Contents

Contents  1

Insight 1

Quotations  2

From the media  A digest 2

Adverts  25

The Benefits of MAANZ Membership  25

MXpress Short Courses  27

Events  28

Articles and Reports  31

Insight

Editorial - Think about DUMB and not just SMART

SMART is an acronym found in many strategy articles and texts.  It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

I recently came across an alternative called DUMB

DUMB stands for Dreamy, Unrealistic, Motivating and Bold. DUMB is based on the concept that approaches like SMART are not inspiring or exciting.

The writer, who didn’t appear to understand what SMART was really about, said it “encourages status quo and/or staying within confined areas to achieve marginally better results at best”. His concept continued that things like Dreamy goals are something is possible with an effort “It’s finding that special cause”

Unrealistic goals he says are the ones traditionalists warn against and believe aren’t obtainable by anyone. And adds “Isn’t it a lot more fun to do something someone says can’t be done?”

Motivating goals he says “are those that make someone waking up each morning ready to take on the day” Etc.

Chap doesn’t seem to think that SMART is good enough and DUMB is better.  Both are useful concepts and not really mutually exclusive.

SMART is what you want your objectives to be.  SMART ensures they are measurable so you can check to see if you are getting here.  DUMB is good in its own self motivational way – and may be even better, when you get serious by adding SMART to it.

The project manager and the frog

A project manager was out walking in the countryside one day when a frog called out to him. He bent down, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog called out again, saying, "If you kiss me I shall turn me back into a beautiful princess, and I'll stay with you for a week as your mistress." The project manager took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and put it back into his pocket. The frog called out once more, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for as long as you wish and do absolutely anything that you want. Again the Project manager took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and put it back. Finally, the frog demanded, "What's the matter? You can turn me back into a beautiful princess, and I'll stay with you for ever and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" to which the project manager replied, "Understand, I'm a project manager. I simply don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog ....... that's cool."

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Quotations

The value of an idea lies in the using of it.            Thomas Alva Edison

Every man of genius sees the world at a different angle from his fellows. - Havelock Ellis,

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness. -- George Orwell

The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop."- P. J. O'Rourke

We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom."- Montaigne

It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out of date.

An inventor is simply a person who doesn't take his education too seriously. You see, from the time a person is six years old until he graduates from college he has to take three or four examinations a year. If he flunks once, he is out. But an inventor is almost always failing. He tries and fails maybe a thousand times. It he succeeds once then he's in. These two things are diametrically opposite. We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.- Charles Kettering

Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend, and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."Groucho Marx

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From the media  A digest

ANZ launches a new brand identity

The ANZ bank has launched a new brand identity to align with its ‘super regional’ strategy and international presence.

ANZ says the new identity and positioning follows 18 months of internal and external research across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific. The bank hopes to position itself as people-focused and uncomplicated.

“ANZ is increasingly a regional bank operating in 32 countries and speaking 19 different languages. A strong, unified brand across all our geographies is an important part of our future growth,” said Mike Smith, ANZ CEO.

Part of the reasoning behind the renewed logo is to allow customers from countries where Roman characters aren’t used to connect with the brand.*

The rollout will cost approximately $15 million.

MAANZ Comment.

If folks cannot connect with Roman characters they are unlikely to get a lot of joy from the blob that will replace it.  What is it with financial institutions?  You have a simple logo to represent your brand and then you change it every once in a while.  Good thing national flags don’t do that.

Starbucks reverses long-held policy, heads for Subway

Starbucks' Seattle's Best Coffee brand will be in 9,000 Subway stores in the U.S. by the end of this year, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told analysts yesterday, reversing the company's long-held distaste for fast-food eateries,

In the past, the company turned down McDonald's as a partner, an alliance that Morningstar restaurant analyst R.J. Hottovy feels would have been stronger. But he also says that the company is wise to tip-toe into fast food with SBC, which CEO Schultz says is in the infant stages" of what it could become.

"It's a way of expanding in the U.S. without diluting the Starbucks brand," Hottovy says, "and Subway is probably just as excited to have a relatively well-known brand name partnering with them as well."

Seattle Times.

Is Coke actually in trouble?

To put the Coca-Cola's "disappointing" quarter into perspective: The brand's net income in the third quarter was $1.9 billion (about 81 cents per share), up from $1.89 billion a year earlier. By volume, its overall sales still climbed 2% (after a 4% rise in the second quarter and a 2% rise in the first).

But is Coke in trouble? Granted the brand is an icon and will never be gone. But even as sales of carbonated soda drinks (like Coke) rose1% in the quarter, those snazzier drinks the kids like so much, like Vitaminwater, rose 7%.

In established markets, Coke's brand building efforts are in maintenance mode. It is hard, even dangerous, for the brand to take any drastic new direction to compete with the "hottest new thing." At best, the brand can fiddle with its delivery, such as offering a new 90-calorie mini can.

Where Coke's brand is making strides is emerging markets.

New Disney technology

Walt Disney Co. is close to unveiling technology that it says will enable entertainment companies to adapt their business models to a new reality in which consumers increasingly rely on computers and cell phones in place of DVD players and TVs.

The technology, code-named Keychest, could contribute to a shift in what it means for a consumer to own a movie or a TV show, by redefining ownership as access rights, not physical possession.

What do Crocs and Porsche have in common?

The Porsche Cayman is a sexy 2-seater sports coupe born of German engineering. The Crocs Cayman is a snug-fitting lightweight clog, allegedly modeled on “Italian design,” by Americans in Colorado. I understand if you were confused though, they’re practically identical!

Porsche, fearing consumer confusion and the dilution of their established brand, notified the clog manufacturer in May of their alleged infringement. In late July Porsche filed a trademark infringement suit against Crocs in a German court.

Crocs plans to “vigorously defend” themselves in German court.

Black and Decker and Stanley Works dovetail

Black & Decker and rival Stanley Works are merging in a $4.5 billion deal that puts under one corporate umbrella a number of familiar consumer brands: DeWalt, Kwikset and Price Pfister from 99-year-old Black & Decker, and Mac Tools, Stanley Security Solutions and FatMax from 166-year-old Stanley Works, V. Dion Haynes reports. Black & Decker is best known for its power tools, while Stanley is known for hand tools.

The deal, the largest in the consumer products sector this year, calls for combining Black & Decker's KwikSet business with Stanley Works' security business.

"The complementary product and market fit of these two companies creates significant value for both companies' shareholders that neither company can accomplish on a stand-alone basis," says Black & Decker CEO Nolan D. Archibald. Although both companies have been reeling from the recession, they maintain that higher motives drove the deal.

A good idea in self promotion

Jason Stoddard did something interesting — he started his own consultancy company, Stagira. That’s interesting. But not as interesting as what he did to let people know he started Stagira.

Essentially, his marketing dollars went into running a conference, the Ubiquity Marketing unSummit in Austin, TX. Jason cajoled Chris Brogan to be his keynote speaker. He invited notable local social media marketing types to participate on panels. The conference information/schedule page lived on the Stagira website. Every marketing piece promoting the conference (from emails to blog posts to tweets) directed people to visit the Stagira website. Smart.

Everything turned out smarter because his conference attracted like-minded well-connected social media types. As Simon Salt tweeted, “Good Grief you can’t throw a stick in here without hitting a Social Media celeb.” (It can only help a new business to have like-minded well-connected social media types making an unknown business known within their social circles.)

But the smartest marketing move Jason did was recoup his marketing spend by running a conference where people paid to attend. Maybe you should have someone like Jason thinking just as smart about your business.

/brandautopsy.typepad.com

Blu Dot's 'Real Good' Marketing Experiment

Small companies without the vast budgets of large corporations have no choice but to think creatively about how to market their wares. On Wednesday November 4th, Minneapolis-based furniture design Blu Dot is launching an interesting-sounding experiment in New York City. Capitalising on city denizens' apparent obsession with both leaving and taking pieces of furniture on the sidewalk, Blu Dot is leaving 25 of its iconic "Real Good" metal chairs (one shown) around the city.

Banking on the idea that they won't be left lying around for long, the designers hope that each one will be taken to a "real good" home. There's a 2.0 twist, too: the chair has its own Twitter account, while most of the chairs have been embedded with a GPS chip so that they can be tracked online in real time. "Who will take them? Where will they end up? How will they be used?" asks Blu Dot co-founder John Christakos. "We have visions you may find one under a bridge being used by a group of homeless people, another in a hipster’s apartment. We don't know what's going to happen. It's fun."

www.businessweek.com

Google finds its way to dismantling GPS brands

When Google announced its mobile phone navigation service, shares of heretofore strong GPS brands like TomTom and Garmin dropped. Why? Because Google's service is free. Google plan for monetising the GPS service seems to be surprise! - selling advertising.

Social purpose strengthens some brands

Despite the recession, consumers are still spending with companies and brands that have a clear social purpose, according to third annual Edelman Good Purpose Consumer Study which surveyed 6,000 people in ten countries.

In fact, 57% of consumers globally feel that a company or brand has earned their business because it has been doing its part to support good causes (with Asian countries coming in highest, with China scoring 85% and India scoring 84%).

Two out of three consumers (67%) also said they would switch brands if another brand of similar quality supported a good cause (with Brazil peaking at 83% and Italy following at 74%).

The study also found that 83% of consumers are willing to change their consumption habits if it can help make the world a better place to live in, suggesting a growing trend away from traditional 'status markers' (such as big houses and luxury cars), toward greater identification with social purpose brands.

Among the study's other key findings:

* 71% think brands and companies spend too much on advertising and marketing and should put more into good causes;

* 64% would recommend a brand that supports a good cause, up from 52% in 2008;

* 59% would help a brand promote its products if there was a good cause behind it, up from 53% in 2008;

* 44% are aware of brands that actively support good causes through their products and services, up from 33% in 2008;

* 64% would recommend a brand that supports a good cause;

* 64% expect all brands to support a good cause;

* 63% are looking toward brands and companies to make it easier for them to make a difference in the world;

* 61% said they have bought a brand that supports a good cause even if it wasn't the cheapest brand available.

www.edelman.com

Digital consumer trends for marketers in 2010

Digital strategists from Last Exit believe that there are several trends that seem to be here to stay. Among the coming trends and predictions for the evolution of digital consumerism in 2010 and beyond:

1. Facebook could replace personal email

Occasionally a brand name becomes the verb associated with its use. For the near future, they think, the next brand verb may well be 'to Facebook your friends'

2. Open source software makes real money, thanks to 'the cloud'

Open source software (in which the programmers make their original source code open to the public to modify and redistribute at will) has become both available to and popular with the masses. While most people and companies can't run their own internet servers, open source providers have begun offering their software in a SaaS (software as a service) configuration - the principle behind the so-called 'cloud', in where users simply pay for whatever they (or their own customers) use, and where they are free from infrastructure problems and day-to-day operational details.

3. Mobile payments will grow, but mainly within applications

Mobile commerce has been a promise of new technologies for many years, but the promise has never really been delivered. While mobile phones have delivered real benefits and are often used to transfer money, very few consumers are actually using them to make retail payments.

4. One password for all occasions?

There is an increasing demand among consumers for any service that reduces the number of log-in names and passwords that must be remembered.

5. Disruption vs. continuity

As the significance of social networks continues to grow, businesses are investing more in community building as a marketing technique. According to the recent Tribalisation of Business study by Deloitte, 94% of businesses will continue or increase their investment in online communities and social media and, for the majority of these companies; their marketing department will drive that investment. With the increasing emphasis on marketing and advertising through social networks and the increasing pervasiveness of social tools, marketing objectives come into conflict with advertising techniques. While advertising has often sought to distinguish itself and stop the consumer in their tracks with a disruptive "big idea," the emphasis is shifting toward persuasion through fitting organically into the consumer's social sphere.

6. Self-sufficiency stems from the web's open source, DIY culture

From solving complex problems through crowd sourcing to reconfiguring industries to be leaner and more innovative by harnessing the expertise of a network of independent suppliers, many of the breakthrough solutions of tomorrow appear to lie in pooling the resources and intelligence of the increasingly networked world. But this pooling effect has also empowered individual consumers to take on more and more complex undertakings themselves, such as drawing on the collective intelligence of blogs and universities' open courseware to educate themselves. Expect to see lasting changes coming from empowering individuals to work together to become more ever more self-sufficient.

7. Crowd sourcing

Across many industries and organisations, crowd sourcing will become a growing tool as organisations mobilise passionate special interest groups to not only carry a message but, even more importantly perhaps, to lead and take part in activities on their behalf.

8. More Flash, not less

Outside of the obvious web sites, micro-sites and media sites (e.g. those offering videos and games), Flash has been largely overlooked by technical people and search engine optimisers alike. But the latest developments involving Flash have countered its original problem (i.e. that it was used to serve up single-page, untrackable web sites) and Flash web site developers now offer deep, searchable, and highly indexable web sites that allow detailed traffic reporting, behavioural analytics, and of course true search engine optimisation. A significant advantage of being able to use Flash is that it can provide a plain e-retail web site with rich, brand-extending experiences, even on mobile devices.

www.lastexit.tv

CMO poll: Social media better done in-house

The CMO CLUB Weekly Poll Question: Which of your groups is best equipped to help you with your social media efforts today?

114 CMOs responded:

65.6% In House

15.6% Interactive Agency

9.4% PR Firm

9.4% Social Media Agency

0% Creative/Ad Agency

Get set for the Fair Work Act – Do the free risk self-assessment survey

The Fair Work Act comes into full effect on 1 January 2010. The new National Employment Standards and Modern Awards present significant compliance challenges for SMEs.

To help members of the Marketing Association of Australia and New Zealand prepare for the adoption of these critical workplace changes, CompliSpace has developed a free online tool that identifies ‘gaps’ and compliance risks that need to be addressed before the 1 January 2010 deadline.

The Human Resources Risk Self-Assessment Survey is a free tool that takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and will help members to quickly assess the current state of their human resource infrastructure and to determine their risk profile. Please click here to view the survey, please visit: http://www.complispace.com.au/RISKHR

Survey respondents will receive a tailored report, which will identify the key areas organisations need to address to ensure compliance with the Fair Work Act by 1 January 2010.

Survey data will also be collated into an Australia-wide benchmark; which will help to gauge how SMEs across the country are coping with workplace changes and act as a guide to best practice compliance (company details will be protected, and no sensitive information will be included in the report to ensure the privacy of respondents).

The Fair Work Ombudsman has warned employers that they must comply with changes and ignorance will not be an acceptable excuse. Preparation in the next two months will be critical. Businesses should use this time to identify and address risks, to ensure compliance.

Rebranding the Mouse

Mickey Mouse is undergoing a massive regeneration. Feared to be seen as a corporate overlord rather than an adorable, fun-loving cartoon brand, Disney has ventured into the cryo-chamber  and begun to enliven the Mouse for a new generation of children and consumers.

The new Mickey will be slowly unveiled, first in the video game Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii, due out next year. As the New York Times describes it, the game will "show the character's darker side." Our new Mickey is multifaceted, and can be at times "cantankerous and cunning, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland."

