Puma Beer!

The World Cup is just ahead and many companies are getting ready to use this spectacle to promote their brands. In particular major sports brands can not afford to miss out and need to make sure that their campaigns leave a positive mark. Puma has been riding on a fairly positive wave over the past years and now they are teaming up with brewers Collective Sao Gabriel to create a special brew for this year’s World Cup. For many people, sports and beer is a match made in heaven and brands use such partnerships to reach a wider customer base. The particular product they are launching is the Puma Unity Beer with the message of promoting sportsmanship.

I like the positive message behind it and I am sure that they will reach a wide spectrum of consumers with this initiative. Furthermore, extensive media coverage might give the brand the desired exposure and many consumers will conceive it as an amusing way to market a product. However, I don’t really see a clear link between the Puma brand and a beer manufacturer. On top of this, if the beer does not satisfy the taste buds of the consumer, it might affect the brand. Don’t get me wrong, I am an advocate of creative marketing and taking some risks. I might be proven wrong and this turns out to be a huge success, but my initial gut feeling tells me that it won't. It is just my opinion, what do you think?

On the other hand, I can’t wait for the World Cup to start as there will be some exciting games and new ads that will entertain marketers even during commercial breaks. Cheers!

Chinas Generation Y keeps consuming brands!

While the world is suffering from a recession, Chinas young seem still to be hungry for foreign brands, much to the delight of numerous companies that are focusing their efforts on this segment. It is the vast number of potential customers and the fact that many of them are raised as the only child with more disposable income that makes this market so attractive.

Bonnie Cao has written up a short article published in this weeks Business Week. It's a quick read worth your time. Just check it out.

Link to the full article

Social Media Brands!

Social media is currently one of hot areas brands try to focus on. The influx sites as myspace, facebook, twitter, etc. have, especially on younger people, is noticable as their growth has not peaked yet. A new study by analyst Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group and Wetpaint ranks the top 100 brands by social media engagement. Check it out!

Link to the study

It is Time of the Big G!

In the mids of a global economic crisis consumers watch more carefully what they spend their money on. Some marketers might see this as a difficult time where surving is the priority, but it is the breed of marketers that sees a challenge as an opportunity that normally succeeds. Why not use this opportunity and strengthen your brand while others take a more defensive role. You might ask yourself now how and the answers seems almost too simple, it's the big G. Surprisingly the G stands not for Greed, something that has been heavily associated with the financial crisis. In this case the G stands for Generosity, or Giving.

When people are experiencing hardships they will appreciate even more getting a break and anything a company does to make the consumers life easier will be more than welcome. This can really enhance your brand reputation and allow companies to gain a new customerbase, that is likely to be loyal once things look better again. At least I think that if somebody was good to me during these times I will be a loyal follower at a later stage, besides telling everybody about their good deed.

Trendwatching.com has published in their February briefing a nice article on this topic and I encourage you to read it.

Link is here

Got any examples to share?

Yum! adds Flavor to the Menu!

When it comes to culture, food is an important part of it. Yum! Brands Inc. better known for their main brands Pizza Hut and KFC knows how to address the cultural part in their expansion run through China. Besides their plans to open 500 new restaurants (in 2009) in the Middle Kingdom, they are aware of the fact that catering to the local taste by making the necessary adjustments to their menu should be an integral part of their strategy.

A few examples of their Pizza Hut menu in China are:

Tuna fish pizza, zesty shrimp soup, roasted squid, a variety of rice-and-meat dishes (kimchi pork, curry beef and Hungarian beef rice), and green tea.


This shows once again that if you want to establish your brands overseas it is crucial to know your market and target customer, but without neglecting specific traits of your brand.

Trying to impose typical American flavors might not always be the right thing to do, and especially in markets where religious believes might prohibit the consumption of certain foods (e.g. Beef in India, etc.)

Sounds like YUM! Brands has understood that being culturally sensitive is the key to success. Bon Appetite!

Cup Noodle Making it Easy!

There are brands that do not stand out for their luxurious or colorful design, but for pure convenience and practicability. One of those brands is Nissin's Cup Noodle.

If you have been in a convenient store in Japan you might have bought there some instant noodles and used one of the microwaves available to get them ready to eat. Furthermore, anybody that has been in Tokyo knows that the vending machine concept is taken to another level and can be found pretty much anywhere.

Cup noodle has now taken this concept by heart and a step further in their latest promotional campaign. Already known as a convenient product,its key brand value, it is trying to reach the "geeky segment" with this campaign. Besides, I am pretty sure that as a by product the media coverage generated will also reach other segments of interest.

But now more about the campaign. Until the end of March, Cup Noodle fans will be able to enter a contest to win one of 3000 limited edition "My Vending Machine Cup Noodle dispenser/water heaters". Want to know more, well just check out the video.

I just found this an interesting way of promoting a product while further emphasizing the brands key value. Thank you cup noodle, and thank you Japan for offering sometimes things that are just a bit different.

The Brand Watches YOU!

Over the last years we have gotten used to the fact that everytime we are surfing the web companies as Google and Yahoo are collecting data on our behavior and what particular ads we are watching. Japanese NTT Communications has taken this thought now to billboards in Tokyo. From this month on a digital billboard in a railway station will be equipped with two webcams and a software that analyzes how many people watch the ad and for how long. An interesting concept that will enable advertisers to make necessary adjustments much quicker and thus billboard advertising more efficient, adding a whole new dimension to AD-ROI. Will we feel watched; well I guess we are already, but for a brand manager it can surely be helpful when he is deciding on how to distribute his ad $$$.


Check the article here

Picture courtesy of fastcompany.com

Welcome!

Welcome to Globalguy Branding, where brands meet culture!

Food, isn’t it a great thing that connects people from all over the world? As for myself, I like to immerse myself in culinary experiences from east to west and I am a firm believer that food is part of and represents particular cultures.

Now you might ask yourself, why I am talking about food, isn’t this supposed to be a branding blog? Well, I think when it comes to branding we have to think outside the box, look further and search for intangibles that make the consumers heart beat faster, like a cook trying to capture our senses and attention serving us his best dish. Just as foods represent part of a culture, brands represent certain values and personalities, and in order to create a connection to the consumer on a global scale it is necessary to take into consideration country specific cultural factors.

What this blog and my persona are trying to do is adding a little spice and flavor to the branding equation, share insights and have some vivid discussions about classical as well as current branding topics and whenever possible add some cultural notes. I hope to cover branding issues from all around the globe, but as we progress you might notice that I have a slight inclination towards the Asian market. However, I want to keep it open to all regions and look forward to hear from you. If you landed on this blog, branding is probably part of your life already and I am sure you have lots of interesting insights to share, so let’s make this a platform where we can all learn from each other about what happens when brands meet culture.

Yours truly,

Globalguy