Social Media is here to stay

Just consider some of these numbers for a second...

Facebook now has 500 million members..

There are over 3 billion mobile phones in the world- and anyone who doesn't believe Google won't play a part in this new world had better think again, Android shipments for Q1 2010 grew by a staggering 851% in the US.

Twitter has just recorded its 20 billionth Tweet, that's 2 months after it reached 15 billion and five months after it reached 10 billion.

These numbers are huge and should send shivers down the spines of anyone who is trying to capture the attention of consumers by conventional means and it's now starting to show.

Data from the latest Nielsen survey shows that time spent on social media increased by over 40% in the past year.

It's time to stop considering social and mobile as niche additions to media plans if budgets allow and to move them up to the front and center of your thinking.

(From Influx updates)

2010 Banding Trends

Niels Bohr once noted that "prediction is very difficult, especially about the future," but then he didn't have access to predictive loyalty metrics. Happily, we do. And, as they measure the direction and velocity of consumer values 12 to 18 months in advance of the marketplace and consumer articulations of category needs and expectations, they identify future trends with uncanny accuracy.

Having examined these measures, we offer 10 trends for marketers for 2010 that will have direct consequences to the success - or failure – of next year's branding and marketing efforts.

1) Value is the new black

Consumer spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This spells trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.

2) Brands increasingly a surrogate for "value"

What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what's wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for. Why J Crew instead of The Gap? J Crew stands for a new era in careful chic --being smart and stylish. The first family's support of the brand doesn't hurt either.

3) Brand differentiation is Brand Value

The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic features continue to plague the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for success --meaning sales and profitability.

4) "Because I Said So" is so over

Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but they must believably exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can't just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement.

5) Consumer expectations are growing

Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive - and prosper.

6) Old tricks don't work/won't work anymore

In case your brand didn't get the memo here it is -consumers are on to brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of this past year, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim "we're all in this together" when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere celebrity pairings: think Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values need to be in concert, like Tiger Woods & Accenture. That's authenticity.

7) They won't need to know you to love you

As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street cred can go viral in days, with awareness following, not leading, the conversation. After all, everybody knows GM, but nobody's buying their cars.

8) It's not just buzz

Conversation and community is all; ebay thrives based on consumer feedback. If consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. Not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This means the coming of a new era of customer care.

9) They're talking to each other before talking to the brand

Social Networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. Look for more websites using Facebook Connect to share information with the friends from those sites. More companies will become members of Linkedin. Twitter users will spend more money on the Internet than those who don't tweet.

10) Engagement is not a fad; It's the way today's consumers do business

Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods including Platform (TV; online), Context (Program; webpage), Message (Ad or Communication), and Experience (Store/Event). But there is only one objective for the future: Brand Engagement. Marketers will continue to realize that attaining real brand engagement is impossible using out-dated attitudinal models.

Accommodating these trends will require a paradigm change on the parts of some companies. But whether a brand does something about it or not, the future is where it's going to spend the rest of its life. How long that life lasts is up to the brand, determined by how it responds to today's reality.

Contributed by: Robert Passikoff, President, Brand Keys

How important is the CEO to your Branding Efforts?

Many a times when I companies, they send in a junior executive to do their work and later on the CEO is never really involved in the process. I always stress this. Everyone needs to be on board a branding exercise, most importantly the CEO who needs to walk the talk and live the brand for all to see. Communications consultant Bob Lamons says, "The CEO needs to be the No. 1 brand champion. No exceptions. No extenuating circumstances. Is she resists accepting this responsibility, the company will suffer."

I remember going in for a meeting recently with an organisation which had its brand values as Passionate, Fun, Dynamic & Empowering. In the meeting with the CEO and his team I observed that the staff were terrified of him. They were scared to talk back to him. The entire meeting was filled with fear and tension which was personified but a tough, tyrant like CEO. So much for the brand values which were not seen in the staff and definitely not in the CEO.

So the key thing to take note is that everyone in the organisation needs to be aligned to the Brand DNA of the organisation. NO BUTS!. They must project the values of the organisation through the right On Brand Behavior and they need to live the brand in across all their touchpoints including meetings, emails, customers meetings etc.

Contact me at jerome@thebrandtheatre.net for more information on how you can align your branding internally.

What is Branding?

1. The process of creating and enhancing the brand assets beyond the product or service itself

2. Leveraging an organization’s personality to create a customer relationship

3. Delivering what’s promised, or more, but never less

4. Differentiation from competition

5. Built over time

6. Perception

7. A million gestures all adding up create a brand experience

Happy New Year to All

Dear Friends,

A Happy New Year to all! Thank you for being part of our Journey! We look forward to Performing with all of you down the road. Take care and God Bless always.

Here are 3 branding trends for 2008 which you should be aware of when you bring in the New Year:

1. Engagement: There will be more emphasis on Brand Engagement and rightly so. Brand Engagement measures and metrics will be put into place as well. When you consider the power of today’s “bionic” consumers, born hot-wired into the internet with an iPod in one hand and a TiVo controller in the other, engaging them will be the only way of guaranteeing loyalty and profitability.

