself. Since the crisis, lots of people online have been corrupting the logo."
The lesson there is that you can't pretend to be something that you're not, he adds.
Tropicana, 2009
Last year, fruit juice firm Tropicana dropped its famous orange and straw illustration from its cartons in the US, in favour of a glass of orange juice, a move that sparked countless complaints and criticism from customers. The brand's owner, PepsiCo, relented and went back to the orange.
The glass of juice on Tropicana cartons was short-lived
"The 2009 redesign was meant to contemporise our graphics and, as a result of that, we learned just how passionate consumers are about our brand," says Tropicana's Gina Judge, in an upbeat assessment of the miscalculation.
"A group of very loyal Tropicana fans told us they loved our straw in orange imagery, so we brought that icon back to the packaging."
The new look made the brand look ordinary, says Mr Smith. "For a loved, long-standing household brand there is no such thing as a successful logo overhaul - the only triumph is subtlety.
"For each of the six decades that Tropicana has been a fridge and family staple, its visual identity should have been refreshed. If you unveil a revolutionary redesign, expect your customers to revolt."
In contrast, says Mr Smith, a brand like Heinz has managed to change its logo many times over the years but in such a subtle way that no-one really notices.
BT, 1991
British Telecom's piper was introduced in 1991 and lasted 12 years, but at the time he was widely ridiculed, both for the £50m price tag and the way he looked like he was knocking back a yard of ale. He was preceded by, and later followed by, more conceptual designs.
The piper soon became a fixture on British streets
"I think BT were trying to visually embody a human, almost personal element through the piper image," says Mr Pink.
"He is listening and communicating at the same time which would bode well with BT at the time. There is no doubt that depicting a human figure would also help the company achieve a more personal image, perhaps with more focus on customer service than it had before, but the style and pose were its failing points."
The colouring, replacing a purple and yellow "T", was trying to reinforce the British element, he says.
"Once a business has established its brand positioning amongst the general public, it is often the logo that is seen to embody that branding and therefore acts as the visual connection between consumer and business much like we connect a person's face with his personality.
"In fact that is a good analogy to logos and brands - if we think of a brand being someone's personality and the logo being someone's face it makes it easier to see why as humans we like familiarity and how breaking that connection can cause confusion and puzzlement."
Conservative party, 2006
When David Cameron ditched his party's hand-held blue torch for a scribbled tree, former party chairman Lord Tebbit described it as "a bunch of broccoli".
From torch to tree
Others said it looked like Mr Cameron's child had drawn it, says Mr Pink, and the softer colour palette was far removed from the very staunch red, white and blue of the old logo.
"I actually feel that criticism was unfair and that this is one of the more thought-out logo revamps of the last decade. Such a sharp change in direction helped David Cameron to distance himself from Lady Thatcher, but also helped the party appear more relaxed and environmentally conscious.
"The oak tree is also a symbol of strength and stability - both of which are great values to portray for a political party.
"Logos are like anything else that has been created- they are very subjective, so drastic changes will always split opinions, but this is one instance where I feel the naysayers have been proven wrong and the designers right."
Below is a selection of your comments
What a weak response from Gap. The old logo is tired, dated and desperately in need of a refresh. The new logo looked fresh and innovative. The public invariably take time to warm to new visual identities and businesses need to stand up and defend the need for change. Alas, not so in this case.
Graham Newsom, Chessington, England
People don't want drastic changes in anything - that's the lesson. Be it relationships, politics, price variations or weather - it brings a knee jerk reaction. And with social media putting raw power in the hands of users, brands need to plan their moves very well.
Rajasekar Raju, Chennai, India
Think the original GAP logo has become a worldwide icon so the right decison has been made. Who can forget the idiocy of the ethnic tail designs on BA planes fiasco. I'm no lover of the Union Jack, but that encapsulated BA across the world for many I'm sure and was unsurprised to see it return.
Gruithainn, Dundee
When I saw the new Gap logo I honestly thought it was for a completely different company, not the clothing firm. Changing a logo is fine, but you need to consider brand awareness, the strength of your brand and what market you are in. When walking around a city centre, shopping precinct or supermarket we all recognise logos, that's what a brand is. Unless GAP are really struggling I don't understand the need to change.
Rob Holmes,
"The new logo looked fresh and innovative", Graham Newson. Really? Does a bland, overused font (evidence aplenty within this article - American Apparel, Crate&Barrel, Jeep, Panasonic, British Gas, 3M...) with an unimaginative and uninteresting small faded blue square really qualify as "innovative" in any way at all? It looked like something out of Microsoft clipart, circa 1995. Terrible. Old logo much better, iconic and a huge improvement. What do we say? "If it ain't broke..."
Alex, Cardiff
If you have a warm feeling associated with a brand then the same goes for its logo. It should only change if the brand is not getting as much attention as it used to get. I still won't buy Pepsi since they changed from the white label to the blue! Blue just makes me think it's Pepsi Max!
Brenda, Armagh
The old Gap logo looks its age, but unfortunately not old enough to take on a retro feel. I do feel that this is controversy that would have passed over very quickly without any perceptible damage to the brand. Gap seems to have been hijacked in its plans less by its customers than by a social media mob.
Peter Blair, London
Please tell me I'm not the only person who greatly pities the people in the "outcry" about the Gap logo change. It really is sad that there are people with nothing more important in their lives to direct their energies towards.
Dave, York
Perhaps a change of logo or corporate name (remember Consignia!) may be more to do with revitalising the careers of 'tired' executives or the need of incoming CEOs to make their mark. Often such changes are so bizarre that it seems incomprehensible that they had been sanctioned by experienced senior managers. And the multi-million pound mistake doesn't appear to automatically crash the career of the boss who championed it. I note that virtually all the major car manufacturers resist the temptation to play around with their logos, whether business be booming or otherwise.
Trevor, Beverley. East Yorkshire
The GAP square is iconic, no question. Perhaps a more subtle approach should have been used - softening the serifs for example but overall keeping the essence of the original. Similarly to how Virgin have done. The same classic 'scrawl' logo but subtley brought forward into the 21st century, a great example of how it should have been done!
Mark Wilde, Derby
This is awesome. If you looked at logos like AT&T, their new logo reflected a certain amount of flexibility and youthfulness. The new GAP logo, for a denim brand, which matures over time, actually looks spanking new, like newly polished tiles, hence the connect is lost. Another logo which is on the fence, is the new PWC logo.
By Tom Geoghegan, BBC
Friday, October 15, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
US Tops Nation Brands Index 2010
A new edition of the popular Nation Brands Index has just been released today. According to the Nation Brands Index 2010’s earliest known details, the United States continues to have the world’s most valuable country brand, a place it obtained in in 2009 after Obama’s election. There are minor changes in this year’s edition of the Nation Brands Index, but are noteworthy nonetheless. For instance, the BRIC countries continue to advance, and at a faster pace than before, their nation brand images, while the PIGS, predictably, have lost some charm because of the economic uncertainties they have been going through.
