Brand Strategy articles from April 2007

Brand Strategy archives from April 2007

LEADER: Brave-heart brands.
April 16, 2007... I used to live on a busy high street in north London. It is an area almost untouched by the hand of big business - numerous small greengrocers, butchers, restaurants and bars. There is one Tesco Metro and a Wetherpoons pub (and recently a...

NEWS ROUND UP: Marketing - Single online service.
April 16, 2007... NBC Universal and Fox Networks have announced that they are combining their shows into a single online service to rival video-sharing website YouTube. It will be accessible through Yahoo, AOL, MSN and MySpace and carry TV programmes and...

NEWS ROUND UP: Marketing - Viacom sues YouTube.
April 16, 2007... Viacom has announced that it is suing website YouTube for $1bn (#510m) due to 'massive intentional copyright infringement'. The company says that around 160,000 clips of its shows have been viewed more than 1.5 billion times through the...

NEWS ROUND UP: Marketing - Starbucks record label.
April 16, 2007... Starbucks has launched its own record label and Paul McCartney is its first signed artist. The initiative is a joint venture with Los Angeles- based Concord Music Group. The former Beatle's next album in June will be distributed through...

NEWS ROUND UP: Marketing - First Chinese-built MG.
April 16, 2007... The first Chinese-built MGsports cars have been completed in Nanjing, China. State-owned Nanjing Automobile bought the assets of collapsed UK firm MG Rover in 2005. It is marketing the 'MG' marque as 'modern gentleman' to hark back to the...

NEWS ROUND UP: Marketing - Coca-Cola loyalty scheme.
April 16, 2007... Coca-Cola is launching a loyalty scheme in summer 2007 to target teenagers in Europe. The soft-drinks brand will create a 'currency' out of its used cans and bottles and is setting up the equivalent of an online trading floor. The currency...

NEWS ROUND UP: Marketing - Carbon-reduction lable.
April 16, 2007... The Carbon Trust, the agency tasked with lowering emissions, is trialling a carbon-reduction label with major brands, including Innocent, Walkers Crisps and Boots. To qualify for the label, brands have had to demonstrate a commitment to...

NEWS ROUND UP: Marketing - GSK fined.
April 16, 2007... GlaxoSmithKline has been fined NZ$217,500 (#83,333) for making incorrect health claims for its Ribena brand. Two Auckland schoolchildren conducted tests that showed the brand had lower levels of vitamin C than other fruit drinks. The company's...

NEWS ROUND UP: Launches/rebrands - Bebo launches service with Orange.(Brief article)
April 16, 2007... Bebo is launching a service with mobile operator Orange that will allow customers to access the social network through their phones. Orange will have exclusive rights to the service in the UK market for an undisclosed period of time and it...

NEWS ROUND UP: Launches/rebrands - Console sales.
April 16, 2007... Sony has launched its Playstation 3 games console in Europe. The equipment, priced higher than rival Microsoft Xbox 360, sold around 600,000 products in its first two days. Sony claims the consoles, games and accessories sold were worth around...

NEWS ROUND UP: Launches/rebrands - EasyJet package holidays.
April 16, 2007... EasyJet is launching package holidays in a bid to gain a bigger slice of the online holiday spending pie. EasyJet's holiday brand will unite its hotel and flight offers. An EasyJet Holidays site is expected to go live this month, and will...

NEWS ROUND UP: Launches/rebrands - Limited edition collection.
April 16, 2007... Retailer Hennes & Mauritz has launched a limited-edition clothing collection with pop star Madonna. The range follows the Gold by Giles range for fast-fashion retailer New Look by designer Giles Deacon. Copyright: Centaur Communications...

NEWS ROUND UP: Launches/rebrands - Alliance Boots rebrand.(Brief article)
April 16, 2007... Chemist brand Alliance Boots has announced a #65m rebrand of its retail network. The company, which launched in Russia last year and has just set up a joint venture in China, is also planning to move or close around 100 of its sites as part...

