Brand Loyalty – how long will they have my attention before I prostitute myself again?!?!?
December 19, 2008 at 5:47 pm · Filed under Advertising, Brand Awareness, Internet Marketing, Legacy Marketing, Market Research, Popular Brands, Product / Price / Placement, Social Sciences on Marketing & The Brand, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0 and tagged: Advertising, Brand Loyalty, Brand Marketing, Brand PLC, Brand revolt, Brand Value, Google, Google Adwords, Market Research, Monetizing the Internet, Need Marketing, Us PLC, Viral Marketing, Wordpress, You PLC
BlackBerry, Strongbow, Stella, Google, Armani, Chelsea, Facebook, WordPress, etc etc etc, these are just few of the brands that have my attention right now. But how long will my attention last with them and technically speaking only a few of these have had the pleasure of actually monetizing me, namely the alcoholic beverages. The truth is some of these brands are actually luck they have my custom, it is sure luck rather than their astute marketing that they have my attention. Despite the number of applications I have signed up-to at Google, never a single email from Eric Schmidt to thank me for my custom. Heck I have 4 Google email accounts, 2 AdWords account, 1 AdSense Account, I use Google Sync on my BlackBerry, downloaded Google SketchUp, have briefly used Picassa, have Google as my default Homepage (despite having been given plenty of options to change to Yahoo or MSN), geez, Google you have me on lock down!
Amazingly though with all that commitment I think the most amount of revenue they have ever been able to get from me is £10 for my Google Adwords Account, and I still managed to convert that to $62 (yes a whole $62) from Affiliate Marketing revenue. The truth is though nothing would stop me from switching to another search engine that comes along that not only professes but is actually better than Google. So does that make me a “Prostitute” going for the better deal or I am just the typical consumer whose attention is difficult to keep?
So companies beware, Web 2.0 / Social Networking can very easily cause the demise of your brand through a social revolt.
Today’s featured Blog Video, is titled No Logo: Brands, Globalization Resistance
Me PLC, You PLC, Us PLC – What is your brand worth?
December 19, 2008 at 11:32 am · Filed under Brand Awareness, Internet Marketing, Legacy Marketing, Product / Price / Placement, Social Sciences on Marketing & The Brand, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0 and tagged: Blogging, Brand, Brand PLC, Brand Value, Chris Crocker, Coca Cola, David Beckham, Marketing Mix, Me PLC, Monetizing the Internet, Net Worth, Us PLC, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0 Marketing, You PLC, Youtube
We are all brands in our own rights and have a value or Net Worth. For companies it is easy to determine this, we just look at their Profit and Loss Accounts and do the maths. For Celebrities, Professional Sports Stars it is once again relatively easy to determine their Net Worth and Brand Value, although there is an element of perception here. Of course someone with skill and talent it can be measured to an extent, but it is always perceptive i.e what you and I are prepared to pay to be entertained. David Beckham according to the Sunday Times 2008 Rich List is worth £125 (although jointly assessed David and Victoria’s wealth, but me thinks David earns more than Victoria). David and Victoria Beckham the brand is certainly worth a good few million and a good example of how as individuals your brand can be sometimes worth more than your talent which in David case is reason he is worth a considerable amount. Granted he is a good footballer, but his endorsement deals make him wealthy, brand David Beckham PLC, and we all buy into it.
Now how much are you and I worth? Usually our net worth is measured by our economic value i.e. how much we earn per annum and what tangible assets we have. But we also have other assets and values i.e. what our friends think we are worth, how valuable a friend we are, what energy we bring to the party etc. When I first meet people I am normally able to pull of a good first impression, whilst I appreciate the positive comments and the admiration I would be far more happy if I was able to monetize that as well. Of course I could become a success coach or a Personal Brand Consultant. That sounds like a good title and my tag line could be “Helping people get their Swagger”.
