Brand Strategy articles from October 2004

Brand Strategy archives from October 2004

Hamburger culture.(Leader)
October 1, 2004... One of the age-old dilemmas of marketing is resolving the tension between global standards and local products. Predictably, there are some memorable instances of global marketing gone wrong. There was GM's promotion in Belgium for a car...

PlayStation 2.(Launches and rebrands)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Sony Entertainment's PlayStation 2 has been redesigned to be more than 50% lighter and thinner than the original console. An ad campaign will promote the new model which will appear in North American, European and Japanese stores from 1...

Chevrolet Europe, formed from Daewoo in Europe, will launch Chevrolet branded cars throughout Europe from January as it phases out the Daewoo brand.(Launches and rebrands)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Chevrolet Europe, formed from Daewoo in Europe, will launch Chevrolet branded cars throughout Europe from January as it phases out the Daewoo brand. Small compact and mid-size vehicles are being introduced to position Chevrolet as General...

Vodafone is launching 10 new 3G handsets for the Christmas period across Europe and Japan.(Launches and rebrands)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Vodafone is launching 10 new 3G handsets for the Christmas period across Europe and Japan. The range has been developed with several manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. A multi-channel ad campaign will appear in all relevant...

The Virgin Group has launched Virgin Digital, a digital music offering, going against Apple's iTunes in the US.(Launches and rebrands)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Virgin Group has launched Virgin Digital, a digital music offering, going against Apple's iTunes in the US. The service includes a digital music store and music club subscription service. One million tracks are available to download at 99c...

Philips is investing 80m [euro] (54.4m [pounds sterling]) in an advertising campaign to promote its new image as a healthcare, lifestyle and technology company.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Philips is investing 80m [euro] (54.4m [pounds sterling]) in an advertising campaign to promote its new image as a healthcare, lifestyle and technology company. The 'Sense and Simplicity' positioning will replace the 'Let's make things better'...

Volvo has introduced a new brand campaign 'Life on Board' in the form of mini TV style documentaries; it will spend over 7m [pounds sterling] on advertising in the next 12 months.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Volvo has introduced a new brand campaign 'Life on Board' in the form of mini TV style documentaries; it will spend over 7m [pounds sterling] on advertising in the next 12 months. TV and print advertising will direct European viewers to the...

Foot Locker, Replay Blue Jeans, L'Oreal Paris Studio Line and Hewlett-Packard will sponsor the MW Europe Music Awards in Rome in November.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Foot Locker, Replay Blue Jeans, L'Oreal Paris Studio Line and Hewlett-Packard will sponsor the MW Europe Music Awards in Rome in November. The estimated sponsorship value of the awards is approximately $10m (5.53m [pounds sterling]).

GSK is investing 4m [pounds sterling] in a pan-European reality advertising campaign for smoking cessation product, NiQuitin CQ.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... GSK is investing 4m [pounds sterling] in a pan-European reality advertising campaign for smoking cessation product, NiQuitin CQ. The UK ad campaign, Quittin' with NiQuitin, will follow a real-life 35-year-old woman attempting to give up...

Diary.(Calendar)
October 1, 2004... Latin American Conference Mexico City, Mexico 24-26 October With over 500 million habitants Latin America is one of the world's most promising consumer markets. The ninth ESOMAR Latin American Conference will discuss the developments...

Ford of Europe.(Appointments)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Geoff Polites has been promoted to VP Ford of Europe, marketing, sales and service from the end of the year. He is currently VP European sales staff, Ford of Europe. Polites will replace Earl Hesterberg who will become group VP North America,...

Intel.(Appointments)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Intel has appointed Eric Kim as executive VP of marketing, moving from Samsung where he was global marketing chief. Gregory Lee will take Kim's position at Samsung. Lee joined Samsung in July as CMO.

Fiat Auto.(Appointments)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Fiat Auto has appointed Lapo Elkann head of brand promotion looking after Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia. Elkann, 26, will report directly to the new CEO, Herbert Demel. The move is part of a new organisation structure in Fiat Auto aiming to move...

Nortel Networks.(Appointments)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Nortel Networks has promoted Clent Richardson to chief marketing officer; he will also serve on Nortel Networks global executive management strategy group. Richardson joined Nortel six months ago as VP, global marketing; he was previously at...

WPP has completed the $1.31bn (728m [pounds sterling]) purchase of its American rival, Grey Global, the last remaining independent ad agency.(Finance)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... WPP has completed the $1.31bn (728m [pounds sterling]) purchase of its American rival, Grey Global, the last remaining independent ad agency. The deal brings clients Procter & Gamble, Mars, Warner Bros and Hasbro to WPP. Grey reported net...

Nike.(Finance)(company sales)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Sportswear company Nike has reported revenues of $3.6bn (2bn [pounds sterling]) for its first quarter, up 18% on last year. The biggest area of growth was Asia, where revenues rose 17% as opposed to 12% in the US and 14% in Europe.