But executives at Disney are treading carefully, afraid to tinker with their $5 billion cash mouse. The industry agrees: "There’s a distinct risk of alienating your core consumer when you tweak a sacred character,” said Matt Britton, managing partner of brand consultancy Mr. Youth.

Not to worry: "Mickey is never going to be evil or go around killing people,” according to game developer Warren Spector.

Mickey's popularity in the United States has begun to wane. Executives consider the rebrand of Mickey's personality necessary to remain relevant in the marketplace.

www.brandchannel.com

PPC ads that entice

Creating a Great Ad

To get the most from your PPC programs you must create great ads that immediately catch Searcher’s attention and encourage them to click and visit your web site. However, with a PPC promotion we have to go one step further. We have to filter out the casual surfer and target the web site visitor who is ready to buy your product, contract your services, sign up for your newsletter or whatever objectives were identified when you developed your Pay Per Click Strategy. We don’t want those casual surfers, every single untargeted click is an additional cost to our Pay Per Click Campaign.

Ad Creation Guidelines

Keyword Use: Use your keywords to increase ad effectiveness, targeting and to ensure your ads are shown along side relevant organic search results

Targeted Traffic To Web site: Proper use of your keywords will assist in encouraging highly targeted traffic to your web site, visitors who are ready to complete the goals identified for your PPC Promotion.

Include Benefits and Features: Your advertisement will allow you very few words, be sure to include an indication of the benefits and features of your products

Incorporate a Call to Action:

Encourage the reader of the ad to click through to your landing page. Terms such as act now, start now and many other such terms have a subconscious affect to encourage the viewer to take action.

Stand Out From The Crowd:

Think about it, your ad will be shown with similar ads for the same Pay Per Click Keyword and Organic Keyword. The ad must have a unique statement or characteristic to stand out from the crowd. Not an easy task considering what little you have to work with.

Include a Telephone Number:

This Pay Per Click Strategy is usually overlooked, take advantage of this – it works wonders 403 404 7325

The Pay Per Click Landing Page

Landing pages are specially created pages developed in unison with your Pay Per Click Advertisement and should represent an extension of your PPC ad. Your landing pages are special entities and are treated quite differently to other web site pages.

Landing Page Purpose

Lead the web site visitor to the conversion goal

Monitor the performance of a Pay Per Click Advertisement

Provide Pay Per Click Optimization for relevant keywords and keyword phrases

Landing pages should not be:

Linked to from other web site pages

Included in XML or HTML Sitemaps

Indexed by Search Engine Crawlers

Landing Page A/B Testing

Landing pages should be developed with the same care and attention to detail as all Web Pages. Landing Pages require testing to determine what is most effective and what is not. There are no hard and fast rules to how many pages should be created and tested but I recommend three as a starting pont.

Your local grocery store: the battleground of capitalism

Market engagement firm reveals four key shopper types

Mext shopper research examining shopper behaviour and the reasons behind consumers’ brand choices has shed new light on shopper types, an insight that will help manufacturers and retailers improve their offerings to customers.

Pioneering the use of morphological psychology techniques in Australia, brand engagement consultancy mext recently examined trends from over 300 in-depth interviews on shoppers’ motivations specifically regarding shopping in supermarkets, liquor stores and shopping centres, and combined it with over 20 years’ experience in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).

“Shopper behaviour is one of marketing’s least understood and under-utilised areas, but it’s also an area of marketing where the impact can be significantly and immediately felt,” says mext Founder and Managing Partner, Stefan Grafe.

Briefly, the four main shopper types are:

1. Strategists, who make their purchasing decisions before entering the shop. These shoppers typically carry a list while shopping and are not prone to special offers/new influences.

2. Explorers, who find shopping exciting. Highly prone to influence, Explorers take their time selecting products and seek interesting solutions to their product needs.

3. Flutterers, who are easily persuaded or distracted by new offers. Their experience of shopping is often overwhelming and mildly frustrating.

4. Impulse Shoppers, who frequent convenience stores. They constantly feel they are missing something and often walk out with more than they intended to buy.

“Shopper types are not static,” says Grafe. “Each shopping experience is dependent on the shoppers’ mindset. However, shoppers do not tend to stray too far away from the type matching their personality.”

Types	Characteristics	Relationship between principal shopper and family members
Strategists	These shoppers typically have a written and mental shopping list before they go shopping, with specific brands in mind. In the retail environment they progressively tick off the items.   They have specified days for shopping and are not prone to special offers or new influences.   Marketers need to get into their decision cycle before they go shopping, through methods such as direct mail.	Most likely to use shopping as a controlling factor in the family environment.   They may use the purchase of a particular product as a bargaining chip.   E.G: Parents with children often use shopping to enforce obedience.
Explorers	Explorers find that even the mundane task of grocery shopping can be exciting.   New products, special offers and interesting finds, often influence them. They can take a significant time to shop and may visit more specialty shops.	Open-mindedness of principal shopper often causes whole family to be open to experimentation.   E.G.: Parents take children to Asian grocery stores as an inexpensive way to broaden their horizons.
Flutterers	Shoppers in this type have a shopping list but it is less specific.   They often find coping with shopping overwhelming and therefore move back and forth around the store.   They are easily persuaded by promotions or something that catches their eye.	Have an attitude of “Live and let live”.   E.G: Shoppers often return with special goodies and treats for the family and bask in the appreciation.
Impulse Shoppers	These shoppers feel they are continuously missing something and only shop when it is convenient. Therefore, they typically frequent 24-hour shops and convenience stores.   They are easily distracted and often buy more products than they originally intended.	Also have an attitude of “Live and let live”.   E.G.: Frustration peaks when family members point out what they forgot to buy and run out to buy it. They feel obligated to have family needs for the product filled immediately.

For further information, please contact: stefan.grafe@mext.com.au, +61 400 575 410

Fred Hollows Foundation TV ad named world’s best

A 90 second television advertisement featuring the late Professor Fred Hollows has been named the world’s best not for profit television advertisement at an awards ceremony held in The Netherlands overnight.

The Fred Hollows Foundation’s television advertisement beat a field of international contenders to win the Gold Star Award for non-profit video advertising.

“Fred Hollows made people stand up and take notice. This award shows his message is as powerful today as it was when he passed away in 1993,” says The Fred Hollows Foundation’s Communications and Community Education Manager, Joe Boughton-Dent.

“Three out of four people who are blind don’t have to be. They can be helped with a simple operation, sometimes costing as little as $25,” says Boughton-Dent.

The Fred Hollows Foundation’s award winning advertisement has been showing on Australian television since June this year.

It features archival footage of Fred Hollows, combined with stories of people from around the world who have had their sight restored by The Fred Hollows Foundation.

It also includes music by Australian band Jet, who provided their song Shine On as a soundtrack.

“The advertisement started out as a YouTube clip which was longer. It got a great response and has been viewed over 50,000 times, so we knew people were interested in the story of Fred and what he achieved,” says Boughton-Dent.

“I think a lot of organisations are using the web as a testing ground for their campaigns now. It doesn’t cost anything and people can leave feedback, which helps you work out what is working.”

“The response from the awards ceremony in The Netherlands is that people liked our advertisement because the story of Fred Hollows is inspiring. I think people really respond to that positive message that one person can have a real impact,” says Boughton-Dent.

The other finalists for best non profit video advertisement included Action Aid, RSPCA and Operation Smile.

The Gold Star Award is presented annually at the International Fundraising Congress, which brings together representatives of non-profit groups from over 55 countries. Last year’s Award was won by UK charity, the NSPCC, which beat finalists from Canada, Mexico and the UK.

To view The Fred Hollows Foundation’s winning advertisement see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2opo45uPzk

The other finalists can be viewed at: http://www.resource-alliance.org/ifc/gold_star_award_for_nonprofit_video_advertising/default.asp

Turning Technologies launches new response card RF LCD keypad

Turning Technologies LLC has announced the newest addition to its ResponseCard keypad product line, ResponseCard RF LCD. The new "clicker" device provides students with additional feedback during interactive polling via a small LCD screen. The LCD screen offers visual confirmation of selected response, channel setting, and battery life. The credit card sized keypad allows students to submit responses to interactive polling questions delivered through any of Turning Technologies’ suite of student response solutions, including TurningPoint, TurningPoint AnyWhere, and ResponseCard AnyWhere. Educators can use this information to engage students in learning and assess comprehension.

Turning Technologies, LLC, www.turningtechnologies.com

US study finds some brands stronger than others against store brands

Data coming out of a year-long consumer behaviour study finds that Kraft, Coca-Cola and Tide are the three brands least likely to be traded for store brands. The study should worry name brand owners, since "only 37% of consumers say name brands are more reliable, and 39% believe name brands are better quality products."

The data are edifying. Age breakdowns show consumers growing less brand loyal (and more price-conscious) as they get older. The huge numbers who are turning to private labels find Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Target to be the stores with the best selections.

An executive for the Integer Group, the conductor of the study, summarised the dilemma for many nationally advertised brands: "With this many shoppers doing price-comparison, name brands need to act now in order to keep consumers - and beyond the recession, entice consumers to return."

Of three strongest brands, Coke has long been seen as a brand consumers would be unwilling to trade on, despite the numerous cheaper alternatives. Coke drinkers can immediately discern a taste difference.

Kraft may share some of Coke's loyalty characteristics, based on product as well as brand identity, though it was unclear whether the study included Kraft sub-brands as drawing the most loyalty, or just Kraft-branded products (a stable that may expand soon if Kraft acquires Cadbury and adds its brand.)

Tide is certainly a head-scratcher. Given the bevy of private label laundry detergents on offer from almost every large retailer (including Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Target), and the difficulty of distinguishing Tide's cleaning properties from that of a private label (like a Pepsi "taste test"), the brand's string performance should leave brand owners scrambling to break down Tide's brand characteristics and aspriational qualities in a quest to adopt them as their own.

Yahoo’s profit triples despite sales decline

Carol Bartz, chief executive, called Yahoo's results "a solid third quarter," but analysts were less impressed with its recovery.

Aided by cost-cutting, the sales of some assets and better-than-expected revenue from display ads, Yahoo’s net income more than tripled in the third quarter. The results topped analysts forecasts, and investors sent Yahoo’s shares sharply higher in after-hours trading.

But revenue fell 12 percent, a sign that many advertisers remain nervous about the pace of economic recovery. And the results showed that Yahoo was not benefiting from the budding economic rebound as much as its rival Google.

Analysts said that the results were encouraging but cautioned that Ms. Bartz’s turnaround plan remained a work in progress.

You want to communicate with the young – use the young to do it

As Mullen's chief creative officer, Edward Boches felt too much of the research and coverage of Millennial consumers was conducted by older professionals like himself. As the agency's chief social-media officer, Boches—who has around 8,000 followers on Twitter—saw a better way to get inside the minds of those individuals 18-25: give them a platform to explain themselves. "We want to generate enough content to become an important voice for kids to develop their own identities and become a resource for marketers, educators and journalists," he says. On Nov. 3, a new Web site called The Next Great Generation was born. Boches is growing a staff of young writers—80 so far—to share their thoughts about everything from life, work, faith, sex and love to brands, technology and the environment. Most of them Boches knows through Twitter, and he admits there is still a heavy concentration of Northeast college-educated U.S. kids, but he is attracting some others in the Midwest, Africa and Shanghai. He's aiming to bring in more urban kids and add greater diversity. Visitors to the site can ask its writers questions. (A couple of recent examples: "Would you ever pay for a newspaper?" "What long-term impact will the recession have on you?") Boches also foresees opportunities for the site to get a group of its writers to respond to larger themes like food or fashion for marketers. The site is independent from Mullen and free, with its bloggers receiving no compensation. But while Boches hopes to eventually monetize The Next Great Generation, he says he's not creating a side business for himself. He says he'll look at a way to share any revenue with content creators or consider a way to collectively agree on a charity and fund it with proceeds.

Posted by Noreen O'Leary

Nespresso takes a cup of participative branding

Good idea from Nespresso, the worldwide pioneer and market leader in premium portioned coffee.

Targets receive a Facebook save the date email that redirects them to a Flash webpage: www.nespresso-whatelse.com. On that page there’s a photo of Georges Clooney the ambassador of the brand in front of a Nespresso boutique. Then you have the possibility to watch three videos that are the 5 first seconds of the TV ad, quite frustrating isn’t it? But here it becomes interesting: the users can vote for their preferred pitch and win a trip to Cannes 63rd film festival.

The whole system is hosted on a Facebook fan page that has already reached 90 143 fans Amazingly the release of the ad has been advertized as if it was a movie, an ad campaign promoting the ad so to speak! The fan page is fully loaded with content related to the famous coffee machine: photos, twitter account, corporate greenwashing (called “ecolaboration”) and even videos such as “Coffee Experts : Learn how a virtuoso expert in aromas ensure innovation in the range of Grands Crus”. All this is very well in line with the positioning of luxury coffee making rolled-out with maestria by Nestlé’s marketers for the past decade.

Nestlé has put a lot of money in his marketing and so far it has paid off remarkably well: the concept has really been a cash machine for Nestlé with its outrageously expensive disposable capsules notwithstanding the price of the machine (price tag between $200 and $800). Nestlé claims 2008 sales of CHF 2.262 billion (EUR 1.35 billion) – more than double its 2006 sales. In 2008, the company marked its eighth consecutive year of more than 30% year-on-year average growth, reaching the milestone of CHF 2 billion two years ahead of initial projections. Although Nestlé doesn’t disclose brand by brand profit figures, the profit margin for Nespresso is estimated at 26% putting the overall profit figure above 350 million Euros.

According to Interbrand’s latest study “Switzerland’s 40 Most Valuable Brands” Nestlé has two brands in the top three and Nespresso (CHF 955 million) is in the sixteenth position.

Nicolas Jambin

Sesame Street loves Google

As anyone who's Googled anything a few weeks ago knows, Google hearts Sesame Street. Well, apparently Sesame Street hearts Google, too. In a Sesame Street segment, Kermit the Frog is attending "the musical event of the century," a tribute to the "oogle family"—i.e., words that rhyme with "oogle," like "bugle" and, I dunno, "Google" as well. The three-minute segment does little more than repeat iterations of the oogle rhyme over and over, so it's hard to see the educational component here. For those who haven't been on Google for a while, the company recently dressed up its logo with Big Bird, the Cookie Monster and others to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary. Google has been playing with its logo more and more lately, including nods to Charles Darwin's birthday and the fall of the Berlin Wall, among other things

Todd Wasserman  www.brandfreak.com

Starbucks, Microsoft target social media

Starbucks and Microsoft, the IT giant, are both seeking to utilise a number of social media tools to connect with consumers and gain an insight into the preferences of their customers.

A recent study by the Altimeter Group argued that Starbucks and Dell were among the brands from Interbrand's Top 100 global rankings that are making the best use of social media at present.