Results from the 2010 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, which measures the global image of 50 countries, shows the United States holding the top spot for the second year in a row as the country with the best overall brand. Among the top 10 nations, Southern Europe has seen several changes, all of them for worse. Spain is no longer part of the top 10, Italy has been overtaken by Canada, and France has lost its standing to an emerging Germany. Greece is not among the selection of only 50 nations being ranked at the Index, but one can safely assume that it has lost a number of positions, especially on the business and governance dimensions.
“After last year, which saw the United States make such a significant leap in its standing to the top nation spurred by the election of President Obama, the reputation landscape of the countries comprising the top 20 have remained relatively stable,” says Simon Anholt, the Nation Brands Index founder and an independent advisor to over a dozen national governments around the world. “However, the uncertain global economic climate, combined with financial bailouts, natural disasters and civil unrests have created some interesting shifts, especially among southern European nations.”
The Nation Brands Index 2010 overall results (in brackets countries occupying that spot on the Nation Brands Index 2009) are as follows:
1. United States [In 2009: United States]
2. Germany [In 2009: France]
3. France [In 2009: Germany]
4. United Kingdom [In 2009: United Kingdom]
5. Japan [In 2009: Japan]
6. Canada [In 2009: Italy]
7. Italy [In 2009: Canada]
8. Switzerland [In 2009: Switzerland]
9. Australia [In 2009: Australia]
10. Sweden [In 2009: Spain, Sweden (tie)]
The 2010 Nation Brands Index survey was conducted from July 7, 2010 to August 4, 2010 in 20 major developed and developing countries that play important and diverse roles in international relations, trade, and the flow of business, cultural, and tourism activities. The survey results are based on respondents’ ratings of 50 nations on questions in six categories: Exports, Governance, Culture, People, Tourism and Immigration/Investment. The Nation Brands Index 2010 overall ranking is based on the average of these six scores.
“While top ranked nations remain to be developed countries and the BRIC countries continue to rank in the 20s, Brazil and China, boasting both economic power and increasing geopolitical clout, are the two countries that have shown some of the greatest NBISM score gains between 2009 and 2010,” adds Xiaoyan Zhao, senior vice president and director of the Nation Brands Index 2010 study at GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications. “The steady gains of developing economies suggest that the reputation gaps between the West and the East will continue to narrow”. For example, although Japan still holds the top position on the Exports dimension, China – the recently crowned second largest exporter in the world – has moved from 21st in the Nation Brands Index 2008 to 14th in 2010 on this dimension.
Mr. Anholt points out the importance of understanding not only the overall reputation standing of nations, but also individual attributes: “While the United States ranks No. 1 on the overall Nation Brands Index 2010, it ranks much lower on a few individual questions such as “behaves responsibly in world peace and security” (21st) and “behaves responsibly in protecting the environment” (26th).
Another example would be Australia which, while keeping its 9th position on overall rankings, has however been undermined in its ‘welcoming’ image by recent episodes of xenophobia, especially with Indians. “The good news is that Australia’s overall image hasn’t changed at all. It is still the ninth-most admired country in the world,” Mr Anholt explains to The Australian. “But when you look more closely, there is a very clear contamination effect from the situation with Indian students,” he said. Two years ago, Indians considered Australia one of the most welcoming countries on the planet. Now it ranks 46 out of 50. “The success of multiculturalism – the great Australian social experiment – wasn’t part of our reputation before, and was therefore unable to protect us from damage when something like this happened,” Mr Anholt said. “People know just a few things about Australia – and it’s an enviable reputation to have – but it is just not very broad”. “China, for example, ranked Australia first in 2008 for a warm welcome. That dropped to third in 2009 and ninth in 2010. What that means for Chinese tourism and investment is problematical.” Additionally, the perception of Australia as a welcoming destination has also been adversely affected in South Korea, Brazil, Japan and Italy – most likely a flow-on effect from the Indian situation.
Results from the 2010 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, which measures the global image of 50 countries, shows the United States holding the top spot for the second year in a row as the country with the best overall brand. Among the top 10 nations, Southern Europe has seen several changes, all of them for worse. Spain is no longer part of the top 10, Italy has been overtaken by Canada, and France has lost its standing to an emerging Germany. Greece is not among the selection of only 50 nations being ranked at the Index, but one can safely assume that it has lost a number of positions, especially on the business and governance dimensions.
“After last year, which saw the United States make such a significant leap in its standing to the top nation spurred by the election of President Obama, the reputation landscape of the countries comprising the top 20 have remained relatively stable,” says Simon Anholt, the Nation Brands Index founder and an independent advisor to over a dozen national governments around the world. “However, the uncertain global economic climate, combined with financial bailouts, natural disasters and civil unrests have created some interesting shifts, especially among southern European nations.”
The Nation Brands Index 2010 overall results (in brackets countries occupying that spot on the Nation Brands Index 2009) are as follows:
1. United States [In 2009: United States]
2. Germany [In 2009: France]
3. France [In 2009: Germany]
4. United Kingdom [In 2009: United Kingdom]
5. Japan [In 2009: Japan]
6. Canada [In 2009: Italy]
7. Italy [In 2009: Canada]
8. Switzerland [In 2009: Switzerland]
9. Australia [In 2009: Australia]
10. Sweden [In 2009: Spain, Sweden (tie)]
The 2010 Nation Brands Index survey was conducted from July 7, 2010 to August 4, 2010 in 20 major developed and developing countries that play important and diverse roles in international relations, trade, and the flow of business, cultural, and tourism activities. The survey results are based on respondents’ ratings of 50 nations on questions in six categories: Exports, Governance, Culture, People, Tourism and Immigration/Investment. The Nation Brands Index 2010 overall ranking is based on the average of these six scores.
“While top ranked nations remain to be developed countries and the BRIC countries continue to rank in the 20s, Brazil and China, boasting both economic power and increasing geopolitical clout, are the two countries that have shown some of the greatest NBISM score gains between 2009 and 2010,” adds Xiaoyan Zhao, senior vice president and director of the Nation Brands Index 2010 study at GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications. “The steady gains of developing economies suggest that the reputation gaps between the West and the East will continue to narrow”. For example, although Japan still holds the top position on the Exports dimension, China – the recently crowned second largest exporter in the world – has moved from 21st in the Nation Brands Index 2008 to 14th in 2010 on this dimension.
Mr. Anholt points out the importance of understanding not only the overall reputation standing of nations, but also individual attributes: “While the United States ranks No. 1 on the overall Nation Brands Index 2010, it ranks much lower on a few individual questions such as “behaves responsibly in world peace and security” (21st) and “behaves responsibly in protecting the environment” (26th).