NEWS ROUND UP: Launches/rebrands - BMW in India.
April 16, 2007... German car marque BMW has opened a factory in India to meet demand for high-end vehicles in the country and avoid import taxes. The brand is currently a niche player compared to local rivals, such as Tata and Maruti, but the company is keen...

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Swatch results.(Financial report)
April 16, 2007... The Swatch Group has reported strong results for 2006 with its operating profit up to CHF973m (#407m) from CHF735m (#307m) in the previous year. The highest sales growth - 13.8% - was in watches and jewellery. The company owns the luxury Omega...

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Kingfisher profits down.(Financial report)
April 16, 2007... Retail company Kingfisher has reported pre-tax profits down 11% to #396.6m, although after one-off charges, profit increased to #450.5m. The company's B&Q brand saw UK sales drop by nearly three per cent but French like-for-like sales rose by...

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Metro sales increase.
April 16, 2007... Metro, the largest German supermarket owner, has reported a full-year sales increase of 7.5% to E60bn (#41bn) bolstered by the purchase of Wal-Mart's German outlets, as well as 19 Geant hypermarkets in Poland. Copyright: Centaur...

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Lloyds of London profit.
April 16, 2007... Insurance brand Lloyds of London has announced a #3.6bn profit for 2006, compared with a #103m loss the previous year, when it had to pay out substantial claims resulting from Hurricane Katrina in the US. Copyright: Centaur Communications...

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Barclays in talks with ABN Amro.
April 16, 2007... Barclays is in preliminary talks about an #81bn merger with Dutch bank ABN Amro. The deal, if it went ahead, would create one of the world's largest financial services companies. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Tui expected to merge with First Choice.
April 16, 2007... German holiday operator Tui is expected to merge its tour operating business with UK travel company First Choice. The new business would be worth around #3bn with 27 million customers. Rival travel brands MyTravel and Thomas Cook have already...

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Burton's Foods deal.
April 16, 2007... Burton's Foods, owner of brands including Wagon Wheels and Jammie Dodgers, has been bought by Duke Street Capital, the private equity group, in an estimated #210m deal. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS ROUND UP: Financial - Motorola will make a loss.
April 16, 2007... Motorola has announced that it will make a loss for the first three months of this year and cut its annual revenue target to between $9.2bn (#4.6bn) and $9.3bn (#4.7bn), down from an earlier target of between $10.4bn (#5.3bn) to $10.6bn...

APPOINTMENTS: Audi.
April 16, 2007... Audi has appointed Peter Duffy, currently director of marketing services at Barclays, as the new head of marketing at the German car marque. Duffy will start in May and replaces Nigel Brotherton who left the company four months ago to take up...

APPOINTMENTS: Motorola.
April 16, 2007... Jeremy Dale has taken the top global marketing role for handset devices at Motorola. He replaces vice-president of marketing for handset devices Leslie Dance. Simon Thompson, European marketing director at Motorola, is leaving the firm after...

APPOINTMENTS: Wrigley.
April 16, 2007... The Wrigley Company has appointed Mary Kay Haben as group vice president and managing director for North America. Haben, who has 27 years experience at Kraft Foods Inc., will lead the growth and development of Wrigley's US and Canadian...

APPOINTMENTS: Callaway Golf.
April 16, 2007... Callaway Golf has appointed Jeff Dodds as its European marketing director. Dodds was previously responsible for marketing the Honda brand in the UK. He had held the role for only a year after taking over from Simon Thompson when he moved to...

Trendspotter: What are your intentions?
April 16, 2007... Reinier Evers explains why consumer demand is taking on a new meaning Companies spend millions on researching demographics, societal needs and of course, future trends. But are they ignoring some very specific requests from consumers...