Earlier this month, an analysis of the online "buzz" received by this same group of brands found that Google, Microsoft and Apple generated the highest levels of electronic word-of-mouth in September.

Starbucks has sought to develop a wide range of initiatives, working across a number of different portals, as it seeks to take advantage of the opportunities provided by this emerging channel.

These have included establishing its own service, MyStarBucksIdeas - allowing web users and its staff to make suggestions to the company - and running a Free Pastry Day and ice cream giveaway on Facebook.

Indeed, the Seattle-based firm's page on Facebook is among the most popular on the social network, with more than 4.5 million "fans" at present.

Chris Bruzzo, vice president of brand, content and online at Starbucks, said that adapting to the demands of these types of service required moving beyond traditional conceptions of marketing.

"If you approach it as a marketing channel you can only go so far," argued Bruzzo, one of six specialist members of staff at the coffee house chain.

"If you approach it as a customer relationship and as a multi-faceted human connection between Starbucks and customers, then we can have more than a conversation about products - it can be a customer-insight channel and we can learn things from them."

Microsoft employed a mixture of blogs and social media properties to promote the launch of Bing, its re-branded "decision engine", in June.

Research carried out by the company revealed that as many as 5% of consumers discovered information about the introduction of Bing through these sorts of sites.

Overall, Microsoft operates 50 accounts on the popular microblogging service, both official and unofficial, as well as 20 pages on Facebook for its various products.

Brands must be "purpose-driven", says P&G

Brands must be "purpose-driven", and have a clear sense of the role they play in the lives of consumers, according to Melanie L. Healey, group president of Procter & Gamble's global feminine and healthcare operations.

AG Lafley, P&G's chairman, has long emphasised the importance of understanding that the "consumer is boss," while Jim Stengel, the company's former CMO, similarly argued that a "rich relationship" is key to successful advertising.

Speaking at the recent Magazine Innovation Summit in New York, Healey said "you need to be purpose-driven. You need to know what it is that you really want to do for the consumer."

"Having a purpose for the brand and going after it in several different ways is really important," both in terms of fostering creativity, and improving popular perceptions of the product in question, she added.

By way of an example, the goal of P&G's feminine care unit is to "create life-improving experiences that women live every day, everywhere."

This overarching mission statement "inspires everything we do. If something doesn't serve that purpose, we don't do it," Healey continued.

A stress on fostering "really meaningful" interactions with current and potential customers has been one of the major motivations behind much of P&G's recent activity, such as its moves to develop a range of different online communities.

More specifically, P&G's approach to innovation can be disruptive, such as entering new categories or markets, seek to sustain and develop its existing brands, or use consumer insight to drive growth without altering its products, she added.

With regard to the first of these trends, Healey said that "learning and failing and learning again quickly" is vital.

Furthermore, "designing small, nimble organisations that can really nail the opportunity and design around that opportunity" means it is possible to "fail cheaply", rather than losing millions of dollars, she said.

The FMCG giant has established a specialist unit, FutureWorks, with the self-defined aim of creating "adjacencies and new business models for P&G brands in high-growth categories that are on-equity, strategic and service-based."

MediaPost/BrandWeek;

Learning to say “no”.

The snack food CC's had an advertising campaign: "You can't say no" and inevitably many people in business have a similar affliction when receiving requests for assistance, no matter how inappropriate the request may be.

People are regularly coerced to agree to doing more than they could possibly have time for. Of course, then you discover you're too busy to do everything you have promised. Take solace that so does most everyone else.

The Society for Executive Wisdom (an international association of business leaders, owners and executives) surveyed its clients and members for their experiences and opinions as to why we can't say no.

Interestingly, one insight to this over commitment is because of the expectation we will have more time in the future than we do currently in the present. Reality bites when the future becomes today and yesterday's acceptance becomes today's "ouch!" This is when the excuses begin.

People frequently agree to requests requiring a commitment in the future that they would not consider if the same commitment required action immediately. "Parkinson wrote that work fills the available void," says Ric Willmot, the Founder of the Society for Executive Wisdom. "Therefore we tend not to have the available time we considered when agreeing to requests for assistance from others."

Willmot goes on to explain that the reason for our agreement is not because of any life-enhancing opportunity but rather the self-validation expected that will provide a momentary approval from those around us. "Every time I board a plane it is explained that in an emergency I must put on my own oxygen mask before helping children and others. You have to help yourself first to be able to properly help others," says Willmot.

But how to say, "No"?

The clients and members of the Society were also asked how they themselves, confidently and respectfully decline inappropriate requests whilst maintaining a positive relationship with the enquirer. Here are some of the better responses which will provide you with an arsenal of valued responses to protect your repute and your time:

* I'm very sorry, but my current priorities have me fully obligated at the moment.

* Thank you for thinking to ask me, but, no thanks.

* This is the type of thing I would be pleased to help you with if only I had time.

* Before I accept this and take it from you, what do you think we should do about this?

* I'm unable to help you with this now, but we can talk about it again next week. Would that be okay with you?

* I have so many other vital commitments to others, it would be unfair to them and to you if I accepted anything more at this point.

* Just like you, I sometimes get swamped and have to tell some very special people, "no". This is one of those times.

* I'm certain we know each other well enough that when I say "no" you will understand it's for a very good reason.

* And, Ric Willmot's personal favourite: "No."

Mr. Willmot concludes, "Naturally, it is imperative that you use a soft, gentle tone of voice and smile as you speak."

Executive Wisdom Consulting Group is an Australia-based global consultancy firm and owns the Society for Executive Wisdom, which has members and clients on five continents. For more information contact:

 http://www.executivewisdom.com

Ad giants back Microsoft-Yahoo deal

The four biggest advertising agency holding companies - Omnicom Group, WPP Group, Interpublic Group and Publicis Groupe - have all issued their support to the proposed tie-up between Microsoft and Yahoo, arguing it will stimulate competition in the online search ad market.

As previously reported, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed a ten-year global partnership earlier this year, as the two companies sought to counteract Google's dominance of this area of the internet.

Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft will use its "decision engine", Bing, to deliver all of the search results generated via enquiries on Yahoo's homepage, and also be able to integrate Yahoo's search technology into its own system.

Yahoo will receive revenues based on the amount of traffic delivered through its web properties, and also take on a global sales role for the two firms' "premium search advertisers" for the first two years.

The deal is subject to regulatory scrutiny from the Department of Justice, a fact that was previously argued to have dissuaded Google from finalising an alliance with Yahoo last year.

Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group, once famously described Google as a "frenemy", and while his stance has since softened somewhat, he has also called for enhanced competition in the search sector.

Now, Sorrell, along with Omnicom's John Wren, Publicis' Maurice Lévy and IPG's Michael Roth, has added his name to an open letter to the DoJ, published on the website of the 4A's, the US trade body.

In it, Nancy Hill, chief executive of the 4A's, argued "advertising is the fuel that powers the internet. Most websites depend on online advertising to survive – it's what allows them to offer consumers free content and services."

Wal-Mart targets range of new sectors

Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, is expanding its activities in a variety of different areas, from selling more goods online to establishing its own mobile phone service, as it seeks to further drive growth during the downturn.

The discount specialist is argued to have been one of the few beneficiaries of the current financial crisis, as an increasing number of consumers trade down to cheaper products.

It has recently announced a major reorganisation of its website, despite already having the second most-popular retail portal in the US, after Amazon.

This process has included adding baby products, cosmetics and medicines to the list of goods it delivers direct to customers, as well as offering millions of items from a wide range of other companies.

Raul Vazquez, CEO of Walmart.com, said "in a few months, whenever someone thinks about buying diapers – in the same way they think about going to a Wal-Mart in the physical world – they will think about going to Walmart.com."

"Eventually, we'll be the biggest in sales and the biggest in mind-share and all of those other things that we've established in the offline world."

In an effort to further strengthen its bricks-and-mortar operations, Wal-Mart has also hired a new managerial team to run its Neighborhood Markets arm.

These smaller-format stores, which are around 25% the size of its Supercenters, are targeted at urban areas, and aim to offer a more localised approach.

In the last month, the firm has also begun to sell more than 100 toys for around $10 (€6.69; £6.10), as it seeks to boost sales through the non-food category.

Similarly, it will slash as much as 60% off the price of a number of newly-released hardback books later this week, some of which will be available for under $10.

With regard to the grocery segment, Wal-Mart has previously announced its intention to further develop its private label range.

Despite this, it is also now stocking more premium items, like Apple'siPod and a Miley Cyrus-branded fashion range, as it seeks to cover all price points relevant to consumers.

In the mobile market, the US corporation forged a tie-up with TracFone Wireless, part of Mexico's América Móvil, in mid-October.

As a result, it will roll out an offer to 3,200 of Wal-Mart's outlets, enabling consumers to buy 1,000 pre-paid minutes for just $30.

Wal-Mart's share of the US retail market has grown by 0.85% since the start of this year, to 11.3%, a "huge increase .given the glacial changes that occur at the macro level.

Data sourced from Reuters/Financial Times;

Smartphone use set to surge in China

The number of smartphone users in China is set to treble in the next five years, and competition between both domestic and multinational manufacturers in this market now appears to be intensifying at an equally rapid rate.

According to figures from the country's government, there are almost 700 million mobile phone users in the world's most populous nation at present.

BDA China, the telecoms consultancy, has predicted that the amount of smartphones active in the fast-growing market will reach 116.2 million by 2013, around three times the current figure.

Apple, the US consumer electronics giant, will launch the iPhone in China this month, priced at around $735 (€491; £448), having forged an alliance with China Unicom.

BDA estimates that Apple will sell some 5 million of these devices in the country in the next three years, and ultimately take a share of between 10% and 15% of the market.

It further suggests that there are already 1.5 million "grey market" iPhones in operation in China, alongside a huge number of counterfeit alternatives.

One major obstacle facing the American corporation is China Mobile, which currently holds a 73% share of the market, and is soon to launch the OPhone, powered by Google'sAndroid operating system.

Dell, Motorola, Samsung and HTC are among the manufacturers which have agreed to develop handsets for the state-owned telecoms provider.

Lenovo, the IT specialist, will introduce the first version of the OPhone in late October, and it is expected to cost considerably less than Apple's pioneering product.

Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, is also set to forge a partnership with China Telecom to further develop its presence in the country.

Affluent consumers keep spending in Asia Pacific

Affluent consumers in Asia Pacific are continuing to purchase luxury goods ranging from premium watches to plasma TVs, and spending levels look set to carry on growing over the next 12 months, according to a new study from Synovate.

The research firm conducted a poll of 20,245 wealthy adults in 11 markets in the region, including Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

It found that ownership levels of laptop or notebook computers among its sample rose from 40.8% at the end of the second quarter of 2008 to 48% during the same period this year.

Furthermore, 12% of participants stated an intention to purchase such a device during the next year, a total that was largely stable when compared with the corresponding study conducted by the research firm in 2008.

Similarly, the number of contributors possessing a digital camera increased from 58.7% in 2008 to 63.5% in 2009, Synovate said.

Taipei also registered an increase from 8% to 9.6%, with Hong Kong posting an uptick of 1.2%, from 15.8% to 17%, in all.

Some 63% of the panel had a web-enabled mobile phone, up by 3.3% on an annual basis, with 10.4% using a hybrid/PDA handset, up 2.4%.

Synovate also found that those affluent shoppers who more regularly surfed the web typically possessed a greater number of luxury goods.

For example, ownership levels of luxury watches and hybrid mobile phones were 8% higher among more "internet-savvy elites" when compared with "non-internet using elites." This figure rose to 22% for LCD and plasma televisions, and 30% for digital cameras.

Synovate

Facebook helps brands with "demand generation"

Facebook aims to help brands that advertise on its pages improve their awareness and consideration levels among consumers at the "demand generation" stage of the purchase process, Sheryl Sandberg, its chief operating officer,has said.

The service currently boasts some 300 million members worldwide, and Sandberg reported that around half of this audience visits its portal at least once a day.

More specifically, the typical user spends 5.8 hours viewing material hosted on its platform each month, compared with the total of 3.3 hours recorded by Yahoo, ranked in second place on this measure.

A growing number of advertisers in the US have run formal campaigns on Facebook this year.

Facebook's COO suggested that online services could target different elements of the advertising "funnel".

At the top of this "funnel", she argued, the aim is to reach as many consumers as possible, thereby creating consideration and demand, while the bottom delivers the final purchase.

Google, the search giant, serves those at the latter stage of this process, and who are interested in looking for, and acquiring, a specific product, while Facebook can help those at the beginning.

"If you look at global ad spend, it's about a $640 billion annual business," Sandberg said, adding that "it's 10% demand fulfilment."

By contrast, "where we are playing in the ad market is in that demand generation, which is the top 90%," she added.

This strategy should allow Facebook to build on the impetus gained through the fact that a large number of major brands have already established free profiles and groups on its site.

CNET, Reuters, TechCrunch;

Global ad spend predicted to fall 9.9%

Global ad spend levels will decline by 9.9% this year, returning to modest growth of 0.5% in 2010, according to the latest forecast issued by ZenithOptimedia.

The media agency network has revised its previous estimates, made in July, of a drop of 8.5%in 2009 and growth of 1.6% over the following 12 months.

A weaker than expected first half of this year was the main reason for this adjustment, but Zenith also suggested the decline appears to be "bottoming out".

More specifically, developed countries, including North America, Western Europe and Japan, will see ad spend levels contract by 2.9% in 2010, before recording an improvement of 1.5% in 2011.

By contrast, developing markets are set to deliver growth of 7.8% in 2010, and 9.8% in 2011, as these nations increase their overall proportion of spending.

"Developing markets' share of global ad expenditure is rising rapidly: we forecast it to reach 35% in 2011, up from 29% in 2008," Zenith reported.

Overall, the Publicis-owned firm said 27 developing markets will enjoy growth this year, reaching 52 in 2010.

Wall Street Journal/Daily Telegraph;

US giants top "buzz" rankings

Apple, Microsoft and Google are the major brands generating the largest amounts of online "buzz" among users of social media services like Facebook and Twitter, while McDonald's recorded the most negative feedback from this audience, according to a new report.

Sysomos, the social media analytics firm, recently assessed how the top twenty brands from Interbrand's annual ranking of the world's most valuable assets were regarded by internet users.

Its analysis covered the "online mentions" of each company on websites ranging from blogs to social networks, and the sentiment contained in each relevant piece of material posted online.

Google took the top spot in terms of the overall number of consumer-generated comments, compared with its position of seventh place in Interbrand's latest study.

However, the amount of content relating to the search giant actually decreased by 13.4% between August and September this year, Sysomos found.

Apple was in second place, compared with the 20th position it was attributed by Interbrand, while Microsoft was third in both polls, although each of these firms saw their buzz levels fall 9% last month.

BMW, in fourth, recorded a 31% contraction in its number of mentions on the web in September, while Hewlett Packard, which closed out the top five, was down by 10% in this timeframe.

By contrast, Intel was the only member of this group to register an improvement, up by 1.6% on a monthly basis in September.

