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Discovering Your Uniqueness

"The 'surplus society' has a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, working in similar jobs, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and similar quality." (Kjell Nordstorm and Jonas Ridderstale, Funky Business). 

Mr. Anand Pillai, the Sr. Executive Vice President & Chief Learning Officer at Reliance Industries Ltd, starts his TEDx Talks with this quote. Then,  he talks about a twin ,who were conjoined on their heads, who wanted to get surgery to get separated. They knew that the surgery had many risks but they wanted to "rather die as individuals rather than live without an identity." (Ladan and Laleh Bijani). These examples show how important it is in this world to find your identity. It is important to find out how you are unique. There is no one in this world who can be YOU. There may be other people who may look similar; however, EVERYONE has something that sets them apart from others. No one is completely the same as another person. 

I thought this is an example of an effective leadership branding. This concept is very important for individuals as well as for companies. As there are so many smart people with similar capabilities, it is very important for companies to find its own unique worth to set them apart from others. This would help them survive in such a competitive business world we live in today's world. If there is no unique identity, the company would not be able to be successful as there is no distinct characteristic setting themselves apart from the rest of the world. 

I thought Gallup's 5 simple tests of discovering your self shown in the video was an effective tool in forming your identity. The 5 tests are yearning, rapid learning, flow, glimpses of excellence, and satisfaction. These 5 simple tests help us realize who we truly are. There are intrinsic characteristics inside everyone of us that define us who we truly are. 

I really liked how he says in the video that it is important for people to get out of their comfort zone and get in the courage zone. This would help people reinvent themselves and brand themselves. If you stay in the comfort zone all the time, you would never know what you are actually capable of doing. 

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Case: "Four Products: Predicting Diffusion"

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread?

http://appliedbehavioralstrategies.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/peanut-butter-bread.jpg

Everyone probably had the experience of treating themselves to the tasty peanut butter and jelly sandwich at some point of their times. The happy feeling of scooping out the rich peanut butter and spreading it out across the bread. This has become my usual morning tradition: getting myself a peanut butter sandwich. 

In the case "Four Products: Predicting Diffusion", it talks about four innovative products that probably are in the marketplace by now as the articles were published on 2000 and 2001. The four products were sliced peanut butter, silver-coated bandage, XM & Sirius satellite radio, and iSmell. After reading the articles, I was confused by some of the products.

Oklahoma entrepreneur Stewart Kennedy came up with the product of sliced peanut butter. He seemed to be quite excited for the launch of the product, but I was a bit skeptical about if the product was going to become successful. It's relative advantage didn't seem to be too significant over the existent peanut butter jar. It actually was not that difficult for people to spread their peanut butter on their bread. It may be more convenient for some people to just plop the sliced peanut butter onto their brand; however, that loses the experience people feel when they spread the peanut butter on their bread. I may be biased but some people, like me, may feel joy in actually taking the time to spread peanut butter on their bread.

Therefore, this innovation may be incompatible with the tradition of some families of making their PB&J sandwiches. Although it may save time a little bit when using a sliced PB&J, maybe the PB&J sandwich won't have the same meaning to them as it did in the past.  The coefficient of the innovation of this product would be low (complexity is low) so the product could have been adopted slowly at first then they could have been adopted faster after through word-of-mouth. However, since I have not seen sliced PB&J in the markets nowadays , I predict that this product had not had the chance to go to the stage of rapid growth. The observability of the product would be low, because people won't be able to tell if someone's PB&J sandwich had a sliced PB&J in it. The trialability would be high as people can try the sliced peanut butter on their own and decide whether or not they want to purchase it again. I feel like this is the 3rd best products out of the four products. 