Suzuki.(Finance)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Suzuki has announced a move into the Indian motorcycle market. It has created a new company to operate in the region with planned capital of around $8.5m (4.73m [pounds sterling]). It also has a planned investment of [yen] 10bn (50.2m [pounds...

Manchester United's pretax profits have fallen to 27.9m [pounds sterling] from 39.3m [pounds sterling] in the year to 31 July.(Finance)(Manchester United Football Club PLC)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Manchester United's pretax profits have fallen to 27.9m [pounds sterling] from 39.3m [pounds sterling] in the year to 31 July. Media revenues and group turnover also fell but operating profits increased by 6% to 58.3m [pounds sterling]....

Unilever.(Finance)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Unilever's July and August trading was lower than expected and the company has revised its earnings forecast for the year to low single digit earnings per share. The decline is due to a poor summer, weak consumer confidence in Europe and...

US internet advertising has increased by 39.7% compared to the same period last year, with revenues at $4.6bn (2.6bn [pounds sterling]) for the first half of 2004.(Numbers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... US internet advertising has increased by 39.7% compared to the same period last year, with revenues at $4.6bn (2.6bn [pounds sterling]) for the first half of 2004. The report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau also...

Fifty-nine per cent of Mercedes Benz customers are 'active brand advocates', promoting the brand through word-of-mouth, according to NOP World's 2004 Global Brand Advocacy Survey, which examined 30,000 consumers worldwide.(Numbers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Fifty-nine per cent of Mercedes Benz customers are 'active brand advocates', promoting the brand through word-of-mouth, according to NOP World's 2004 Global Brand Advocacy Survey, which examined 30,000 consumers worldwide. Other brands with...

M&Ms talking sweets are the most popular US advertising icons according to a survey by the American Association of Advertising Agencies.(Numbers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... M&Ms talking sweets are the most popular US advertising icons according to a survey by the American Association of Advertising Agencies. Red and Yellow came top in a survey with 22% of the vote. Other top brand icons include the Alflac duck...

Modding rocks for individuality: Claudine Ben-Zenou discovers that personalising the product isn't necessarily the job of the brand owner.(Trendspotter)
October 1, 2004... From boy racers adding custom built parts to their Vauxhall Novas, to kids downloading screensavers and wallpapers on mobile phones, today's generation of young consumers no longer passively accept products in their original format. They...

Trans World Airlines checking out: Ruth Mortimer discovers why the TWA brand went on a one way trip to the big airport in the sky.(That Was The Brand That Was)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... It should have been an American success story. Trans World Airlines made its headquarters in Kansas, home of The Wizard of Oz, yet it disappeared not in a tornado but after filing for bankruptcy and selling the majority of its assets to rival...

The alchemy of differentiation: Alan Mitchell asks why differentiate when simply making your brand better will do?
October 1, 2004... In the eighteenth century the scientists of their day --alchemists--believed there was a special element in things which caused them to burn. It was called phlogiston. If only they could isolate and package phlogiston, a new world of...

Brand MOT.(Mark On Top)
October 1, 2004... Since French Connection adopted its 'FCUK' branding in 1997 the retailer's grown to become an international brand, appearing regularly in the press due to its controversial straplines. Although French Connection continues to grow and expand...

French connection.
October 1, 2004... Bryan Roberts, global retail research manager, at research company M+M Planet Retail The FCUK branding contributed massively to the brand's notoriety, company sales and profitability but it's been a double-edged sword causing trouble in...

Kids TV brands need to go global to compete: Ruth Mortimer examines how children's entertainment brands can no longer afford to develop for a singular market, while global appeal lies in crossing cultural boundaries.(News Analysis)
October 1, 2004... It's no longer playtime for kids TV brands; they are being put out to work. Chorion, the company which owns the Noddy brand, signed a deal last month to take an updated version of the toy character to American TV screens. The new CGI-animated...

Mastering chaos comes at a cost: Dick Powell and Richard Seymour explain how the FMCG sector can learn from the durable products industry.(Opinion)(Fast Moving Consumer Goods)
October 1, 2004... In the world of FMCG there is an unhealthy preoccupation with brand and communication at the expense of product. But, the product is the direct link between the consumer and the brand. By contrast, in the world of durable products, there is a...

Creativity in the face of adversity: Neil Kinnock addresses the need to foster creativity for economic and social advance.(Opinion)
October 1, 2004... Organised support and improved education for fostering creativity, public and private sponsorship of innovative abilities are all vital to economic and cultural advance. Modern London is a good setting for manifesting the potential of...

Gulliford's travels: brollies to Barclays: Elen Lewis meets Simon Gulliford, group marketing and communications director at Barclays, to discuss how early experiences in the world of marketing inform his insight.(Profile)(Interview)
October 1, 2004... The first time I met Simon Gulliford, group marketing and communications director at Barclays, he jolted me awake. I'd been quietly snoozing through a monotone 'creativity' conference, when Gulliford bounded onto the platform. Pacing...