Gillette, owned by Procter & Gamble, was the brand that delivered the most substantial expansion on this measure, up by just over 13% in all.  This was largely attributed to the success of a digital campaign promoting its Fusion range of shavers and razor blades, according to Sysomos.

Sysomos

P&G plans for global growth

Procter & Gamble, is aiming to enhance its presence in a wide range of markets around the world, and to develop more low-cost products, as it seeks to drive growth both during and after the downturn.

Speaking at the company's annual meeting Robert McDonald – who took over as president/CEO in July – said he wanted to attract one billion new customers to P&G's brands in the next five years.

The firm plans to exploit both the scale of its operations and the strength of its existing assets in order to achieve this goal, which would take its total customer base to some 5 billion people.

"We will grow leading, global brands and core categories. We will build our business with under-served and unserved consumers and we will continue to develop faster growing, structurally attractive business with global leadership potential," said McDonald.

"More than at any time in our company's 170-plus year history, we have the brands, capabilities, strategies and financial flexibility necessary to expand our product portfolio into more parts of the world."

McDonald added that the typical American consumer currently spends $100 (€67; £62) on items made by Procter & Gamble each year, compared with $20 in Mexico, $3 in China, $1 in India, and a global average of $12.

The world's biggest advertiser has also recently announced its intention to launch its largest ever "green" marketing campaign in the US, and plans to spend billions of dollars on developing and promoting more eco-friendly goods.

Business Courier, Reuters, Mediapost;

Coca-Cola launches dairy drink in China

Coca-Cola, has launched a new dairy drink in China, as part of the company's efforts to develop products that suit local tastes in what is now its third biggest market worldwide.

Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky was created at the beverage maker's Global Innovation Technology Center in Shanghai, and will also be produced in the world's most populous nation.

It contains a mixture of fruit juice, milk powder, whey and coconut, and will be available in around 300 cities in the rapidly-growing economy by the end of 2009.

Doug Jackson, president of Coca-Cola Greater China, said it was a "key milestone" for Minute Maid, and "underscores our commitment to China in developing new products for the local market and the world from our Chinese R&D centre."

Andres Kiger, senior marketing director of Coca-Cola Greater China, added that "the fascinating thing in China is the huge amount of growth in many categories."

The company saw the Chinese government block its attempt to buy the Huiyuan Juice Company earlier this year.

Some 6.2 million litres of dairy drinks were sold in China last year, with Nutri Express, owned by Wahaha Group, the largest domestic drinks manufacturer, holding around 70% of the market, according to figures from China Investment.

BBH China has developed a national advertising campaign, featuring pop star Eason Chan, to promote the launch of Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky.

Pepsi has utilised a variety of similar platforms in the recent past, in an effort to engage its customers in China using co-creation.

Shanghai Daily;

Virtual goods" market booming in US

Sales of "virtual goods" on web portals such as Facebook andSecond Life will pass $1 billion (€671m; £625m) in the US this year, doubling the total recorded in 2008, according to a new analysis of the sector.

An increasing number of brands have been looking to launch their own online games as a way to engage with consumers on the internet, and as a device through which to promote their products.

In previous years, many advertisers also sought to establish a presence on Second Life, although some have since abandoned these initiatives as a result of the service's declining levels of popularity.

According to the Inside Virtual Goods: The US Virtual Goods Market, 2009–2010 report, revenue levels for virtual goods will not only top $1bn in 2009, but will also increase by more than $500m in 2010.

More specifically, the rapid growth in popularity of Facebook, which now boasts around 300 million members worldwide, has given developers a major platform through which to sell their products.

Indeed, it is estimated that more than half of all virtual goods traded in the America this year will be bought by members of the Palo Alto-based service.

A new breed of companies is also emerging which facilitate transactions surrounding virtual goods, such as by offering "micropayment" tools or enabling payment by mobile phone.

The Inside Virtual Goods study also stated that the user base for social games is 60% female, in contrast to the more male-dominated world of console gaming.

P&G takes innovative approach in Singapore

Procter & Gamble is using an innovative interactive strategy to promote Whisper, its feminine hygiene brand, to young female consumers in Singapore.

The US firm has substantially increased its digital output in recent times, such as through creating online communities like BeingGirl for teenage girls in the US.

Euromonitor International, the research firm, estimates that Whisper holds 22% of its market in Singapore, just 1% behind Kimberley-Clark'sKotex, the top-ranked brand in the $32.2 million (€21.6m; £19.8m) sector.

P&G's new campaign for Whisper, called "Happy It's Here", aims to overcome certain sensitivities regarding discussing feminine hygiene among consumers in the country.

A survey of 500 women undertaken by the company in the Asian nation revealed that respondents' worries relating to having their period varied from needing to drink more to having bad eyesight.

By contrast, only 5% of the panel that took part in the poll said they felt positive at the beginning of their menstrual cycle each month.

In an effort to aid communication the consumer goods titan developed a website dedicated to this very subject.

Web users can post real-time comments to this platform, with current examples including "I love my life, and I'm proud to be me" and "I have a reason to pamper myself with chocs!"

The web is regarded as being a particularly effective medium to encourage the target audience to talk about their experiences.

Nick Handel, regional director of digital for Leo Burnett, Whisper's agency, said "a key pillar of our campaign is for women to appreciate their period by defining how the cycle is a part of their life."

Wall Street Journal

Carrefour chief says consumers will change

Consumer spending will become more "thoughtful" in the future, with supermarket own-label brands likely to be among the main beneficiaries of this trend, according to Lars Olofsson, CEO of Carrefour, the retail giant.

During the first half of 2009, Carrefour's sales volumes rose slightly, and the company also posted its first improvement in market share in a six month period for more than two years, up by 0.3%.

Over the last decade, Europe's biggest retailer had "lost focus on the consumer", its CEO said, and also suffered from restrictions on price competition imposed in its home market, France, which have since been relaxed.

"Carrefour went for quality, which I think was good for the image of the company but negative in terms of its price reputation. The pricing laws have loosened, but Carrefour from then on wasn't the most competitive."

Moreover, Olofsson argued that the organisation was inconsistent in its objectives, meaning "there has been this ambiguity between going for the bottom line or for the top line."

As previously reported, it has now adopted a "back to basics" approach in France, which delivers a considerable proportion of its revenue.

"The consumer won't be the same tomorrow as they were yesterday. Consumer spending will be more thoughtful," Carrefour's CEO predicted.

Wall Street Journal

Japanese cosmetics giants target male consumers

More moves towards male cosmetics in Japan

An increasing number of major cosmetics firms in Japan are heightening their emphasis on male consumers, as they seek to tap in to what is regarded as a major possible area of future growth.

In the US, Procter & Gamble, the FMCG giant, has previously announced its intention to increase its focus on this demographic, which has long been neglected in favour of female shoppers.

Manufacturers in Japan are facing even more substantial problems, both in the short-term, as the country's economy witnesses a heavy contraction in the downturn, and in the long-term, as a result of its ageing population.

Nivea-Kao launched the first skincare product developed specifically for men in the Asian nation in 2002, with Shiseido following suit in 2004, and Rohto Pharmaceutical doing the same in 2006.

Shigesato Kobayashi, of Shiseido, said "men are becoming a lot more interested in making themselves beautiful, and they are buying cosmetics, paying attention to their hair and overall grooming."

"In Japanese society, it has become normal for men to buy products that used to be considered feminine and when the economy recovers we believe we will see even more men investing in the way they look."

Overall, it is estimated that sales of male skincare products reached ¥17.6 billion ($194m; €130m; £117m)in 2008, a figure that constituted an improvement of 16.9% when compared with the previous year.

A survey by Mandom, another cosmetics firm, also found that a total of 59% of male consumers in Japan now regularly use facial wash – reaching a high of 85% among university students – compared with 48.8% who said the same in 2005.

Independent;

A magic number for pricing?

After testing many different price points of different products over time it has been found that when the number "7" appeared in the price it usually outperformed the others — usually by more than 10 percent. The theory is that the number "7" is a lucky number for many people, even if it's subconscious. Interestingly, the price of the product did not have to end in "7," such as $9.97, it could appear anywhere in the price and it had the same effect.

The author also noted that there were two instances where using cents versus a round number ($30) can substantially hurt sales—products with a certain "prestige," and products priced over $100.

The next time you're running a sale, think about testing a price point that includes a "7," such as $9.97 or $19.97, instead of the more traditional sale number of $.99.

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Asking more effective questions

Effective questioning means knowing what questions to ask the customer, and knowing how to ask them. If you don’t know what questions to ask, your time with the customer is wasted. If you know the right question but ask in a way that’s irritating or confusing, you won’t get useful information.

With that in mind, here are the eight basic rules for asking customers effective questions:

1. Never meet without a plan.

Before meeting with a customer, have some idea of what you want to accomplish during the call. Review your relationship with the customer and identify gaps in your understanding of the customer’s business.

2. Never completely rehearse your questions.

Nothing is more annoying that a sales person reading questions from a list. It not only makes you look amateurish but makes it difficult for a conversation to evolve naturally. Write down some keywords which will remind you of what you need to discuss.

3.Try not to ask stupid questions.

4.  Don’t interrogate:

Never give the third degree. Customers don’t want to be on the receiving end of an inquisition. Rather than trying to find out everything in one meeting, pick two lines of inquiry for each sales call and set a goal to get good answers for at least one of those lines of inquiry.

5. Listen more than you talk.

What is the point of asking effective questions if you’re not going to listen to the answers? Listen to the customer, then pause to think about what the customer said, then decide where you want to conversation to go.

6. Don’t ask leading questions.

Salespeople are taught to ask questions that lead the customer towards whatever the reps are selling. (Example: “How can our company help your business?”) Such ploys, however, are transparent and laughable. Instead couch your question in neutral terms that allow the customer “room” to give you the information that you need.

7. Always invite customers to speak their mind. As early as possible in the conversation, invite the customer to speak about whatever is on the customer’s mind.

8: Always ask open-ended questions. Every question you ask the customer should begin with “How…”, What…” or “Why…”

Branding – mostly visual or verbal – or both?

You Need Both to Build a Powerful Brand.

Advertising today is a visually oriented discipline.

Art directors generally believe that pictures or visuals are more important, while copywriters generally believe that the right choice of words are more important.

Both are wrong.

It's like asking what's more important in building a house, a hammer or a nail? Both have to work together. The best hammer in the world is useless if the hammer misses the nail. And the best nail in the world is useless unless there's a hammer to hammer the nail in.

The visual is the hammer. It's difficult to build a strong, powerful worldwide brand without a strong, shocking, dynamic visual.

The success of Marlboro cigarettes demonstrates the incredible power of the right combination of visual and verbal. Introduced in the U.S. market in 1953, Marlboro eventually became the world's largest-selling cigarette brand.

Marlboro was the brand that made Philip Morris a hugely successful company. So the Marlboro cowboy must be an exceptionally powerful visual.

That's not necessarily true. That's not how advertising works. The Marlboro cowboy is only a hammer.

What was the cowboy hammer trying to do? At the time of Marlboro's introduction, virtually all cigarette brands were "unisex" brands, appealing to both men and women. Almost all cigarette advertisements featured pictures of women as well as men.

To the cigarette manufacturers, that made a lot of sense. Cigarette companies figured their future depended on their ability to create as many female smokers as male smokers. (They have almost achieved that goal. Today, 28% of adult American men smoke vs. 22% of women.)

Marlboro was conceived as a "masculine" cigarette, one of the first brands to focus entirely on men. (In 55 years, there has never been a woman in a Marlboro ad.)

It was this "masculine" verbal message that the cowboy hammer was designed to drive into the smoker's mind. It was this combination that built the exceptionally powerful Marlboro brand.

Is a picture worth a thousand words? No. Without a verbal, a picture is essentially worthless.

The world of art and the world of business are alike. It's the brand name that makes a work of art valuable. Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Dali, Mondrian. It's the brand name that makes a product valuable. Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, Apple, Lexus, Marlboro.

Branding is a one-two process and it doesn't start with the visual. It starts with the verbal. I could paint 1,000 pictures of Mao Zedong and none of them would be worth anything. Why? The verbal is wrong. Al Ries? What does that name mean in the art field? Nothing. On the other hand, put "Al Ries" on a book and the book will sell.

So the first question a marketing manager must ask is, "What is the verbal? What is the verbal message we are trying to put into consumers' minds?"

That's the nail. It's not that the nail is more important than the hammer, but the nail is the first decision a company needs to make.

Art directors in particular need to pay attention to this one-two effect. Oftentimes, an art director will focus his or her entire attention on the visual without considering whether the visual hammer will hit the right nail.

There is often a disconnect between the two. If "Marlboro" were a feminine-type name, the cowboy hammer wouldn't have worked at all. (The first step in a Marlboro marketing program would have been to change the name to a masculine one.)

In our consulting work, we find the single most important mistake companies make is separating the hammer from the nail.

Somebody, usually in the company, decides what words should be used to describe the brand. Then these verbals are turned over to an outsider, usually an advertising agency, to visualise.

The company creates great words and the agency creates great visuals and the two never get connected.

Then, too, visuals are often evaluated by their attractiveness or beauty alone. "I love the look of this advertisement" is the reaction of a typical corporate executive. But beauty is seldom the key attribute of a powerful hammer.

One of the most effective branding programs is for a product called "Roach Motel." The verbal is: "Roaches check in, but they don't check out." You can imagine what the visual is.

Marketing has a job to do and creating a work of art is not what that job is.

Nor can a marketing manager select a verbal without also considering what the visual might be. If you try to establish a verbal concept like "quality," you'll quickly find there is no visual that can hammer in a "quality" nail.

Quality is too abstract a concept. The same thing is true of concepts like excellent customer service, low maintenance, high resale value, etc.

A visual hammer works best with a down-to-earth specific concept expressed as simply as possible. For example, the first three-blade razor (Mach3) and the first five-blade razor (Fusion) introduced by Gillette.

Yet the "nail" decisions, or verbal decisions, are often made without consideration of potential "hammers," or visual devices.

If you can't find a visual device to hammer your verbal nail, then your strategy tends to fall apart.

There's one exception to this general rule. When your brand is first in a new category, you have a golden opportunity to create a powerful visual hammer. Not only can your brand pre-empt the leadership role, as Coca-Cola did in cola, but your brand gets a rare opportunity to create an exceptionally memorable visual.

The old-fashioned Coke bottle, for example, is a visual symbol recognised around the world. When the leader brand creates a symbol associated with the category, the No. 2 and No. 3 brands are visually out of luck.

What visual symbol is associated with Pepsi-Cola? None, really.

Mercedes-Benz, perhaps the first automobile marketed as a luxury brand, created the tri-star logotype which is universally associated with "prestige." Nobody seems to object when Mercedes uses a one-foot-high logotype in the grille of its automobiles.

Nike, one of the most successful athletic shoes, created the Swoosh, not a particularly attractive visual, as its trademark. Yet the Swoosh is a well-known logo around the world in spite of its lack of visual excitement. Why? Because Nike was one of the first mass-marketed athletic shoe and the Swoosh visual is associated with that position.

