Brand Strategy articles from September 2002

Brand Strategy archives from September 2002

Transparent branding. (brand strategy).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... May I respond to two letters published on my articles (which appeared in the June and August issues of Brand Strategy) proposing branding transparency as a new system of corporate governance and dynamic valuation of the intangibles mix which...

Balancing big ideas and the bottom line. (Leader).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Innovation is the holy grail. The problem is that nobody quite knows how to get there. We speak about how important it is. We pluck examples out of the sky--those rising stars who shot out of oblivion, those dynamic, young companies that...

Vodafone has capitalised on its sponsorship of Manchester United football team by securing exclusive access to David Beckham's image rights for the next two years. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Vodafone has capitalised on its sponsorship of Manchester United football team by securing exclusive access to David Beckham's image rights for the next two years. Beckham will appear individually in ads and on screen savers and voicemail...

Npower is launching a 4m [pounds sterling] ad campaign through TV, outdoor and press, focusing on its `home services' proposition. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Npower is launching a 4m [pounds sterling] ad campaign through TV, outdoor and press, focusing on its `home services' proposition. One execution will promote the triple utility offering--gas, telephone and electricity--and another will give...

Diageo's Johnnie Walker. (Marketing).(Martin Scorsese appears in advertisement)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Martin Scorsese will appear in front of the camera for the first time in an ad for Diageo's Johnnie Walker whisky. The ad will be shown first on Scottish television, to be rolled out nationwide throughout autumn. Harvey Keitel has also appeared...

Nestle's Milkybar has launched a promotional giveaway in association with HIT Entertainment, owners of the Sooty license. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Nestle's Milkybar has launched a promotional giveaway in association with HIT Entertainment, owners of the Sooty license. The promotion to win Sooty parties and merchandise will run across ten million promotional packs of Milkybar Choo and...

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has secured sponsorship from Specsavers Opticians to fund referees during the next season. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has secured sponsorship from Specsavers Opticians to fund referees during the next season. It is hoped that the four-year, six-figure deal will provide money for referee coaching courses. Specsavers' cards will be...

Lipton tea is to extend its sponsorship to the 2003 Isle of MTV and MTV Winterjam music festivals following the success of its deal with Isle of MTV 2002. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Lipton tea is to extend its sponsorship to the 2003 Isle of MTV and MTV Winterjam music festivals following the success of its deal with Isle of MTV 2002. Eighteen thousand clubbers were attracted to an 11-date pan-European tour, with an...

Air Miles is to launch `The Great Air Miles Giveaway', backed by a 20m [pounds sterling] multimedia campaign. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Air Miles is to launch `The Great Air Miles Giveaway', backed by a 20m [pounds sterling] multimedia campaign. It has reduced the number of miles required to travel by up to 75% to more than 80 destinations. It has also announced new...

Bulmers, the drinks company, is launching a new Chilli Sidekick shot into 250 Scottish & Newcastle pubs this month. (Launches).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Bulmers, the drinks company, is launching a new Chilli Sidekick shot into 250 Scottish & Newcastle pubs this month. The launch will be supported by a nationwide price promotion campaign which will run from mid-September and last six weeks....

Diary.
September 1, 2002... Credo 2002 Hotel Concorde, St Lazare, Paris 23-24 October A major event covering aspects of CRM. Return on investment, data mining techniques, customer retention and loyalty will be some of the topics discussed. A number of key brand...

Adidas. (Appointments).(Nicholas Baddour )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Adidas is appointing Nicholas Baddour as head of global brand advertising. Baddour was formerly an associate partner at BDDP & Fils, a French subsidiary of TBWA which is Adidas' lead global ad agency.

Vodafone. (Appointments).(Neil Simpson)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Baddour replaces Neil Simpson who has joined Vodafone as global marketing communications director. Simpson will be working with global brand director David Haines on developing the mobile company's global brands.

Nintendo Europe. (Appointments).(Niclas Friese-Greene)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Nintendo Europe will be replacing the departing head of European marketing Francisco de Cesare with former Grundig head of marketing Niclas Friese-Greene. Friese-Greene will be responsible for Nintendo's pan-European marketing in 18 countries.

Entertainment Rights. (Appointments).(Len Dunne )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Global children's entertainment group, Entertainment Rights has appointed Len Dunne as director of marketing and global brands. Formerly with Hasbro, Dunne will be responsible for developing properties such as Postman Pat and Basil Brush.

Hush Puppies. (Appointments).(Julie Bradley)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Hush Puppies has appointed former Warner Brothers Studio Stores marketing manager, Julie Bradley, as UK head of marketing.

