Brand quote by AKM Moinul Islam Moin

"A good brand is for which people love to spend and tell" - AKM Moinul Islam Moin

How to Write - Ogilvy

On a beautiful morning in 1982, David Ogilvy(who was widely called as "The Father of Advertising" and the founder of the iconic agency Ogilvy & Mather) sent an internal memo to all employees at Ogilvy & Mather.  That memo’s Sparsely titled was “How to Write” and consisted of  the 10 ageless advice”. These points on this list have only grown more advisable with time.

1. Read the “Roman-Raphaelson” book on writing. Read it three times.

2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.

6. Check your quotations.

7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning—and then edit it.

8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

Coca-Cola's Strategic Shift- Taste the Feeling

Coke is very fascinating brand for me. I’m sure same goes to other marketers. Its really stirring that how a brand becomes so vibrant with leadership since last 130 years!

(Image taken from google)

Recently Coca Cola launched new global campaign "Taste the Feeling" which will replace the seven year old Coca-Cola "Open Happiness" campaign. It is part of an effort to battle the trend of declining beverage sales, following consumers' health concerns about sugary drinks. The Wall Street Journal reported that Coca-Cola's sales (by volume) grew at just 1% in the first nine months of last year.

This campaign is marking a significant shift in their marketing strategy. For the first time, all Coke Trademark brands are being united in one global creative campaign: “Taste the Feeling”. At this new campaign ten television commercials will be part of the campaign, along with more than 100 campaign images, a new song developed by Avicii, interactive digital advertising and out of home advertising.

“Taste the Feeling” will feature universal storytelling with the product at the heart to imitate both the functional and emotional aspects of the Coca-Cola experience of drinking an ice-cold Coca-Cola.

Here another major noticeable strategy is that Coke adopted a "one-brand" approach that will unite multiple varieties like Diet Coke and Coke Zero in a single campaign, rather than running disparate campaign.

If we look into the tagline “Taste the feeling” which is not a great line. It doesn’t have any artistic appeal – no memorable rhythm or something to make it memorable in the mind. But if we dig it out, we will find its simplicity. Coke has discovered a great insight that the more they position Coca-Cola as an icon, the smaller it becomes. The bigness of Coca-Cola resides in the fact that it's a simple pleasure. So the humbler they are, the bigger they are!

Now let’s wait and observe whether Coca-Cola’s new strategic shift can bring them new life and gain significant growth in the sugary drinks industry. My good wish for one of my loving brand Coca-Cola. J    

Cadbury vs Nestle: Commercial war

Commercial war is not a new thing. These wars through mocking are most probably driven by each brand’s desire to prove that their products are the superior. There have been high profile competitive commercial wars between the brands like Coke vs Pepsi, Horlicks Vs Complan, Mercedes-Benz Vs Jaguar, Vim Vs Dettol, Pepsodent Vs Colgate etc. All these were serious fights.  In some extent, Even in Bangladesh we see some commercial wars between Frutika vs Frooto, Radhuni vs Rupchanda mustard oil (Probably in Bangladesh, Mocking is not permitted, so they went in other ways).

As per I know, in the chocolate category such war was almost absent in this continent. But, at present, the battle over chocolate wafer is the talk of the advertisement town. Yes, I’m talking about Cadbury Perk and Nestlé Munch.

Cadbury (India) has launched its new commercial to promote the enhanced new pack of Perk and it took a tunnel at Nestlé . At this TVC we see, Monu leaves a letter for his father expressing his dejection over receiving the lighter chocolate. The amusing advertisement criticized Munch for its weight. The core idea was to emphasize that the new Perk was heavier with its twin bars and four-wafer layers. But yet it was priced at Rs. 5 as like its major rival Nestle Munch.

Not to be left behind, two weeks later Nestlé (India) posted a hilarious ‘Munch ka Punch’ video on YouTube tweaking the Perk’s commercial. This time, its Monu’s brother Sonu who has left a letter for his father expressing his disappointment. The idea was to tell that the weight of a wafer chocolate does not matter, what mattered was its crunchiness and taste.

Both brands were trying to position themselves on different attributes; Perk focusing on the size while Munch was focusing on the crunchier proposition.  My view on it is that Perk’s new positioning platform is weaker than Munch. Munch tried to break away smartly and offensively. But at the end of the day the remote is always in the hands of consumers. Ultimately, consumers are the king. J

GOOGLE SEARCH REUNION: A FUNCTIONAL AND EMOTIONAL BLEND

Google India’s recent new commercial grabbed my attention. Google released a commercial on 13th November’13 titled ‘Google Search: Reunion’ which is to touch an emotional chord with its viewers not only in India but also in Pakistan.. This three and half minute advertisement is currently going viral and owes its strengthening views to the breathtaking emotional appeal, grossing upwards of 3 millions  views.

