Brand Strategy articles from October 2006

Brand Strategy archives from October 2006

LEADER: Recipe for a disaster.
October 9, 2006... The term 'espionage' brings to mind some glamorous Eastern European location with swirling mist and mysterious figures littering the streets in trenchcoats. But the reality of corporate spying is quite different; you are more likely to find a...

Marketing: WPP joint venture.
October 9, 2006... Advertising network WPP has formed a joint venture with global music business Universal Music Group. The GroupM media investment arm has joined forces with the record company to facilitate brand and music partnerships. WPP marketers will now...

Marketing: Daimler-Chrysler.
October 9, 2006... Daimler-Chrysler is rumoured to be in talks with Chinese car firm Chery about selling its small cars in Europe and the US. Chery is aiming to export 10% of its production this year. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Marketing: Procter & Gamble.
October 9, 2006... Procter & Gamble has sold its Sure deodorant operations to Innovative Brands for an estimated $100m (#53m). It comes as the company divests itself of smaller brands which "cannot offer strategic growth or financial performance." ...

Marketing: Kentucky Fried Chicken.(ban for using hydrogenated oil)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... New York is following Chicago with proposals to ban the city's 24,600 restaurants from using partially hydrogenated oil - commonly called trans-fat. It has been deemed bad for health by several nutritionists but many fast-food outlets,...

Marketing: 19 Entertainment.(19 Entertainment acquires Freedom Media)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... 19 Entertainment - which makes the Idol-branded music TV shows - has bought branding content firm Freedom Media. The founder of Freedom Media, Robert Dodds, will join 19 Entertainment as president. Simon Fuller, 19 owner, and Dodds worked...

Marketing: Virgin.(donation for reducing carbon emissions)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson has pledged to plough $3bn (#1.6bn) of his travel companies' profits, including Virgin Airlines and Virgin Trains, into reducing carbon emissions from the aviation industry over the next 10 years. The money...

Marketing: William Hill.(suspension of online gambling)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... UK-based betting chain William Hill has suspended all activities in the US following the arrests of the heads of two online competitors, Sportingbet and Betonline. The company is concerned that allowing US customers access to its products...

Marketing: Gap.
October 9, 2006... Retailer Gap has brought actress Audrey Hepburn back to life for its skinny black pants campaign across the US. It uses pictures of the actress on billboards, TV and online, dancing in the 1957 movie Funny Face. Copyright: Centaur...

Launches and rebrands: Carrefour.(Carrefour S.A.)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Supermarket Carrefour will launch a new non-food, own-label range in its hypermarkets next month. Carrefour Home will initially offer 200 items including tableware, glasses, napkins, candles and chair cushions. The range will have products...

Financial: French Connection.(French Connection Group PLC company sales and earnings)(Financial report)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... French Connection has unveiled its first loss in 14 years after a string of profits warnings. The clothing brand made a pretax loss of #3.6m in the six months to August versus a profit of #5.1m in the same period last year. Group revenue fell...

Financial: Gallaher Group.
October 9, 2006... Gallaher Group - maker of Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut cigarettes - has posted a rise in first-half profits. The company says profit rose four per cent on strong demand for cigarettes in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe. But the...

Financial: Heineken.
October 9, 2006... Strong US demand for Heineken's light beer and a solid performance in Eastern Europe have put the fizz into Heineken's first-half results. The Dutch brewer reported a 14% rise in operating profit to E726m (#487m). It predicts that full-year...

Financial: L'Oreal.(L'Oreal S.A. company sales and earnings)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... L'Oreal's first-half profits rose 22% as shoppers bought more Armani Code perfume and luxury brand make-up such as Lancome. The world's biggest cosmetics firm says net income climbed to E1.1bn (#700m) as it benefited from revived consumer...

Financial: Diageo.
October 9, 2006... Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Guinness beer, has reported an 11% rise in annual pre-tax profits to #2.1bn. Total sales increased by eight per cent to #9.7bn during the year, helped by a strong performance in the US and Canada....

Financial: Heinz.
October 9, 2006... Heinz has reported a 23% jump in first-quarter profits, lifted by its Weight Watchers and Classico brands. Net income climbed to $194.1m (#101m). Sales for the three months to September increased 8.4% to $2.06bn (#1bn). Heinz plans to boost...

Financial: BAE Systems.(BAE SYSTEMS PLC company sales and earnings)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Europe's biggest weapons brand, BAE Systems, says first-half profit rose 28% to #405m. The company received #592m worth of US orders in the first six months of the year, including work for the US Army to refurbish and upgrade armoured...