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/satellite-radio-comp-3.gif

The XM and Sirius radio have a high relative advantage than traditional radio service. This satellite radios will result in more varied music and talk. Also, they will offer commercial-free music channels and have a much better sound quality than traditional AM/FM radios. People do not need to switch channels when traveling to different places nationwide, since they would have service. The compatibility is high as the article said how the customers were dissatisfied with the mainstream radio and switched off the radio far quickly than they had in the past. The triability would be average as some car companies said that they would offer vehicles equipped with comparable radios. Therefore, although the customer has to get a new radio to decode the satellite signal, as some car companies are going to equip comparable radios in the future, the triability would be increased. Observability is a bit higher than the average, because people can see if other people have the satellite radios when seeing the people's cars. I feel that this product is the 2nd best product out of the four products. 

http://doctorscotthealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Silver-Element-Historical-Healing.jpg

Silver-coated bandage has a high relative advantage to the other existing bandages. It has the "power to kill more than 150 kinds of bacteria and fungus" ("Four Products: Predicting Diffusion"). The compatibility is high to because consumers are willing to pay premium prices to meet their needs. The complexity of the product may be a bit higher than the average because although the bandage would be easy to use like a regular adhesive bandage, people aren't really knowledgeable about the healing properties of silver. It may be challenging to educate the consumer about silver's properties of killing germs. Before reading the article, I never knew silver had been known for its power to kill germs. The trialability may be higher than the average if they make an over-the-counter bandage which would be easily accessible to consumers. Observability may be higher than the average as people will be able to notice the difference of the silver-coated bandage than the original traditional bandage. I think this product may be the best product out of the four products. 

http://cdnl.complex.com/mp/620/400/90/0/bb/1/ffffff/ab7c7932155a20d621aa1b558dac5038/images_/assets/CHANNEL_IMAGES/TECH/2011/04/50-worst-tech-fails/ismell.jpg

In my personal opinion, I think this product is the least potentially successful product. This product has a low relative advantage. It is true that people would be able to smell scents on their PC screen; however, what exactly relative advantage did this product have? I believe there is no clear relative advantage this product has. It is interesting that we would be able to smell stuff, but I am not sure if this actually helps our needs of our everyday lives. The compatibility would be low too since this is not really consistent with past experiences of the customers nor meeting the customers needs. It is true that we smell things everyday and the power of olfactory sense affect our everyday lives. However, I don't think it is in our society tradition to be wanting to smell everything all the time. The complexity would be high. For normal customers, it would be hard for them to understand what exactly are iSmell's functions and why they would need it in their everyday lives. The triability would be low because most customers won't have the chance of trying out the iSmell because the price is pretty expensive for someone who wants to just try it out. The observability would be low because not a lot of people would be exposed to iSmell because not a lot of people would buy it. 

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Corona's secret to success.

I found this article very interesting to read. This article explains again how important marketing is. In this competitive world, marketing is crucial to set your brand apart from others. 

I have never tried Corona Beer before, but I was surprised when I read in the article that Corona got a grade of 1.69 out of 10 after 3,200 review at RateBeer.com. I am not sure how accurate and credible RateBeer.com is since I have never used the site before. However, I was very surprised how low rating the Corona Beer got when it is the fifth-best-selling beer in the United States. 

I also found this article interesting too. 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-14/constellations-surge-in-corona-sales-relies-on-selling-consistent-image

This article also told how Corona has an awful rating in the Beer Advocate. The Beer Advocate gave Corona a rating of 55 out of 100 and described the beer as "faded aromas of sulphur, faint skunk, mild cooked veggies." 

As I have never tried a Corona Beer before nor have talked with people who drink or have drunk Corona Beer to understand people's actual perception about the brand, I cannot say whether Corona Beer tastes bad or not. However, from reading the case study about Corona Beer and reading these articles, I can say that Corona Beer does a good job in its marketing. The Corona Beer's marketing strategy has been always consistent: creating the idea of drinking the beer in a sunny beach. While other beer companies have promoted about the beer's quality such as Heineken, Corona Beer promoted the experience of drinking this beer. As the Corona Beer was made in Mexico, the brand was able to advertise the beer with the feeling of a sunny beach. This is one reason Corona Beer wanted to stick with the idea of producing it in Mexico to maintain the foreign origin of the Corona brand. 

http://www.adeevee.com/aimages/201101/27/corona-extra-life-lime-win-some-log-off-outdoor-141178-adeevee.jpg

It's all about the experience. Customers' perception of the brand is crucial to the success. 