The story of this commercial is: a woman in India reunites her grandfather with his childhood friend (who is now in Pakistan) following six decades of separation since the partition of India – with the help from Google search.

If we deeply look into this, we will find that it adds a human dimension to the otherwise routine search – almost suggesting that there are emotions to “googling” and friends to be found.

It’s story and executions are done in such a fantastic way from which anyone can be emotionally connected easily. The acting part, specially the character Yusuf was awesome.  This commercial is basically reemphasizing connecting humanity and making tangible effects on lives. Another aspect tying the movie with the commercial is the tech giant’s attempt to shed the association with a certain age segment.

Thanks to Google and thanks to Ogilvy for presenting such a nice commercial.

Changing Marketing Trends in 2014

The Conference Board is predicting a 3.1% increase in global economic growth for 2014; that figure stands at just 2.8% for 2013. It’s an exciting time to work in the world of brand marketing. There are new technologies and tools emerging all the time to help marketers better understand, communicate and build relationships with their customers. Now summarizing some marketing trends here:

    1.     Mass approach will become weaker

However, integrated can’t mean a return to the mass media marketing campaigns popular 10 years ago. As marketing journalist and author Bob Garfield told the panel: “ ‘Mass’ is headed for a mass grave. Reach will be ever more out of reach. The future, and the present, require aggregating individual relationships at scale. marketing departments needs to be harnessed to personalize marketing messages so that customers are being communicated to in the way they want.

2.     Growth in mobile & its ad revenues

E-marketers estimates that retail sales via smart phones and tablets have more than doubled in 2013. In coming 2014 e-commerce is expected to increase by 53.3% in 2014, more than triple the 15% growth rate for retail ecommerce. Mobile ad spend is expected to nearly double again in 2014 to almost £2.26 billion (32% of total digital).

3.     Always on consumers

Desktops are being deserted for tablets and smartphones, but not only mobile devices will surpass desktops in terms of traffic, they will excel them in enabling people do so much more on the internet: anytime, anywhere. And marketers need to be prepared for the always-on and multi tasking consumers.

4.     Collaborative economy

Collaborative economy will create a real disruption for businesses. The phenomenon of consumers co-creating content and products, sharing ideas and resources with each other is on ascend.

5.     The power of mobile + social + video

The combination of three biggest digital phenomena of 2013 will create another powerful trend in 2014, that of "visual sharing". These will be the format of choice for people to share their moments and a go-to tactic for brands to engage with consumers.

6.     Influential Marketing

Growing consumer empowerment will mean that brands will need to involve influencers in their marketing that is marketing with influencers, rather than merely marketing at them. By doing so, not only brands will benefit from positive word of mouth, but the power of ideas that influential consumers can generate.

7.     Increased focus on happiness and well-being

Money won’t be able to buy happiness; there has been an increased focus on personal well-being. "Mood of the Nation" research found that brands had a role to play in improving people's level of happiness through being ethical, empowering people to be more active and unexpected acts of kindness. In 2014 we will see more brands differentiating themselves from competition through influencing how people feel.

8.     Context and relevancy will take center stage

Whereas content continues to be a crucial component in online marketing, context and relevancy will play a bigger role. Consumers are getting habituated to getting what they want, when they want and how they want it. Information, when delivered at the right time, can be useful and appreciated to them.

9.     Smarter & Focused Social advertising

With better targeting and re-targeting options, social media advertising will attract more customers and a bigger share of marketing budgets.

10.    Gen Y Will Continue to Demand Experiential

It’s estimated that Gen Y’s consumer spending will top at next year, and as a result, they are a huge target for brands. But they’re finicky. They’ve seen it all, they live in the moment and they’re far more impulsive than any other age group.

11.    Integrated marketing will be required

A scattered approach to marketing won’t deliver results. As social signals (tweets, likes, shares) and digital PR become crucial for searches, there will be a greater need to make sure that all marketing activities align for the greatest results.

12.    Conventional advertising will still works for  FMCG’s

For those who think conventional media are a dying bread please think that still our main media of entertainment is TV, for news we also go to print media or TV. That media have strong viewers & readers and good ads will still work.

Businesses should look to take advantage of this trend. The secret to marketing that works is consistency. Whatever tactics you choose, do them often and do them without end. There are still plenty of challenges that partners have to overcome to keep marketing going.