Brand Stunt of the Month: Gone in 60 minutes.
April 16, 2007... Morag Cuddeford Jones discovers a dark hour with a bright idea Sydney, famed for lighting up the night sky every New Year's Eve, plans to plunge itself into total darkness at the end of this month. In an effort to highlight climate...

OPINION - SUSAN LAND: Success that will make you blush.
April 16, 2007... Susan Land, head of channel marketing at Samsung Mobile, explains why the 'female market' is outdated and asks: 'What do women really want?' Why do marketers find it so difficult to attract women? Few people would disagree that this is...

OPINION - DANIEL IFCHER: Taking the brand to a new frontier.
April 16, 2007... Daniel Ifcher, vice president of Disney Home, says that companies need not restrict themselves to one consumer group; the best brands can appeal to all It is important for every industry to have trendsetters. These people work in an...

BRAND THERAPY - PRODUCT RED: Product pro bono.
April 16, 2007... (RED) As brand launches go, Project RED was ticking all the boxes. First revealed in October 2006, it enjoyed the backing of some of the mightiest marketing muscle in the world, including brands such as Gap, Motorola and Nike. High-profile...

GLOBAL TRENDS ?-VIRTUAL B2B: You only live twice.
April 16, 2007... Ruth Mortimer looks at how business-to-business brands are using online virtual worlds to network and develop projects. Can they follow the lead of consumer brands and monetise their activity? Christian Reynaud is relaxing in his...

PROFILE - BJ CUNNINGHAM: Smokes and stilettos.
April 16, 2007... Ruth Mortimer discusses entrepreneurialism with BJ Cunningham whose savvy ideas and irrepressible personality have made his career to date a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows BJ Cunningham takes that old adage, 'live the brand', to...

PROFILE - BJ CUNNINGHAM: Q&A - Shoes and shock tactics.
April 16, 2007... RM: You famously launched Death cigarettes. Why? BC: Most people believe that smoking kills. I'm a big believer in being a libertarian, in freedom of choice and that we should be allowed to do what we choose as long as it doesn't infringe...

CASE STUDY - PEPSICO: Cola gets a pep talk.(rebranding strategy)
April 16, 2007... Polly Devaney discusses PepsiCo's long-term strategy of innovation designed to combat obesity fears surrounding its food and drink products while remaining the consumer's brand of choice Mention the name 'Pepsi' to most people and they...

RISK: Risky business.
April 16, 2007... Brands constantly ask where they should find the next big idea. But what if they're too afraid to look for it? Morag Cuddeford Jones examines how brands can make that leap of faith Do you understand the difference between new and novel? It...

RISK: Case study - Unilever.
April 16, 2007... Despite what has been said about big businesses' risk averse reputations, Unilever is one company cited by many innovation experts as an intelligent risk-taker. Since it rationalised its brand portfolio in 2003 from over 1,600 brands to just...

RISK: Case study - Toyota.
April 16, 2007... "We are not frightened of failure." That is the simple explanation given by Jon Williams, Toyota's European marketing director, when asked about the car company's view of taking risks. "It's part of our company philosophy, called The...

RISK: If at first you don't succeed.
April 16, 2007... New Coke was just the beginning. Since then The Coca-Cola company has begun to embrace its failures, as have other big name brands. Here is a list of some of the most high-profile brand flops, and why their owners are better for it/ ...

BRAND ENVIRONMENT: Brands in new contexts.
April 16, 2007... Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia discuss how the world of enterprise can assuage the ills and fears of today's troubled society The next three years have bracing social forces pushing and pulling at them - this will be an 'age of anxiety'....

CENTRALISATION: One size fits most.
April 16, 2007... Kevin Freedman, founder of consultancy Freedman International, argues global brands are not broken and a little localisation is often quite enough There is no magic formula allowing a universal approach to marketing. Why? Because people...

BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT: Seamless brand integration.
April 16, 2007... Brand directors must react quickly to communicate with their audience in this new world of total media fragmentation, says Jean-Marc Lehu Four years ago, former Coca-Cola marketer and author Sergio Zyman predicted 'the end of advertising...