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Color matters: Yellow associated with safety. 

By reading the case "The Black & Decker Corporation (A): Power Tools Division," I realized how much color matters in this world. This was definitely the case for the Black & Decker brand. 

In our everyday lives, I never realized how much color actually affects the way we perceive things. If we see black, we may feel grave and sad or stylish. If we see blue, it might remind us of happy blue sky. Also, I realized how products with similar colors may influence the consumers' views about the products. For example, since the Mac laptops are silver, we normally associate any type of Mac laptops to hold the same "Apple" brand value. This is helpful for some brands, however, this was not helpful for Black & Decker Corporation in the Professional Tradesmen segment. It may seem surprising but color did have a major effect on the brand which resulted in Makita outselling Black & Decker 8 to 1 although both had 10 feet of shelf space.

People may assume that since B&D was doing so well on the Professional-Industrial segment, B&D should naturally do well in the Professional-Tradesmen. However, this was not the case. This difference can be interpreted that although both are in the professional segments, they have different characteristics. For the industrial segment, the buyer is generally a big corporation purchasing the tools for their employees. However, for the industrial segment, the buyer is generally someone who buys the tools for their own use in job sites. Both segments differ that for the industrial segment, the buyer is not necessary the owner of the tools, while for the tradesmen segment, the buyer is the owner of the tools. Therefore, the brand image associated with the tools is very important for the tradesmen as they need to use the tools in their job sites to make money. Also, since the tradesmen segment people are greatly exposed to the consumer segment products if they go to places such as Wal-Mart, they will naturally associate B&D with products used at homes not at work. 

This is why although B&D had the good quality for their products and was a well-known brand, the tradesmen segment people would not be seen buying the B&D products for work. Therefore, B&D needed to make a change so B&D would be able to attract the Tradesmen segment in the future. By attracting the Tradesmen segment, B&D would be more successful in the long run, as they would be able to have all three segments to buy their stuff.

Option 3 in the case "The Black & Decker Corporation (A): Power Tools Division" seems to be the best option for B&D. This is because DeWalt is a well-known brand and tradesmen segment people are even interested at purchasing DeWalt products. As tradesmen segment people do not have a favorable view on B&D, selling products through DeWalt brand would be a great idea. As B&D already have the premium quality, by including the color yellow would positively affect the customer's interest. This would differentiate this product from black consumer products more effectively than the previous charcoal grey color. This video also does a good job in promoting the DeWalt brand. It creates a sense of professionalism, great quality, and strength of the product. Also, including clips of workers working with the DeWalt product helps customers feel a sense of trust to this product. 

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This video is an advertisement of Concha y Toro. This advertisement creates this adventurous, mysterious, and romantic experience that customers will be associated when drinking the Concha y Toro wine. I thought that this video was effective in strengthening the emotional connection the customers felt associated with Concha y Toro. 

In the case of "Concha y Toro," it tells us how national image of a particular producer is important for wine marketing. Most successful wine companies had a "story to tell" the customers. For example, Spanish wines are associated with Spain's strong cultural profile and Italian wines are sold well in Italian restaurants all over the world. Therefore, many people were kind of skeptical whether Chile could replicate the paths of the other successful wine companies. This is because Chile was well-known as a stable exporter of commodities but it didn't really have a distinct cultural characteristics such as music or cultural identity that set them apart from other countries. As wine critic Tim Atkin said, Chilean wines were seen as safe but boring. However, I believe this advertisement helped change the social perception of the Concha y Toro brand.