Harrods is to launch a new relationship marketing scheme to develop its higher value customers. (Launches).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Harrods is to launch a new relationship marketing scheme to develop its higher value customers. Relationship specialists Carlson Marketing Group will co-ordinate the campaign following an eight-way pitch. The campaign will involve targeted...

Pepsi. (Launches).(Pepsi Twist)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Pepsi is launching a new variant cola product with added lemon--Pepsi Twist--in the UK following its success in the US. Though arriving after Coca-Cola's own lemon flavoured drink which launched in the UK early summer, Pepsi claims it is still...

Warner Bros. Consumer Products UK. (Launches).(character licensing range)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Warner Bros. Consumer Products UK is to introduce a new range of characters available for licensing throughout autumn/winter 2002. The company hopes to continue to capitalise on the nostalgia trend, releasing rights to Top Cat, Hong Kong Phooey...

Levi Strauss & Co is launching a new range of distressed denim under the name Worn Jeans. (Launches).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Levi Strauss & Co is launching a new range of distressed denim under the name Worn Jeans. The launch will be accompanied by three 30-second ads created by the same BBH team responsible for the award winning `Twisted' campaign in 2001. The...

WPP's chief executive, Martin Sorrell has warned that global media markets will stay in a slump until at least 2004 following a 17% fall in the group's half year pre-tax profits to 210.4m [pounds sterling]. (Financial).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... WPP's chief executive, Martin Sorrell has warned that global media markets will stay in a slump until at least 2004 following a 17% fall in the group's half year pre-tax profits to 210.4m [pounds sterling]. WPP is just one of a number of key...

EasyGroup has expressed an interest in buying Coffee Republic, recently the subject of takeover speculation following competitor Caffe Nero's acquisition of further shares, taking its stake in the chain to 10.7%. (Financial).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... EasyGroup has expressed an interest in buying Coffee Republic, recently the subject of takeover speculation following competitor Caffe Nero's acquisition of further shares, taking its stake in the chain to 10.7%. Coffee Republic has also been...

Lambie-Nairn has created a new identity for Belgian telecoms provider, Telenet. (International).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Lambie-Nairn has created a new identity for Belgian telecoms provider, Telenet. The consultancy created Telenet's original identity in 1998 and was called in once more after a number of company setbacks damaged the original brand. An initial ad...

Unilever's Axe--the male deodorant brand known as Lynx in the UK--has launched for the first time in the US. (International).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Unilever's Axe--the male deodorant brand known as Lynx in the UK--has launched for the first time in the US. The ads, created by BBH, were first shown during the MTV Video Music Awards, in line with the brand's partial sponsorship of the event....

Compassionate capitalism--a step in the right direction? Jenny Adams on how corporate social responsibility is not a new expense for companies but good service branding practice. (Trendspotter).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Companies are all too aware of the dangers of appearing socially or environmentally irresponsible. You only need to mention the words Exxon Valdez or Nike sweatshops to remind people of the damage such exposure can bring to a brand. With...

If I could get my hands on the Eastern bloc ...: Wally Olins, founder of Wolff Olins and chairman of Saffron, wonders why Central Europe's brand is the road less travelled. (In an ideal world).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... I'm very interested in the nations that we used to think lived behind the iron curtain. They pose an interesting branding problem. In the West we think of them as being one grey, porridgey sludge and in fact they're all very different. The...

Google popular UK queries: July.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... 1 Big Brother 2 Britney Spears 3 BBC 4 Spiderman 5 Gareth Gates 6 Commonwealth Games 7 Eastenders 8 David Beckham 9 Tour de France 10 Tesco

The winged motor car which never learnt to fly: Ruth Mortimer looks back at the DeLorian car and asks what happened to one man's dream automobile brand. (That Was The Brand That Was).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The DeLorian car was a very advanced-looking product for its time. But the brand was also an unmitigated business failure. It collapsed in the early 1980s in chaos amid scandal, allegations of drug dealing and financial ruin. Tim...

Rich reward for road warriors. (Brand Stunt Of The Month).(American National Bank promotion)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The US is populated by hundreds of small, local banking institutions, unlike Europe, where each country is dominated by four or five large, national banking brands. Nebraska-based American National Bank (ANB) saw a golden opportunity to...

Cosmopolitan. (Brand MOT).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Cosmopolitan has been the queen of glossy women's magazines since its launch 30 years ago. But last month, for the first time, the National Magazine's title was outsold by Glamour, a new, cheaper, A5 format competitor owned by Conde Nast. But...

Brand slurs for vegetarians: Ruth Mortimer investigates why Quorn is being attacked by a US consumer group and why it's not fighting back. (News Analysis).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Brands are all about trust. And last month, one of the UK's biggest vegetarian brands took a knock to its reputation. The Quorn meat substitute brand has been attacked by a US consumer's group. The Center for Science in the Public Interest...