Another example would be Australia which, while keeping its 9th position on overall rankings, has however been undermined in its ‘welcoming’ image by recent episodes of xenophobia, especially with Indians. “The good news is that Australia’s overall image hasn’t changed at all. It is still the ninth-most admired country in the world,” Mr Anholt explains to The Australian. “But when you look more closely, there is a very clear contamination effect from the situation with Indian students,” he said. Two years ago, Indians considered Australia one of the most welcoming countries on the planet. Now it ranks 46 out of 50. “The success of multiculturalism – the great Australian social experiment – wasn’t part of our reputation before, and was therefore unable to protect us from damage when something like this happened,” Mr Anholt said. “People know just a few things about Australia – and it’s an enviable reputation to have – but it is just not very broad”. “China, for example, ranked Australia first in 2008 for a warm welcome. That dropped to third in 2009 and ninth in 2010. What that means for Chinese tourism and investment is problematical.” Additionally, the perception of Australia as a welcoming destination has also been adversely affected in South Korea, Brazil, Japan and Italy – most likely a flow-on effect from the Indian situation.
The Dancing Girl
The "Dancing girl" found in Mohenjo-daro is an artifact that is some 4500 years old. The 10.8 cm long bronze statue of the dancing girl was found in 1926 from a house in Mohenjo-daro. She was British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler's favorite statuette, as he said in this quote from a 1973 television program:
"There is her little Baluchi-style face with pouting lips and insolent look in the eyes. She's about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There's nothing like her, I think, in the world."
"There is her little Baluchi-style face with pouting lips and insolent look in the eyes. She's about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There's nothing like her, I think, in the world."
The Old Man and the Sea: an excerpt
“I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars.” Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought. The moon runs away. . . . Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him. . . . There is no one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behavior and his great dignity. I do not understand these things, he thought. But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers."
Gap scraps new logo after online outcry
US clothes retailer Gap has scrapped a new logo just one week after its introduction following an "outpouring of comments" online.
The original logo, which has used been used for more than 20 years, has a blue box with "GAP" written in white inside.
The new logo on the website had "Gap" written in black against a light background with a small blue square laid over the top of the letter "p".
But critics attacked the rebranding on social networks and online forums.
More than 2,000 comments were posted on the company's Facebook page on the issue, with many demanding the return of the traditional logo.
In a statement released on the Gap website, Mark Hansen, president of Gap Brand North America, said the company's customers always came first.
Why companies watch your every Facebook move
"We've been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back.
"So we've made the decision to do just that - we will bring it back across all channels."
He added that it was clear the retailer "did not go about this in the right way" and "missed the opportunity to engage with the online community".
"There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we'll handle it in a different way," he said.
The original logo, which has used been used for more than 20 years, has a blue box with "GAP" written in white inside.
The new logo on the website had "Gap" written in black against a light background with a small blue square laid over the top of the letter "p".
But critics attacked the rebranding on social networks and online forums.
More than 2,000 comments were posted on the company's Facebook page on the issue, with many demanding the return of the traditional logo.
In a statement released on the Gap website, Mark Hansen, president of Gap Brand North America, said the company's customers always came first.
Why companies watch your every Facebook move
"We've been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back.
"So we've made the decision to do just that - we will bring it back across all channels."
He added that it was clear the retailer "did not go about this in the right way" and "missed the opportunity to engage with the online community".
"There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we'll handle it in a different way," he said.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Agencies Showcase Shifts in Thinking at CEO Summit hosted by AdForum in NY
This week's activities in New York underscore two distinct trends now occurring at the core of the advertising business.
Advertising agencies -- whether global networks, creative boutiques, or specialist shops for digital strategy or media solutions -- are indeed changing the way they think about marketing in a recently re-set economic world where our digital age has re-shaped consumer behavior.
Agency Search Consultants now play a greater role in influencing how global marketers allocate their budgets across an expanding mosaic of agency services.
The 9th Annual CEO Summit is taking place this week throughout New York City, organized by AdForum, the online marketing resource company that serves the creative information needs of advertisers and agencies around the globe. Ad leaders from Madison Avenue to Downtown Manhattan and from New York’s far Westside to the up-and-coming streets of Brooklyn are hosting 30+ agency management and search companies from four continents. These consultants represent more than 530 agency searches each year or the equivalent of $9 billion in billings from marketers around the globe looking to find agencies with the right chemistry for their needs.
While all agencies take new business very seriously, they now recognize the importance of communicating how they have adopted new strategies. For example, Miles Young, CEO of Ogilvy Worldwide shared how marketers today "don't want to just see creative work; they want data capability." This was critical to Ogilvy’s recent UPS win, which resulted in the "Logistics" campaign. According to Young, "UPS was as delighted with the live, real time UPS dashboard as they were with the creative work. These statistics were like giving them the Holy Grail."
David Droga, Creative Chairman of Droga 5, the award-winning independent agency, shared how today it was important to be "creatively led, strategically driven, tech-friendly and humanity-obsessed." He added that now it is "about points of excellence, not points of difference. We simply have to make a client’s business better."
Jim Heekin, the CEO of Grey Global Group, shared how the company's new concept of being "famously effective" catapulted the agency to a new level of winning creativity with accounts like E*Trade, Pantene, Cialis and Captain Morgan.
Despite the popularity of TV’s Madmen that glorifies the beginnings of advertising in a simpler -- if not more elegant -- consumer era, today's agencies are unquestionably finding new ways to hone their best skills and drive results for clients. Yet many global marketers are finding that their best insurance in making the right agency decisions in today's complex and specialized world is working with consultants who help them navigate the choices. AdForum's CEO Summit continues through Thursday in an effort to share more visions, discover new strategies and uncover the next future trends.
Advertising agencies -- whether global networks, creative boutiques, or specialist shops for digital strategy or media solutions -- are indeed changing the way they think about marketing in a recently re-set economic world where our digital age has re-shaped consumer behavior.
Agency Search Consultants now play a greater role in influencing how global marketers allocate their budgets across an expanding mosaic of agency services.
The 9th Annual CEO Summit is taking place this week throughout New York City, organized by AdForum, the online marketing resource company that serves the creative information needs of advertisers and agencies around the globe. Ad leaders from Madison Avenue to Downtown Manhattan and from New York’s far Westside to the up-and-coming streets of Brooklyn are hosting 30+ agency management and search companies from four continents. These consultants represent more than 530 agency searches each year or the equivalent of $9 billion in billings from marketers around the globe looking to find agencies with the right chemistry for their needs.
While all agencies take new business very seriously, they now recognize the importance of communicating how they have adopted new strategies. For example, Miles Young, CEO of Ogilvy Worldwide shared how marketers today "don't want to just see creative work; they want data capability." This was critical to Ogilvy’s recent UPS win, which resulted in the "Logistics" campaign. According to Young, "UPS was as delighted with the live, real time UPS dashboard as they were with the creative work. These statistics were like giving them the Holy Grail."
