Home › View all posts by Krikor › Page 65

Author: Krikor

Live Life Light

By Posted on Posted in Acquisition, Brands, Companies No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,

Yes, when you hear this posting title on TV, you might automatically link this to a known brand. But wait, is not this supposed to be addressed to men ??? Surely it is. This is the famous Gillette business line for its men shaving blades line but what about women chunk of this line?

gillette business line

Gillette has been in the women shaving blades business long time ago, since they launched the first Sensor for Women which is still produced until today but moved into the Venus line with a wider range and a new business line which until today it did not make the same effect of the men’s one.

I have seen and heard the women ads rarely on our national TV channels and i have seen many promotion in supermarkets but never managed to have it by heart, keeping in mind that usually men are attracted more to women ads, would it be on TV or printed, because of the beautiful women appearing in those ads.

venus line

What’s Gillette position about their priority between the men and women line?

Definitely the men line is the on the top of their list and is bringing more profit to the company but i am sure if they spent or will spend more on the women line, it will generate even more as women are very keen about their daily appearance and well-being. For women, spending money is much easier than men, not because men don’t like to spend it, but because when it comes to the external or body look between men versus women, the difference is so big.

Surely Gillette people have their plans and strategies for the women line, but as a small example, summer is almost over and have not seen any TV ads or billboard campaign for Gillette Venus in Lebanon and can not remember seeing any during my business trip elsewhere.

Gillette Venus line is as large as the men line, going from the system blades to the disposable ones with an accompanying line of gels.

venus disposable

Gillette Corporation was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2005, making this the largest acquisition in its history for the price of $57 billion.

Key Dates:
1901: American Safety Razor is founded by King C. Gillette.
1904: King Gillette’s safety razor is patented.
1918: Gillette manufacturers razors and blades for soldiers during World War I.
1942: The Cavalcade of Sports program is formed to oversee the company’s various advertising and promotional activities in athletics.
1967: Braun AG is acquired.
1971: Company is organized into four domestic divisions: the Safety Razor Division; the Toiletries Division (featuring Right Guard antiperspirant); the Personal Care Division; and the Paper Mate division.
1991: Gillette ranks 20th among the Fortune 500.
1996: The company acquires battery manufacturer Duracell.
2005: The company was acquired by Procter & Gamble

  Book To Read

Cutting Edge: Gillette’s Journey to Global Leadership
Ever since a forward-thinking bottle-cap salesman named King Camp Gillette first grew tired of shaving with a dull razor more than 100 years ago, the company he then founded has prospered impressively–despite ongoing threats of hostile takeovers and downsizing–by continuing to explore new geographic markets and introduce fresh consumer products. Cutting Edge: Gillette’s Journey to Global Leadership, by long-time business journalist Gordon McKibben, is a scrupulous, behind-the-scenes examination of the firm’s history with an emphasis on the modern period that began around 1975 and solidified Gillette’s deserved reputation as a worldwide powerhouse.

Procter & Gamble (PG) Stock Chart

By Posted on Posted in Social Media No Comments Tagged with

unhappy Are brands afraid of social media ? A question that popped to me this morning while reading my feeds.

I think brands are afraid of social media because at one point these new medias can hurt the image they were trying to build for years even decades. There are lots of unhappy customers out there who now have the power to express their feelings on the “wild” wide web without any control. Blogs can easily be set up in few minutes and indexed by search engines robots and the word is spread.
A live example for that is “I Hate Crocs“.

Today retailing is no more about customer service, it is about pure and rich experience.

How many brands are out there listening to their consumers? Few of them and have not seen many adapting new social media to get closer because their experience can be bad. And so what? Why not listen and perform better. When a consumer have the brand forged in his brand, he expects while going through his experience to have exactly what he deserves, what if this does not happen?

Does your business afford losing a client? I don’t think so.

Starbucks and Zappos understood this earlier than others and got engaged. Starbucks did just that with “My Starbucks Idea.” Zappos ingrained the idea of micro-blogging and the sense of exceptional customer service in the corporate culture by dedicating a special page on their site at http://twitter.zappos.com/.
Many other brands are following but at a slower pace while keeping an eye on the ones who got faster there to learn from their mistakes, in case they did or have any.

Then come the CEOs, the main players who should believe in social media. CEO’s rely on data and input to make good decisions. The problem is that most of their data and input is filtered through other people whom at times want to please the CEO so as to be in good standing. Thus filtered information can lead any CEO to make wrong conclusions which in turn impact business performance over time.