McDonald's, the first hamburger chain, created the "Golden Arches," another visual with an enormous recognition factor.

Rolex, one of the first luxury brands in the watch category, created a unique watchband that has since been copied by many other brands. Yet the Rolex watchband is one of the brand's most effective visual hammers. (It doesn't matter that other brands have copied the Rolex look. That just makes them look like "imitation Rolexes.")

Visual hammers are particularly effective for high-end fashion products. They tell friends and relatives how smart (or how dumb) you are. The polo player for the Ralph Lauren brand, for example.

Take ultra-expensive Louis Vuitton handbags. They have a unique multiple-logotype design that anyone can recognise from 20 feet away.

In certain circles, a Louis Vuitton handbag is one of those possessions a woman has to have. In Tokyo, for example, more than 90% of women in their 20s own a Louis Vuitton handbag. If the handbag itself weren't quite so "outlandish," sales wouldn't be nearly as high.

Then, too, if Louis Vuitton has captured 90% of young, urban Japanese women, the market share of the No. 2 brand (whatever it is) cannot be too great. When your brand is first in a new category and when you can also develop a striking visual hammer to accompany your brand, you can sometimes achieve a near monopoly.

That's what happened with Rolex. The combination of the brand name (and the watchband visual hammer) has put Rolex in a very strong position.

Today, a high-end jewelry store cannot exist without also handling the Rolex watch brand. (If a jewelry store doesn't handle Rolex, consumers believe it's not a high-end jewelry store.)

Creating a unique visual to accompany a unique new-product development might seem like an obvious strategy, yet many companies miss the visual boat.

Take Apple's iPod, the first high-capacity MP3 player, and perhaps the most successful new product of the 21st century. Instead of the "Apple" trademark, Apple could have created a unique "iPod" trademark that would have been incredibly useful in the long term.

Companies are too concerned about using their corporate marks instead of creating distinctive visual hammers for their new products. Should Toyota have used the Toyota trademark on its Lexus brand? I think not. Yet that's just what Apple did with its iPod product.

The same is true of Prius, the first hybrid automobile, and Scion, the first youth-oriented vehicle. Both vehicles use ordinary, typographical trademarks when they could have created memorable visuals that would last for decades.

Being first in a new category creates enormous advantages. For one thing, you get your choice of visual. Almost every leader brand has the opportunity to dream up almost any visual and consumers will connect that visual to the brand.

Of course, a visual alone is not enough. You need to connect the visual to a powerful verbal statement. When the two work together, when you have an exceptionally powerful hammer and an exceptionally sharp nail, the results can be astounding.

One of the best-executed marketing programs of the 20th century, in my opinion, was for BMW, the "ultimate driving machine."

BMW has become the largest-selling European import in the American market, outselling Mercedes-Benz. As a matter of fact, BMW outsells Mercedes globally.

It was the astute combination of words ("ultimate driving machine") with the powerful visual of a BMW being driven over a series of winding roads that made the brand such as enormous success.

Over the years, there have been many, many advertising campaigns showing beautiful automobiles being driven over lush, winding roads. The hammers are terrific, but the nails are missing.

The trick is to find the right combination of a visual hammer and a verbal nail. When these two work together as they did for BMW, you have a potentially powerful brand.

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop

What is social media marketing?

Sean Connors

Looking for a way to better expose your product offerings and services in this challenging economy? Use the power of social media marketing - for free!

If you have a business, then you should already know by now that you should at least have a small website for you business. Face it - some demographics don’t even know what a “phone book” is anymore, and others find it easier to Google your business than to thumb though a printed book. If all you have is a website for your business, however, you have not yet fully entered the 21st century. To do that, you need to understand how your business website is or could be networked with folks using the Internet.

Traditionally, promoting your site on the web would be just a matter of understanding how site design interfaces with organic/natural listings in the top search engines (with enough quality links back to your site to trump your competitors), and then maybe running some Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns on services such as Google AdWords, etc. That is, most of what you could do was to tweak your site copy and other aspects of site content such as meta title, description and keyword tags to compete with your competitors for “natural” listings and possibly pay for position via PPC advertising.

That may have suited your needs for online marketing in the past, but times have changed folks! There is now a new wave of marking that is much easier and more powerful than the old school optimisation for search engines. It’s called social media marketing.

In a nutshell, social media marketing is the Internet version of “word of mouth advertising” - only with the power of the Internet, this “word of mouth” can go viral as people share among their social networks. For example, picture this...you have a WordPress(.org) blog on your site where you have created a post describing a fabulous new product. On the post you’ve embedded a YouTube video about it and you’ve placed social media icons to make it easy for visitors to share your post on their Facebook profile and/or share it on StumbleUpon, Digg, Del.icio.us, etc.

Then you send out a tweet on Twitter about it. A follower of yours on Twitter clicks through to your blog post, leaves a comment about how awesome this new product looks and then shares your post on their Facebook page; their friends see it and share it with their own friends on Facebook, on their Del.icio.us bookmarks, share it on their StumbleUpon profile and/or tweet about it to their own followers on Twitter.

Then their friends and followers spread it even further throughout their own networks. With just a blog post, a video and a tweet, your exciting new product is exponentially distributed throughout the net. And best of all, it’s all free!   Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that kind of publicity?

To do it, you don’t have to get as involved as all of that, though. You may not want to keep up with a blog or make videos to post on YouTube, or even set up a Facebook Page. At the very least, you take a moment out of your busy schedule to see how social media marketing could be just the form or marketing you need in a “down” economy and how you could make the best use of it for your businesses. A down economy is not the time to scale back on your marketing! It is the time to move aggressively on your marketing so that you might position yourself ahead of weaker competitors.

You just need to stay a nose ahead of your competitors - get the angle up on them. Start using social media marketing vectors to surpass them in their “old school” online marketing strategies. I don’t mean to suggest that you shouldn’t keep focus on solid copy writing for EVERY page on your site, pay attention to meta tags such as the Title of each page, the meta description of it, or the string of keywords you ascribe to your Keywords meta tags. This is a game that has been played for over a decade and while things change here daily, you still can and should play this game.

Promoting your business via social media marketing will be equally as powerful or even more powerful than traditional online marketing - as much of online marketing is moving to social media at this point. Creating the media to facilitate taking your product and service offerings viral on the Internet gives you an opportunity to get a “word of mouth” buzz that was never before possible.

Learn more about how all manner of technology can facilitate your business online by joining the Redwood Technology Consortium (www.redwoodtech.org).

Sean Connors is the owner of and Chief Project Manager for Web Merchant Services http://blog.WMSmerchantservices.com.

Reinvent customer experience with social interactions

By Balakrishnan Sreenivasan, VJ Bala

Companies are increasingly adopting social networking and Web 2.0 functionality, typically engaging consumers and B2B customers to strengthen their brand images. Many companies are adopting "social CRM," integrating social functionality with CRM applications. There is also growing interest around "social commerce," which leverages social interactions with customers to target promotions and to both cross-sell and upsell.

Few organisations, however, are leveraging social networking and Web 2.0 to collaborate across product development, marketing, sales, and service to do the following:

* foster innovation and knowledge-sharing;

* maximise revenue opportunities; and

* enhance the customer experience.

While the benefits may be game-changing, implementing the capabilities requires a common technology platform with sophisticated profiling, collaboration, and analytical tools as well as governance mechanisms to sustain operations and reduce risks.

Boosting the Brand Image

Realising the full potential of social media to engage customers and enhance brand image involves a lot more than inserting blogs, wikis, or RSS feeds into Web sites. It requires rethinking existing processes and systems to provide customers a unified and engaging experience. For example, a global semiconductor manufacturer wanted to leverage social media in its Web-based marketing strategy to directly engage with consumers. The company Realised that a fragmented set of user-facing Web sites to capture user interactions and interests would dilute the branding and drive away users. So the company sought to create a seamless view to attract users and provide the best user experience. An integrated social media platform helped the company improve its branding with consumers while minimizing risks. The platform also enabled one-stop social media analytics to capture user activities, recommendations, and comments across all Web sites.

Customer-Driven Innovation

Social media provides a window into unexpressed customer needs and preferences. Social analytics helps companies analyze these preferences and identify influential customers or groups whose opinions matter. Firms can then rapidly prototype new products or functionality, test the products with the newly discovered influencers, and market the products through viral methods and targeted promotions.

The result: better products and new-product introductions.

A global videogame maker is deploying an enterprise social networking and community services platform to recharge innovation through collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and communication across its growing, matrixed organisation. The company is planning community services, on-boarding multiple communities, and instituting a governance plan to sustain community operations.

Customer Experience: Better, Faster, Cheaper

Social interactions and a community-driven approach boost brand image and product innovation, but they also facilitate the kind of internal and external collaboration that enhance the total customer experience.

A leading telecommunications firm implemented a collaborative authoring system as part of its social CRM initiative. The system collates document "nuggets" from multiple people, helping technical-support personnel collaborate with sales, support, and development functions to quickly create complete solution documents for customers. From support costs that totaled $3 million per quarter, the company expects to save nearly 12 percent through improved reusability and quality of the solution documents. A few key highlights:

* A self-organising community approach brings appropriate people together based on issue or need.

* Templates ensure individual contributions build toward complete solution documents.

* Ratings, comments, and voting by community members continuously improve content quality through iteration.

* Tagging and context-sensitive search enable faster discovery of relevant information.

The combination of the right teams collaborating, faster information discovery, and continuous improvement of content is helping the company respond quickly to customers with better quality support at much lower cost. Such collaborative authoring could also be applied to authoring and management of proposals or contracts to create the respective content faster, better, and cheaper.

Another example is collaborative idea management to help capture, manage, and evolve ideas. Field-support engineers handle product issues daily and have insight into the top issues customers face, positioning those engineers to channel the right improvements to product teams that could have the most impact on support costs. A collaborative idea management tool that integrates with the customer-incident management system enables field-service engineers to identify repetitive issues that customers are facing to guide product improvement. The ideas then evolve into specific product enhancements via collaboration across product teams, marketing, sales, and support.

From a service standpoint, an area where social interactions enhance CRM functions and overall customer experience is in contact centers. Contact center personnel deal with customer issues that are either repetitive or one-off incidents. A collaborative system helps service personnel search for solutions to past incidents, update existing solutions, or create new ones to provide customers better service, quickly.

There are a variety of tools and technologies that integrate social interactions to facilitate collaborative content or product creation and service delivery. An effective approach combines business-user workbenches (say, for customer service or field support) on a common technology platform. The key features of the technology platform would include:

* user profile management;

* activity stream views;

* personalization;

* management of communities or user groups;

* user rating and commenting;

* tagging;

* contextual search;

* social bookmarking;

* reputation monitoring mechanisms;

* social analytics;

* syndication; and

* collaborative initiative execution.

Balakrishnan Sreenivasan is a principal architect with the technology consulting group at Infosys' Manufacturing Industry Practice,

VJ Bala is the marketing head for Infosys' Manufacturing Industry Practice.

Infosys is a global consulting and services firm that provides technology-enabled business solutions to Global 2000 companies.

Turn your marketing messages into "memes"

Are you frustrated trying to communicate about your business? Do you do great things for your clients but just can't talk or write about your services in a way that gets any attention, let alone any response? You're not alone.

As a service professional, you want to get more clients. But to do that, you first need to get noticed and create interest in your services. To stand apart from the crowd, you need to do more than just tell people about what you do. You need to communicate your unique talents and abilities in terms that are both meaningful and compelling to prospective clients.

You've probably been told that it's a good idea to develop a business name, tag line, elevator speech and headlines. But have you worked on messages like this for hours and they still don't have any oomph? I'm going to show you how you can start creating marketing message that hit home every time.

What You Need to Know

Powerful marketing messages aren't only about the content of your message. Just as important is the way in which you structure your message. That's the key that almost everyone misses.

What Do You Meme?

In 1976, Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins wrote a book called "The Selfish Gene" in which he introduced a new concept to the history of culture: memes (it rhymes with "seems"). A meme, Dawkins asserted, is much like its biological cousin, the gene. Like a gene, a meme is self-replicating. However, memes don't replicate biologically; instead, they are passed along in the form of ideas. Dawkins argued that memes are the "basic unit of cultural transmission." He wrote:

"Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.

Jump ahead twenty years and to another book called "Rapid Response Advertising" by Geoff Ayling, an Australian advertising man. Ayling builds a strong case for the use of memes in marketing and advertising, and he thinks that the meme is the missing piece of the marketing and advertising puzzle. "A meme," he writes "operates through the process of chunking complex concepts or ideas down into a simple, easily communicable unit." Likewise, marketing messages can be constructed as memes to communicate the benefits of a product or service more quickly and easily.

The Meme in Action

A marketing meme always accomplishes four things: It actively transfers specific information. It's immediately and obviously beneficial. It's self-explanatory and ultra-simple. And it's easy to replicate in someone's mind. When all of these elements are in place, it works like magic.

Imagine this: I'm at a networking event and I've just answered someone's question about what I do with my marketing meme. For whatever reason, they don't need my service, but they still understand immediately what I'm about. Half an hour later, that same person drags someone over to me and says, "You should talk to Sarah here, she needs to attract more clients." Bingo! This has happened to me countless times.

This is why it's smart to apply marketing memes to virtually any marketing message -- people will understand you more quickly, and as a result, you'll attract more attention, interest, and response. You don't have to worry about zippy slogans or phrases. Just strive for clarity, simplicity, brevity and benefits, all wrapped up in a few words (or a combination of words and images). Great marketing memes make a direct and memorable connection.

What a Marketing Meme Is Not

Sometimes it's easier to understand a marketing meme by looking at what it is not. A meme is not a meaningless slogan, nor a clever play on words. Ever see a headline on a billboard that totally confused you? That's a dead meme. Memes should never confuse. They should clarify. With a meme you say, "I get it!" When it's not a meme you say, "huh?"

Let's look at a recent example, a billboard from IBM: Two tires in profile. Two ThinkPad portable computers in profile inside the tires. The headline: "ThinkPad. Road Trip." Huh? Sorry, Big Blue, but that's not a meme. What's the message? I have to stop and figure it out. It's not immediately obvious and beneficial.

Here's an eTrade billboard that's much better: "This month, someone's going to win the lottery. Just not you. eTrade." Bingo! Without having to figure anything out, you get the message: "I'd better stop wishing and start investing." Like a good joke, it hits home immediately.

Slogans, headlines, taglines and other marketing messages aren't necessarily memes. Sometimes they're just clever phrases built on a play-on-words, or they're so general that they communicate very little. "Overnight Delivery" isn't much of a meme. On the other hand, "When you positively, absolutely have to have it overnight" built a multi-million dollar business. Your challenge is to create memes for your business that communicate the benefits of your service just as powerfully.