David Droga, Creative Chairman of Droga 5, the award-winning independent agency, shared how today it was important to be "creatively led, strategically driven, tech-friendly and humanity-obsessed." He added that now it is "about points of excellence, not points of difference. We simply have to make a client’s business better."
Jim Heekin, the CEO of Grey Global Group, shared how the company's new concept of being "famously effective" catapulted the agency to a new level of winning creativity with accounts like E*Trade, Pantene, Cialis and Captain Morgan.
Despite the popularity of TV’s Madmen that glorifies the beginnings of advertising in a simpler -- if not more elegant -- consumer era, today's agencies are unquestionably finding new ways to hone their best skills and drive results for clients. Yet many global marketers are finding that their best insurance in making the right agency decisions in today's complex and specialized world is working with consultants who help them navigate the choices. AdForum's CEO Summit continues through Thursday in an effort to share more visions, discover new strategies and uncover the next future trends.
Always One Step Ahead
As Global Director of Brand & Marketing at Consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, he has been traveling between his native Spain, Deloitte's New York hub and many markets in between as the financial advisory giant introduces the second phase of its global "Green Dot" positioning campaign.
Using the brand platform of "Always One Step Ahead," all advertising creative cleverly incorporates a single green dot to represent images as diverse as a globe, a sun, a door knob, or a bead on an abacus. (Luis Gallardo characterizes the Deloitte "Green Dot" as a hero set against a black background.) The striking, yet simple, visuals illustrate how Deloitte is always one step ahead on issues from corporate sustainability to recruitment to opening up new opportunities.
According to Gallardo, "The campaign is almost a symbolic way of explaining the Deloitte story as the visuals transcend boundaries, cultures, and sectors while avoiding the traps of semantics or language as much as possible. The communications becomes an experience of our excellence and our brand positioning, instead of merely a description of it." The ads have already run in over 50 countries to provide DTT member firms a consistent image and presence in the marketplace.
The "Green Dot" campaign is a global, unified communications concept that Gallardo believes is helping to position Deloitte" as a category of one." A believer in building strong relationships with different stakeholders, Luis Gallardo thinks the campaign will drive the following ideals: The clarity of the campaign will distinguish Deloitte form cluttered messages in the category and underscore how the company is moving ahead.T
he questions posed in “Green Dot” offer an invitation to intelligent debate.The messages are optimistic and associated with progress—which offer a fresh and emotionally-rewarding point of view.The campaign instills confidence: Deloitte can be trusted to lead.The campaign was developed by muirhoward, London. Deloitte also worked with The Partners, London, on brand strategy. -The Internationalist Magazine
Using the brand platform of "Always One Step Ahead," all advertising creative cleverly incorporates a single green dot to represent images as diverse as a globe, a sun, a door knob, or a bead on an abacus. (Luis Gallardo characterizes the Deloitte "Green Dot" as a hero set against a black background.) The striking, yet simple, visuals illustrate how Deloitte is always one step ahead on issues from corporate sustainability to recruitment to opening up new opportunities.
According to Gallardo, "The campaign is almost a symbolic way of explaining the Deloitte story as the visuals transcend boundaries, cultures, and sectors while avoiding the traps of semantics or language as much as possible. The communications becomes an experience of our excellence and our brand positioning, instead of merely a description of it." The ads have already run in over 50 countries to provide DTT member firms a consistent image and presence in the marketplace.
The "Green Dot" campaign is a global, unified communications concept that Gallardo believes is helping to position Deloitte" as a category of one." A believer in building strong relationships with different stakeholders, Luis Gallardo thinks the campaign will drive the following ideals: The clarity of the campaign will distinguish Deloitte form cluttered messages in the category and underscore how the company is moving ahead.T
he questions posed in “Green Dot” offer an invitation to intelligent debate.The messages are optimistic and associated with progress—which offer a fresh and emotionally-rewarding point of view.The campaign instills confidence: Deloitte can be trusted to lead.The campaign was developed by muirhoward, London. Deloitte also worked with The Partners, London, on brand strategy. -The Internationalist Magazine
Saturday, October 9, 2010
'If' by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
CSR in Pakistan after Monsoon 2010
By Irfan A. Sheikh
In today’s world of access to information, the notions of brand behavior and brand values tend to change constantly, compelling many to re-think what they represent. It is, in a sense, a time of re-invention, re-imagining, renewal, and re-investing.
Advertising and marketing gurus worldwide believe that we are passing through a ‘Responsibility Revolution, where the future of marketing will be defined by how brands connect in a larger societal context. Today’s consumers, being in the driving seat, will re-evaluate the products and services on the basis of their convictions. Purpose and value will, therefore, figure big in the future marketing strategies.
When it comes to Pakistan, the significance of the word ‘Responsibility’ for brand managers caught up in the current state of affairs (or should I say ‘affairs of the state’) is greater than ever. Struck, perhaps, by the worst disaster ever recorded in the human history, the devastating monsoon floods have plunged Pakistan into a humanitarian crisis of gigantic scale. Hundreds have died, 20 million stand displaced and virtually half of them need urgent humanitarian and medical assistance for mere survival. What is in store is hard to tell! The rain spell may stop, but the spell of suffering will be far from over any time sooner.
The gravity of situation and urgency of action is further compounded by glaring governance gaps and credibility issues which came to the fore as the floods wreaked havoc on various parts of the country.
In these hard times, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no less than a circumstantial necessity, qualifying convincingly for being at the heart of communications by everyone out there.
Corporate generosity, after all, is not new. Companies have always been seen doing the good work—supporting charities and donating funds and sponsoring noble causes. Only the dynamics may have changed.
To quote Brad Henderson, Director of Corporate Partnerships at Plan International, a leading children’s development organization, “advertisers and their agencies are interested in social projects and social goals more than ever. Now there is a way that a corporation or a brand can work with a not-for-profit group so that both achieve value by doing something in common.”
That is where marketing departments on both sides of the table—the accounts as well as agencies—come into play, having to ensure that the resources succeed in managing a larger social outcome.
According to estimates, of the 100 largest economic entities of the world, 51 are multinationals and 49 governments. In cases where governments have less financial resources and poor governance capacity, multinational corporations are beginning to shoulder social projects. Paying forward, they know, is the best way of being paid back.
Every challenge, we all know, is an opportunity disguised. Same is the case here. For brands that are keen to align themselves with values in a cause-related way, there is much to gain in today’s Pakistan.
The enormity of the scale should make it clear that rebuilding requires a concerted, coordinated and orchestrated response where each and every brand— governments, corporations, individuals—has to join forces. Some have already started the good work. Kudos to them!
Others too should wade through the challenge and seize this opportunity to connect their brands to the mother of all causes. Smart marketers will appreciate the advantages of such ethical undertaking and the benefits it entails.
But in doing so, one needs to bear in mind that the timelines are pretty demanding. It is time to Act and Act Responsible; it is time to Think and Think Fast.
