A bank with balls

Bank of America has definitely got balls. They've just announced they'll be launching a credit card to target illegal immigrants in the US, albeit higher rates. This move has inevitably sparked alot of debate but as a card / marketing guy, I'm for the move because I'm looking at it as another sub-prime segment being targeted. From a risk management perspective, anyone falling into this segment is the same regardless of nationality, i.e. immigrant vs. citizens. This is a classic case of pushing the boundaries in terms of marketing thinking but I am however unsure if the response if going to be great because my feel is that illegals would rather remain in their anonymity and revel in their freedom. Personally, I'd approach this illegal immigrant segment differently. I'd find ways to integrate, structure and facilitate their current informal banking activities ala adaptations of thoughts from Hernado DeSoto plus Mohamed Yunus plus Zopa plus Dango system.

If you're asking how big this market segment is, here's a picture from one of their boycott rallies.
pictures from www.blog.kansascity.com

Supply Side Marketing

The business of real marketing is to drive company profitability - to create demand so that consumers will buy. So what is this "Supply Side Marketing" thing? Well, it's a term I coined to describe marketing that aims to create "supplies" to tickle the marketer's fancies so that they'll be sold on the sell, without really thinking about how the damn thing will make any impact on the real sell that matters most, i.e., with the consumers. The business of supply side marketing is really about selling to the marketer.

The name of the game is to suck up to and con the client with special / promo packages loaded with lots of freebies and “support”. The supply sider only needs to CONvince that decision maker and he’s home free! Just take a look at all the media, from papers to magazines, websites, TV programs and everything else. The countless "exclusives", “special feature / spreads” and "supplements" that’s been created for marketers. Most of us buy, not because we are convinced of the product, but rather because we are distracted by the “value” of the deal, like the amount of free editorial write ups, the cover story (with professionally photographed cover picture thrown in...yes, that's available for sale too if you know who to ask), the special mentions, the extra spots, the "this and the that" that comes as part of the package. The Supply Sider knows our weakness well and will exploit it to the maximum, so be warned…

Fast food ads to go?

To ban or not to ban? That seems to be the topic these days since Health Minister Chua proposed that fast food ads should be banned because it's bad for the people's health. Well, while I am not against it, the proposal seems to somewhat miss the bigger picture.

People are responding that the food served at hawkers, mamaks and the like are worse in terms nutritional value, hygiene and cleanliness compared to fast food chains. So, what will be the real impact of the ban? To be honest, I think the cumulative value of these mamaks/hawker business is even bigger than those of the fast food chains.

Initially, I thought may we could impose the requirement for these ads to highlight their nutritional value, i.e., percentage fat, colestral, etc., like what is required on cigarette packages, but this would only mislead the consumer to thinking that outdoor mamak / hawker fare is better for health when they're not. Let's face it, mamak / hawkers don't advertise so the disclosure requirement doesn't impact them at all.

Perhaps the ministry could consider beating the fast food brands at their own game by doing a better marketing job. I'm not just talking about the standard TVCs, I am talking about the hard core multi-dimensional / integrated marketing campaigns that engages the consumers and their kids to be more conscious about their health. Definitely something a lot better than the "Tak Nak" campaign, which should have been more thoroughly executed, particularly at the consumer engagement levels. Imagine also, if the government will also give tax breaks on gyms and sports club memberships, etc. as economic incentives. Really, if this is to become a national agenda, we should be seeing all the respective ministries working together to tackle the problem, especially at the school level. P.E. sessions should never be the same again.

To be fair to fast food companies, they really do a good job at marketing, especially to kids in school. The ministry needs to be more marketing savvy and beat them at their own marketing game. Even right now, as we discuss this topic, the fast food brands already have their pre-emptive plans or Plan B activated. They probably know more about obesity and health problem than we do. You can see almost all the big players like McDonald's and KFC taking initiaves to come up with healthy meals in their menus as well as help educate consumers on calory intakes, health living, importance of healthy living/exercise, etc. And recently in November, Burger King in the UK has taken a stand to not use kids in their commercials as a self imposed policy.

visual from kfc.com

One of my favouorite healthy lifestyle marketing initiaves is the Smart Spot program initiated by PepsiCo in the US. They basically worked with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Academy of Sciences to come up with food guidelines and when certain products meet this requirement, they can place / use the Smart Spot logo on the products, like their Quaker Oat meal, baked Lays, Gatorade, Diet Pepsi, etc. (all of which are PepsiCo products but of course). This is a really good strategy because Pepsico essentially locks out Coke and their respective product competitors out of the program. After all, which of the competitors would want to join and endorse this when its lead by their rival? In addition to the product labelling, this program also promotes healthy living by educating consumers on the importance of better eating habits and so on. Some of the consumer engagement strategies include working with school and communities to brand or designate certain physical venues as Smart Spots, e.g., basketball courts, for branded / healthy activities to reach consumers on the ground level. Really smart. .