What You Need to Do

A meme can be used anytime you need to communicate effectively about your business. Remember, a meme communicates quickly and effortlessly in just a few words (or sometimes in words plus images), the benefit is obvious and it stimulates a response, either immediately or sometime in the future because it's so easy to recall.

Finding Your Core Solution

For instance, a recent client, a personal organiser, was struggling to position her organising practice. She had fallen into doing the kind of organising that didn't excite her much. I asked her what was special about her business, what made her different than everyone else. She said that, unlike most organisers who helped people throw out a lot of junk, she had an eye for valuable items that they could sell instead of putting in the garbage. We emerged with a wonderful tagline meme that said it all: "We find treasures in your clutter." This has an immediate appeal for those who want to get rid of clutter because it promises an added bonus - finding a valuable treasure or two. Using this meme as her central marketing message, she built on it in her marketing materials by telling of the treasures she had found for others and how finding just a few valuable items would pay for her services.

There are several ways to use memes in marketing your business. Here's some of the major ones: The actual Name of your business; a Tagline (as outlined above) to use with your business identity; an Audio Logo (a short version of a "elevator speech") which you say out loud when someone asks what you do; a Headline on an ad, flyer or letter; and a Title to a talk or an article. All of these memes might be expressed slightly differently but they all communicate essentially the same message with clarity and impact.

Cooking Up Your Meme

So how do you create a powerful meme for your business? It's a bit of an art but here's some guidelines: First, ask the key question - "what do my clients get as a result of using my services?" Don't worry about the wording yet, just brainstorm a number of sentences that capture the gist of your key benefit. You might even do this with a small group. Initially you might come up with: "Our clients have problems with employee conflict and our services help reduce that conflict while building cooperation and trust." So the core idea is there, but it's pretty long. So start paring it down to its essentials. The next cut might go: "We reduce conflict while building cooperation." This is better but I'm not sure if this is for individuals or organisations. The next attempt yields: "Reducing conflict and building cooperation within organisations." But are we trying to say too much? We have a message that is both about solving a problem and offering a solution. Maybe we should go with one or the other. The final meme, used as a tagline is: "Building cooperation within organisations." Now this is simple, benefit-oriented and easy to remember. You've got a meme!

Testing Your Meme - Is It Any Good?

Once you've developed a meme, you need to test it to see if it really does communicate your core message. How do you know that? When you get a favorable response when you use it. You notice that when you say it, people ask the right questions and want to know more. The best way is to try this as an "Audio Logo." When someone asks what you do, say something like: "I have a company called Working Diplomacy. We help build cooperation within organisations." If most of the people say, "that's interesting, more companies need that," or "you ought to talk to our HR director," there's a very good chance you have a winner. If, on the other hand, everyone says, "what do you mean," or "why do companies need that?" you may be off track. Back to the drawing board.

Rolling Out Your Meme

A meme isn't just a nice thing to have. It's the core expression of your business purpose and strategy. So you want to use it everywhere you possibly can. Put it in the tag line of your business card and stationery. Use it as a headline in an ad, answer the phone with it: Prospect: "Hello, I hear you folks do conflict management for companies." You: "Yes, we help build cooperation within organisations. Is that what you're looking for?" The whole idea of a meme is that it helps prospective clients understand quickly and easily how you can help them, so you want to include it in every single piece of promotional material and in all the marketing activities you do.

You Can Also Be an Expert at "Meme-Ology"

With a little work, anyone can create a powerful meme for their business. It all starts with a core idea: What are the results you produce for your clients? Next you need to hone it down to a few words and make it as simple as possible. Finally, you need to apply it to several marketing messages. When you get the hang of constructing good marketing memes it's like riding a bicycle. In the same way that it's virtually impossible to lose your balance, it will be impossible to construct a meme that doesn't hit home every time.

Tonka gets tougher,

Childhood. Trucks. Tonka. No questions asked. Well, at least not for us reading today who probably grew up with, or grew up wanting, one of those heavy, badass steel Mighty Tonkas that felt indestructible in our tiny hands — a far cry from today’s wussier Mighty Dump. Or anything else that Tonka makes these days, for that matter. Cute, chubby and safe, I’ll admit, but certainly not the vintage brand association that one makes with Tonka, the company that began making trucks in cold-as-hell Mound, Minnesota in 1947 manufactured by Mound Metalcraft Company. Part of Hasbro since 1991, Tonka’s line of toys are friendlier and have more plastic than steel, and somewhat recently they introduced a new logo that is slowly appearing in new packaging.

Original logo by Erling Eklof 1947 (left). Roots of the new wordmark first introduced in 1962 (not certain if it was also Eklof). A complete timeline of Tonka logos can be found here.

[Resident of Mound, Erling W.] Eklof was a freelance industrial designer who had designed a number of logos for several companies in the Twin Cities area, and he was given the task of designing a Tonka logo in three days.

[…] The wave pattern that runs through the horizontal axes signifies the waters of Lake Minnetonka, and the three birds are pictured for two reasons. The first reason is that, according to Eklof, three is an odd number, which is more distinctive, and the second is that the birds represent the founders. Tonka’s first label was an oval because, according to Elkof, the oval is a more recognisable shape than a square. For his work Eklof was paid a grand sum of $30.

— Tonka by Dennis David

Older (left) logo, revised by Paul Giambarba in the early 1970s — don’t miss his account on working on Tonka’s corporate identity program. Newer logo. Both appear on and off in current packaging.

The old logo, with its Clarendonian charm and sturdiness, didn’t have to be overtly truckish, because the trucks themselves were imbued with it. What I find interesting about the new logo is that it is overtly truckish — not too different from the Caterpillar or International Trucks brands — making up for what the products lack in that regard. The new logo is not bad if you don’t pay too much attention to the “n” and it’s a much better solution than the oblique version that made some random appearances, but it definitely feels as if it’s making too hard of an effort to look rough, and that’s a very tall order for a brand that sells the adorable Chuck, pictured below.

The more rugged textures of Tonka.

I love you more than my dog,

As a customer loyalty-focused marketer, Jeanne Bliss has been in the marketing game with some notable brands: Lands’ End, Coldwell Banker, Allstate, Microsoft, and Mazda. She has seen how making the wrong decisions can lead to forging customer disloyalty and how making the right decisions lead to fostering customer loyalty.

I’ve known Jeanne for a couple years. Smart gal. And her latest book, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN MY DOG, is a smart read for businesses wanting to earn loyalty from customers. (Since Jeanne is a friend, she gave me a copy to read. Friends are nice that way. Thanks Jeanne.)

Jeanne is onto something worth reading by framing her book around exploring five decisions company’s make (or don’t make) to become a beloved brand.

To summarise key points from the book, let’s give it the Brand Autopsy "WHAT? – SO WHAT? – WHAT NOW?" treatment...

What?

“When you make a decision, it results in action. And the accumulation of those decisions and actions become how people describe you and think of you. It becomes your ‘story.’”

So what

“As customers and employees, we crave what beloved companies deliver. They enable people to decide and act from a corner of their brain that is congruent with doing the right thing. In doing so, they build an organisation with energy and spirit that draws customers to them.”

What now?

“[There] are five decisions that set beloved companies apart. These five decisions reveal who they are and what they value.”

Decision #1: Decide to Trust Customers and Employees

“By deciding to trust customers, [companies] are freed from extra rules, policies, and layers of bureaucracy that create a barrier between them and their customers. And by deciding to believe that employees can and will do the right thing, second-guessing ... is replaced with shared energy, ideas, and a desire to stick around.”

Decision #2: Decide to be Guided by a Clarity of Purpose

“Beloved companies take their time to be clear about what their unique promise is for their customers’ lives. Clarity of purpose guides choices and united the organisation. It elevates people’s work from executing tasks to delivering experiences customers will want to repeat and tell others about.”

Decision #3:  Decide to be Real, Genuine, and Personal

“... beloved companies shed their fancy packaging. Beloved companies strike a chord with customers. They decide to create a safe place where the personality and creativity of their people shine through.”

Decision #4: Decide to Deliver Thoughtful Customer Experiences

“Beloved companies think and rethink how to conduct themselves, so they earn the right to their customers’ continued business. Their ‘experience’ is far more than the execution of an operating plan. [Beloved companies] leave customers thinking, ‘Who else would have done this?’ ‘Where else could I get this?’ ‘I want to do this again.’”

Decision #5: Decide to Apologise

“When a beloved company Apologises for something that goes wrong, the intent and motivation is to make customers whole—to earn the right to continue the relationship. Many companies consider the apology as admitting defeat. In actuality, the reverse is true. A well-executed apology: one that is timely and delivered with humility and remorse ... often build a much stronger relationship. Both the customer and company win.”

Decision #6: Decide to Read I LOVE YOU MORE THAN MY DOG

Define your brand's purpose, not just its promise

Allen Adamson,

Wal-Mart, Charles Schwab returned to their roots to strike a recession-appropriate message.

Every brand makes a promise. But in a marketplace in which consumer confidence is low and budgetary vigilance is high, it's not just making a promise that separates one brand from another, but having a defining purpose.

This point and its implications were made clear to me at the recent Association of National Advertisers conference in Phoenix where CMOs from some of the smartest organisations explained why purpose-driven branding is essential to success in this "new normal" environment. While it may sound a bit like Philosophy 101, a company whose employees can answer the question, "Why are we here?" will be the company that makes stronger connections with consumers in search of solutions to life's new normal issues.

Stephen Quinn, CMO of powerhouse brand Wal-Mart was one of the speakers to bring this idea to life. Built on the promise of everyday low prices, Quinn told his audience, Wal-Mart grew dramatically. However, after a period during which these "low prices" were seen as a liability by the media and some consumers, Wal-Mart management recognised that its promise was as good as empty without its purpose as support. Company leaders looked back to the original intent of its founder Sam Walton, Quinn continued, and decided to make clear that the purpose of Sam's offer of lower prices was to help people provide better lives for their families.

Paying less for prescriptions meant money left over for longer, more relaxing vacations; paying less for groceries meant more in the bank for a happier birthday party; less for household goods, more visits with grandpa and grandma. Gone is the message of "roll-em back" prices and, in its stead, strong branding communications that assert the company's purpose.

The importance of building a brand on a purpose, not simply a promise, Quinn averred, isn't just to help consumers understand what the brand stands for but, perhaps more critical, to help employees, or associates, as they are called, understand why "we are here." Because Wal-Mart employees understand their reason for being, it not only clarifies their roles but signifies their intrinsic value to the organisation and its reputation as a brand. In this company's case, the associates know that, as a result of their work, they're making it easier for moms to dress their kids in style without sacrificing after-school ballet or karate class, or that food gets put on the table with money left over for family outings. They can directly experience how the company's purpose pays off, not in profits, but in customer satisfaction.

Sharing associate feedback during his talk, Quinn made clear that awareness of how their jobs affected peoples' lives for the better has created a stronger, more motivated workforce, which, in turn, has made Wal-Mart a stronger, more valuable brand.

Another speaker at the conference to explain how refocusing its branding on the company's initial purpose has helped it, and its clients, weather the recent--and continuing--marketplace conditions was Becky Saeger, executive vice president and CMO at Charles Schwab. We've always stood for financial fitness, she told the audience. When the company was founded by Charles Schwab in the 1970's his intent was to create a brokerage firm that would be on the side of the investor--any investor, not just the rich ones. He wanted to provide them with the information and the tools they needed to control their own investments. His purpose was to help the individual investor feel confident and empowered.

While this idea has always been the basis for all of the firm's business and branding strategies, it was over the past year, or so, that its management recognised the need to bring it front and center. Using a film of Charles Schwab sitting in his living room talking wisely about the economy and how investors should navigate through the storm as if he had invited them over to his home as back-up for her comments, Saeger explained how the company was realigning its energy and initiatives around "Chuck's" purpose. In fact, she told us, "to be successful today, you must identify your company's purpose and execute like crazy." And executing like crazy, the brand is. As a result of all employees rallying around the purpose of being allies, the company's Net Promoter score, a management metric used by many big companies to gauge the loyalty of customer relationships, has gone up exponentially.

Purpose-driven branding, while not new, has taken on new significance in this era of anxious consumers--not to mention anxious employees. A company that looks at its brand and asks not simply what promise does it make, but what purpose does it serve, to its customers and its shareholders, and brings this purpose to life through every customer experience will be the company most likely to beat its competition. When an employee can answer the question "Why am I here?" in a positively motivating way, everyone benefits.

Allen Adamson is managing director of the New York office of Landor Associates, a brand consulting and design firm. He is also the author of BrandDigital and BrandSimple.

The sad illusion of happy customers

Retailers say they want shoppers to be satisfied, but few have the resources to deliver the goods.

Customer satisfaction has become such a scarce commodity in the business world, it's now a selling point at a time when companies are increasingly desperate for shoppers' dollars.

This week, electronics heavyweight Best Buy launched a nationwide marketing campaign under the banner "They'll be happy, you'll be happy, we'll be happy."

What they're saying is that the company will bend over backward to help you shop for gifts this holiday season and will do whatever it takes to ensure that gift recipients are pleased with what they get. This, in turn, will warm the hearts of Best Buy shareholders.

"Happy customers is a long-term strategy for us," Best Buy's chief marketing officer, Barry Judge, told me. "If they're happy, they'll want to buy more."

That's the idea anyway. But after visiting a couple of Best Buy stores and chatting with customers, I'd say the company still has some work to do on the happiness front.

"The trade-off is that you get the selection and square footage, but you have to hunt to find someone to help you," said Glendale resident Howard Erickson after buying a mini-fridge at the Best Buy in Los Feliz.

So how'd he do?

"I had to hunt to find someone to help me."

I had a similar experience when I wandered around the appliance section with a perplexed look on my face (not the greatest challenge of my career). After 10 minutes of gazing forlornly at refrigerators and washing machines, I was still on my own, not a single blue-shirted salesperson in sight.

I had a similar experience in the computer section until I finally spotted a salesguy and asked if he could show me a computer for under $500. He steered me toward a Hewlett-Packard model.

I asked if there was anything else. The salesguy pointed me toward a Dell model for about the same price. I asked which was better.

"I don't know," the salesguy replied. "I guess they're about the same."

Not that I'm picking on Best Buy, even though this week's TV and print ads all but dare consumers to judge the company by the quality of their shopping experience.

In fact, customer satisfaction ranks pretty far down on most businesses' to-do lists.

You know what I mean: Epic lines at the cash register. Salespeople who don't have a clue about what they're selling or are nowhere to be found when you have a question.

Customer support that makes you feel like an uninvited dinner guest. A general indifference among employees as to whether you'll ever shop there again.

Sometimes it feels like companies are determined to chase us away, rather than do everything in their power -- especially at times like these -- to build customer loyalty.

"Customer satisfaction has always been a major concern for most companies," said Lars Perner, an assistant professor of marketing at USC's Marshall School of Business. "But it's fairly difficult to implement. It's pretty labor intensive."

He said that as long as low-low-low prices remain consumers' main priority, and as long as turnover remains relatively high among workers at service-oriented businesses, most companies just can't afford to keep sufficient numbers of well-trained staff on hand to meet customers' needs.

