City Buses as Video Billboards

I found this interesting 3 minute video from AdAge about city buses as video billboards. The billboards can be locally targeted and marketed as the bus drives to different areas - really interesting.

Digital ads that see who you are

I know that the last post was also from AdAge but a recent 3 minute update was very interesting and covers digital ads that see who you are. The company who has this new technology says that they will not be able to identify individuals but mainly general movements of how long you look at the ads. This is just one of the new trends of market research such as tracking eye movements or brain waves. How long are we prepared to go to be able to measure ad effectiveness? It is worth checking out the update.

Absolut Vodka = Absolute Design

Absolut Vodka is now launching a new design of the bottle which is covered in over 3000 red sequences. This sparkling new design which is a follow-up to Absolut Disco, has a tagline "In an Absolut World, Every night is a masquarade", and is to represent a feeling of glamour. Launch is planned for October gearing up for Xmas sales. Check it out soon!

Luxury Burger

Just read from another blog that Burger King has now launched a luxury burger that costs $170 dollars (1020 Swedish crowns)! This raises several questions - can a hamburger be classified as a luxury food item? Is it in the same category as caviar or champagne? Or is this hamburger just well over priced and its brand has taken on more than it can handle by entering the luxury food market? See also a related post where I comment on Burger King's plans to launch games on mobile phones - you have to really start to question what kind of brand strategy does BK have.

Citizen Marketers

I came across a really interesting concept called Citizen Marketers - which is actually the title of the book written by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba. They market their book as a culteral guide rather than a business or marketing guide and they examine significant changes caused by social media. Just glimpsing at the excerpt from Chapter 1 - about the 4 F's leaves me curious to read more. Here is a short extract:

"Chapter 1: Filters, Fanatics, Facilitators, and Firecrackers
People who create content on behalf of products, brands, companies or other people can be classified into four different categories: Filters, Fanatics, Facilitators and Firecrackers. The 4 F's. From the professional journalist whose part-time hobby of maintaining the Starbucks Gossip blog (Filter), to the blogger who loves McDonalds and wants the company simply to be "awesome" (Fanatic), to the car owner who maintains an online community for fans of the Mini Cooper (Facilitator), to the teenager who unwittingly drove up sales of a webcam brand with her impromptu video demonstration on YouTube (Firecracker), the work of the citizen marketer is varied but the categories are often remarkably consistent."

There is also a webinar coming up on Thursday, June 26th - stay tuned as I will post it.

Marketing@Google

One the most interesting videos currently on YouTube are a series of videos called Talks@Google. There are different subjects such as Candidates@Google, Authors@Google and my favorite is http://youtube.com/watch?v=D9F14OlKOrk. A talk by brand expert Dean Crutchfield explores the issues of shifting brand paradigms and questioning who decides good taste. Worth taking a look.

Lecture tips: What is luxury?

An interesting lecture titled "What is Luxury?" will be held this Tuesday, Dec.4, 6:30 pm at the Nobel musuem in the Old Town in Stockholm. Three students from the Design program at Växjö University will present their research on luxury and that global environment, security and good health can be an alternative to luxury. This sounds very exciting! I will definitely be there.

PS. My copy of "Deluxe, How luxury lost its luster" by Dana Thomas has now arrived and interesting reading!

Luxury Brands in New Markets Part 2 - Russia

It is no surprise that Russians are very fashion and luxury conscious as their economy is on the rise. In the continuing series of surveys on Luxury Brands by Time magazine, the most well -known brands in Russia are:

Versace: 95%

Dior: 95%

Chanel: 93%

Giorgio Armani: 92%

And two Russian designers who are new to me but apparently known for their luxurious fashion:

Vyacheslav Zaitsev: 93%

Valentin Yudashkin: 92%

More to come on this subject of luxury brands!

Luxury Brands in New Markets - China

In a recent surve from Time.com, they have looked at the presence and consumption of luxury brands in new markets, such as China. We all know that China boasts a population of over 1 billion people. Behind these statistics grows a strong consumer group who are craving for the same luxury that we have enjoyed here in the "West". According to the survey, the most recognised luxury brands are:

Rolex: 76%

Lacoste: 72%

Valentino: 71%

Chanel: 66%

Dior: 55%

I wonder what these luxury hungry consumers would think when these exclusive brands are being manufactured in their own back yard in Chinese factories?