visual from smartspot.com

Well, there also brands like Hardee's, a north american chain, who are targeting the "fed up with healthier and low fat menu items" with their Monster Thick burger which is labeled as "a monument to decadence". The results? Higher sales. Obviously competitors followed suit (including McDonald's) - and who can blame them, afterall they are here to do business. It's about giving consumers choices they say. Visual from hardees.com
The root of the problem is at the consumer's level, and this problem is our lack of self control. Don't just look at fast food, look at alchohol consumption, gambling, etc. - they're all about our inability to control ourselves.

OK, I'm going to get myself a value meal now - maybe I should just stick with the medium meal so I don't over eat, but then again, it's more bang for the buck to size up to large, so how? Arghh, my kiasu-ness is killing me!

A tale long ago

I was just going through my files and stumbled upon my presentation materials for one of the conferences which I was an invited speaker. This was in early feb 2005 and in my session, I used a graph that pointed to the long tail and was actually speaking about how the customers in the fringe will be the new drivers for revenue, achieved through targeted marketing and new ways of niche customer segmentations.

Of course I am in no way implying that I came up with the marketing in the long tail idea but I'm just really happy that my thoughts were on the right track as it was later confirmed in Colloquy.

Visual from colloquy.com

Anyway, "Long Tail" is a concept formally put forth by Chris Anderson in his WIRED article. The concept basically draws our attention on the inverse relationships found in power laws and pareto distribution, i.e., rather than just thinking or focusing on the 20% that drives 60% impact, the potential of the 80% that's previously considered as low impact drivers can actually deliver even a bigger impact than that's generated from the first 20% (under the right conditions). Anyway, here's how Anderson puts it and what is basically arguing is that products that are in low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough.

To me the real impact of the long tail is putting a new perspective niche markets and previously labeled un-viable customer segments. It reinforces the concept that fortune can be made at the "Bottom Of The Pyramid" (BOP) premise put forth by CK Prahalad (but the principles prescribed by Anderson and Prahalad are nevertheless different). With that, let's continue to challenge ourselves and go make money from where no man has made before.

Visual is from wired.com

Insight-out

"Insight" - one of the most used words by agency and so-called-marketing people. What is it really? Based on my observation, it can most often time be decribed as, "the obvious things that no one says" - and once said, ownership of that "insight" is claimed. At the end of the day, "insights" must be actionable to drive impact on the bottom line. Here's where "insight" and "impact" met at Motorola: they realize that people prefer flip phones but not when its folded because it becomes bulky, the next thing you know - MotoRAZR, one of the best / fastest selling phones in the world aka MotoSAVR.

More...of the same

Just caught Celcom-Lee Hom's MORE TVC. In this ad, we hear Lee Hom telling that he can "talk more" and "chat more" with Celcom. Does he really use celcom? My colleague who's a die hard Lee Hom fan found the ad very, err, "amusing". Here's a quote from an old Bernama entry:

"With the new promotional campaign powered by Lee Hom, Zalman said he was confident it would boost sales of Celcom products and services in the Chinese market and its overall sales target."

I'd like to think that we're not that gullible, but who am I to say - afterall I bought the Celcom-David Beckam-Product Red-mobile phone/line package, NOT!!

Music to my ears

These days some of the best marketing can be observed in music and entertainment industry.It seems that sometimes, we just need to face our worst fears to bring out the best in us. As the rise of the online / P2P phenomenon threatens the survival of record companies, a new paradigm in the marketing of music is required. A lot is at is stake to say the least.

Record sales are declining and are expected to continue to decline. Previously, record labels rely on pure airplay (radio, TV, etc) or appearance (concerts, promo gigs, etc), to push record sales, but things seems to be different these days (well, they have to be, I guess). Rather than just fighting the new order, labels and artistes are embracing the new realities in technology and consumer behaviour.

Many artistes are already leveraging on the web to promote themselves to peers through social networking sites like YouTube, MySpace, etc. Some even used it to launch their careers like Esmée Denters, Lim Jeong-Hyun / Funtwo, Andy McKee and more. Being able to connect with the grassroots to create a fan base is always the vital first step...

