Blog Archives
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
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”.
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
Scarcity and escalation of commitment as means of persuasion
Last weekend we went to a factory sales event of a clothing brand. Apparently, the event was so well advertised that the factory was jam-packed with warrior/shopper women. Honestly, I can’t remember how many times a lady hit me in the shoulder or stepped on my foot (Albeit, I don’t recall receiving a single apology). According to their ad everything was “up to 70%” off. But, I am fairly sure there was an item or two that were actually 70% off. The rest of the cloths were in the range of 30-40%. However, when you commit to spending at least part of your Saturday in a factory, you automatically convince yourself that everything is indeed 70% off. That was the trap we fell into. We tried on some jackets, but none of them were interesting enough. Then we said, at least let’s buy a belt! But, two days later we realized that we actually paid almost the full price for the belt! How did that happen? Are we that silly? Well, there were two psychological factors in play. Let me explain them. Read the rest of this entry
Smoothies and Tim Hortons… Success or failure?
Last week we talked about Starbucks’s recent experiment of serving alcohol in some of its locations. We ended up recommending them to create a second brand. We also said, on our next article we will focus on a successful line extension from Canada: Tim Horton’s, one of Starbucks’ archrivals. For those of you who are not familiar with the brand, here is how Wikipedia describes Tim Hortons: Read the rest of this entry
FREE! advice to sell more products
Recently, I had to empty my apartment in Toronto. So, I decided to sell all my furniture. I managed to sell big items like mattress and sofa, but I had difficulty in finding buyers for stuff like cutlery and pans. So, I went ahead and posted`an ad on Craigslist and Kijiji with the following subject line: “Free stuff. Everything must go today!” And the rest is history… Read the rest of this entry
What is missing from Toronto Raptors’ brand strategy?
I am a huge basketball fan and I support Toronto Raptors. However, this article is not about my team’s unsuccessful season. If you want to discuss basketball, www.raptorsrepublic.com is the place to be. Some of the most knowledgeable basketball lovers write there. This article is written from a pure brand strategy point of view and should be treated as such. Read the rest of this entry
What can you learn from Porter Airlines? – The Good
When I am often asked what my favourite brands are, I try to name Canadian brands as much as possible. It is not a secret that my favourite Canadian brand is Porter Airlines. Hands down, that company knows everything about branding. Here is why I like them and what you can learn from them: Read the rest of this entry
Branding Lessons from Cuba
Cuba is a fascinating country. With its weather, culture and history it might be “the” country to visit. Also, Cuba is special because of its politics: unlike China, Cuba is a communist country that does not embrace capitalism. In that sense, being in Cuba is a unique and a priceless experience that you can’t have elsewhere in the world. How is this related to branding though? Read the rest of this entry
