What do Google and Microsoft have in common?

 

 

 

 

What do Google and Microsoft have in common? Well, other than their global success, their logo colors!  Four primary colors in two simple designs!  Simplicity, makes a difference for yet another time in the marketing world.  Do not take me wrong...Global success is not owed to the logo colors, but the logo design and colors could harm the positioning of your brand.  Thus, accompany your targeted, quality product with a simple logo design and  primary colors.  It can make a difference...

Let's go shopping mom!

 Hello to all.  I happened to be looking at an older report yesterday, the 2008 YTV Kids and Tweens Report, while my 2.5 year old daughter was telling me she wanted to go to the supermarket for some candy.  I realized, for yet another time, how powerful consumers kids are from a really young age.  Directly or indirectly, through parents & grandparents especially, kids exert this immense power, the so called “pester power” on their shopping partners who can hardly resist and they end up buying what they would not have otherwise done so.  They are a great demographic target for marketers who invest crazy amounts on psychologists to help them bait these controlling, little creatures; fancy colors, talking characters, cuddly pets, “free” gifts…

Here is a snapshot of the pester power and its influence as on YTV’s Report:

·         Breakfast choices (97% of the time) and lunch choices (95% of the time).

·         Where to go for casual family meals (98% of the time

·         Clothing purchases (95% of the time).

·         Software purchases (76% of the time) and computer purchases (60% of the time).

·         Family entertainment choices (98% of the time) and family trips and excursions (94% of the time). (1)

 

Where are you going shopping today?  My daughter is definitely taking me to the supermarket today...

Can I have some Kleenex and Panadol, please?

Goodmorning to all.  With the weather getting cloder and viruses going around, you will probably find yourself in the situation of asking for some Kleenex and some Tylenol or Panadol, when all you will  really need is some tissue paper and some pain reliever.  All you mothers out there, might have asked your hubbies to get a pack of Pampers from the supermarket, even though, you are actually using the Nannys brand of diapers.  Your housekeeper might have asked for the Hoover, when she actually needs your Bosch vacuum cleaner to vacum the floors.  Or she might be looking for some Tupperware in the kitchen cabinets, when what she is really looking for are some plastic containers to keep food remains.  You might have asked your office assistant for a Coke while you are Xeroxing some documents, when what you really had in mind was  a cola drink while making some copies of your docs.

This is the power of branding...The right positioning strategy and systematic marketing efforts have made the above, and many more brands, synonymous with the product they represent.  These brands hold the highest position in the perceptual map of consumers, thus, they are the first names that consumers will recall and consider when in need or want of the relevant products.

What product will your name become synonymous with?

Supermarket shopping tricks

There is indeed a reason for everything...there is a reason why supermarkets, and stores in general, have their existing layouts. There is a reason why perishables, your milk and eggs for example, are placed at the back of the store; why popular brands are placed at the end of the aisles and at eye level; why batteries, hair accessories and chewing gum are the last items you see by the checkout counters and why candy and little toys are placed at children's eye level.

These old tricks are the reasons for your subconscious supermarket shopping.  Are you going shopping today?  Check for any tricks of the shopping game...

Christmas; Time for extra mileage...

Mid November marks the beginning of the Christmas season for both Marketers and consumers.  Marketers take advantage of the emotions and spirit that Christmas awakens inside all of us and, regarding economical crisis or not, they start inducing feelings of giving and exchanging, feelings of love and care.  Their advertising campaigns subconsiously set consumers in the purchasing and consumption modes of the season.


So, are you going to make your target consumers "go the extra mile" this season?

"Hand Job" Nails & Spa

Dear Marketers!

In the process of developing an effective brand name you should try to come up with one that says something about the qualities or the benefits of your product, company or store.

The "Hand Job Nails & Spa" name, could have been consciously developed or not...  It could have been lost somewhere in an Asian translation or not...However, it is suggesting benefits and services offered by the salon.  Hand treatments for example; maybe not the kind that some potential customers are perceiving them as, but the name is surely attracting customers...

Happy birthday to ...

Hello to all!

What a year this has been...with uphills and downhills, wows and woes. On the positive side of it, a year of  anniversaries and celebrations.  A year of brand anniversaries, too!   Life Savers and Oreo cookies celebrate their 100th anniversaries, Bacardi rum its 150th, Kraft macaroni and cheese its 75th, Motel 6 its 50th, PA College-Cyprus its 30th! 

Anniversary campaigns are a great opportunity to refresh your brand and remind clients of the name they have trusted for a number of decades.  Ensure them through your anniversary celebrations that your quality and other points of difference are guaranteed constants in many more decades to come...Happy anniversary to all celebrants!