How many times can you release a record? Based on Beck’s experience, about 4 times give or take - yes, the same record, well sorta. Here’s how Beck’s Guero album was released to the world: (1) the official CD release, (2) the online release of unfinished mix, (3) the Deluxe CD / DVD release with bonus tracks + surround sound mix + interactive video art that accompanies each song, etc, and (4) the fan remix releases. What Beck is pioneering is what I call Multi-Dimensional Marketing (MDM), going beyond my previous thesis of Integrated Marketing 2.0 (that requires marketers to think not just about integrated marketing communications / channels, but also how the marketing or promotional proposition must also be linked back the brand proposition and strategy)

Instead of just pushing record sales, Beck and his label are pushing the full potential of he music assets available. This paradigm opens the doors for Beck to create new audio, visual, interactive, and alternative products, thereby creating new reach and revenue streams.

Not too long ago, we have seen how marketers in the music and entertainment industry have embraced the mobile phone to push their brands and products.Instead of releasing traditional CD singles to seed interest, ring tone versions of the singles are pushed instead (true tones). It made so much sense to deliver the single as a ringtone as it automatically converts each user to a promoter! For the hot-mama-of-music-marketing, Madonna, during the launch of her Confessions album, she not only dished out the first single as ringtone, but also used the mobile phone as a channel to pre-sell her album. There's more to come - marketing through mobile phone screen savers, mobile games, the list just goes on. The mobile phone has since become a part of our daily lives and we can see how marketers have used it to "engage" us through it, particularly those in the music and entertainment industry. Next up, marketing in 3G.

Some of the other interesting marketing initiatives we’ve witnessed from music and entertainment industry comes from behind the scenes. It started with David Bowie, who famously marketed himself, or rather his current and future music assets / revenues, for securitization, thereby generating capital for himself creating what is now known as Bowie Bonds. More recently though,a company called Sellaband was formed allowing fans and consumers to invest in bands for shares and a piece of action on future revenue (from CD sales, endorsements, etc.), kinda like Bowie Bonds, except that rather having a big time financial institution to back up the deal, you do it. Don't worry, you don't have to fork out millions, it works like how one would invest in shares in the stock market, tapping into the aggregate investment capabilities of the public / fans. Imagine if you’ve had the opportunity to invest in a band like U2 when they first started - you’d be rich and connected to the famous now.

Stay Tubed

I was pleasently suprised when most of the TVC clips in my previous posts could be found on YouTube. Though I have been an avid fan of the site and have been reading/follwing some of the international brands' presence there, it didn't really come across to me that Malaysian brands were also getting into the action, though I am not sure if the brands did it intentionally or the agency people trying to showcase their work - my suspicion is the latter.

And because the cost of distribution is close to zero on YouTube, brands like Smirnoff are also pushing their campaigns there hoping the viral factor will launch it into the orbit. Last year, Smirnoff's "Tea Partay" was one such campaign registering close to 3 million views! But be warned, these things don't happen everyday - so keep hoping against hope.

However, least to say, posting an ad in Youtube is far from claiming the channel's full potential. While there are some brands that go an inch further by posting behind the scenes stuffs like interviews and "the making of's", etc (like the infamous Sony Bravia "Balls" campaign, Intel's multiply campaign, etc.), companies like Pepsi are pushing the evelope further integrating their Max Your Life campaign on YouTube.

Of course, we marketers need to justify our stereotype as being one of the most untrustworthy kinds on the planet by faking fake campaigns on YouTube, thanks to Sony for the stunt they pulled for PSP thinking people will never figure it out and expose them to the world.

YouTube is evolving into a by the people-for the people TV channel of sorts and big TV networks like CBS are accepting reality, inking deals with YouTube to feature some of their content.

"Rather than putting our heads in the sand and saying this doesn't exist, we're trying to jump in and embrace it...the distinction between television and video is becoming murkier and murkier," said John Miller, the chief marketing officer of NBC Universal Television Group.

My channel's already underway...

P/S - for you Chelsea Fans, the Chelsea YouTube Channel has been launch for your pleasure.

Diggin' DiGi

I totally respect Digi for pushing the Yellow Man campaign. I thought it was good because its a fresh way of promoting mobile service coverage. Rather than the standard / logical execution that shows the locations that the service is available, Digi simple puts the focus on the consumer by introducing a "yellow man" that follows the customer where ever he / she may go (to the obvious tune of "I will follow Him"). It's classic "consumer-centric" marketing position through the effective TVC.

Though I know some PR person probably posted this on wikipedia, I tend agree with it:

"The Brand campaign has the top unaided recall currently (Q1 study) and one of the most successful Brand campaign seen in Malaysia for some time (Golden Dreams by B&H was one of those ground breaking campaigns)."