Financial: Canon.(Canon Inc acquires Cabasse)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Canon, the world's biggest seller of digital cameras, is expected to post a better-than-expected 16% rise in annual net profit on strong demand for colour copiers and digital cameras. The company recently bought French acoustics company...

Financial: Sony.(slash in price by Sony Corp. )(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Sony is slashing the price of its PlayStation 3 in Japan by 20%. It will now charge Y47,600 (#214) for the basic version of the games console, down from an originally planned Y59,800 (#269). The move comes after Microsoft announced an external...

Numbers: Interactive Advertising Bureau.
October 9, 2006... The US online advertising market grew rapidly in the first half of 2006. The Interactive Advertising Bureau said overall online advertising in the US, the world's largest market, rose 37% from a year before, to $7.9bn (#4.1bn). However,...

APPOINTMENT: Ford Motor Co.
October 9, 2006... Ford Motor Co. has named former Boeing executive Alan Mulally as president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Company. Mulally previously led a turnaround of the commercial airplane division of The Boeing Company. Copyright: Centaur...

APPOINTMENT: Kraft Foods.
October 9, 2006... Kraft Foods has appointed Jeri Finard to the newly created position of executive vice president and chief marketing officer to lead consumer innovation and marketing services. Finard will oversee the new Consumer Innovation and Marketing...

APPOINTMENT: Pepsico.
October 9, 2006... Pepsico has created a new structure for its North American businesses and John Compton has been appointed to the newly created position of chief executive for North America. Compton was previously president and CEO of the Quaker Tropicana...

APPOINTMENT: Vodafone Group.(appointment of Vittorio Colao as chief executive officer)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Vodafone Group plc has announced that Vittorio Colao will join its board as chief executive of Vodafone's European region. He previously spent a number of years in various management roles with Vodafone and also replaces Sir Julian...

Trendspotter: Care to comment?(customer relations)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Leaving your brand open to attack could be for the best, says Andrew Davidson The internet has become a global focus group for brands and everyone is invited to sit behind the two-way mirror. Every brand, article, video or individual...

Brand Stunt of the Month: Soul searching.
October 9, 2006... Claudine Baker discovers a campaign designed to keep the faith alive Churches across the UK are hoping an ad campaign featuring Jesus on pint glasses will get young people talking about Christianity in the run-up to Christmas. The Churches...

Opinion - Sinclair Beecham: Make the most of the resources available.(Personal account)
October 9, 2006... Sinclair Beecham, co-founder of Pret a Manger and founder of the new Hoxton Hotel brand, says starting over in a new industry can be extremely daunting It's always a daunting task moving into a new field of business. But as co-founder...

Richard Cotter: Where there's innovation - there is also passion.
October 9, 2006... Richard Cotter, brand president at European outdoor and sportswear brand Berghaus, sets out five ways to innovate at every level of your business Innovation is vital for every business. But in the global outdoor and sportswear markets,...

Brand therapy - Intel: The chips are down for Intel.(Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd.)
October 9, 2006... Computer-chip technology brand Intel's fortunes are under attack. It has lost market share to rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and its place at the top of the microprocessor tree is under question. While Intel remains robust in some...

Global trends watch - Flash mobbing: Getting mobbed.(Internet marketing)
October 9, 2006... Claudine Baker discusses how the flash mob phenomenon has evolved from its original form as a social and absurdist activity to its role as a branding exercise to engage consumers It's 3rd June 2003 and more than 100 people have gathered...

PROFILE - MICHAEL BIRCH: Bebo's birch raises his profile.(Interview)
October 9, 2006... Michael Birch practised hard at perfecting social networking before launching Bebo last year. Now, with members growing exponentially, previous experience has paid off. Interview by Ruth Mortimer I've only been talking with Michael Birch,...

Q&A - MICHAEL BIRCH: Let the community decide.(Bebo)(Interview)
October 9, 2006... Michael Birch explains how the Bebo homepage uses sophisticated, integrated advertising which gives the user choice and control over brand interaction RM: Are social networks difficult to control? MB: It's one thing to know about them...

Bebo facts.(website)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... * A Bebo profile features areas such as a 'whiteboard' where you can draw pictures on your page. There is a 'quiz' section where users can test visitors to their page on how well they know them. There is also a blogging section for users to...

