Years ago I worked at the advertising agency that handled the Coca-Cola account worldwide. I was on the project team for New Coke.

I am sure some of you may remember “New Coke.” Pepsi Cola-USA president Roger Enrico called it, “the Edsel of the 80′s.”

Coca-Cola was losing market share although Coke was beating Pepsi in distribution consumers were still buying based on price or availability. Clearly Pepsi was comparable if not better tasting in blind tests

The technical division created a formula of Coke that beat Pepsi in blind taste-tests, by as much as 6 to 8 points. Before, Pepsi had beaten Coke by anywhere from 10 to 15 points. This was an 18-point swing.

The blind tests yielded results that showed relatively high variances that gave management a high level of confidence that the sweeter product would ultimately yield stronger future sales.Market research revealed strong statistical data indicating a preference for a sweeter and slightly less carbonated product.

The data did not take into consideration some key points however in blind tests the data seemed to clearly point to a product reformulation. In tests where the customer knew which product was the original formula the results were skewed to favor the old formula.

The management did not in hindsight believe in the power of the brand. The taste question was crucial to Coke. But what Coca-Cola executives failed to realize is that there’s more to marketing soft drinks than winning taste tests. More than any other product consumers have an emotional attachment to their soft drink brand.

A subsidiary of one of the largest US banks in Japan is also one of Japan’s leaders in the consumer loan business and is in the process of evaluating and planning its options to further develop its business in this arena. One input to the planning process that is a key factor to the firm’s success is the role of technology, specifically mobile technology.

The mobile telephony landscape in Japan is very sophisticated and changes more rapidly than in any other country in the world. New technologies have been introduced so that customers can use the phone almost with the same functionality of a credit card and certainly vendors have made mobile phones as functional as cash earning the nickname “e-wallet.”

A case in point the extensive train system throughout the country now allows its riders to board the train and pay for his or her fare at the seat, scanning devices are above each seat next to the reading lamps. The subways and metro accepts payment as well. Even the common Coca-Cola vending machines accept the e-wallet that can be embedded in every mobile handset in Japan.

There are over 1.5 million of these type vending machines. The “Smart” pumps at Exxon Mobile stations, toll-booths on the freeway, theater tickets and so on are all mobile phone payment accessible. The bank and all of its subsidiaries cannot afford not to explore this opportunity before its competitors embark on a faster track to potential loan consumers.

Toward that end Activate has been commissioned to deliver a snapshot of the relevant mobile or m-commerce and securities technologies and how they could impact the future development of its loan business in the form of a written report.

From this report a technical planning team in close cooperation with the marketing department will be able to decide whether the firm should create a secure mobile telephone loan service for the Japanese market. If it is decided that firm should pursue a mobile approach to automated loan processes then the technology team would determine how to create the system, establishing a developmental project with its own set of deliverables, timelines and budgets.

Accepting the findings of this report will require the planning teams to think “outside the box.” When an organization such as a bank steps outside the existing packaged solutions to become a trailblazer the project management team will need to communicate and modify traditional banking methodologies. Craig Courter, COO of Baker McKenzie, said, “We live in an ideas jungle…. the most important skill a project manager can bring to bear is the ability to sort, categorize and prioritize all of the ideas…only then can you implement a change that truly advances your strategy.” (Fretty 2005)

In the mobile telephony industry there is truly a jungle of new ideas. The report created an accurate picture of what is out in the market now and what the landscape will be in the near future so that the planning team has an understanding of competitive landscape.

check out the European packs…who needs additive list after seeing the skull and crossbones bigger than the brand!!! I will try and find a pic and upload it for you all. BUT look at these warning labels…who would smoke after reading these that change every month!
http://www.sailingtexas.com/England/cigarettes.html

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wow…there are so many great actors today it is impossible to choose one and only one.
I believe the quality of the performances has improved in part due to the types of roles and subjects that some of the films are covering…more daring, more in depth, more real.
Hanks in Philadelphia for example, Deniro is Flawed, Eastwood in Unforgiven…all real, all deep.

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Last year advertisers spent $5.75 billion on search engine marketing (SEM), a 44% increase over the previous year. SEM is an online advertising strategy that aims to make your company’s website position higher within the search results of the major search engines so that more targeted visitors visit your website.