BRAND INSPIRATION: Random idea generator.(trendspotting)
April 16, 2007... Go beyond your sector and be inspired by the world around you. Piers Fawkes reveals resources allowing trendspotters to find ideas in the strangest places Trends are tricky. We all think we can spot them but we don't know how. You...

BOOK REVIEW: A cult like every other.(The Cult of the Luxury Brand)(Book review)
April 16, 2007... The Cult of the Luxury Brand By Radha Chadha and Paul Husband Published by Nicholas Brealey International, priced #20 Alistair Green, planning group head, BBH, has heard it all before when it comes to The Cult of the Luxury Brand...

BOOK REVIEW: Three from me - Alistair Green also recommends.(Book review)
April 16, 2007... Great Asian Brands: China: The Next Superbrand? By Nick Barham and Darren Yao Cyan Books, 2006 Written by the super-smart Nick Barham, this is a fascinating book full of insights that explain the impact China has had on the world...

From the bookshelf of...Gemma Newland.
April 16, 2007... Gemma Newland, managing director of brand entertainment agency STREAM\ The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant Published by Virago Press Ltd, 2004 Sarah Dunant's eighth novel explores the sexual awakening of 15-year- old heroine...

BRAND METRICS: The net-promoter score movement.(Company overview)
April 16, 2007... The marketing fraternity has long been aware of word-of-mouth (WOM)'s importance in such critical areas as repeat buying behaviour, brand equity and corporate reputation management. But it has now acquired even more speed and potency as the...

Brand Stats: April 2007.
April 16, 2007... Market focus Trainers More than half of the population in four European countries have bought sports shoes/trainers in the last year. Men are slightly more likely to buy them than women but there are greater differences relating to age...

MIDDLE-EASTERN MARKETS: Dubai dreaming and brand construction.
April 16, 2007... The commercial activity in the United Arab Emirates region means branding is becoming more important. Brand Strategy looks at the challenges for companies working in Dubai Brand Strategy: A consumer paradise boasting opulent hotels and...

CASE STUDY - VILLA MODA: Fashion fusion at Villa Moda.(Company overview)
April 16, 2007... Maeve Hosea talks to the 'Sheikh of chic' about the luxury emporium brand Villa Moda - its success in the Middle-Eastern retail market for the young and wealthy and its expansion into the West A glittering modern glass store gleams next...

IFA HOTELS & RESORTS: The hanging gardens of IFA Hotels and Resorts.
April 16, 2007... Maeve Hosea asks Alan Bell, vice president, IFA Hotels & Resorts - London, responsible for acquisitions and new ventures in Europe, how the developer sees the brand's future in the Middle East and beyond MH: Alan Bell, you're responsible...

ISRAEL FOOD MARKET: Tailoring brands for the Israeli consumer.
April 16, 2007... Israel's unique consumer economy has been moulded by its political, geographical and religious environment - marketing directors must get to grips with this complex market says Mark Dickens Israel is a micro-global consumer economy. Most...

OIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Fuel for thought.
April 16, 2007... Maurice Acton describes how the rapidly developing states of the Middle East are waking up to Western branding systems to make the most of their businesses and natural resources Spurting out of mineral-rich desert, oil remains paramount...

MIDDLE-EASTERN CONSUMERS: Lands of opportunity.
April 16, 2007... Polly Carter breaks down the Middle-Eastern market and suggests international brands should adapt to the diversity of the region which encompasses locals, expatriates and tourists The Middle East is one of the fastest-emerging regions in...

MIDDLE-EASTERN CONSUMERS: Consumer electronics.
April 16, 2007... Whilst opportunities exist in most sectors, technology is likely to play a particularly significant part in the future growth of the region. Consumers in the Middle East are known for being big spenders on technology products. In the UAE, for...