CASE STUDY - NIVEA: Comfortably creme.
October 9, 2006... Nivea, from the latin for 'snow white', has enjoyed an unsullied reputation in the toiletries sector world- wide. Maeve Hosea analyses the brand's longevity and discusses prospects for further expansion Nivea is not a typical German...

CASE STUDY - NIVEA: Nivea Facts.(Nivea France)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... * In 1911 Dr Oskar Troplowitz, pharmacist and owner of Beiersdorf laboratories in Hamburg mixed water and gentle oils into a stable cream. This was achieved through use of an emulsifier called Eucerit. * Nivea Creme is the most sold face...

CORPORATE ESPIONAGE: Secrets and lies.
October 9, 2006... Are secret formulas really necessary for brands to maintain differentiation? Morag Cuddeford Jones investigates attention-grabbing myths and asks does it benefit a brand to replicate the market leader? What do two top Coca-Cola executives...

CORPORATE ESPIONAGE - Case study: Heinz's secret recipe.
October 9, 2006... It's no surprise that the brand slogan is: 'Beanz Meanz Heinz'. For 100 years, the blue turquoise tin has instantly evoked memories of comforting home suppers. For an American-owned brand, baked beans are a particularly British experience....

CORPORATE ESPIONAGE: Protection and infringement.
October 9, 2006... * There are measures brands can take to ensure their design has basic protection from imitators. Anyone who creates a design automatically qualifies for "unregistered design right". It must be sufficiently different to anything that has been...

BRAND PAPERS - SPORTS BRANDING: Is premium branding dead?
October 9, 2006... Sports must capitalise on brand-forming moments to beat the competition, say Philip Kotler, Ben Shields and Irving Rein There is no better place to examine state-of-the-art branding than the sports industry. While the automobile,...

BRAND PAPERS - CHINA: Getting gritty in china.
October 9, 2006... The frenetic pace of consumption in China is great for business but Nick Barham longs for a commercial break with an edgier, disruptive theme About this time last year, when I'd just moved to China, I remarked about the level of people's...

BRAND PAPERS - MARKETING THEORY: A clean bill of health.
October 9, 2006... Meeting the quarterly targets will not turn around a brand in the doldrums, says Jolyon Roe, marketing activity and boardroom support is essential Does the business world truly recognise the value of a brand? It is tempting to look at the...

BRAND PAPERS - UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES: Making the most of manpower.
October 9, 2006... John Weiser outlines successful corporate schemes that have improved underserved communities in the US while building healthy businesses Underserved markets - communities with high concentrations of ethnic minorities and lower-income...

BRAND PAPERS - PREMIUM BRANDING: Is premium branding dead?
October 9, 2006... The irresistible rise of low- cost cool. Jim Prior finds a bargain at Steve & Barry's - could this spell the end for high-priced premium goods? I have long considered Naomi Klein's No Logo to be the world's worst book but it seems that...

BOOK REVIEW: Be prepared.(Book review)
October 9, 2006... David Golding, planning director of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R, is pleased that scenario-planning has got the exposure it deserves but fears that the complexity of Wilson and Ralston's Scenario Planning Handbook will put off less...

From the bookshelf of...Niclas Ljungberg, independent brand strategist.
October 9, 2006... Unwinding the clock: ten thoughts on our relationship to time by Bodil Jonsson Man has always struggled with the concept of 'time'. Is it really there? Is it just an invention by man? Or is it in fact all we have? Swedish professor...

WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING: The global rise of word of mouth.
October 9, 2006... If you ask consumers what's most important to them in life, the list is topped by such things as good health, a happy marriage, children, a home, and security - irrespective of geography or demographic group. It's when you get further down...

B2B: Are you missing a B2B opportunity?
October 9, 2006... We may think that bosses put the bottom line before everything else when choosing suppliers or business partners, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our new survey reveals that business leaders actually value trust and relationships...

B2B: Who is your customer?
October 9, 2006... The key to any business relationship is understanding your customer. And while trust and quality were high on the agenda for the majority of the respondents, there were also clear differences in attitude and approach based on age, position...

BRAND ARCHITECTURE: Brand foundations and frameworks.
October 9, 2006... Brand architecture is often discussed but little understood. Although it is one of the most important areas of business strategy and management, it rarely gets the focus or recognition it deserves. The generally accepted definition of...

Brand Stats: October.(Breakfast cereals)(Brief article)
October 9, 2006... Market focus Breakfast cereal Breakfast cereals are an important part of many people's daily diet in Europe. More than 41 million Britons aged 15 and over - 86% of the adult population - consume them; in fact, they are almost three times...