SEM services such as Pay Per Click search engine advertising or organic SEO have become major categories in online advertising spending in the past five years. Pay Per Click programs account for $4.70 billion, 81% of the $5.75 spent on SEM last year even though more companies use organic search engine optimization. The same report estimates that this year the spending on SEM will reach $7.19 billion and by 2010 we can expect spending to reach at least $11 billion.

Currently, 91% of Internet users report conducting searches daily, making search engines the predominant way to generate traffic to a website. Research shows that 85% of all visits to websites originate at the major search engines and that if a company’s website does not have a page appearing in the top 10 search engine result positions, the likelihood that they will visit a company’s website decreases dramatically.

In fact, 62% of search engine users click on results within the first page, 90% of users click on results within the first three pages and 36% of search engine users believe that the companies with websites listed at the top are the best destination websites for the keyword or keyword phrase they are searching. Search engine marketing is the preferred way to position your website within this crucial search point.

Internet advertising spending is up over 72% since 2000 and is expected to increase another 13% this year. Advertisers are recognizing the importance of advertising online and SEM services are the first step to making their online advertising as efficient as possible. Companies everywhere are realizing that without a professional website design company specializing in SEM services their website will not appear in the top search results and will not generate the traffic they need.

Procter and Gamble and Gillette

The following sentiments written in January last year by Dan Barrows of Market Watch reinforce my thoughts on this merger, “Procter and Gamble’s $57 billion acquisition of Gillette not only created the world’s largest consumer goods company, it also created a global-size headache for both companies’ rivals.”

I have worked with Gillette, P&G and KAO, the Japanese version of a P&G, for several years. A year before the announced merger Gillette was already looking to find a partner to acquire them. I even arranged for the Japanese top management of KAO to meet with Gillette in Boston to see if the synergies between KAO and Gillette would work across the globe. KAO’s interest is to become more of a global player. Two years earlier KAO bought Jergens and Biore in an attempt to enter the US market in particular.

But Japan moves too slowly and cautiously and P&G was able to offer a more compelling deal for the Gillette shareholders. Besides the obvious financial pluses this deal makes tremendous sense from a marketing standpoint, now P&G can go head to head with Colgate in Oral care with Oral B and in shaving against Schick with Gillette”s shaving technological successes. I think the power of the two will give P&G considerable clout in the battle for shelf space as well

Dan Barrow’s article also pointed out the strategy behind the plan as viewed by CIBC World Markets analyst Joseph Altobello, “Besides creating what in our view would be pre-eminent consumer products company in believe it would underscore our thesis that suppliers need to either ‘get big or get focused’ in order to maintain leverage in an industry marked by retailer consolidation,”

A merger of P&G and Gillette not only bring Colgate’s two biggest direct competitors together under one corporate umbrella, it also combines their already considerable advertising, marketing and research and development resources and talent.

Moreover, P&G now will expand into new product categories in which it currently does not compete: Gillette owns the premium razor and blade brand, and Duracell, the premier battery brand. P&G would also add Gillette’s number-one oral care brand, Oral B — a direct strike at Colgate’s own oral care business.

Those product and brand-portfolio expansions give P&G more leverage in its dealing with Wal-Mart and other retailers.

The acquisition also added about 20 percent to P&G’s sales virtually overnight in a business where sales growth is ever harder to come by and increasingly driven by volume gains and foreign currency exchange.

To put that in perspective, Gillette and Colgate each generate about $10 billion in annual revenue. The P&G acquisition of Gillette is comparable to adding the entirety of Colgate’s sales to P&G’s top line.

Additionally, P&G already the biggest consumer goods company in the U.S. takes that role in the global market, eclipsing Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever N.V.

Coming soon…
“To build my brand I need communication that shows brand leadership but also increases transactions.”
Visa Asia Pacific


Found one shot from the original storyboard……very comic style but effective to share the idea with a client.