[ENDS]
In today’s world of access to information, the notions of brand behavior and brand values tend to change constantly, compelling many to re-think what they represent. It is, in a sense, a time of re-invention, re-imagining, renewal, and re-investing.
Advertising and marketing gurus worldwide believe that we are passing through a ‘Responsibility Revolution, where the future of marketing will be defined by how brands connect in a larger societal context. Today’s consumers, being in the driving seat, will re-evaluate the products and services on the basis of their convictions. Purpose and value will, therefore, figure big in the future marketing strategies.
When it comes to Pakistan, the significance of the word ‘Responsibility’ for brand managers caught up in the current state of affairs (or should I say ‘affairs of the state’) is greater than ever. Struck, perhaps, by the worst disaster ever recorded in the human history, the devastating monsoon floods have plunged Pakistan into a humanitarian crisis of gigantic scale. Hundreds have died, 20 million stand displaced and virtually half of them need urgent humanitarian and medical assistance for mere survival. What is in store is hard to tell! The rain spell may stop, but the spell of suffering will be far from over any time sooner.
The gravity of situation and urgency of action is further compounded by glaring governance gaps and credibility issues which came to the fore as the floods wreaked havoc on various parts of the country.
In these hard times, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no less than a circumstantial necessity, qualifying convincingly for being at the heart of communications by everyone out there.
Corporate generosity, after all, is not new. Companies have always been seen doing the good work—supporting charities and donating funds and sponsoring noble causes. Only the dynamics may have changed.
To quote Brad Henderson, Director of Corporate Partnerships at Plan International, a leading children’s development organization, “advertisers and their agencies are interested in social projects and social goals more than ever. Now there is a way that a corporation or a brand can work with a not-for-profit group so that both achieve value by doing something in common.”
That is where marketing departments on both sides of the table—the accounts as well as agencies—come into play, having to ensure that the resources succeed in managing a larger social outcome.
According to estimates, of the 100 largest economic entities of the world, 51 are multinationals and 49 governments. In cases where governments have less financial resources and poor governance capacity, multinational corporations are beginning to shoulder social projects. Paying forward, they know, is the best way of being paid back.
Every challenge, we all know, is an opportunity disguised. Same is the case here. For brands that are keen to align themselves with values in a cause-related way, there is much to gain in today’s Pakistan.
The enormity of the scale should make it clear that rebuilding requires a concerted, coordinated and orchestrated response where each and every brand— governments, corporations, individuals—has to join forces. Some have already started the good work. Kudos to them!
Others too should wade through the challenge and seize this opportunity to connect their brands to the mother of all causes. Smart marketers will appreciate the advantages of such ethical undertaking and the benefits it entails.
But in doing so, one needs to bear in mind that the timelines are pretty demanding. It is time to Act and Act Responsible; it is time to Think and Think Fast.
[ENDS]
Friday, August 20, 2010
A Lifetime, Washed Away
By DANIYAL MUEENUDDIN
A few days ago, I stood atop a 30-foot-high levee in Pakistan’s south Punjab, looking out as the waters from the greatest Indus River flood in memory flowed past, through orchards, swirling around a village on higher ground half a mile out. Twenty miles wide, the flood was almost dreamlike, the speeding water, as it streamed through the upper branches of trees, carrying along bits of brightly colored plastic and clumps of grass.
Many of the displaced people had left the area in the past few days, driving whatever was left of their herds, carrying whatever they were able to rescue. In Pakistan, your primary loyalty is to your biraderi, an untranslatable word, something like clan, but more visceral and entailing greater responsibility and connection. You marry among your biraderi, you must travel and be present when a member of your biraderi is married or buried and, in times of trouble, you stand by your biraderi. In Frost’s words, they are the people who, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.
The hundreds of people camped on the levee were those who had no biraderi outside the flooded area, or who couldn’t afford to make the journey to them. Each family had claimed a little spot, made it home, rigged up some sort of shelter like a blanket on a frame of branches. Many had rescued a bag or two of grain, and they sat combing this out in the dirt, trying to dry it. As I walked past, I could smell that much of the grain had spoiled, a bitter loamy odor.
These families’ poverty and loss shone in the little piles of their belongings, the things they had carried with them when the water came: two or three cheap tin plates, a kettle. In one family’s encampment, discordantly, sat a dresser with a mirrored door — how did the man who had brought that through the floodwater think it would be useful?
I found most pitiful a family gathered around a prostrate brown-and-white brindled cow. The father told me that the cow had been lost in the water for four days, and the previous night it had clambered up on another section of the levee, a mile away. The people of this area recognize their cattle as easily as you or I recognize a cousin or neighbor — they sleep with their animals around them at night, and graze them all day; their animals are born and die near them. Someone passing by told the family that their cow had been found, and the father went and got it and led it to their little encampment.
In the early morning the cow had collapsed, and I could see it would soon be dead. Its eyes were beginning to dull, as the owner squatted next to it, sprinkling water into its mouth, as if it were possible to revive it. Its legs were swollen from standing in water, and its chest and torso were covered with deep cuts and scrapes, sheets of raw flesh where branches rushing past must have hit it.
The rest of the family sat nearby on a string bed, resigned, waiting for the end. This was their wealth, but when it died they would tip it into the water and let it float away to the south. Through the past few days they had seen it all, houses collapsed, trees uprooted, grain spoiled, and this was just one more blow.
Driving back to my farm, which has (so far) been spared from the flood, an image of the cow’s ordeal kept coming to me: splashing through the flood for hours and hours, at dusk or in the blank overcast night, with nothing around it but a vast expanse of water stretching away, an image of perfect loneliness. It must have found high ground, waited there as the water rose, then set off again, driven by hunger. In the immensity of the unfolding tragedy, this littler one, this moment of its death, seemed comprehensible to me, significant.
It is difficult to convey the scope of what was lost by those who had labored with ax and shovel to bring this land under cultivation. Fifty years ago, the area was all savanna, waving fields of reeds and elephant grass running for a thousand miles on both sides of the river. As a boy, I hunted there for partridge, walking among a line of beaters, the tall grasses so dense that I was invisible to the next man only 10 feet away. This was wild country.
But in the years since, these people tamed the land, leveling it by hand, expanding their plots acre by acre, until they had conquered it all. Last year, from where I stood on the levee, one would have seen orderly fields proceeding all the way to the river on the horizon. These lands had not been flooded in living memory, and so people built solid houses and granaries, planted trees, raised mosques. This was their life’s work.
Now all that has been swept away. In this area, the best-paying crop by far is sugar cane, which was to be cut in November but now stands submerged, except for the tips of the fronds, dead and rusty gray on the surface. When the water recedes, the people will, if they are lucky enough to have any, sell their cattle and their wives’ ornaments, their dowry gold, to rebuild the watercourses and to level the fields. Some will plant winter wheat, but it will be sown late and will not pay, not enough to cover the costs of reclaiming the land.