This advertisement definitely creates this charming experience one may feel when visiting Chile. Having the setting of the advertisement be in a train was also effective, because most people associate train with a new experience. People usually get excited to travel to other places because they are able to experience and learn new stuff about other places. I liked how there was a woman and a man in the advertisement, because it created an experience of romance, which is usually associated with wine. Wine usually is held in classic events and people usually drink them for the taste and the experience, rather than wanting to get totally drunk from it. Over the past years, wine has become known for its quality and the experience. Also, as not a majority of people in the world are wine experts, wine consumption is usually based on perception versus the actual quality so it is important for a brand to create an attractive brand image for customers. 

This is why I believe that Concha y Toro should go for the "bottom-up" strategy. Due to the past experiences of Chilean wine being sold in large amounts for cheap prices, people already have this perception that Chilean wine is cheap. Therefore, it would be more beneficial for the company to change this brand image and strengthening its premium quality as Chilean wine do indeed have high quality. 

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Using social media for business marketing has been a hot topic for years now, but brands are still trying to harness the power of the digital socialsphere to discover the best ways to directly impact their bottom lines. As social media use advances, so does the frequency in which brands [...]

We are in an era where social media influences people. The marketing world was in a Product Era, then Consumer Era, and now it is in the Relationship Era. I agree with the case article "Ignore the Human Element of Marketing at Your Own Peril" that the sun is setting on the consumer era. This doesn't mean that the companies should not consider the consumer needs anymore. This means that the companies need to think about other things than just meeting the consumer needs and just selling their products. We are in an era where building trust of the consumers have become important for the companies. Meeting the consumers needs is still important, but what has fundamentally changed is that the marketing managers no longer have full control of how their brand is perceived by the consumers. It has become more of a mutual trust relationship between the customers. 

I liked the Forbes "6 Ways Brand Build Trust Through Social Media" article. It tells us how social media enables companies now to interact with their customers directly when it wasn't possible in traditional marketing as there was a limitation in this form of marketing of how consumers can interact with the brand. As page 261 of the case "Ignore the Human Element of Marketing at Your Own Peril" says, in the Relationship Era, the successful brands are the brands categorized as having sustainable relationship. Also, the case tells us how these brand tend to spend little on advertising. This does make sense as we all know how effective social media can be in advertising to a large population. Therefore, this goes back to the point of how brands can build trust through social media instead of just trying to sell,sell,and sell their product. Brands cannot earn trust by manipulating their customers, people know if a brand has a genuine purpose or if the brand's main motive is just to sell as many products as they can. 

Therefore, like the case "Ignore the Human Element of Marketing at Your Own Peril" says, it is important for the company to actually look inward and understand what your brand is about. Having a genuine corporate purpose will help build the relationship of loyalty and trust. Also, it is important for the companies to actually live out their genuine purpose. Consumers will have a hard time trusting your company if your company actually contradicts its corporate purpose (for ex., if the company's motto is saving the environment, it is very unwise for the company to be making their products in factories with great pollutant emissions).  

As the Forbes article "6 Ways Brand Build Trust Through Social Media" says, remember the 6 ways. 1. Communicating Thought Leadership, 2. Transparency, 3. Quick & Responsive Customer Communication, 4. Ensures Accountability, 5. Fun & Simple Engagement, and 6. Social Responsibility. 

Also, do not make the mistake McDonald made by promoting the #McDStories campaign. Make sure to avoid #hashtags that could be an invitation for some people to bash your brand. 

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Intel's "Look Inside" series of films show short clips about inspirational people. This clip is about an adventurer named Erik Weihenmayer, who overcame the obstacles and succeeded in climbing all the seven highest summits on earth. He is one of the 118 people in history to have accomplished such achievements. What is more inspiring is that we learn later in the video, that he is the only person out of the 118 people to have climbed all seven mountains blind. 