Other than the DiGi campaign, the Celcom Territory campaign was quite OK too, where they basically plastered "THIS IS CELCOM TERRITORY" line about almost every where imaginable - you know, one of those contextual / outdoor advertising execution thingy.

Stay Tuned

I blogged about the Celcom-Air Asia co-branded starter pack early Jan last year on another site. Back then, I couldn't be less amused about the partnership as it really looked like a forced or desprate decision to gain some profile for celcom. I tried by best to rationalize from a strategic perspective and came up with some responses. However, it was only about 2 weeks ago that it struck me that Tony Fernandes is really serious and commited to position his business to manage the total no-frills travelling/holiday experience with his investments in long haul flights and Tune Hotels (no-frill hotels). Now I can't help but wonder if Celcom could wrangle it's way into the picture again to get a piece of the action, particularly with their 3G services:

Imagine Air Asia and Celcom will package a 3G / mobile phone offer to incoming travelers so that they can query about information / locations-directions, blog, email or IM with their friends and family back home. As a fellow traveller, I have a need to constantly look for an internet cafe and check my email, so I know this will be something really fantastic. And especially now when I am committed to blogging, I would be able to do so all through the mobile phone (Yipee!).

The question then becomes, would someone with existing an 3G service plan on their home phone be interested to take up the offer. I think there would be a good segment who would, especially IF 3G rates could be cheaper here than in their home country and a free or rented 3G phone could be packaged together. Furthermore, most of the younger travellers / backpackers who come to this region don't really have or carry their mobile phones with them.

Of course there are other things that needs to be considered and one of them could very well be if Air Asia want to brand the service them through Celcom's backend support. It's not difficult to see that Tony is trying to emulate Richard Branson's way of doing business when he's trying to set up Tune Money, a no frills financial service provider through partnership with a local bank.

Here's the old blog post:

Celcom launched their "co-branded" pre-paid starter pack with AirAsia. Hey, since you're going to be priced as the cheapest pre-paid starter pack in the market, why not partner with AirAsia who offers the cheapest airfare? Birds of the same feather flock together. Position yourself with brands who are leaders in their catagory, and its values could be passed on to you.

Competition in the pre-paid market is getting tougher all the time. All 3 brands' start kits are below RM10 and the difference in price between them is about RM1, which is a very negligible sum, but tentamous in terms of perceived leadership. Locking out competitors on AirAsia flights is an interesting proposition but the real advantage of the tie-up to secure distribution rights in flight. How important this channel is still needs to be evaluated.

Strategically, Celcom, seeks to tap into the incoming tourist market which was previously overlooked. The acquisition of new customers can be split into 2 basic catagories; locals travelling on AirAsia and incoming foreign tourists. I am unsure how big the virgin non-mobile users segment is in the first segment, or if inflight situations can covert users of competitor brands to Celcom. The second group is more interesting because they are not likely to be subscribed to a local service provider but they could be using their existing service provider's roaming services, sure it's more expensive but unless you're expecting to be in touch by your friends back home and/or have lots of Malaysian friends to call, perhaps it make sense to get a starter pack. It also makes sense to get a local line if it costs less to call home with a Malaysian line. Like what Shazalli says, it's a campaign to gauge these things. It takes a brave leader to try these things, and for that it's worth applauding.

Here's something fun:

How typical and corny can marketing/PR/corp comm people be coming up with a quote like this: "This is a prepaid mobile offer that allows everyone to start using a mobile phone. The introduction of this starter pack is also in line with AirAsia's strategy of enabling more people to fly. Now everyone can fly and chat!"

Do you really THINK so?

Think Different worked extremely well for Apple and won them not just the Effies and several creative awards, but also the road to a successful turnaround of the business. While many companies attempt this strategy (to associate themselves up with celebrities in their marketing), few have experience meaningful success.

What does it mean to associate your brand with a celebrity or icon? It immediately drives awareness, especially when your brand is considered to be of lower equity than the star. Endorsements is supposed to drive the aspirational needs of the consumers, but I don't think it work for all categories of products. For example if the consumer want to be like Celeb X, he / she would buy brand Y because Celeb X endorses it. Don't we wish it was that simple.

The most important ingredient in celeb endorsement marketing is credibility. Even Think Different has its detractors, after all, Apple wasn't even in existence when Einstein was alive. But the endorsement rational here takes place a higher level, i.e., at a conceptual level where there's a credible fit between Apple's personality and strategy with the celebrity. Do you buy that?

Sometimes what we need isn't lengthy rationales or flawless campaign executions to justify if the endorsement works, consumers will instinctively know if it does and you'll see it through the rising sales figures.