Others may plant another crop of cane, which will be sown in February and harvested the following October, 14 months away. Before that, they will have no income whatsoever. The generosity of these people’s relatives, their biraderi, cannot possibly carry them through. They are ruined, and there are millions of them.
This disaster is not like an earthquake or a tsunami. In the 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan, 80,000 people died more or less at one blow; whereas the immediate death toll from this flood is likely to be in the low thousands. The loss of property, however, is catastrophic. It is as if a neutron bomb exploded overhead, but instead of killing the people and leaving their houses intact, it piled trees upon the houses and swept away the villages and crops and animals, leaving the people alive.
For months and even years, the people of the Indus Valley will not have sufficient income for food or clothing. They will rebuild, if they can afford it, by inches. The corrupt and impoverished Pakistani government cannot possibly make these people’s lives whole again. It’s not hard to imagine the potential for radicalization in a country already rapidly turning to extremist political views, to envision the anarchy that may be unleashed if wealthier nations do not find a way to provide sufficient relief. This is not a problem that will go away, and it is the entire world’s problem. It is said, the most violent revolutions are the revolutions of the stomach.
A few days ago, I stood atop a 30-foot-high levee in Pakistan’s south Punjab, looking out as the waters from the greatest Indus River flood in memory flowed past, through orchards, swirling around a village on higher ground half a mile out. Twenty miles wide, the flood was almost dreamlike, the speeding water, as it streamed through the upper branches of trees, carrying along bits of brightly colored plastic and clumps of grass.
Many of the displaced people had left the area in the past few days, driving whatever was left of their herds, carrying whatever they were able to rescue. In Pakistan, your primary loyalty is to your biraderi, an untranslatable word, something like clan, but more visceral and entailing greater responsibility and connection. You marry among your biraderi, you must travel and be present when a member of your biraderi is married or buried and, in times of trouble, you stand by your biraderi. In Frost’s words, they are the people who, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.
The hundreds of people camped on the levee were those who had no biraderi outside the flooded area, or who couldn’t afford to make the journey to them. Each family had claimed a little spot, made it home, rigged up some sort of shelter like a blanket on a frame of branches. Many had rescued a bag or two of grain, and they sat combing this out in the dirt, trying to dry it. As I walked past, I could smell that much of the grain had spoiled, a bitter loamy odor.
These families’ poverty and loss shone in the little piles of their belongings, the things they had carried with them when the water came: two or three cheap tin plates, a kettle. In one family’s encampment, discordantly, sat a dresser with a mirrored door — how did the man who had brought that through the floodwater think it would be useful?
I found most pitiful a family gathered around a prostrate brown-and-white brindled cow. The father told me that the cow had been lost in the water for four days, and the previous night it had clambered up on another section of the levee, a mile away. The people of this area recognize their cattle as easily as you or I recognize a cousin or neighbor — they sleep with their animals around them at night, and graze them all day; their animals are born and die near them. Someone passing by told the family that their cow had been found, and the father went and got it and led it to their little encampment.
In the early morning the cow had collapsed, and I could see it would soon be dead. Its eyes were beginning to dull, as the owner squatted next to it, sprinkling water into its mouth, as if it were possible to revive it. Its legs were swollen from standing in water, and its chest and torso were covered with deep cuts and scrapes, sheets of raw flesh where branches rushing past must have hit it.
The rest of the family sat nearby on a string bed, resigned, waiting for the end. This was their wealth, but when it died they would tip it into the water and let it float away to the south. Through the past few days they had seen it all, houses collapsed, trees uprooted, grain spoiled, and this was just one more blow.
Driving back to my farm, which has (so far) been spared from the flood, an image of the cow’s ordeal kept coming to me: splashing through the flood for hours and hours, at dusk or in the blank overcast night, with nothing around it but a vast expanse of water stretching away, an image of perfect loneliness. It must have found high ground, waited there as the water rose, then set off again, driven by hunger. In the immensity of the unfolding tragedy, this littler one, this moment of its death, seemed comprehensible to me, significant.
It is difficult to convey the scope of what was lost by those who had labored with ax and shovel to bring this land under cultivation. Fifty years ago, the area was all savanna, waving fields of reeds and elephant grass running for a thousand miles on both sides of the river. As a boy, I hunted there for partridge, walking among a line of beaters, the tall grasses so dense that I was invisible to the next man only 10 feet away. This was wild country.
But in the years since, these people tamed the land, leveling it by hand, expanding their plots acre by acre, until they had conquered it all. Last year, from where I stood on the levee, one would have seen orderly fields proceeding all the way to the river on the horizon. These lands had not been flooded in living memory, and so people built solid houses and granaries, planted trees, raised mosques. This was their life’s work.
Now all that has been swept away. In this area, the best-paying crop by far is sugar cane, which was to be cut in November but now stands submerged, except for the tips of the fronds, dead and rusty gray on the surface. When the water recedes, the people will, if they are lucky enough to have any, sell their cattle and their wives’ ornaments, their dowry gold, to rebuild the watercourses and to level the fields. Some will plant winter wheat, but it will be sown late and will not pay, not enough to cover the costs of reclaiming the land.
Others may plant another crop of cane, which will be sown in February and harvested the following October, 14 months away. Before that, they will have no income whatsoever. The generosity of these people’s relatives, their biraderi, cannot possibly carry them through. They are ruined, and there are millions of them.
This disaster is not like an earthquake or a tsunami. In the 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan, 80,000 people died more or less at one blow; whereas the immediate death toll from this flood is likely to be in the low thousands. The loss of property, however, is catastrophic. It is as if a neutron bomb exploded overhead, but instead of killing the people and leaving their houses intact, it piled trees upon the houses and swept away the villages and crops and animals, leaving the people alive.
For months and even years, the people of the Indus Valley will not have sufficient income for food or clothing. They will rebuild, if they can afford it, by inches. The corrupt and impoverished Pakistani government cannot possibly make these people’s lives whole again. It’s not hard to imagine the potential for radicalization in a country already rapidly turning to extremist political views, to envision the anarchy that may be unleashed if wealthier nations do not find a way to provide sufficient relief. This is not a problem that will go away, and it is the entire world’s problem. It is said, the most violent revolutions are the revolutions of the stomach.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Poor Marketing blamed for Aid Shortfall
As international aid trickled into Pakistan to help flood victims, Mark Malloch Brown, a former deputy secretary general of the United Nations, criticized the country’s leader for failing to make the scope of the destruction and the urgency of the need clear to international donors.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Brown told the BBC, “this is a very confusing crisis” and a visit by President Asif Ali Zardari to Europe – with a stop at his family’s chateau in France – while monsoon rains ravaged large portions of his country, had not been helpful:
The leadership of Pakistan on the civilian side has gotten off to a rather muddled and slow start. It’s very hard for donor governments — let alone donor public opinion — to be entirely convinced at the seriousness of a crisis when the country’s president is filmed at his own private chateau in France or continuing with government visits to the U.K.