Intel does a great job in the formatting of the story as the video strengthens Intel's Inside branding campaign. In the beginning of the video, it shows the view of the mountains and Erik Weihenmayer's admirable efforts of climbing the mountains. This conveys to the audience at how admirable and respectable he is in taking such difficult tasks that most everyday people do not see themselves capable of doing. And then during the later part of the video, the video tells us how Erik Weihenmayer is blind. This just strengthens the whole concept of the video as it just adds even more meaning and respect for this act of climbing all seven highest summits. Telling the audience that Erik is blind near the end of the video helps make the message of the video more powerful as the video already made the audience commend Erik for taking on such difficult tasks. Therefore, such emotions would be only strengthened after the audience realizes he is blind. Intel's marketing based on feelings and experiences has been rooted on its past as Ann Lewnes, one of the original members of the Intel Inside marketing team, said "...it is incumbent upon us as marketers to bridge the gap btween the technical details and the emotional experience of using cutting-edge technology. This is why it's important that we talk to consumers about what's meaningful to them." (Inside Intel Inside Case). 

I also liked how in the beginning of the video there was the quote of "the greatest discoveries are now here, there are inside you." Throughout this video, Intel does a great job in strengthening their brand campaign of Intel Inside. This is very effective because Intel's semiconductor chips are inside technology products such as PC; therefore, Intel's products are not directly visible by the consumers when they buy the product. This is why Intel had to strengthen their brand equity, to make known their products although consumers were not able to see them directly. Intel wanted the consumers to associate their brand with safety and leading technology. It was an effective way to end the video by having the caption of "There's only one way to discover what you're made of" and then having the logo of Intel Look Inside and ending it with the Intel's theme sound.

I believe that Intel has managed to be successful in the market due to its effective market campaign and developing a strong brand equity. Due to its successful marketing campaign, the first thing that pops into my head when I see Intel is it being associated with PCs. To the question of whether the company should extend "Intel Inside" branding campaign to other non-PC categories, I feel that maybe Intel can come up with another name for its brand for the other non-PC categories so that its brand equity would not be diluted. 

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Burberry’s market position

Social media. Everyone knows how social media is integrated in our everyday lives nowadays. In our parent’s generations, Internet might not have had much influence in everyone’s lives, but nowadays, no one can deny the great influence Internet has on people all over the world. Most people in college have a social networking service such as Facebook or Twitter. It is true that some people are trying to go against the trend, and abstaining from the social networking services. However, if something such as social networking service is as prevalent in the world as they are right now, it is beneficial to use it if it is used in the right way. 

As Angela Ahrendts says in the video, the next generation of people after her generation grew up in a digital world and they speak the language of social. Therefore, for a brand in today’s world, it is necessary for the marketing people of the company to fully understand how they can incorporate the language of the young generation with the language of the older generation. Burberry does a good job in following the language of today’s world. They use efficient ways to understand the feedback of their customers. As Angela Ahrendts says “You have to be totally connected with everyone who touches your brand.” She realizes that people wake up everyday with their mobile device on their hands and start their day. Which is another reason why she realized how important it is for their brand to be mobile first. By making their brand be more mobile friendly, they would be so much effective at reaching out to all their customers around their world.

Burberry has been in business for more than 150 years now. I think the reason why Burberry has been able to stay in business for so long is due to their efficient marketing strategy. In the past, Rose Marie Bravo was able to reinvent the brand of Burberry and to transform Burberry into a luxury lifestyle brand which was stylish and innovative. Now, Angela Ahrendts is breaking new ground in social media. Burberry is truly transforming the fashion business industry, how "brand" may matter more than just fashion. It is just as important for the fashion brand company to focus on improving its stylishness as is improving its brand as a whole. 

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Brand manifold: the meaning consumers give to brands

Brands have multiple dimensions. They are not simply “owned” by management. They have a life on its own. Therefore, the concept of a “brand manifold” helps managers understand that brands have different meanings to different set of people. Also, the value of a brand may change over time. Therefore, managers have to be flexible in defining their brands, as the value of the brands may change from time to time. 