Its amazing how in today’s world anyone can literally become an overnight brand, thanks to Viral Marketing. Viral Marketing is a phenomenal success and can literally happen overnight, hence the term viral because it spreads rapidly. High view count on YouTube and bingo, you are an overnight success, we have heard of many ObamaGirl, CrazyBritneyFan, Crazy Frog and the list goes on, peers pass the video to each other via Web 2.0 medium, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter. The one thing these highly viewed YouTube videos all have in common, besides being an overnight hit, is that the majority of them are not sustainable i.e. once the momentum dies, then its poof and the hysteria is gone! This is where Legacy Marketing and Brands are important, a good example of this is Coca Cola. When businessman Asa Griggs Candler bought the formula from John Pemberton, I doubt even he knew how much of a lasting success that brand would be. Coca Cola is literally one of the most successful brands of our time and will last, well forever because it will go down in history.
In parting I leave you with this Video from YouTube, it has received 23 million + hits! Making Chris Crocker (aka itschriscrocker / Crazy Britney Fan) one of the most watched YouTube videos and making Chris Crocker PLC an overnight Internet Celebrity and Brand, no doubt he is benefiting from it financially.
I don’t want to be sold to, I want to buy & be a Brand Ambassdor
December 18, 2008 at 8:43 pm · Filed under Brand Awareness, Internet Marketing, Market Research, Product / Price / Placement, Social Sciences on Marketing & The Brand, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0 and tagged: Advertising, Advertising Agencies, Barack Obama the Brand, Facebook, Google, Google Adwords, Interuptive Advertisements, Market Research, Marketing Mix, Media Marketing, Monetizing the Internet, Need Marketing, Placement, Sales & Marketing, Television Adverts, timely & desired marketing, Tracking Pixels, Wassup Advert, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Marketing, Youtube
Nobody likes to be sold to, but people like to buy. Having a Professional Sales background I have always believed it is about your sales skills, granted whilst having razor sharp closing skills is crucial, I now doubt if it is viable in the long term. I believe the marketplace is changing dramatically. With Web 2.0 marketing people have the choice to switch on and off at their leisure.
Media Marketing has come a very long way from the jingles on radio to the black and white television adverts (clearly way before my time). The television largely changed consumers take on how they view marketing. Companies through Advertising Agencies saw a medium where they could interrupt a viewers favourite TV show and put an advert right in the middle of their favourite TV programme, no permission asked, no permission needed. I suppose this is what is considered a wise move for one of the Ps of the marketing mix, PLACEMENT. Whilst for them it was a good idea for me the consumer did I really want to see another household wife using Flash or whatever other household product in the during Prison Break? That did not and still does not appeal to me. Then the Internet came, and that changed everything. Adverts could be highly targeted and placed, using tools like Google Adwords and Tracking Pixels, now advertisers can literally specifically target their ideal market.
Whilst this has largely changed the products and services are targeted to us the consumer, once again it is largely an INTERRUPTING model. Is that what marketing is all about, force a brand, product or service down my throat? I admit it works sometimes, but I strongly believe there is a major flaw in this model and it can’t last forever, just like Press Advertising is loosing substantial revenue to the Internet, Interrupting Advertisements will soon see the back end, versus timely and desired marketing. In sales we have one of those rules, its called KYC – Know Your Client / Customer. In marketing I understand that rule is largely considered as well, it comes under one of the other 7 Ps, PEOPLE. Now imagine this, if throughout my life time, a company could monitor every Pound / Dollar / Euro / Yen I spent, monitor how often I bought, what my triggers were, what time I like buying, what period in the year I spend the most amount of money, that would be the ultimate marketing company. Good old accurate data, so that you didn’t need to sell to me, but rather knew instantly when I had a NEED for a product or service. For example if I needed a new BlackBerry, the company would know what I had paid for it previously, what issues i had had, what my usage was and truly deliver or recommend a company that would fulfill my need satisfactorily. Now that would be the Ultimate Marketing Company.
We are getting there, Tracking Pixels seem to be able to track a users web usage over a certain period of time. I suppose one of the biggest issues with that sort of marketing or rather market research is that whilst it would not be INTERRUPTING it would be INTRUSIVE. I will be the first to say, that it is not only a bit creepy but scary to know that my web movement can be tracked. The Internet has been a game changer, but with all game changers come many new rules and many people that like breaking those rules and don’t play fair. As consumers, I am sure you will all agree that we are very particular about what we want and when we want it, and too right, because we have lots of choice.