Rebranding a public service--police, camera, action: as war brews between the BBC, the Home Office and M&C Saatchi about the Police's controversial `Could You' adverts, Morag Cuddeford Jones looks at the branding struggles facing public services. (News Analysis).
September 1, 2002... The BBC has claimed that the high profile, multi-million pound Police `Could You?' advertising, featuring a number of famous faces in talking heads pieces, has flopped. This criticism of the 12m [pounds sterling] ad campaign by M&C Saatchi has...

Logo as dreamcatcher: John Sayer says branding is essential for a charity like Oxfam to attract people's attention and raise awareness. (Opinion).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The belief behind Oxfam is that all people on this planet have the right to a certain amount of decency in their lives. What might distinguish Oxfam from some of the other charities working on poverty is that we look at the symptoms as well as...

Brand due diligence: David Haigh explains the background behind the Saatchinvest and Heinz deal and the five key steps to brand due diligence. (Opinion).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The recent sale of the Complan and Casilan brands by Heinz to Saatchinvest marks a significant watershed for the branding industry. For decades financiers have accepted that strong brands provide good security. The KKR `barbarians at the gates'...

Toyota's Moran is a lap ahead in the race: Mike Moran, commercial director of Toyota UK is a veteran in the car industry, having started out at Ford, he has multi-tasked his way up to the top of sales and marketing. (Profile).
September 1, 2002... Mike Moran is a man of many words. He's a people person. And the first to admit that he has an opinion on everything. With a reputation in the industry for media knowledge and straight-talking--Moran is one of the few UK marketers to straddle...

Beauty from a bygone era? Elen Lewis talks to Ron Rolleston, vice president of global marketing at Elizabeth Arden about how the traditional beauty brand is going to strengthen its appeal to young consumers and regain some of its former market share. (Elizabeth Arden).
September 1, 2002... In the 1930s, it was said there were only three American brands known across the globe: Singer sewing machines, Coca-Cola and Elizabeth Arden. Yet, if you had to name an internationally-renowned prestige beauty brand today--it's unlikely it...

Pitching brands further afield: Ruth Mortimer discusses why brands should be innovating their way out of a recession. Is collaboration the key to future success and how can a brand sustain this impetus without diluting its core values? (Brand Innovation).
September 1, 2002... We all want a big idea--something to change the world. Businesses are always looking to build on some of the great commercial innovations of the past, such as non-stick saucepans, satellite television, lasers, pocket calculators, barcodes and...

Virginal risks and blessings: persuading directors to buy into long term innovative ideas is no easy task. Virgin has been innovating for the last thirty years but still struggles against the stifling hand of short-termism. (Case study: brand innovation).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The Virgin Group does not live up to its naive-sounding moniker. The brand has a reputation for pushing forward new ideas and business strategies. Its founder, Richard Branson, was the original teenage entrepreneur whose youthful business...

Pulling 3Gs of resistance: Morag Cuddeford Jones investigates the struggle facing the UK's mobile network operators to recoup their 22bn [pounds sterling] investment on 3G licenses and ensure they don't make the same mistakes as they did with WAP. (Special report: telecoms).
September 1, 2002... With a daily stream of news stories about 3G's various failings, it wouldn't be surprising to wake up one day and find that the world's major mobile operators have thrown in the towel. However, having paid 22bn [pounds sterling] for the 3G...

Global brands for local folk: Morag Cuddeford Jones on why operators need to improve their international brand experience. (Special report: telecoms).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Despite being one of the world's fastest growing industries, none of the mobile service operators made it into Interbrand's top 100 global brands (BS, August 162). Handsets were high up the list with Nokia in at a respectable sixth place and...

One.tel gets sophisticated: Morag Cuddeford Jones follows a rite of passage as telecom upstart One.tel challenges BT's mantle. (Special report: telecoms).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... "The Dude has moved on," according to One.tel's head of brand strategy Mike Holliday Williams. The unkempt backpacker that used to represent the telecom brand is to make way for a more grown up marketing approach. With 850,000 customers,...

Negative exposure: David A. Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler analyse the pitfalls when making sponsorship deals and consider the role of sponsorship in building brand exposure. (Brand Papers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Sponsorship has been around for a long time. The brand Bovril reportedly sponsored the Nottingham Forest Football Club in 1898, Gilette was sponsoring baseball in 1910 and Coca-Cola was sponsoring the Olympics in 1928. But in the last few...

Cultural connections: Chris Ludlow examines the stereotype of `German-ness' and draws out the differences between British and German branding. Could British creativity and German thoroughness be the perfect union? (Brand Papers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... National stereotypes are good for helping us to laugh at ourselves, but very little else. In applying to others, we often fail to see their strong points and the real reasons for their success. Hiding behind our carefully maintained...