2. More “brands” will become “Category Placeholders.” As brands become more and more enamored with and enmeshed in “new” media like social networking and messages beamed into consumers’ living rooms from outer space, marketers need to ensure that their brands actually stand for something in the mind of the consumer.

3. Marketing and Branding will become more touch point focused and personalised. Key considerations:a) which touchpoint best reinforces brand values;
b) where the brand + media equation yields real engagement;
c) where the plan is seamless, believable, personalised, and authentic.

Experientially yours,

Management & Staff of:

The Brand Theatre Team – www.thebrandtheatre.net

The Brand Theatre was formed to create access to a sole experiential brand agency that can create and communicate a brand idea innovatively and experientially in everything your business does across the communication spectrum both internally and externally. We want to connect to your audience across all touch points, from end to end, by providing them with memorable brand experiences.

The Brand One Team – www.brandone.us

Brand One is a full service Corporate Brand & People Training Agency. Our entire business philosophy is helping people and organisations become successful as brands through training. Brand One offers programs and training in the areas of Personal Branding, Experience Branding and Internal Branding.

The 2 models of Experience Marketing

We are rapidly moving into a landscape where there will only be two models of experience marketing communication:

1. An entertainment-based model where marketers work hard to breakthrough the clutter. The goal is to raise awareness and to get people to like you.

2. A utility-based model the brand provides something useful, good and meaningful to its consumers and perhaps the world beyond. Instead of just running regular ads, they are big idea platforms that inspire, encourage engagement and give something back.

If you don't do either of these, you will die. The "shouting" benefits model of marketing communication is about to become as extinct as a dodo.So the challenge for brands that operate is to understand how they get to entertainment and/or utility.The secret is the same as it has always been.It's all about having a disciplined strategic process that allows you to uncover the big idea.Something that allows you to stand for something that's way bigger than yourself or your category.Once you have it, the opportunities become boundless.It's a place that comes from a brand truth but expands way beyond that. It can be like Nike's philosophical, entertaining Warrior Spirit ethos in the form of its competitions and sponsorship just to name a few or Kit Kats entertaining and fun "Take break, Have a Kit Kat" campaign.

Contact me :jerome@thebrandtheatre.net for more information on the above topics be in creating experience campaigns for your business or in training.

Top 10 Branding Trends Globally

Branding strategies and marketing mix have entered a new era and every day each company is trying new technique to establish its brand value. Although, each brand tries a different approach to establish its value, nevertheless, there are few branding techniques that are popular world wide. These techniques are adopted worldwide and give same results irrespective of place, people, cultural background, demographics, etc.

Experiential marketing strategy has given spectacular results worldwide. The world’s top brand is Google with a brand value of $66,434 million adopts viral marketing as its main marketing tool. Amazon, Apple, LEGO, Harley Davidson are others who have been generating word of mouth with their blogs. Blogs for these companies are not maintained by their owners but people are talking about them, fans of Harley Davidson are readily talking about their experiences and are all ready to give an advice to fellow blogger. Slowly, the consumers are driving the market and making news. EBay is yet anther example after Amazon that has established itself because of a branded customer experience. Even those who may have never shopped from or sold at eBay know about it. The main reason being, they know someone who had had a great experience at the website.

Franchisees are flourishing in United States and in most part of the worlds. Each day they account for more and more retails sales all across the world. Subway is celebrating a global reputation since past 40 years of quick restaurant service offering fresh, tasty, healthier alternative to traditionally fatty fast foods. The main branding strategy of Subway has been designed after keeping in mind that it needs to be transfered through franchises.

Another trend for branding success is to adopt to the cultures to sell more. Google, MSN, Yahoo, eBay, UPS, DHL, Citibank, all have websites and their landing pages which are country specific. It is important to offer local news, local feel as per the culture and pieces of information that affect the people locally. Offers from Citibank in US would hardly matter to those in Singapore or in England. Similarly, MSN news from US or UK would be of little interest in Malaysia or UAE. All these websites have their homepages customized which are exclusively country specific.

Customer is the king. Companies specifically address customer specific issues. Supermarket aisles are laden with multiple options for the same product. Pringles, Lays, Uncle Chipps all compete within the same segment but all each has rolled out an option for people with choices of tomato, onions, cheese or plain salted flavors. They brands have marked their presence and hold a strong presence worldwide. Starbucks creates the beverage as per the consumer choice. Nike allows you to design your own shoe online.

Negative PR also stands to create a wave and makes a long lasting impression. Big Brother for racist comments on its show, Wal-Mart and Nike for abuse of foreign workers, Call centers across the shores, all hold out on Negative PR.

The product should be more than just a showpiece on the supermarket shelves. Now the companies should have a cause or they must have a stand on the issue. No matter what you think of Fox News but you have a fairly good idea where it stands on issues. Ben & Jerry’s is more than an ice-cream. The company has a cause thus it has a brand value.

Quick Tip: There is no one shortcut to create world wide brand. Let the consumer experience the brand and offer him a customized product. Negative PR can also act as one of your branding strategies.