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Category: Brands

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Packaging No Comments

Packaging is very important for brand, as well the linguistics and this is where sometimes some multinationals fail while choosing the right words or translating the exact meanings, but it gets worse when they write English words in another language and make it wrong.

This is the case for the below Gillette pack. A brand now owned by Procter & Gamble since few years.

1st, I don’t understand the need of Arabic language on a package sold in Europe. Maybe from cost side, some companies are trying to have multi-lingual packs to cut on the packaging and printing expenses.

On this package, the problem is the word “Blue” written in Arabic, even that the 3 letters are the right ones, but in Arabic you never write a text where the letters are separate, it is different from Latin letters. What is more absurd, that on the front, top left side “New” is written correctly and on the back, the full Arabic text is also written the right way.

It is really strange for a multinational with the size of P&G to make such a mistake, but still I don’t see any explanation from my side.

“Blue 3” is part of the product name and it is very crucial for its brand identity, as I said, in Europe maybe nobody will even notice this, but what about all the Arab countries where this product will be finding its place on the shelves?

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Culture, Products No Comments

The globalization of the world economy has triggered more and more companies to expand beyond their local markets. This is especially true for brands that already enjoy a good reputation in their country’s market.
Exploring foreign markets for these big or small players means that the brand equity accumulated over the years back home can be transferred to the new entities abroad.

Nevertheless, such expansion is not always risk-free unless the local culture is analyzed and understood in order to serve the best interest of the brand/products.

When Pepsi entered the Chinese markets, they discovered that their slogan “Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation” was literally translated in Chinese as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead” and as “Come out of the grave with Pepsi”

Another example is McDonald’s when they had their big India expansion, given the fact that India is a vegetarian country. McDonald’s had to build a primarily veggie-lover’s menu, with only a few exceptions, such as the Chicken Mahraja Mac.

The menu in India has absolutely no beef or pork on it, in deference to the local belief that cows are sacred animals. McDonald’s ability to adapt to this meat-less culture is extraordinary when you consider the fact that it is best known as the chain that sells billions of hamburgers a year.

To achieve successful product localization, companies needs to understand the language, customs and culture of the specific market they are targeting. Companies should carefully consider their product names which sometimes can have different meanings in other cultures, some colors can have different cultural significance and humor can hurt if not used properly.

Today, the biggest market where companies carefully localize their products is China.

Starbucks took their localization attempts in China one step further and released Dragon Dumplings with 5 tastes and colors, which represent 5 blessings: coffee stands for warm love, gold for bright future, green for persistence, rose red for good luck, and white for peace.

While Levi’s launched dENiZEN, the name of its new “global brand” aimed at Asian consumers. The collection, offering its own logo and styles, is primarily aimed at China but also available in Singapore and South Korea.

KFC added a traditional Chinese street snacks to its breakfast menu to suit local tastes. The fast food chain offers now shaobing, a type of sesame-covered flatbread, also rice congee and fried dough sticks.

Absolut Vodka localized its brand in China by releasing a limited edition bottle for this market, Absolut 72 Bian. The design of Absolut 72 bian was inspired by an ancient Chinese fable, ”Journey to the West”, a heroic story about the monkey king Sun Wukong, who acquires the power to undergo 72 transformations.

Entering new markets requires much more than a market entry strategy; it’s a real brand building exercise. Brand managers need to re-evaluate key components of their brand strategy to face the needs of the market and stand up to competition. This requires both time and investment and only the strong will survive.

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Licensing, Retail No Comments

Every day, a battle is fought in the carts and aisles of the supermarkets all over the world. Brands fight for shelf space and wish to find a spot in the shopper’s cart.

Licensing means renting or leasing of an intangible asset. Examples of intangible assets include a song (Somewhere Over The Rainbow), a character (Donald Duck), a name (Michael Jordan) or a brand (The Ritz-Carlton). An arrangement to license a brand requires a licensing agreement.

A licensing agreement authorizes a company which markets a product or service (a licensee) to lease or rent a brand from a brand owner who operates a licensing program (a licensor).

The main reason companies choose to brand license their products is to differentiate them from their competitors’ products. When executed properly, licensing allows a product to leverage an existing brand’s attributes while mitigating some of the risks associated with building a new brand from scratch or the cost of deploying additional media against a current brand.

The primary reward of licensing can be summed up in one word: leverage. Leveraging another brand through licensing reduces some of the risks and costs associated with building a brand from scratch. While large CPG firms dedicate years—and millions of dollars—to developing and launching a new brand, most of new products launched in supermarkets still fail despite that considerable investment.

10 Benefits Of Brand Licensing – Source: Branding Strategy Insider

1. Brand Managers to extend their brands with minimal investment. Through the licensing arrangement, third party manufacturers are responsible for everything from product development to inventory management to store replenishment.

2. The brand to obtain supplementary marketing support. For the right to use the brand in their category, the manufacturer must agree to spend a percentage of their net sales on marketing. This marketing commitment not only supports the category licensed, but can be significant to the overall brand.