"So they make do with what they have," Perner said.

Some retailers, such as Nordstrom, still pride themselves on attentive customer service. But their prices reflect that extra effort.

Others pay lip service to the idea that customer satisfaction is a high priority. But they're still trying to walk the walk.

"We know we don't get it right all the time," Best Buy's Judge said. "But we're getting it right more and more."

It's not rocket science. To make customers happy, all you need to do is offer high-quality goods at competitive prices and staff your stores with a sufficient number of well-trained personnel to ensure a smooth shopping experience.

Like the man said, you should make your money the old-fashioned way: by earning it.

Trust me, that's the shortest route to making your customers happy.

David Lazarus' www.latimes.com

Word of Mouth marketing

You’ve heard of it, you’ve thought about using it, some of your clients may even be utilising it without your knowledge –but do you really know how to leverage the opportunity?

It’s a scary thought to imagine your precious clients may be talking about you. If only you could be a fly on the wall listening to what they have to say. Who are they telling, what do they really think of your product or service and are they impressed enough to personally forward your company name on to someone else who trusts them?

Word of mouth (WOM) marketing. Everyone has heard of it – hardly anyone knows how to harness its immense power. And, I’m not just being a marketer here by using the superlative ‘immense’. The power of WOM marketing really is colossal.

Take me for example. I took my car to a mechanic a few years ago for its Warrant. He promptly told me that my brakes needed replacing (being a blonde female he must have seen me coming!). What he didn’t know though was that I had previously (only two months prior) had my brakes replaced – they were squeaky you see.

So, I am sure you can imagine how many people I have told over the past two years about my experience – at least 30. And how many people do you think they have told? Scary thought.

So weather your clients are speaking nicely of you or not, it is your responsibility to ensure your WOM marketing is being utilised for the better.

Now, many marketers believe that good customer service is the only way forward in terms of tackling what is essentially a difficult marketing medium. Yes, of course as with the mechanic, good customer service in fact, great customer service is an essential element for WOM marketing. However, this must remain your building block for an ongoing WOM drive.

As we have already discussed, bad WOM can be one of the most detrimental things for a small business. And, as most of you will already know, when people are impressed they tell a few people about their experience. When they are unimpressed, they will tell ten-times as many!

So, how do you harness the power of WOM Marketing and when will you see the benefits?

There are several key elements that will help you on your way to a successful WOM campaign. Here are some of the most important below:

1. Develop your WOM contacts. Developing relationships is an important element of any business and with WOM Marketing it’s imperative. Your contacts don’t have to be the CEO of some great company. Mr. Coffee Man can also be an important WOM generator.

2. Give people something to talk about. I like to call it Guerilla WOM Marketing. Do something a little wacky and you’ll have plenty of people not only talking about it but also wanting to get involved. And, by getting involved, you have begun the WOM Marketing phenomenon. Think Richard Branson and you know what I’m talking about!

3. Ensure your message is easy to communicate. A long winded, difficult to understand message is very rarely communicated. Ensure your message is simple, pointed and providing a benefit to your potential client. Us marketers love to mention the word FREE – if you are able to use it, do so. Viral marketing is also worth your while if managed and executed in a clever fashion.

4. Create interesting lines of communication. Important if you want to find out what appeals to your current clients. Clever application of viral marketing tools (internet based WOM marketing) can be really beneficial in this instance. Also, if you think “out of the box” when creating an important WOM message you will have a higher impact ratio.

5. Utilise those people who love what you do! That’s right! If you have a client or two who just think you’re fantastic then use them to sing your praises.

So, in summary...

Ensure you are giving clients (and potential clients) something to talk about. Whether it be great customer service, friendly staff, excellent discounts or that crazy stunt on the sidewalk, people need a reason to talk about your business. Get your networks running smoothly. Everyone is important in WOM marketing. Ensure your message is clear, concise and easy to relay. Get clever with your lines of communication and ensure you are making use of people who really like what you do!

Ways To Improve PPC Campaigns

Achieving High ROI Pay Per Click Campaigns

Ensuring a positive ROI for your Google Adwords campaign requires attention to detail. Following a few simple steps has the potential to dramatically improve the profitability of your Google Adwords campaign.

1. Defining and Tracking Campaign Objectives

Before any ad campaign can be successful, the goals and objectives must be clearly identified. Typical objectives of a Pay Per Click campaign may include:

* Product / Service sales

* Generate new leads

* Additional site registrations

Once the objectives have been identified conversion tracking of the campaign can be initiated to determine:

* Number of successful conversions

* Cost per conversion / acquisition

* Keywords generating successful conversions

2. Develop Multiple Ad Campaigns

Google Adwords enables you to develop numerous campaigns from within your account.

* Each campaign can have multiple Ad Groups

* Each Ad Group can have multiple keyword based ads

The importance of developing multiple campaigns is due to how Google Adwords controls the overall budget, geo-targeting and settings of the campaigns. Setting these criteria for individual campaigns develops a better targeted and manageable PPC program.

3. Develop Landing Pages and Sales Funnels

The web page associated with your keyword advertisement has to be 100% relevant to the ads offered if you are to obtain reasonable conversion rates. In general the typical business web page is too generic to offer high relevancy to the specific ad. In addition to lack of relevancy, general web pages often have to many distractions to achieve reasonable success at converting Pay Per Click advertisements.

Ideally the objective of the landing page is to convert the visitor on that page, however at times in the sales process, additional information is required, if this is the case consideration should be given to developing a multiple page ( 3 or 4 ) sales funnel to obtain the desired conversion.

4. Develop and Extensive Keyword List

Keyword research enables you to define the keywords used by Internet users to find the products and service you supply. Developing an extensive list of keyword phrases enables you to target the audience you have identified as your potential customer.

An extensive keyword list allows you to cover numerous possibilities without the expense of utilising the “Broad Match” function which is likely to prove more expensive due to the poor audience targeting of this method.

5. Use the Negative Word Facility

As good as keywords are in bringing targeted traffic to your web site, negative keywords are beneficial to ensure you are not paying for traffic which is of no value to you. Negative keywords are the keywords specified that shouldn’t be included in the Search Engine Results Pages which show your ad.

For example if you are selling and do not have any free offers “free” would be the ideal negative keyword to include in your PPC campaign settings.

6. Utilise Multiple Keyword Match Types

Google Adwords offers “Broad Match”, “Phrase Match” and “Exact Match” for the keywords selected for your advertisements.

Using the proper Match for your ad campaign is critical to achieving the targeted traffic you require. Although Broad Match may deliver high traffic volumes this choice should be avoided in favor of the more precise “Phrase Match” and “Exact Match” to bring targeted traffic to your web site. Although your traffic volumes are likely to be lower your conversions are likely to be higher due to the precise targeting of your keyword phrases.

7. Specify where your ads are displayed

Google enables you to determine where your ads are displayed:

* Google search results

* Google search network partners

* Google content network

Google Content Network

There is a significant difference between the behavior of Internet users searching and internet users coming across an advertisement while reading content of interest. Unless you’re a savvy Search Marketer Google’s Content Network has the potential to drive up costs and click through rates while reducing conversion rates.

Although Click Fraud can be a problem for any PPC program due to advertisements being placed within web site owner’s content, Click Fraud can be more prevalent on the content network than other Google networks. Regardless of where you place your PPC ads, you must constantly monitor and be vigilant for Click Fraud.

8. Use Campaign Settings

The Campaign setting offered by Google Adwords can be used to improve the management of your campaigns and better target audiences. Utilising these setting may reduce the number of impressions and clicks your ads receive however, the goal of your PPC program is not impressions and clicks, it is high ROI and conversions.

The primary settings to consider are:

* Keyword Bidding: Use manual bidding for increased budget control

* Run Date: Use for special promotions with specific dates

* Ad Scheduling: To schedule ads when the target audience is most active

* Geo targeting: Enables you to target specific geographic regions

9. Don’t Bid For 1st Place

Bidding for first place is not only expensive due to having to outbid all other competitors, but also Internet users out of habit tend to click on the first selection. You may find you get more clicks with a first place position however, on close analysis you may find that these are in fact the clicks which are not converting to sales or leads.

10. Advertise the solution

All too often keyword ads are focused around a product or brand.

It must be remembered that often searchers and customers are searching for a solution to a problem. Considering this when researching your keywords and developing your ad copy can have a significant impact on both the Click Through Rate and ultimately the conversions into sales or leads.

The Last Word

It always pays to be cautious when initiating and running a Pay Per Click Campaign. It is easy to get carried away and costs get out of hand. However, as with high levels of Pay Per Click Campaign Management PPC campaigns are an effective method to build your business and achieve results. Pay Per Click should not be your only method to generate web site traffic however, it does offer numerous benefits to your business when utilised as part of an overall web site promotion program.

Be Frosty

How To De-Stress

But when you start living in fear that every lackluster presentation or lukewarm performance review will be your last, anxiety has taken over — and that very fact, rather than any single mishap at work, may put you at risk. High anxiety undermines your performance on many levels: emotional, interpersonal and cognitive.

The first casualty is attention. A 2009 study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in England found that anxiety reduces your ability to block out distractions. It can also set off a physiological reaction, the so-called fight-or-flight instinct, which is very helpful when a bear is charging you in the forest, but not when the boss is calling you to the conference room. When the boss beckons, you need to be on your game — hard to do when your chest is pounding and you keep forgetting to breathe. The bear presents a clear and imminent danger; your boss probably doesn’t. “It’s like worrying about an exam when you haven’t even taken the course,” says Carol Kauffman, and assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the school’s Coaching and Positive Psychology Initiative.

So how can you keep anxiety from sabotaging your performance? The answer, according to Kauffmann, is simple: Get real or rather, realistic. If you still have a job, don’t act as if you don’t. Says Kauffmann: “I’ll ask my patients, ‘Are you personally in danger? Are your finances at risk? How can you deal with what’s actually on your plate, as opposed to what you see on other people’s plates? How can you find the areas where you can take charge?’ ”

Here, we offer specific steps and expert advice for taking control of work situations that send your blood pressure soaring, and your critical abilities plunging.

Situation #1: You’re not making quota, and your boss is all over you. You’re so panicked you can’t think straight.

Step 1: Breathe. First things first: You need to get your physical agitation under control. Start by doing breathing exercises: Inhale for four seconds, hold the breath for two seconds, and exhale for four seconds. Don’t breathe too deeply, but keep that rhythm going until you feel calm enough to think straight.

Step 2: Distance yourself from the individual. You need to let go of your feelings toward your boss so you can focus on what you need to get done. “If anybody’s going to get in your way right now, don’t let it be you,” says Kauffman. Try to figure out how much of your boss’s anger has to do with your performance versus his or her own set of stresses. Odds are he’s feeling the heat from above, and simply transferring it to you. If you’re angry in addition to being scared, focus on the times your boss has been helpful to you, given you a raise, or otherwise gone to bat for you. By focusing on your boss’s good qualities, it’s easier to put her bad ones out of your mind and get back to work.

Step 3: Take stock. Ask yourself: “What’s the truth here? Are these run-ins fatal, or merely really unpleasant? How bad a job could I be doing if I just closed three major deals?” Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that everything that happens and everything you do is terrible just because the guy in the corner office is making you miserable.

Situation #2: You’ve got a huge presentation tomorrow and you’ve hardly slept all week. You’re thinking that if you blow this one, you’re done.

Step 1: Seek the truth. You’re doing what psychologists call catastrophising —imagining the worst possible outcome even though it’s unlikely. You won’t just blow the presentation, you’ll blow your entire career, and your family will be out on the street, in tatters, begging for spare change.

In situations like this, you need to pull back and gain perspective. Ask yourself: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do I really believe this presentation will decide my fate?” Then try what Kauffman calls “rapid-fire disputing” by coming up with three thoughts that prove your fears wrong. Has anyone in the company been fired because they gave a bad presentation? For that matter, has anyone ever been promoted for giving a great one? Think about other times you’ve worried about blowing it, but everything turned out OK.

Once you’ve gained perspective, set realistic goals for your presentation. “Focus on the things that you can control,” says Julie McCarthy, a professor of organisational behavior at the University of Toronto. “Make sure that you have practiced enough, because it will increase your feelings of mastery.”

Step 2: Think backwards. Pull in a positive experience from the past to counter your negative thoughts. What did you do last time that worked? What did you do to get through? Remembering your successes helps to build resilience, according to Kauffman.

Step 3: Turn it off. Go to the gym or for a run, take some Ambien, and get some sleep. You need to address your personal and physical needs in order to perform at work. Do one more hour of preparation — max — and then stop and take care of yourself.

Situation #3: You fear the other shoe might drop at work, so you’re talking to recruiters about other opportunities. But you haven’t been on a job interview in years.

Step 1: Articulate your strengths. Hitting the interview circuit after a long period of employment is like dating after a divorce. You need to build confidence so you don’t stammer and sweat your way through dinner. Before you head out there, identify exactly what you have to offer and the best way to articulate it. “We’re really terrific at analyzing our weaknesses,” says Kauffman. “You need to find the language for what your strengths are.”

Step 2: Do your homework. Make sure you prepare three or four questions to ask the interviewer. “Asking well-thought questions makes you appear both interested and informed,” says McCarthy. “It also helps to balance the power differential, and provide you with a stronger sense of control.”

Step 3: Put it in writing. Once you’ve identified your strengths, develop two or three direct sentences you can use in your interview that describe what you would do with them on the job. For example: “When you work with me, you’ll find that one of my strong suits is building consensus, and here’s how it will be good for you.” Then think of an actual scenario and explain how you would use your abilities to handle it. Be ready with examples of how you have translated these strengths into on-the-job successes in the past.

Situation #4: There’s going to be another round of layoffs, and you can’t stand the uncertainty.

Step 1: Consider the odds. Before you start tearing your hair out, assess your actual vulnerability. First, how are the pink slips going to be determined? If they’re based on performance and you’ve generally been doing well, you should be less concerned about being laid off. If you haven’t been cutting the mustard, however, you might want to rethink your career choice. “If you are in a job that isn’t well suited to you, and you’re not performing up to the standard, you should begin thinking about alternative options,” says McCarthy. “Perhaps this is your opportunity to re-evaluate your career — and consider the potential for change as a good thing.”

Step 2: Focus on what you can do. Instead of being frustrated by your lack of control of the situation, find the areas where you can be proactive, and actually do something. For example, set some networking goals for yourself, like reaching out to at least one new contact a week, and start to prepare a financial plan for you and your family in case you do get laid off. You might not be in as bad shape as you think.

Step 3: Move slowly. Don’t jump the gun just because you’re nervous. Now’s not the time to fire off resumes and announce your availability. Remember, you still have a job — and if you’re generally happy with it, you should focus on keeping it, not abandoning it.

Step 4: Talk it through. Share your fears, and your possible contingency plans, with people you trust but who aren’t connected to work. (You don’t want to appear vulnerable to your colleagues, or worse yet, your superiors and direct reports.) Talking about possibilities with people you trust turns the negative into a positive.