Crises, it’s a terrible thing to say but, you know, they require disciplined marketing. There needs to be a clear message that lives are at stake and the whole of the domestic effort of the country is devoted to trying to save those lives.
Mr. Brown also said that Pakistan’s military leaders “were very effective in Kashmir a couple of years ago after the earthquake and again they seem to be sort of pushing the civilian leadership aside and taking control and frankly that’s probably good news.”
Her added that the relief effort was now a competition between “the efficiency of these two rival systems: Islamic relief agencies versus the one institution of the Pakistani state which works, the army.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Brown told the BBC, “this is a very confusing crisis” and a visit by President Asif Ali Zardari to Europe – with a stop at his family’s chateau in France – while monsoon rains ravaged large portions of his country, had not been helpful:
The leadership of Pakistan on the civilian side has gotten off to a rather muddled and slow start. It’s very hard for donor governments — let alone donor public opinion — to be entirely convinced at the seriousness of a crisis when the country’s president is filmed at his own private chateau in France or continuing with government visits to the U.K.
Crises, it’s a terrible thing to say but, you know, they require disciplined marketing. There needs to be a clear message that lives are at stake and the whole of the domestic effort of the country is devoted to trying to save those lives.
Mr. Brown also said that Pakistan’s military leaders “were very effective in Kashmir a couple of years ago after the earthquake and again they seem to be sort of pushing the civilian leadership aside and taking control and frankly that’s probably good news.”
Her added that the relief effort was now a competition between “the efficiency of these two rival systems: Islamic relief agencies versus the one institution of the Pakistani state which works, the army.”
Thursday, August 12, 2010
CSR in Pakistan after Monsoon 2010
By Irfan A. Sheikh
In today’s world of access to information, the notions of brand behavior and brand values tend to change constantly, compelling many to re-think what they represent. It is, in a sense, a time of re-invention, re-imagining, renewal, and re-investing.
‘R’, it appears, is going to be a defining factor. In the current scenario too, same is the case—rescue, relief, rehabilitation, and surely RESPONSIBILITY.
Advertising and marketing gurus worldwide believe that we are passing through a ‘Responsibility Revolution, where the future of marketing will be defined by how brands connect in a larger societal context. Consumers, being in the driving seat now, will re-evaluate the products and services on the basis of their convictions. Purpose and value, therefore will figure big in future marketing strategies.
The significance of the word ‘Responsibility’ for our brand managers in the current state of affairs (or should I say ‘affairs of the state’) is greater than ever. Struck, perhaps, by the worst disaster ever recorded in the human history, the devastating monsoon floods have plunged Pakistan into a humanitarian crisis of gigantic scale. Hundreds have died, 14 million or so have lost homes and virtually half of them need urgent humanitarian and medical assistance for mere survival. What is in store is hard to tell! The rain spell may have stopped, but the spell of suffering is far from being over.
The gravity of situation is further compounded by glaring governance gaps evidenced as the flood wreaked havoc on various parts of the country.
In these hard times, Corporate Social Responsibility is no less than a circumstantial necessity, qualifying convincingly for being at the heart of communications by everyone out there.
Every challenge, after all, affords an opportunity and for the brands that are keen to align themselves with values, there is much to gain. Let the top decision-makers of big corporations and entrepreneurs, and their brand managers capitalize on this challenge!
As the crisis unfolds, Ramazan also sets in. The onset of holy month coincides with a holier cause beckoning. Let’s see how they respond? Will they still blitz the media with messages about so-called ‘discounts’, ‘offers’, ‘packages’ and ‘rewards’ (for it is Ramzan after all) or will there be a ‘self-realization’ to change the course? Will anyone bring forth an award-winning solution? Will there be a well thought-out ‘digital’ response? Will someone seize upon this opportunity to connect the brands to the societal context? Only time will tell? And time certainly will!
But time is of essence as well. We can’t leave 14 million people out there ‘waiting’ for our response. It’s time to act and act responsible. It’s time to think and think fast.
Some have already started the good work. But this time around, the scale of the challenge requires this message to go beyond corporate sector? Let everyone, everywhere come forward. Everyone’s a brand; everyone should try!
How about states and governments? How about institutions? How about schools and colleges? How about sportspersons and celebrities; singers and actors; parents and children; you and I?
In today’s world of access to information, the notions of brand behavior and brand values tend to change constantly, compelling many to re-think what they represent. It is, in a sense, a time of re-invention, re-imagining, renewal, and re-investing.
‘R’, it appears, is going to be a defining factor. In the current scenario too, same is the case—rescue, relief, rehabilitation, and surely RESPONSIBILITY.
Advertising and marketing gurus worldwide believe that we are passing through a ‘Responsibility Revolution, where the future of marketing will be defined by how brands connect in a larger societal context. Consumers, being in the driving seat now, will re-evaluate the products and services on the basis of their convictions. Purpose and value, therefore will figure big in future marketing strategies.
The significance of the word ‘Responsibility’ for our brand managers in the current state of affairs (or should I say ‘affairs of the state’) is greater than ever. Struck, perhaps, by the worst disaster ever recorded in the human history, the devastating monsoon floods have plunged Pakistan into a humanitarian crisis of gigantic scale. Hundreds have died, 14 million or so have lost homes and virtually half of them need urgent humanitarian and medical assistance for mere survival. What is in store is hard to tell! The rain spell may have stopped, but the spell of suffering is far from being over.
The gravity of situation is further compounded by glaring governance gaps evidenced as the flood wreaked havoc on various parts of the country.
In these hard times, Corporate Social Responsibility is no less than a circumstantial necessity, qualifying convincingly for being at the heart of communications by everyone out there.
Every challenge, after all, affords an opportunity and for the brands that are keen to align themselves with values, there is much to gain. Let the top decision-makers of big corporations and entrepreneurs, and their brand managers capitalize on this challenge!
As the crisis unfolds, Ramazan also sets in. The onset of holy month coincides with a holier cause beckoning. Let’s see how they respond? Will they still blitz the media with messages about so-called ‘discounts’, ‘offers’, ‘packages’ and ‘rewards’ (for it is Ramzan after all) or will there be a ‘self-realization’ to change the course? Will anyone bring forth an award-winning solution? Will there be a well thought-out ‘digital’ response? Will someone seize upon this opportunity to connect the brands to the societal context? Only time will tell? And time certainly will!
But time is of essence as well. We can’t leave 14 million people out there ‘waiting’ for our response. It’s time to act and act responsible. It’s time to think and think fast.
Some have already started the good work. But this time around, the scale of the challenge requires this message to go beyond corporate sector? Let everyone, everywhere come forward. Everyone’s a brand; everyone should try!