3. Trademark protection in the category. For a brand to benefit from trademark protection in a particular category, it must be actively sold in that category. If the category lies vacant, others may claim rights to use the mark. Extending a brand into a category via licensing helps brand owners meet the commerce standard.

4. Increased consumer connections and insights in the categories being licensed. Extending a brand via licensing offers thousands of incremental opportunities to connect with consumers. By inserting a survey inside the licensed package or a toll free number on the exterior, a brand owner can gain many additional insights about the brand.

5. A brand to gain incremental shelf space. If a brand owner chooses to extend a brand via licensing into a new category, the brand gains tremendous additional exposure in those categories in every retail store the product is sold. When sold into major chain retailers, the brand can gain thousands of additional feet of brand exposure in each category.

6. Entrée into new distribution channels. By licensing the brand to a manufacturer which currently sells into a retail channel where the brand currently does not have a presence, the brand can gain access to that channel via the licensing relationship.

7. The brand to enter new regions. Similar to new channel access, a brand can gain entrée into new regions via a manufacturer which has a presence in regions where the brand is currently not sold.

8. Access to patented technology. Many companies which choose to license brands offer proprietary innovation to the brand owner. When the patented technology reinforces the brand’s position, the new product offered can be met with tremendous consumer appreciation and pent up demand.

9. Knowledge transfer from the manufacturing partners who license the brand. A licensing arrangement provides the opportunity for the brand owner and the manufacturer to share insights and knowledge across multiple disciplines including product development, marketing, R&D and sales.

10. The brand owner to capture royalty revenue through the manufacturer’s sales of licensed product. This symbiotic relationship helps to create new products for the marketplace that consumers crave. For every dollar in revenue generated by the manufacturer, the brand owner receives a percentage in royalty payments, most of which go straight to the bottom line.

-Pete Canalichio, Chief Brand Licensing Strategist, The Blake Project

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Marketing No Comments

No matter how many people you will ask around you to define the exact meaning or definition of the word “marketing”, you will always get more and more different views about it. Almost no 2 people can agree on the same marketing angle.

In 1964, a phrase was famously used by United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart to describe his threshold test for pornography,
“I know it when I see it“.

With no hesitation or doubt, I can add to this: “I know this is marketing with I see it and feel it”.

If few agree on the definition of marketing, lots of brands and/or marketing manager try to apply what they have learned in books or go strictly by the textbook definition and end up failing. Unfortunately some ignorant and pretending people stayed behind and missed catching the fast train of how marketing evolved during the past few years.

Social Media
Till the moment I am writing this blog post, some marketeers in this world, still don’t believe that social media is a useful tool to help marketing or promoting a brand and unfortunately, in case they get convinced somehow, they think that setting up a Facebook page or a Twitter account will do the job for them and they stupidly think a YouTube video can go viral just like that, without preparing the field.
They have no clue that if the brand does not talk or engage with its consumers, no matter the tool you are using, it is useless.

Don’t Talk Bullshit
Picking your words is important, the message itself also. Try to be honest when marketing your brand, be fair to your consumers, treat them honestly. Good word-of-mouth did never bad to a brand, your fans can spread the positive image in no time and for free. It will only cost you some transparency. Have a company or brand blog and let people read about what you think and let them share their thoughts.

Metrics & Analytics
No matter how much money you spend on your marketing campaigns, and you are not smart enough to measure your efforts and learn from your mistakes, then you barely can maximize your ROI. Some marketeers have no idea that such measuring tools exist and if they know, they don’t appreciate their real value and how helpful they are and how far they can take them on the ever evolving super marketing highway. With total accuracy: “You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure”.

Crowdsourcing
This is maybe better known as focus groups to some. Most of marketeers neglect and underestimate the power of “social answers”, because they are afraid of negative vibes that consumers can bring to their brand. While big corporations start crowdsourcing internally until they take it to the outside world, some others don’t do it even inside their companies and if they do it, they do it the wrong way and don’t even use any collaboration tools to bring teams together and be productive.

Even this looks very odd and unusual at the end of this post, an old client of mine once said: “all marketing managers, male and female, should be screwed”.

By Posted on Posted in Brands, Ecology No Comments

BIC ecolutions triple-blade shaver takes a step toward a cleaner environment without compromising product quality. It consistently delivers a close, smooth and comfortable shave. BIC ecolutions has a lubricating strip formulated with Aloe and Vitamin E to optimize shaving comfort. It is designed for normal and sensitive skin.

After five years of extensive research and development, BIC identified a natural renewable material (Bioplastic) from which they were able to produce our precision shaver handle without compromising our product’s quality. Bioplastic, a common name for PLA (Poly Lactic Acid), is made from corn without oil-based additives.

As a part of BIC’s eco-design process, they have reduced the packaging to the minimum size, while meeting their rigorous quality standards. Reduced package volume optimizes transportation and further lowers environmental impact.

All BIC ecolutions packaging is made of 100% recycled bleach free cardboard.