“Clicks and Mortar” at Gap.com, American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch for Japan has paid off handsomely.
“Twice a month, Gap tailored e-mails promoting its latest specials to its database. They have been promoting the acquisition of e-mail addresses at their retail shops offering discounts and free shipping for awhile and more than two years of names have paid off” (Business Week)

“Thanks to the site’s sharp graphics and easy-to-use format spending is up 10% to 15% more at Gap. The chain retailer only started selling merchandise online in late 1997, an early convert to the then-revolutionary idea of apparel retailing on the Web. Now, that gamble is starting to pay off. Gap’s online sales as well as Banana Republic’s sales have tripled over the past year.” (Rushe, 2007)

“Online still brings in just a tiny fraction of Gap’s $9 billion in annual sales. But the growth prospects are huge. As consumers shed their reticence to shop for clothes on the Web and retailers shed their fears of cannibalizing their own stores” (Rushe, 2007). Rakuten Japan’s leading web portal site is proof that the Japanese consumers are buying online with consistency and confidence

At the core of Gap’s strategy is the conviction that the retailer’s network of outlets can be turned into an advantage in an online revolution that so far seems to give the edge to cyber-startups. By aggressively marketing both the stores and the Web site and allowing each to leverage the strengths of the other

Research indicates that over 50% of consumers who buy online and in stores spend more than when they shopped only at stores. The rest spend about the same as before.

“What is Gap’s secret? The same sort of compelling marketing and customer focus that has brought it success in the off-line world. The Web site is promoted at every cash register and, recently, in window displays with the slogan ”surf.shop.ship.” Clerks are trained to refer shoppers to Gap’s Web site.” (Business Week, 1999).

Online customers can return items purchased on the Net the old-fashioned way, by walking into any neighborhood Gap. Together, the moves persuade consumers to think it is the online version of what the consumers see on the street.

Yet despite Gap’s growing online clout, its Net strategy is hardly a sure bet. “Competition is rising from Abercrombie & Fitch whose site has proven a huge hit among young adult consumers. AF has no shop in Japan but has a healthy number of Japanese unique visitors to its site…Its online experience also offers more than e-commerce. It provides entertainment features on a platform that seeks to mimic virtual store shopping. The downloadable features include wallpaper and photos that can be found in retail outlets/ profit centers. AF TV as well as mp3 songs are also available.” (Internet Retailing, 2007)

Its easy credit card payment, in addition to the AF credit card allows for easy checkout. Delivery is also efficient, and since teaming up with UPS, orders can be processed quickly. American Eagle advertised an English site in local Japanese magazines and turned in US$100,000 in sales its first month

Gap’s cyber-strategy was slow to shift into high gear. It was a full year after the site was launched before it began offering apparel for sale.

“Goods bought online get returned at about the same rate as store purchases because most online shoppers have a good idea of how Gap clothes fit.” according to Gap marketing.

Gap’s latest scheme is a partnership with online music seller CDnow Inc. to cross-promote Web sites. That idea was hatched after a flood of e-mails from gap.com customers asking how they could buy a recording of the music played in Gap TV commercials featuring swing music to sell easy-fit jeans.

Marc Gobe wrote this and presented it in Tokyo at a seminar…yikes I had to speak after him and he is a truly great presenter!

“Let’s face it: Some brands create emotional connections with consumers, while others leave people cold. There are functional brands, such as Compaq or Kmart, and there are emotional brands, such as Apple, Target and Wal-Mart, that galvanize loyalty.

The difference is the personal connection these brands have with consumers through the strength of their culture and the uniqueness of their brand imagery. Emotional Branding creates strong, flexible brand personalities that closely match the aspirations of their customers. These “brand characters” are less about rationality than they are about desire and cultural connection.

The following “Ten Commandments of Emotional Branding” illustrate the difference between traditional concepts of brand awareness and Emotional Branding.”

1. from consumers to people
Consumers buy, people live.
2. from product to experience
Products fulfill needs, experiences fulfill desires.
3. from honesty to trust
Honesty is expected. Trust is engaging and intimate.
4. from quality to preference
Quality for the right price is a given today. Preference creates the sale.
5. from notoriety to aspiration
Being known does not mean that you are also loved!
6. from identity to personality
Identity is recognition. Personality is about character and charisma.
7. from function to feel
The functionality of a product is about practical or superficial qualities only.
Sensorial design is about experiences.
8. from ubiquity to presence
Ubiquity is seen. Emotional presence is felt.
9. from communication to dialogue
Communication is telling. Dialogue is sharing.
10. from service to relationship
Service is selling. Relationship is acknowledgment.

Ok not all flavor ides are good ones…I don’t think this will catch on and I think it is bad for the brand but pepsi allowed its local partner Suntory to launch this. One local writer called it one of the signs of the Apocalypse! Guess he thought it was bad too.