How about states and governments? How about institutions? How about schools and colleges? How about sportspersons and celebrities; singers and actors; parents and children; you and I?
Monday, August 2, 2010
Fighting Creative Block? You Are Not Alone!
"Creative block does not just afflict composers. Writers, painters, poets all frequently have prolonged periods when they are unable to produce good work. And innovative scientists may experience drought as well." Here's the whole story: BBC News - How great artists have fought creative block
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
War-less World
"The pioneers of a war-less world are the youth that refuse military service" - Albert Einstein
Monday, July 26, 2010
Best New Global Product? CMO Council's Donovan Neale-May Answers
Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council asks, “What has been the most successful, annoying, intrusive and beloved new product to hit the market in recent times?”
The South African native has an immediate answer,"My vote for New Product of the Year in 2010 already goes to one seriously disruptive and intrusive innovation…the viral, vocal and visceral vuvuzela". Not a trumpet or even a horn, the Zulu term describes an elongated plastic instrument that African (and now the world's) football fans blow to make a loud, persistent and invasive noise in stadiums, streets and sports bars.
The global interactive marketing group connects with Coca-Cola's 3500 marketing people worldwide. Donnelly underscores that the company is built on a heavy local emphasis. "All experience with our brands is local." However, providing a centralized solution is essential as it avoids working with very disparate results. He outlines, "Our marketers can use a palette of options to leverage the message, and then partner with technology to deliver a local effort."
There's been nothing flat about vuvuzela sales since the product's global debut at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, literally blowing away other merchandise offerings and creating a phenomenal and distinctive buzz worldwide!”
According to Neale-May, "Few really understand the latent appeal of this raucous instrument, which has been widely embraced by football fans of all persuasions, ethnicity, and levels of income and intellect. One wealthy Russian businessman willingly splurged more than $30,000 for a white gold and jewel-encrusted vuvuzela that was his blinged-out memento of this year's World Cup."
“Think about this,” he says. “We have an outrageous product success story:
• Almost zero R&D investment.
• Little or no trademark or property rights protection.
• Minimal upfront capital requirements.
• A highly adaptive product design for quick and easy versioning, customization and localization.
• Brand and accessory extensions created overnight. (Even an iPhone app and 5,000 downloads!)
• Overnight distribution network created using entrepreneurial, eager street sales agents, as well as more formal online and offline retail channels.
• No slotting fees or exorbitant marketing development funds. (Your grassroots field rep network likes to pay cash and never takes product on consignment.)
With little or no formal marketing, you rely on the viral, vocal and visceral aspects of your product to gain rapid product adoption, uptake and use in a matter of weeks. With manufacturing churning out as many as 20,000 vuvuzelas a day!
Donovan Neale-May continues, “Your vuvuzela product demand has been immune to bans by sports bodies, health risk warnings and invasive noise pollution issues. Millions are sold in just a few months. You generate over 50 billion exposures on global TV with multiple close-ups and continuous product visibility on the most highly rated live sports broadcasts and cable transmissions.
No problem with organic search optimization online. There are nearly 20 million vuvuzela listings on Google, over one million references to the product in blogs. Adding to this are the15,000 news stories exploring every facet of vuvuzela irritation, aggravation and imagination reaching many more millions of readers, viewers and listeners in over 200 countries.
Fortunately, the world's largest working vuvuzela - some 114 feet long - languishes in Cape Town. Built by Hyundai for promotional purposes, this enormous instrument is unlikely to give consumers a blast given the city council's sensitivities to noise pollution.
Forget the hyped-up, technologically advanced football cleats and apparel. The state-of-the-art Jabulani football design. The immersive 3D television displays. Or the nifty mobile phone apps debuting at the FIFA World Cup. The simple 'snoek' fisherman's horn came to the fore and trumped all other product innovations by playing a new note of novelty, simplicity and local ingenuity."
The South African native has an immediate answer,"My vote for New Product of the Year in 2010 already goes to one seriously disruptive and intrusive innovation…the viral, vocal and visceral vuvuzela". Not a trumpet or even a horn, the Zulu term describes an elongated plastic instrument that African (and now the world's) football fans blow to make a loud, persistent and invasive noise in stadiums, streets and sports bars.
The global interactive marketing group connects with Coca-Cola's 3500 marketing people worldwide. Donnelly underscores that the company is built on a heavy local emphasis. "All experience with our brands is local." However, providing a centralized solution is essential as it avoids working with very disparate results. He outlines, "Our marketers can use a palette of options to leverage the message, and then partner with technology to deliver a local effort."
There's been nothing flat about vuvuzela sales since the product's global debut at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, literally blowing away other merchandise offerings and creating a phenomenal and distinctive buzz worldwide!”
According to Neale-May, "Few really understand the latent appeal of this raucous instrument, which has been widely embraced by football fans of all persuasions, ethnicity, and levels of income and intellect. One wealthy Russian businessman willingly splurged more than $30,000 for a white gold and jewel-encrusted vuvuzela that was his blinged-out memento of this year's World Cup."
“Think about this,” he says. “We have an outrageous product success story:
• Almost zero R&D investment.
• Little or no trademark or property rights protection.
• Minimal upfront capital requirements.
• A highly adaptive product design for quick and easy versioning, customization and localization.
• Brand and accessory extensions created overnight. (Even an iPhone app and 5,000 downloads!)
• Overnight distribution network created using entrepreneurial, eager street sales agents, as well as more formal online and offline retail channels.
• No slotting fees or exorbitant marketing development funds. (Your grassroots field rep network likes to pay cash and never takes product on consignment.)
With little or no formal marketing, you rely on the viral, vocal and visceral aspects of your product to gain rapid product adoption, uptake and use in a matter of weeks. With manufacturing churning out as many as 20,000 vuvuzelas a day!
Donovan Neale-May continues, “Your vuvuzela product demand has been immune to bans by sports bodies, health risk warnings and invasive noise pollution issues. Millions are sold in just a few months. You generate over 50 billion exposures on global TV with multiple close-ups and continuous product visibility on the most highly rated live sports broadcasts and cable transmissions.
No problem with organic search optimization online. There are nearly 20 million vuvuzela listings on Google, over one million references to the product in blogs. Adding to this are the15,000 news stories exploring every facet of vuvuzela irritation, aggravation and imagination reaching many more millions of readers, viewers and listeners in over 200 countries.
Fortunately, the world's largest working vuvuzela - some 114 feet long - languishes in Cape Town. Built by Hyundai for promotional purposes, this enormous instrument is unlikely to give consumers a blast given the city council's sensitivities to noise pollution.
Forget the hyped-up, technologically advanced football cleats and apparel. The state-of-the-art Jabulani football design. The immersive 3D television displays. Or the nifty mobile phone apps debuting at the FIFA World Cup. The simple 'snoek' fisherman's horn came to the fore and trumped all other product innovations by playing a new note of novelty, simplicity and local ingenuity."
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