Motivational theory

Alignment of aims, purpose and values between staff, teams and organisation is the most fundamental aspect of motivation. The better the alignment and personal association with organisational aims, the better the platform for motivation.

Where people find it difficult to align and associate with the organisational aims, then most motivational ideas and activities will have a reduced level of success.

Motivation is a complex area. It's different for each person. See the personality materials for useful explanation about different motivational needs.

Erik Erikson's life stage theory is useful for understanding people's different motivational needs according to lafe stage. And the experiential learning section explains the difference between 'demotivational training', and 'motivational learning', and a guide to facilitating experiential learning activities.

Motivational receptiveness and potential in everyone changes from day to day, from situation to situation. Get the alignment and values right, and motivational methods work better. Motivational methods of any sort will not work if people and organisation are not aligned. People are motivated towards something they can relate to and something they can believe in. Times have changed. People want more. You should view the following motivational methods and ideas as structures, activities and building blocks, to be used when you have a solid foundation in place. The foundation is a cohesive alignment of people's needs and values with the aims and purpose of the organisation.

Motivational and inspirational quotes, poems, posters, motivational speakers and stories, team building games and activities, all develop employee motivation for sales and business staff in all kinds of organisations. Motivational and inspirational experiences improve employees' attitudes, confidence and performance.

Good leadership demands good people-motivation skills and the use of inspirational techniques. Motivational methods are wide-ranging, from inspirational quotes and poems, to team building games and activities, as ice-breakers, warm-ups and exercises for conferences, workshops, meetings and events, which in themselves can often be helpful for staff motivation too.

Motivation is an essential part of life coaching processes and techniques too. Motivated people perform better - see McGregor's XY Theory for example. People playing games or competing in teams learn about each other, they communicate better and see each other in a new light. Mutual respect grows. People often enjoy events which include new non-work activities, especially when bosses and superiors take part in the same teams as their junior staff, which also helps cohesiveness and 'can-do' culture. Inspirational quotes, stories and poems all help motivation too.

Powerful positive imagery stimulates visualisation in the conscious and sub-conscious brain, which encourages self-motivation, developmental behaviour, confidence and belief. Playing games enables people to experience winning and achieving in a way that their normal work might not. People become motivated to achieve and do better when they have experienced the feelings of success and achievement, regardless of context. This is why fire-walking and outward-bound activities have such powerful motivational effect. All of these ideas, and more explained below; contribute to improving motivation, inspiration and performance.

Here is the theory of how team building games, activities like juggling develop motivation, positive images in quotes and stories, inspirational posters, quotations, motivational speakers, team workshops and brainstorming, etc., all help to strengthen relationships, build understanding, increase motivation and improve performance:

how games and other inspirational references and activities help motivation and motivational training

Work and business-based training commonly concentrates on process, rules, theory, structure and logic, all of which tend to develop and use the left-side of the brain. However, modern successful organisations rely just as heavily on their people having well-developed 'soft' skills and attributes, such as self-motivation, confidence, initiative, empathy and creativity, which all tend to use the right-side of the brain. For more information about brain type and bias see the Benziger theory section, for example. Using games and activities like juggling helps to unleash right-side brain skills, because these activities necessarily draw on a person's intuitive, spatial and 'feeling' capabilities - found in the right-side of the brain.

Also, using activities and references that take people out of their normal work environment creates new opportunities for them to experience winning, achievement, team-working, learning and personal development, in ways that are often not possible in their usual work context. Experiencing these positive feelings is vital for the conscious and sub-conscious visualisation of success and achievement, essential for broadening people's horizons, raising their sights, setting new personal standards and goals, and increasing motivation. The use of role playing games and role play exercises is an especially effective motivational and visualisation technique, despite people's normal aversion to the practice (see the role playing games and activities tips to see how to manage role-playing activities successfully).

Inspirational references, stories, quotes and examples also help the life coaching process.

When a group or team of people assemble for a conference, or training course, there is always a feeling of uncertainty and discomfort. Even if people know each other, they feel uncomfortable in the new strange situation, because it is different. Mankind has evolved partly because of this awareness to potential threats and fear of the unknown. Games and team building activities relax people, so that they can fully concentrate on the main purpose of the day, whatever it is, rather than spending the morning still wondering what everyone else is thinking. See the stress theory section for examples. Activities and games are great levellers - they break down the barriers, and therefore help develop rapport and relationships.

Learning something new and completely different liberates the mind. Facing a challenge, meeting it and mastering it helps build confidence.

motivational team building

When you break down barriers, misunderstandings, prejudices, insecurities, divisions, territories and hierarchies - you begin to build teams. Get a group of people in a room having fun with juggling balls or spinning plates and barriers are immediately removed. Teams unite and work together when they identify a common purpose - whether the aim is the tallest tower made out of newspapers, or a game of rounders on the park. Competition in teams or groups creates teams and ignites team effort.

Learning to juggle or some other new activity demonstrates how we learn, and how to coach others. Breaking new tasks down into stages, providing clear instructions, demonstration, practice, time and space to make mistakes, doing it one stage at a time..... all the essential training and coaching techniques can be shown, whether juggling is the vehicle or some other team-building idea, and the learning is clearer and more memorable because it is taken out of the work context, where previously people 'can't see the wood for the trees'. Games and activities provide a perfect vehicle for explaining the training and development process ('train the trainer' for example) to managers, team leaders and trainers.

Everyone is different. Taking part in new games and activities outside of the work situation illustrates people's different strengths and working style preferences. Mutual respect develops when people see skills and attributes in others that they didn't know existed. Also, people work and learn in different ways, see the Kolb learning style model and Benziger thinking styles model for examples.

Learning and taking part in a completely new activity or game like juggling demonstrates that learning is ongoing. The lessons never finish, unless people decide to stop learning. Juggling the basic 'three ball cascade' pattern doesn't end there - it's just a start - as with all learning and development. Master juggler Enrico Rastelli practiced all the daylight hours juggling ten balls. Introducing people, staff or employees to new experiences opens their minds to new avenues of personal development, and emphasises the opportunity for continuous learning that is available to us all.

improving empathy and communications for motivation

"Seek first to understand, and then to be understood." (Steven Covey).

To communicate we must understand the other person. Empathy and intuitive skills are right-side brain. Conventional classroom training or distance learning do nothing to address this vital area. Juggling and playing spontaneous or creative games definitely promote development and awareness in the right-side of the brain, which we use when we communicate and understand others. Team activities and games promote communications and better mutual understanding - essential for good organisational performance

Creativity and initiative are crucial capabilities for modern organisational effectiveness. Juggling and other games activities dispel the notion that actions must be according to convention, and that response can only be to stimulus. Successful organisations have staff that initiate, create, innovate, and find new ways to do things better, without being told. Using mind and body together in a completely new way encourages pro-active thought and lateral thinking, which opens people's minds, and develops creative and initiative capabilities.

Problem-solving is integral to decision-making - see the problem-solving and decision-making section. Learning to juggle or taking part in new challenging stimulating activities uses the intuitive brain to solve the problem, the same part that's vital for creatively solving work problems. People who can solve problems creatively can make decisions - and organisations need their staff and employees to have these abilities.

Team building activities like juggling, construction exercises, or outdoor games, get the body moving, which is good for general health and for an energetic approach to work. A minute of juggling three balls is 200 throws, the equivalent of pumping over 20 kilos. Physical activity also provides significant stress relief, and stress management is part of every organisation's duty of care towards its employees. People concentrate and work better when they have had some light exercise and physical stimulus. Physical activity energises people and reduces stress and tension.

team building workshops are empowering and motivational

See the section on workshops. Workshops are good vehicles for team building games and activities, and also great for achieving team consensus, collective problem-solving, developing new direction and strategy, and to support the delegation and team development process.

Learning new things - even simple skills like plate-spinning - help to build confidence, promote team-working and unleash creativity. Taking part in workshops and brainstorming sessions are empowering activities. Combine all three and it's even more effective for team building, development and motivation.

If you think about it, all manner of left-side-brain conventional training and business skills can be integrated within an innovative, participative right-side-brain activity-based approach, to increase interest, participation, involvement, retention and motivation.

Saying thanks and giving praise are the most commonly overlooked and under-estimated ways of motivating people. And it's so easy. Saying thanks is best said naturally and from the heart, so if your intentions are right you will not go far wrong. When you look someone in the eye and thank them sincerely it means a lot. In front of other people even more so. The key words are the ones which say thanks and well done for doing a great job, especially where the words recognise each person's own special ability, quality, contribution, effort, whatever. People always appreciate sincere thanks, and they appreciate being valued as an individual even more. When you next have the chance to thank your team or an individual team-member, take the time to find out a special thing that each person has done and make a point of mentioning these things. Doing this, the praise tends to carry even greater meaning and motivational effect.

Inspirational quotations, and amusing maxims and sayings are motivational when used in team building sessions, conferences, speeches and training courses. Inspirational quotes contribute to motivation because they provide examples and role models, and prompt visualisation. Inspirational quotes stimulate images and feelings in the brain - both consciously and unconsciously. Powerful positive imagery found in motivational quotations and poems is genuinely motivational for people, individually and in teams, and can help to build confidence and belief. Inspirational examples motivate people in the same way that the simple 'power of positive thinking', and 'accentuate the positive' techniques do - people imagine and visualise themselves behaving in the way described in the quotation, saying, story or poem. Visualisation is a powerful motivational tool - quotes, stories and poems provide a very effective method for inspiring and motivating people through visualisation, imagination and association.

Motivation of sales people

Motivation of sales people commonly focuses on sales results, but nobody can actually 'do' a result. What matters in achieving results is people's attitude and activity and the areas of opportunity on which the attitude and activity is directed.

What sales people can do is to adopt a positive and creative attitude, and carry out more productive and efficient activity, directed on higher-yield strategic opportunities. By doing these things sales people and sales teams will improve their results.

However the tendency remains for sales managers, sales supervisors and team leaders (typically under pressure from above from executives who should know better) to simply direct people to 'meet the target', or to 'increase sales', or worse still, to pressurise customers into accelerating decision-making, which might work in the short-term but is extremely unhelpful in the medium-term (when business brought forward leaves gaps in the next months' forecasts), and damages the long-term (when as a result of supplier-driven sales pressure, the customer relationship is undermined or ruined).

Instead think about what really motivates and excites people, and focus on offering these opportunities to sales people and sales teams, on an ongoing basis. Don't wait until you find yourself 25% behind target with only half of the year remaining, and with targets set to increase as well in the final quarter.

People will not generally and sustainably improve their performance, or attitude when they are shouted at or given a kick up the backside. People will on the other hand generally improve their performance if empowered to develop their own strategic capability and responsibility within the organisation. Herzberg, Adams, Handy, Maslow, McGregor, and every other management and motivation expert confirmed all this long ago.

Sales teams generally comprise people who seek greater responsibility. They also seek recognition, achievement, self-development and advancement.

So if we know these things does it not make good sense to offer these opportunities to them, because we know that doing so will have a motivational effect on them, and also encourage them to work on opportunities that are likely to produce increasing returns on their efforts? Of course. So do it.

If you are managing a sales team try (gently and progressively) exploring with the team how they'd like to develop their experience, responsibilities, roles, status, value, contribution, within the business. Include yourself in this. Usually far more ideas and activity come from focusing on how the people would like to develop their roles and value (in terms of the scale and sophistication of the business that they are responsible for), rather than confining sales people to a role that is imposed on them and which is unlikely to offer sustainable interest and stimulation.

All businesses have many opportunities for new strategic growth available. Yours will be no different.

Most employees are capable of working at a far higher strategic level, developing ever greater returns on their own efforts.

Performance improvement is generally found through enabling people and teams to discover and refine more productive and strategic opportunities, which will lead to more productive and motivating activities.

For example: reactive sales people are generally able to be proactive account mangers; account managers are generally able to be major accounts developers; major accounts developers are generally able to be national accounts managers; national accounts mangers are generally able to be strategic partner and channel developers; strategic partner and channel managers are generally able to be new business sector/service developers, and so on...

Again include yourself in this.

If necessary (depending on your organisational culture and policies seek approval from your own management/executives for you to embark on this sort of exploration of strategic growth. (If you are unable to gain approval there are many other organisations out there who need people to manage sales teams in this way....)

Obviously part of the approach (and your agreement with your people - the 'psychological contract') necessarily includes maintaining and meeting existing basic business performance target levels. This is especially so since strategic growth takes time, and your business still needs the normal day-to-day business handled properly. But people can generally do this, ie., maintain and grow day-to-day performance while additionally developing new higher-level strategic areas, because genuinely motivated people are capable of dramatic achievements. The motivation and capacity to do will come quite naturally from the new responsibility and empowerment to operate at a higher level.

N.B. The principles described above generally apply to most other job roles. People are motivated by growth and extra responsibility, while at the same time the organisation benefits from having its people focus on higher strategic aims and activities. Be aware however that people in different roles will be motivated by different things, and particularly will require different types of support and guidelines when being encouraged to work at a higher strategic level. For example, engineers require more detail and clarification of expectations and process than sales people typically do; administrators are likely to require more reassurance and support in approaching change than sales people typically do.

For sure you should encourage and enable people to develop their roles, but make sure you give appropriate explanation, management and support for the types of people concerned.

Motivational quotes

"We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them." (Albert Einstein)

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." (President Harry S Truman)

"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." (Albert Camus, 1913 - 1960, French author & philosopher)

"If you're not part of the solution you must be part of the problem." (the commonly paraphrased version of the original quote: "What we're saying today is that you're either part of the solution, or you're part of the problem" by Eldridge Cleaver 1935-98, founder member and information minister of the Black Panthers, American political activist group, in a speech in 1968 -)

"A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline." (Harvey Mackay - thanks Brad Hanson)

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed." (Booker T Washington, 1856-1915, American Educator and African-American spokesman,

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. Give your dreams all you've got and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you." (William James, American Philosopher, 1842-1910)

"Whatever you can do - or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer, 1749-1832 –

"A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than the giant himself." (Didacus Stella, circa AD60 - and, as a matter of interest, abridged on the edge of an English £2 coin)

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." (Sir Isaac Newton, 1676.)

"The most important thing in life is not to capitalise on your successes - any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes." (William Bolitho, from 'Twelve against the Gods')

"Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be,

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud:

Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed . . . . .

It matters not how strait the gait, how charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul."

(WE Henley, 1849-1903, from 'Invictus')

"Management means helping people to get the best out of themselves, not organising things." (Lauren Appley)

"It's not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with the sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt, 23 April 1923.)

"The world is divided into people who do things, and people who get the credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class. There's far less competition." (Dwight Morrow, 1935.)

"What does not kill us makes us stronger." (attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, probably based on his words: "Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." from The Twilight of the Idols, 1899)

"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honourable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." (George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950.)

"I praise loudly. I blame softly." (Catherine the Great, 1729-1796.)

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