Team UK

Team Germany

Team France

Team Netherlands

Coming week I will be lecturing in Izmir at the Dokuz Eylul University on "Positioning and branding across cultures". Looking forward to learning a lot about the Turkish culture.

Presentation 1 Kick off

1a dokuz eylul university izmir int week 2013 starter from Sander Janssens

Presentation 2 Cultural influence on positioning and branding Hofstede

1b dokuz eylul university izmir int week 2013 hofstede from Sander Janssens

Presentation 3 Passion Brand basics

2a dokuz eylul university izmir int week 2013 passion brand from Sander Janssens

Presentation 4 Branding and positioning basics

2b dokuz eylul university izmir int week 2013 positioning and branding vs3 from Sander Janssens

Presentation 5 Final assignment

3 dokuz eylul university izmir int week 2013 synthesis from Sander Janssens

Skype vs Twitter & facebook campaign

Technology is changing the way people think and operate, but is it also degrading humanity?

That’s the premise behind Skype’s new $12 million marketing campaign, which slams both Facebook and Twitter as it promotes its own more-intimate form of keeping in touch.
The campaign, “It’s time for Skype,” makes virtual enemies out of Facebook and Twitter with targeted ads that suggest the social networking sites are “degrading humanity.” If Twitter is known for its 140-character limit and Facebook for its wall posts, Skype’s authority is that its video conferencing — and the real emotions that it can express — bring people back to a (more) real world.


The ads, released in the U.K. on April 2 and expected to hit the U.S. in the coming months, include the following catchphrases:


“When did LOL replace the sound of laughter?”


“When did it become okay to text mum happy birthday?”


“Humans were made to look, listen and feel.”


“140 characters doesn’t equal staying in touch.”


“Your one-way ticket back to humanity.”


“Upgrade from a wall post to a first class conversation.”


“No delays on human conversation.”

New research: The ideal man

Women's idea of the perfect man? A 6ft, £48k-a-year, beer-drinking meat-eater with an Audi
Many men would suggest that women are a difficult to please bunch.

But in actual fact, it transpires there's an easy way for men to make themselves irresistible to women. They just need to be able to tick every box on a checklist of demands women have said contribute to the perfect man.

According to the list, the perfect man eats meat, drives an Audi and phones his mother twice a week, a poll of women revealed today. He also drinks lager or beer, not wine or spirits, and earns a comfortable £48,000 a year.


The ideal male will also be 6ft tall, have short dark hair and smart dress sense - similar to that of U.S. X Factor host Steve Jones. Vegetarians were revealed to be a turn off, while being clean shaven and in possession of a smooth, hair-free chest (take note, Simon Cowell) were said to be a bonus.


The findings surfaced in a poll of 2,000 women carried out by clothing brand Austin Reed.
A spokesman said: 'It would seem that women have high expectations when it comes to the perfect man. 'How a man is presented is obviously going to be a huge part of that.
'Whilst women don’t want a man to be too preened, they would like him to be stylish and up to date with current trends.
'It also nice to see that women favour a smart appearance, as opposed to sportswear.'
The study also found the ideal man should also have a degree and hold down a decent job


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2126093/Womens-idea-perfect-man-A-6ft--48k-year--beer-drinking-meat-eater-Audi.html#ixzz1tGygQ8mi
Woman's idea of an ideal man

Push to add drama

Introduction of a new pay TV channel in Belgium with a youtube movie. Which went viral.

For the launch of the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium a button was placed on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town near a sign with the text "Push to add drama" that invited people to use the button. Then they waited...


Look and judge for yourself.
 

Sustainable food

A funny video to communicate less sodium in a package to prepare food. I would personally never use such a package when cooking, but the video is nice.

A nice illustration of selective perception. The color changing card trick  by quirkology professor Richard Wiseman. What can we learn when consumers are in front of the shelf and have to make a decision.

How to sell cheese with a viral ?
Nolan's Cheddar by John Nolan

Superb video animation / cheese commercial. No lifestyle, old fashioned USP of the cheddar cheese "seriously strong" convincingly portrayed.

During a dinner in restaurant Panama with online marketeers I was tipped on the book "How Brands Grow" by Byron Sharp. The science of marketing instead of gutt feeling. Medieval practices in marketing . Thought provoking.

Watch the Australian Ted youtube movie The science of marketing

The Blackberry boys: A failed repositioning strategy in the mobile phone market

Blackberry used to be synonymous with corporate -workhorse devices known for security and reliability . But the iPhone and Android smart phones with large app stores look like the best business models in the fast moving telcom industry. My estimate is that Blackberry has  lost the battle to iPhone and Android market. (The chief marketing officer Keith Pardy has left the company in mrch 2011. Not a good sign.)

People do not want an affordable corporate mobile phone, they rather want a sexy new one. No matter if you are corporate or not. The competitive advantage of Blackberry in the corporate world has gone and Blackberry is not sexy enough to compete in a consumer market. That is why they are forecd to start a world wide repositioning strategy, downgrading the brand image by offering it to consumers.


Repositioning Blackberry
In South Africa Blackberry is repositioning the brand as a consumer and business brand instead of only a corporate brand. They have a 4% mobile phone market share, but consumer intention to buy a blackberry is high.  Suggesting a strong growth the next period. At least according to Rudolf Muller in http://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/19363-why-blackberry-rules-in-sa.html If this approach will work remains too be seen.

 

 
In India the Blackberrie mobile phone brand also follows a repositioning strategy . The youtube viral movie (sort of bollywood style) is nice to watch.

How effective is the repositioning strategy?
A critical review of this move by kaustav sengupta
http://ingene.blogspot.com/2010/10/we-are-blackberry-boys-blackberry-is.html
If moving to a mass market and losing the elite image is a smart move of blackberry remains too be seen. It can be seen as a downgrading. It could dilute the value of this brand and the elite will no longer use Blackberry. They will switch to the next big thing. Blackberry will have difficulty competing against mass market mobile phone brands and app platforms like Iphone and android based phones.

As the brand grows there is always that temptation to make some more bucks by repositioning your brand and targeting the unconventional prospects. Many brands fall prey to it and most of them fail, because one thing in a human brain can occupy one association at a time, in most of the cases. Going against this basic law about how humans percieve and then act and react leads to so many failures in re-positioning attempts by brand managers across the globe. Blackberry is trying to do something very "cheap" in terms of re-positioning a brand; just a communication facade and wrap up to enforce the Boy thing. It might give them some more boys and girls singing to their tune but more importantly and more likely, it can take away that loyal class of Executives which build the brand Blackberry.This is not at all an impressive move by the strategists and brand people at RIM."...



Blackcherry, an indian Blackberry clone.
This BlackBerry rip-off is available to you at just INR 2799. (around $60,-)
Features: Dual SIM, Dual Battery, Dual Memory Card Slot

If your brand is copied you must have been good. But I doubt how long this clone will be around considering the downgrading of the Blackberry brand.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/28/rim-sexy-blackberry/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580004576180721135993118.html