For example, Dr. Martens shoes illustrate what it means that brands have a life on its own. This brand had very different meanings to different stakeholders. To the management in the company, this brand represented a durable shoe marketed to police and postal workers. However, the brand became successful when the brand began to be known by subculture groups, such as the punks and the skinheads. To these subculture groups, they viewed the brand as an attention-grabbing fashion statement. And it wasn’t before long that the public began to associate this brand as a nonconformist symbol of rebellion against authority.

As there is not a clear definition of how a brand should be managed as the brand can be interpreted differently by different people, how should the company help and manage their brand teams? What is an effective brand architecture?

This video illustrates some brands that became successful in making their name. It also made me think back to how consumers identify themselves with a brand. Why do people want to buy an Apple's earphones although they are not the most efficient earphones that will stick in your earbuds? What does the logo of a bitten apple mean to people? Why do people want to buy the Jordan's shoes in Nike, although he retired from basketball now? As Sasha Strauss said, it is because people constantly want to tell the story of who they are and why they matter. It is important to understand people, how they think and react to a certain image or an idea, to create a successful brand. 

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Singapore Airlines: Understanding customers' needs

http://gagnamite.com/on-a-plane-its-okay-i-dont-like-being-comfortable-anyways/

Before the Singapore Airlines, the airline industry wasn't much known for its quality. Most airlines only focused on getting people from point A to B rather than the plane ride itself. As there were regulations in each country protecting the airlines from competition, the airlines didn't really have to worry about becoming bankrupt. However, as the quality of the plane ride was not so great and the airlines were not able to satisfy customers' needs, the airline industry was known for being in debt. Therefore, during an industry crisis, most airlines were not able to escape it. 

However, Singapore Airlines was different. From the very start, the airlines focused on meeting customers' needs rather than just moving people from point A to B. Singapore Airlines created a brand image of the Singapore Girl with the slogan "A Great Way To Fly." The image of the Singapore Girl flight attendant created the brand image of hospitality, caring, elegance, and gentleness. This brand image set Singapore Airlines apart from other airlines; therefore, the Singapore Airlines were not affected by the industry crisis like the other airlines. This just illustrates the statement of quality over quantity. In an industry where customers were used to being uncomfortable, Singapore Airlines became the new icon of luxury. 

Singapore Airlines made sure its workers had the mindset of understanding customers' needs through the training they received. For example, Singapore Airlines was the only airline that ran service when the baggage carriers went on a strike. The Singapore Airlines workers actually moved the customers' baggages themselves. Also, when the connecting flights got canceled, most airlines workers just told the customers that they cannot do anything about it. However, the Singapore Airlines workers made sure that their customers were able to find flights to arrive to their destination. Little things like this makes a huge difference because people love being supported and cared for. 

Singapore Airlines always think about how to improve its quality during an industry crisis instead of just thinking of how to make more money in the short run. So they aren't afraid of investing money and being in debt for the short run, if they know that the improvements in their quality is for the best in the long run. This customer oriented value of thinking is how they are able to sustain customer-centric values. Also, this is how Singapore Airlines was able to successfully create a brand image of comfort for such a long time. Customers are willing to pay for the price as they believe the service is worth it. 

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-singapore-airlines-keeps-its-brand-strong-in-an-age-where-everybody-hates-flying-2012-2 

This article does a good job explaining Singapore Airlines' unique branding strategy. I really liked how James Boyd, the Singapore Airlines’ VP of communications, said in the article that their philosophy is finding the best things about all aspects of travel and incorporating that into their product. That is why they don't just compare their airline with other competitors; they compare themselves to the best hotels, the best resorts, and the best destinations. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUfcdy5_TdU

This video illustrates how the Singapore Airlines flight attendant view their customers. They are willing to go the extra mile for their customers to feel at home. 

I have always used Korean Air, but someday in the future, I really want to experience the Singapore Airlines flight.