Serendipity online: John Straw examines to what extent companies are diluting their proposition by not carefully managing their brands on the web. Marketers need to be aware of brand users and abusers. (Brand Papers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Serendipity is one of the key drivers of success for brands online. Through chance discovery and word of mouth, brands can build communities around their website to further their business objectives. A recent McKinsey study showed that...

Misaligned values: Leslie de Chernatony investigates how to improve brand performance and looks at the techniques organisations can employ to develop more coherent branding. (Brand Papers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... With the awakening interest among senior managers about the importance of internal and external branding, one of the questions high on managers' agendas is how to improve brand performance. It is my contention that one way to strengthen a brand...

B2B brand management: Brian Sweeney reveals some exclusive research from the Chartered Institute of Marketing's Canon of Knowledge team which suggests B2B brands should deliver a clearer brand message. (Brand Papers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Branding is so well established in consumer marketing that we know instinctively what a consumer brand is and does. In B2B marketing the importance of branding is much less obvious. The CIM `Marketing to Business' team carried out both desk...

Levi Strauss 3--Tesco 0: Ravinder Chahil looks back over events behind the litigation between a retailer and brand owner as the UK High Court closes the door on Tesco's attempts to sell cut-price Levi's jeans. (Brand Papers).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... This July saw the latest attempt by Tesco's Stores Limited and others to continue selling cheap Levi's jeans come to a sharp halt. The UK High Court decided that the new series of last minute arguments by Tesco did not change the position. ...

Mobile customers get crossed wires. (Trends).(brand awareness trends)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Despite months of multi-million pound rebranding campaigns, consumers still can't pinpoint who's who in the mobile operator market. Continental Research's latest study shows that while One 2 One changed to T-Mobile and BT Cellnet became O2,...

What makes a brand cool anyway? (Trends).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... Discovering the formula for cool is like nailing jelly to a wall. Hot on the heels of the launch of its CoolBrandLeaders 2002, Superbrands commissioned research from NFO WorldGroup to try and crack the cool code. To stay cool, 67% of...

Big brands survey shows UK parties hard. (Trends).(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2002... AC Nielsen's annual survey of Britain's top 50 biggest brands has shown the strongest growth in the FMCG market to come from lager brands such as Fosters (+27.6%), Carling (+25.9%), Budweiser (+20.5%) and Stella Artois (+18.3%). This...

Brands on the brain. (Research).(research on cognitive functions connected with brand recognition)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... Brand identity specialists have long complained of victimisation when they try to justify the million-pound price tags they attach to refreshing or changing a brand name. Consignia (Royal Mail) and Monday (PwC Consulting) are just two high...

The global market for clothing and footwear. (Research).
September 1, 2002... The inhabitants of Hong Kong are the most fashion-conscious people in the world, suggest newly compiled figures from market research company Euromonitor. The population of Hong Kong spent $2,213 (1,454 [pounds sterling]) per person on clothes...

Burying the myth of impulse buying. (Research).(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The majority of `impulsive' purchases are in fact not impulsive but conditioned. Consumers might not always be able to articulate their purchase selection process but it does not mean a selection process is not happening. Why is brand...

Bonding bricks. (Last Word).(Executive Discovery partnership with Lego Group)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... It was only a matter of time before senior executives regressed to childhood. And now it's called `corporate bonding'. The Executive Discovery management training company has teamed up with the Lego Group to offer workshops called `Lego Serious...

What ever will they think of next? (Last Word).(chocolate-flavored water from Strathmore Water)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... It's the eternal problem for parents. They want their children to drink nice, healthy water and the little blighters want to drink sugary, flavoured beverages. But Scottish firm Strathmore Water thinks that it may have the solution to the...

Training with a lighter load. (Last Word).(foldable shoes from Reebok)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... It's what every urban gym-goer has been waiting for. No more clumsy bags to hoist around public transport. Reebok is launching foldable trainers that can be reduced to the size of"a rolled-up sock". The shoes, which were originally designed for...

Geeky collectors make a buck. (Last Word).(Stanley Gibbons' stamp sales)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... The markets are down, the economy is poor and the world's richest folk are looking for new investment avenues. So obviously they've gone for a traditionally dynamic and fast-paced industry--stamp collecting. Stamp selling business Stanley...

Limited understanding: marketing effectiveness is geared to a company's needs rather than consumers' needs and it's time for a shake up.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2002... You've got to understand and meet the needs of the consumer. Right? No. Wrong. Well, not so much `wrong' as misleading. Over the coming years the universally accepted marketing touchstone of `consumer understanding' will be recognised for what...