Archive for March, 2006

Kevin Roberts has done it again, after Lovemarks he is coming out again with a new book called SiSoMo (Sight Sound & Motion). The theme looks promising. We are definitely going to talk here about marketing emotions, consumer experiences in today’s techno world…

Certainly there is a difference between a little market research and too much market research.

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Often I come across the same problem. Brand image is this fuzzy idea out there… But sales is what really counts… Yes ? Well this is part of the same thing… And I have been preaching this for years in all the companies I have worked for.
Ignoring this is a bit like running without direction, The legs without the head. The way you sell, the people you employ in sales, how you negotiate on price, your ability to add value to a deal, the kind of promotions you run, the corporate responsibility programs you run, the sponsorship deals you sign… Everything, it all speaks for you as one. It is your brand personality. An because it all comes down to people, it will be about who they want to work with and will impact their confidence in what you have to offer. So at the end it will impact very directly your business results. A brand is an asset. As I already highlighted before… That asset is sometimes worth everything.

What does one have to do with the other ?
Well every business dreams to grow its consumer base. Last posting was about the fans…. Imagine a music band who would start to play every different style of music in a desperate attempt to increase album sales and reach out to more people… Well now you are with me… The likelihood of them upsetting their fans is high, their identity becomes confused, diluted… And the reverse effect happens they loose their public without really growing a new one. Its the same in business. The key is what does you business / your brand stand for ? Who are you ? What are your values ? What do consumers like you for ? Try to understand that first – because every brand / business has an image it projects … Good or bad. You want to capitalize on that image, work on it, develop it, correct it. You also want to filter new ideas, new services, offers, through your existing consumer base to make sure there are no fundamental objections. Focus groups are great for that.
That’s it for me today. Cheers.

Today I had a discussion with a guy I met who is a music producer. We were talking about the difficulty for young talents to break through. New Zealand seems to have loads of young talents, but then there is a large gap between the base and the top groups which are breaking through.

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