When does a luxury brand become mainstream?

Read an interesting article about how luxury brands are at risk of becoming mainstream because of their overexposure on the market. This is an interesting thought as we see more and more brands like Chanel, Gucci, Rolex, Armani, Lacoste (see my previous blog post about Lacoste: http://360view-molsson.blogspot.com/2007/07/lacoste-just-doesnt-get-internet.html) etc. opening stores all over the world. Has easy access internet devalued the luxuriousness of these brands' value? Where do these brands cross the line of exclusivity to mainstream? If a top proportion of Chinese consumers (with a population of 1 billion) want to by a Rolex, how many Rolex stores should be accessible in China to meet this demand? I plan investigate further this concept of the "devaluation of luxury brands". I would love to interview the brand managers of these top brands. Any thoughts from my readers are welcome!

ilovemobileweb.com

Found an interesting information campaign site promoting the mobile web. The purpose of the site is to raise consumer awareness about the benefits of having information access through your mobile. Do anyone know if there is a similar campaign in Sweden?

Barbie docking station for your Ipod

Just read about the cutest little docking station for your Ipod Classic. It’s a cotton candy pink Barbie inspired docking station with big red flowers for speakers and includes a radio and alarm clock. This is sickly sugar sweet and targets a very young audience, Apple is already building a relationship with young consumers. There are two factors of nostalgia here.

1) the parents who buy these products for their kids today probably had a Barbie doll when they grow up and associate the Barbie brand with their own childhood memories.
2) In twenty years with these consumers are all grown up and have their own kids, they will probably reminisce about this product and tell their kids, “Back in the good old days, I had an Ipod Classic...” I am not so sure they will even remember the Barbie brand.

Goodie bag from Lunchnätet

Was at a networking lunch today celebrating the 5 year aniversary of the network. This is good old fashioned mingling, chatting, exchaning of business cards with sole purpose of making new contacts and friends. As part of the mingle, we each received a goodie bag with various items from members. In my goodie bag, I received a music CD of Paul M, Tender Care Protecting Balm by Oriflame, Mr Flower Power dark chocolates commerating Carl von Linné and a little travel seat mat. This is a great way to market sample products to a key target group as all of us women work in the marketing and PR field. There was a feeling of entrepreneurship as many women had their own businesses. More news to come about the network!

Super sweet logo

This super sweet Happy Tooth logo has been launched today by Toothfriendly International to identify sweet food products that are tooth friendly. Examples of these products are sugar-free gum and throat lozenges. This is a logo that appeals to the little kid in all of us that still wants to have candy without the guilty feelings.

Write a slogan for NASA

Just read in Wired’s Blog a challenge to write a better slogan for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) as NASA has just internally released its new slogan, “NASA explores for answers that power our future.” I have to agree with Wire that this slogan doesn’t evoke a feeling of awe that NASA should. Join the challenge and think of a slogan.

My contribution is, “NASA Space expeditions unlimited”.

Unique Partnerships for Charity

How about combining a children’s clothing store (Polarn och Pyret) with Swedish hard bread (Wasabröd) to support a charity organization that helps underprivileged children (SOS Barnbyar) in the world? Another example is how Canon partners with the World Nature Foundation. Businesses that purchase a Canon printer will be asked to join the World Nature Foundation. I really like this kind of marketing creativity that is for a good cause. It captures the consumer attention in unexpected places.

Insights from Apple

Steve Chazin a former marketeer from Apple has recently published his blog about marketing insights. Very interesting reading and you can even check out his e-book on Marketing Apple.

His lessons are simple:

1. Don’t Sell Products: People buy what other people have


2. Never Be First to Market: Make something good greater


3. Empower Early Adopters: Help your customers help you.


4. Make your Message memorable: Boil the story down to its syrupy goodness.


5. Go one step further: Surprise and delight your customers.

Underdog branding

I admire underdog brands that dare to challenge top dog brands. There are several examples of underdog brands – the classic example is Avis –We try harder. I have recently seen a Swedish example, Swedbank. In their recent marketing campaigns, the ad read: “Other banks are open (referring to open hours), we are more open.” (in Swedish, “Andra bank har öppet, vi har öppnare”). These underdog brands evoke empathy and a bit of humor, the end consumer might be willing to go from the topdog to the underdog. I am routing for the underdog. woof! woof!