How many have we seen on social media? While most of them are having many stories with “the media”, they prefer having it the classical way and not the 2.0 way. Here i am talking about CEOs mainly in the US, while European CEOs prefer having less exposure and in the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa) are almost not seen active and prefer playing in the shadow for millions of reasons.

Most active CEO on social media in the US must be Tony Hsieh of Zappos and can be found at http://twitter.com/Zappos, not sure who is leading this in Europe and in the MENA region is Aramex CEO, Fadi Ghandour found at http://twitter.com/fadig

Today companies and brands should be open to interact with people giving life to their products and/or services, social media should be part of their company culture and have a dedicated team for it.
They should listen, discuss, dialogue and find ways to make everybody happy including themselves.

Sites often considered as social media include:

    * Blogs
    * Message boards
    * Forums
    * Social networks (MySpace or Facebook)
    * Video sharing (YouTube, Vimeo)
    * Picture sharing (Smugmug,Photobucket)
    * Podcasts
    * Vidcasts
    * Wikis
    * Groups
    * Communities
    * Virtual worlds or (Second life)



Can also read the below: Most Engaged Brands On Social Media


ENGAGEMENTdb: Most Engaged Brands On Social Media –

By Posted on Posted in Companies, Design, Logos No Comments Tagged with , ,

According to the ‘Top 100 Global Brands Scoreboard’ report the top 50 brands & logo designs in ranking order were:

Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, Intel, Nokia, Walt Disney, McDonald’s, Toyota, Marlboro, Mercedes-Benz, Citi, Hewlett-Packard, American Express, Gillette, BMW, Cisco, Louis Vuitton, Honda, Samsung, Dell, Ford, Pepsi, Nescafé, Merrill Lynch, Budweiser, Oracle, Sony, HSBC, Nike, Pfizer, UPS, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Canon, SAP, Goldman Sachs, Google, Kellogg’s, Gap, Apple, Ikea, Novartis, UBS, Siemens, Harley-Davidson, Heinz, MTV, Gucci and Nintendo.

  • The name does not describe the product sold (94%)
  • The by-line tag is not included in the logo (90%)
  • The font style is clean and clear (84%)
  • The logo design uses one colour only (74%) (white & black not counted as a colour)
  • The logo design uses letters only without the symbol (74%)
  • The logo design is a made-up name or ACRONYM (72%)
  • The logo design is rectangular in shape (66%)
  • The logo design is one word only (62%)
  • The logo design includes the trademark symbol (54%) & is placed in the top right (48%)
  • The name is 6 letters or less (52%)
  • The name uses upper & lower case (44%) (excluding ACRONYMS)
  • The background is filled and solid. (52%)
  • The pronunciation includes three sounds/syllables (44%)
  • The predominant colour base is blue (40%)




    • top-50-brands

    News Source

    By Posted on Posted in Brands, Czech Republic, Design, Logos, Retail Distribution, Slovakia No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

    albert-new-logoThe Albert brand was founded in Central Europe in 1991. Today Ahold operates 280 stores in the Czech Republic and 25 stores in Slovakia, where it is among the best-known brands in food retail.

    The company, which also operates more than 21 gas stations in the Czech Republic and seven in Slovakia, employs 15,000 people in both countries and provides service to over 200 million Czech and Slovak customers every year.

    The essential elements of the new Albert brand are great choice, a wide assortment of food with focus on the fresh, friendly staff – and always a good price. A key component of strengthening the brand is an increasing emphasis on private label products. The company also continues to develop and expand its private label ranges. Stores are also being improved and tailored to meet their different needs.

    The company is committed to being a leader in food retail industry in the markets it serves, whether that is by setting the highest standard for product quality and customer service it stores or by pursing programs aimed at improving the health of consumers and well-being of the communities it serves.

    old-albert-hyperAlbert will continue to reposition, rebrand and remodel its stores in 2009 to further improve its offering to customers and to improve its sustainable long-term profitability.

    “We are creating a sustainable future for our company in this highly competitive market by delighting our customers, by investing in price and value, and by cutting costs,” says Johan Boeijenga, CEO Albert / Hypernova.

    Each week up until June 1 the company will open five new stores rebranded from the Hypernova banner to company’s reinvigorated Albert banner. The company first announced a year ago that it would carry out the rebranding.

    With the store conversions, the current retail brands Albert and Hypernova will be united under a single brand with a new visual identity, Albert. This includes the transformation of 56 Hypernova and HYPER Albert stores, which will be rebranded Albert hypermarkets by the mid-2009.

    Official Website (in Czech language)

    albert-website-july-2009