I think Think Different worked well for Apple, but I'm not sure about these:

Pensonic Friends Campaign:

visual from www.pensonic.com

A host of local celebrities and personalities have been paid to endorse Pensonic, a Penang based home appliance brand. So many celebrities that I think can form a football team.

Sure the awareness level for the brand went up, but I don't think the campaign was very creditable. There seems to be a disconnect between the personalities of the and the personality of the brand. And because we don't really know what Pensonic stood for, the campaign just kinda backfired. The whole celeb endorsement approach seems too manufactured and cut-and-paste. Here's probably what the strategic rationale was for the campaign in the first place: To strategically position Pensonic as a rising local star / brand through association with local rising celebs / personalities.

How do you really expect the consumer to react? Believe the message and start buying the product? Maybe, they just want peole to "know the brand" and hope for the sale...

Here's Dr. Paul Temporal, Group MD of Temporal Brand Consulting, said about Pensonic in one of his press releases from his website:

"Dr Temporal assures us that there are a few Malaysian companies which have accomplished some measure of success. In his assessment, Pensonic would be one of the prominent brands that have been able to reach consumers’ hearts to as far the Middle Eastern countries."

Anyway, back to the point, for an endorsement campaign to work, there are some basic tests: consumers need to believe that the endorsers really use the product (i.e., the reality test), this is afterall the basic requirement, and if their personalities credibility fits into the brand personality of the products that they endorse and vice-versa (i.e., the test of fit or believibility). Perhaps we should even ask if the celeb endorsement route is a logical option at all in the first place (i.e., the logical test). Only if you can pass all 3 tests, you'll stand a chance with the consumer, otherwise, don't even think about it.

Celcom is Power Campaign:
visual from www.celcom.com.my

Here’s another endorsement campaign featuring Micheal Owen and some other English Premiere League players. Celcom, a local mobile network operator engaged these stars for their “Power” campaign. These guys are shown holding a mobile phone in the ad – and I really wonder who’s the mobile service provider they’re subscribed to? I have “phony” feeling it isn’t celcom’s. Come on, these guys are based in England (where Celcom do not have an office).

OK OK, these celebs are engaged because they’re supposed to tie-back to the whole “Celcom is Power" brand strategy thingy:

Excerpt from the press release on www.celcom.com.my:

Commenting on the appointment of these football superstars as Celcom Power Icons, Dato’ Shazalli said, "By having them on board as part of the Celcom family, we will be bringing Celcom’s name to the global stage and gain recognition as a truly POWERFUL brand in the world of football."

"We have chosen these players as they are power personalities, representing the best in their league. They exude determination, constantly striving for perfection in their game. The players mirrors Celcom brand values and determination to be the most powerful brand in this country," Dato’ Shazalli added.

What has "power" got to do with a mobile operator? I can see "coverage", "innovation", "affordability", etc. fit but "Power"? Maybe they're thinking, "Power" in the same train of thought as "power being / having the ability or authority to do things with Celcom" – but it didn’t register that way with consumers that way. The message and impression that came acrossed was that Celcom was being too self absorbed in a chest thumping kinda way.

At the end of the day, the purpose of the endorsement campaign is to capture the consumers’ hearts and minds leading to increased sales. They aren’t just about how much money you spend or how big the stars you use, it’s all about making sensible, meaningful and credible connections with consumers. Unfortunely, Celcom’s campaign was built on all the wrong connections: wrong message with wrong stars – and as they say, two wrongs don’t make a right.

Celcom’s only victory really is the claim and ownership of the noun “Power”. So, who’s next? Power Rangers perhaps...

Think...again

I stumbled upon the Apple Think Different campaign some years back and I thought it would be apt to share it as the continuation of my previous post. Here's a very simple but powerful idea and truly fit the spirit of Apple. Apple basically associated itself with icons who made an impact on culture and society through their ads with the tag line "Think Different". I really like the print execution, where "Think Different" were the only copy on the ad. It goes to show that sometimes you don't need a ton of copy to convey the message. What's most important in a branding campaign is the communication of the idea and strategy in the most impactful manner. Not many companies can pull this off though, it worked really well for Apple because the company has the legacy, personality and credibilty to pull it off. It couldn't have worked any other way!

Some of the icons used in the campaign besides Feynman were Albert Einstein, John Lenon/Yoko Ono, Jim Henson, Picasso, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Feynman, Richard Branson, Thomas Edison, etc.



Think about it: A revolutions starts with an idea.

Here's the copy to the Apple Think Different TVC:

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can
change the world, are the ones who do.

Think

A thought worth thinking is a thought worth provoking. This blog is about me saying it as I see it. Sometimes I could be wrong, but so could you, so let's just be friends and enjoy the company. Cheers and welcome ...