I still strongly believe that Web 2.0 Marketingis the way to go, because now products / services can be ”sold” more efficiently by recommending and referring your own peers / friends / family. It is still largely in its infancy. Take Facebook for example, I only heard about it 18 months ago and that was because a few of my colleagues were on it at work. Facebook first came onto the scene exclusively for US Colleges and Universities in 2004 and it has had huge success. Now I pretty much log-on at least once a day sometimes twice and that only happened because my friends were on there and they thought I should join. The key elements here is that whilst Facebook gain another User (client / customer) and I “bought” into it, I did not part with cash. This is both a major benefit and a challenge with the Internet, how to efficiently monetize it, although Facebook has a valuation of several billion dollars according to some analysts, this once again is a perception of its value because I doubt they have generated several billion dollars in revenue, in fact according to data from Wikipedia the company has estimated revenue of $300 million, and net income of negative $50 million (that means they made a loss of $50 million). What they do have is a highly optimised User base which on the face of it can be engineered to bring in substantial revenues in the future, lets hope it is pretty soon because I doubt very much they can continue loosing circa $50 million a year . I doubt my 353 friends would appreciate it if I tried to sale them something or vice versa anyway, perhaps if they listed their wish list of what they wanted and needed and one of their friends sourced it for them that could possibly work. The challenge would come with remuneration, if companies started to incentives friends, then that would be the end of that.
Marketing ahhhh, the joys and pains.
In closing I leave you with this Video from what is largely regarded as one of the most successful viral marketing campaigns from a company. It is from the Wassup Boyz, it is the 2008 version, but it still managed to get 5 million+ views on YouTube. Enjoy.
Whats in a name? – Brand Recognition, Awareness & Value
December 18, 2008 at 3:53 pm · Filed under Advertising, Brand Awareness, Popular Brands, Sales & Marketing, Web 2.0 and tagged: Barack Obama, Bata, Blogging, Brand, Brand Marketing, Brand Republic, Coca Cola, Google, Nike, Placement, Price, Product, Sarah Palin, Value, Web 2.0, Wordpress, Yahoo
Ah the first of many posts to come and what hopefully will become a popular and recognised Blog in the Blogsphere, with a lucrative VALUE.
As the title says, whats in a name? Barack Obama, Coca Cola, Sarah Palin, Nike, Google, Yahoo, WordPress, Mc Donalds, Michael Jordan, Beyonce, Britney Spears I could go on and on and on, different names, different meanings, different values, but they all have one thing in common, they have a VALUE because they are easily recognisable.
I first became aware of brands, when I was a little kid. Growing up in Zimbabwe, many shoes / trainers my parents bought were from Bata (a huge brand name I would come to realise). The shoes I want were the Bata North Star Trainers / Sneakers and it was largely because of the flashy advert on TV and the fact that all my peers were wearing them. Odd you would think that a footwear with Bright colours would drive children to hysteria and convince their parents to buy them a pair. That is the power of the brand and the power of advertising, which all determines the VALUE of something. Look around today and it is all about the value of items going up or down, currencies, house prices, Funds, Stock Markets, Jobs, you name it the value is either going up or down.
The crazy thing behind all this Value see-saw is Me, You, US as a collective. We determine what we think some is worth based on a simple economic principle – supply and demand. Off course other factors play into it, desirability, trends, exclusivity etc etc, but all this is actually drive by Me, You, Us. We hold the power in our hands to make or break a brand, to add value or take it away. And now with Blogs, Twitters, Social Networking sites it has all just become a lot easier. The market place is changing quicker than companies can blink, Inc 500, FTSE100, regardless of their stature, and corporate value, they all need to keep up otherwise they will get left behind. It is not unusual now to hear of a 20 something year old kid who creates a company from his / her bedroom only for the company to go on and be valued in the billions only after a few years, Facebook and Google are prime examples. It took companies like IBM / General Motors / General Electric probably double the time to make that “valuation”.
Follow me as we explore the history, current state and future of brands, value and how we look at ourselves as brands and try to ascertain what us as individuals are actually worth.
I would like to leave you with this video which sums up many thinks.
