2012 Trend Reports
2012 is around the corner! An exciting and challenging year awaits us. I compiled six great trend reports to help your brand navigate stormy waters in 2012. Enjoy the reports and let me know if you know other good ones.
Happy holidays to all!
2012 Global consumer trends by Euromonitor
2012 Consumer trends by Trendwatching
2012 Consumer trends by Trend-Strategy
2012 Retail trends by Retail is Detail
Brand Jordan
NBA lockout is about to end. The hot topic of discussion is what’s the damage to Brand Jordan?
Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all times. But his skills and will are not enough to explain how he became the magnetic person that he is. During his Hall of Fame induction speech, Michael Jordan said: “There won’t be a new Michael Jordan.” This is a false statement, because who we knew and adored as “Michael Jordan” was actually not an individual. The magnet was the “Warrior/Hero archetype.” Read the rest of this entry
2012 Colour Forecast by bvcolorstrategy
Jack Bredenfoerder, who is a seasoned color design and marketing professional issued his colour forecast for 2012. Mr. Bredenfoerder is specialized in color strategy, trends and forecasting. So his predictions are always bang on. Click the below picture, read his report and share it with your colleagues. It is full of insights, not only on colour strategy, but on socio-cultural trends.
Key to customer loyalty
There are some brands that I find so successful. I call them magnetic. One of those brands is Maui Jim, the sunglass company. The brand is best known for its high quality, reasonably priced and fashionable polarized sunglasses. I bought my first Maui Jim sunglass in 2008. Since then, I bought two more. As rational consumers, we often think we are loyal to a particular brand because it offers the best value for money, often quality being the key pillar of value. Well, quality is necessary, but not sufficient to create loyalty… According to Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, the key to loyalty is not quality. It is the quality of “relationship”.
Branding through Collaboration
Today, I’d like to share a wonderful presentation with you. The presenter’s name is Mrs. M.J. Braide. She is a renowned brand strategist from Toronto, Canada. I watched her webinar about a week ago. Then I said to myself: “Maybe I should make all my clients watch this video at the beginning of every new project.” It is full of insights, and actionable ideas. But most importantly, M.J. shows us the future of branding. A brand is not a logo and branding is not simply design. She talks about how the process of branding can be used to build bridges within an organization… Maybe even heal some wounds. Why don’t you watch the video and tell me what you think?
You and me: The Brand Relationship Theory
I love the TV series “the Office”. In one of the episodes Michael Scott has herpes and wants to know who gave him the disease. He starts working backwards through his partners, chronologically. Michael Scott being the person he is, instead of informing his past partners of his infection, he asks them relationship-related questions such as: “What went wrong? Did I make more of what we had than was really there?” What does Michael Scott have to do with branding? Everything, according to Dr. Susan Fournier’s brand relationship theory. Read the rest of this entry
Segmentation in B2B markets
B2C companies often use segmentation analysis, which is a complex tool that divides the market into distinguishable segments, separated by consumer behaviour or need. The beauty of segmentation analysis is that you can look at the size, value and performance of these segments and decide whom to concentrate your efforts. Although segmentation analysis is a technique more frequently used by B2C companies, B2B firms can use a similar approach too. Read the rest of this entry
Life. Simplified.
All of a sudden, the earth has started to spin too fast. So much going on in the world. We are all overloaded with information and choices. It is not a surprise that brands that simplify our lives are very successful these days. Googles and Apples strive by actually giving their customers less! About a year ago, we talked about “paradox of choice”. The more you give to your customers, the less happy they become. Sounds weird eh? I recently read a great article about this topic and wanted to write a follow up to my previous article. Read the rest of this entry
Branding Through Storytelling
I recently read a well-written book named “Branding Through Storytelling.” As you know “storytelling” is a buzzword in brand strategy. Unfortunately, it is an often-used yet seldom-understood concept. “Branding Through Storytelling” is a nice “how to” guide to finding, unlocking and leveraging corporate stories to support brand strategy. Read the rest of this entry
Phonetic symbolism and naming
Which one of the below shape is booba and which one is kiki?
According to Wolfgang Köhler’s “booba/kiki effect” study, 95% to 98% of people choose “kiki” for the sharp, angular shape and “booba” (or “bouba”) for the soft, rounded shape. Interestingly, recent work by Daphne Maurer and colleagues has shown that even children as young as 2.5 (too young to read) show this effect. Now, that is powerful. But, how is it related to branding? Read the rest of this entry