Life in the fast lane: Joanna Doonar studies McDonald's reaction to the end of fast food as we know it and looks at how the chain is changing its offering as society becomes ever more health aware.(McDonald's)
October 1, 2004... Hard hitting headlines, best-selling films and books, concerned parents and health lobbyists regularly condemn McDonald's, but the world's top fast-food restaurant still serves 47 million customers a day in 31,000 restaurants worldwide. Ranked...

The colour of money: Ruth Mortimer explores how colour affects consumers' choice and perception of brands. How is colour translated across cultures and how can brands protect their colourful commodity?(Branding & Colour)
October 1, 2004... Colour has never been a grey area for brands. It can be the difference between a brand succeeding or failing, a point proved in 1996, when Alex Ferguson changed football team Manchester United's kit at half time because it was the wrong shade....

Cadbury's purple reign: the purple patch of confectionery on newsagents' shelves is indicative of Cadbury's supremacy in the UK. Ruth Mortimer investigates the reasoning behind the purple branding.(Case study: Cadbury)
October 1, 2004... Purple is the colour of royalty. The dye was once so expensive that only the monarch could afford to use it. But now it is the colour of a different kind of sovereign--Cadbury's--the king of the UK confectionery market. Cadbury's market...

A brighter outlook: Adam Morgan outlines how challenger brands such as Apple and Chupa Chups have used different kinds of insights to differentiate themselves.(Brand Papers)
October 1, 2004... Challenger brands need to find new kinds of opportunities in their categories to compete and survive: they cannot compete head on with the superior firepower of the establishment brand, so they have to find a territory that is fresh and new....

Enter the dragon: Mark Dickens offers advice for Western retailers looking to sell their wares in China. Catering for local tastes is paramount.(Brand Papers)
October 1, 2004... Napoleon likened China to a sleeping dragon, proposing that when she wakes up the whole world will take notice. Well, the dragon has stirred so it's time to look to the East. China has the world's biggest population of 1.3 billion, one of...

Happy families: Pester power is no longer a marketer's buzzword. Dave Lawrence explains why the future lies in family marketing and not marketing to kids.(Brand Papers)
October 1, 2004... Family life has always been a cornerstone of modern society. Upholding strong family values has long been a goal of parents and politicians alike. And for many brands, the family group is now the most important demographic with which to build...

Lessons for Lithuania: Kristina Dryza discusses how Lithuanian brands can compete globally by identifying the nation's cultural qualities and realising their potential.(Brand Papers)
October 1, 2004... At the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 when the Lithuanian men's basketball team almost beat America's Dream Team, a moment of recognition was lost. Not for the players, who had to settle for a bronze medal, but for a country that came so close to...

Healthcare redefined: Siobhan Gleeson and Chloe Camber explain why food and cosmetics brands increasingly need to carry a healthy message.(Brand Papers)
October 1, 2004... Traditionally, the concept of health was all about 'not being ill'. But today, health has become a global pre-occupation; a watchword for the way we live our everyday lives. Healthcare spending absorbs nearly a tenth of GDP in rich countries...

Briefing design.(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Raymond Turner FCSD, an independent consultant, believes that Creating the Perfect Design Brief--How to Manage Design for Strategic Advantage would be better described as two books in one. Creating the Perfect Design Brief by Peter L...

From the bookshelf of ... Sean Pillot de Chenecey, Captain Crikey.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... The Rise of the Creative Class (2002), Richard Florida While the cult of youth may be tedious to some--just how often can you repeat the mantra about relevance. authenticity and empathy--it is worth taking an objective look at the real...

Big spenders: furniture retailers.(Brand Stats)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
October 1, 2004... Big spenders Furniture retailers UK top advertisers, August 2004 New position (previous month) Brand Spend 1 (2) DFS 4,236,441 [pounds sterling] 2 (7) Currys ...

FMCG bestsellers: deodorant/body spray.(Brand Stats)(Fast Moving Consumer Goods)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
October 1, 2004... FMCG bestsellers Deodorant/body spray Deodorants and body sprays, year ending 15 August 2004 Rank Brand Company 1. Lynx Bodyspray Lever Faberge 2. Sure 24Hr Intensive...

Market focus: bottled lager.(Brand Stats)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Spanish and the Germans are most likely to drink bottled lager with almost 40% of the adult population claiming to be drinkers. In both France and Britain around one third of consumers drink bottled lager. Lager drinkers, when compared...

All hail the consumer matrix.(Research)
October 1, 2004... We are experiencing a paradigm shift in the way society organises itself, influenced by technology and broader sociocultural forces. We have moved from living in what sociologist Barry Wellman terms 'little boxes' to living in a network...

Targeting consumers.(Research)
October 1, 2004... Consumers are less concerned with information overload than advertisers believe. Bombarding consumers daily with product, service, corporate and brand information is not a widespread nuisance. While 38% of the UK population claim to feel...

Marketing to Hispanics in the US.(Research)
October 1, 2004... Hispanics are now the largest minority group in America. By 2012, Hispanics will count for nearly one out of every five US residents if growth rates continue at their current pace. And as the numbers grow, so does the community's purchasing...