Tuesday, November 30, 2010

All that hype about I Phone is not hype


I have gone to the other side.


Permanently.


I am never going back.


I have had them all, starting with an installed brick of a Motorola phone in my Ford Explorer.


I had a smaller Nokia brick, a Moto flip and during 5 years of employment at Samsung I had 'em all - including Messenger, Omnia 2 and the Jack. A career change landed me a new Blackberry Bold - loved it.


The something came into my life. A shiny new 4G - it let's me download apps so quickly and easily it really is child's play. Everything works with everything. I have fun, I do work, I learn, I reach out... I am connected like never before. This is an absolutely outstanding product.


I am in love.


Sorry Blackberrry........


You can keep the carrying case.

PS - this is one of 42 pictures I shot day one at local Santa Claus parade, which were then loaded effortlessly to my Facebook, emailed and shared in mere seconds - and everyone raved about the quality of the photos

Monday, August 30, 2010

TTC can learn from the GO Train


Due to recent job change I now find myself a GO Train commuter to downtown Toronto - this is just an amazing service. Clean, comfortable, on time and wonderful on board ambassadors - and get this - you can actually HEAR the annoucements. They have PRESTO, great easy to read video boards, electronic ticket machines and are leading the way on integration across multiple transit points. I think Dalton has a good one going here.


TTC - the Better Way? I think not. Time for them to face the music and recognize the Province is doing a much better job at running a public transit system.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Bell makes great move with Whitecap sweater deal


The guys at Bell really understand branding and what a great day to make an annoucement - opening round of World Cup.
Kudos to the guys at Bell and a great extension of their Vancouver Olympic investment.
Nice to see companies take a long term view around the importance of branding

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Dress shirts made in .... Slovakia??? Yup, they are awesome


I have been passing by the Cumberland Terrace store of late and finally went in. The tailoring and workmanship on these shirts is outstanding, as is the quality of the cotton and style. I have spent a lot on high quality dress and casual shirts over the years, even had a few custom made in Korea, but these are truly outstanding shirts.




Check them out

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Live Sports - TV is far from dead (NCAA ratings up 34% YOY)


Duke versus Butler - it was a classic right up to the last bucket attempt and I was pretty much glued to the set from opening tip off.


I have talked to freinds, colleauges and even family members - most of them caught it on CBS with yes, a little surfing over to TSN and Sportsnet to watch highlights of the Tiger press conference and hockey scores....


But here is the point: Like the Olympics, huge live sporting events are a TV-first propostion. Yes, I did live stream a semi final game on http://www.espn.com/, and I have certainly been on tsn.ca and my other favourtie news and sports sites for scores and updates, but you can't compare the two (And BTW - espn.com ran plenty of TV commericals too- so much for escaping 'intrusive' messages!)


So, while many marketers continue to fixate on where their consumers have gone, and how to segment the messages by channel, I still believe if you want to run with the big dogs, you need to be in the properties that drive huge numbers - and it's just not sports - look at American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, etc.


Let us not proclaim the death of live TV yet.... this was a massive audience increase

Sunday, February 7, 2010

The Bay wins Gold @ Olympics Cash Register


I had a chance to visit The Bay's main store on Granville between business meetings today and let me tell you the place was an absolute madhouse of international travellers and locals lined up to buy official Olympic gear.


The Canada stuff is selling like hotcakes - I have not seen crowds like this since a boxing day run for a cheap TV s. The Bay have done well with this line and everyone is buying it - men, women and kids - I think it is hotter than the Roots stuff of a couple years ago. They also had a special Russia Sochi 2016 section - great idea and superb execution and of course, the Americans were grabbing the Ralph Lauren Team USA Polo gear.


Well done Bay - and your staff was smiling through this mob scene!
Related updates: Granville is alive and well - fabulous art displays and wonderful to see everyone from all over the world taking it in. The Skytrain is awesome - clean, on time and moving everyone nicely, but you can feel the crowds starting to come in now - no long line ups and again, the TTC needs to get out here to see how it is done.
Lot's of last minute touch ups at City Live park, but everyone seems to have a smile on their faces. 5 days to go as of tomorrow, and many people back at work - let's see how the commute is tomorrow

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Spring time at the Winter Olympics


Well say what you want about this global warming thing, but I am at the WINTER Olympics and it is close to 17 degrees in beautiful sunny and clean Vancouver. Just back from a quick meeting in West Vancouver (no snow I Cypress I could see) and watched people kayak, bike and stroll with a light jacket on. Back downtown by Canada Place the boardwalk is full of people stretching out in .... shorts!


After years of planning for this I am here and you can feel and see the excitement. The big news last night was the lane closures and this Australian flag flying from the balcony of the athlete village - this has turned into some sort of IOV brou-ha-ha for reasons I will never figure.


The road closures and security are getting very, very tight - much of the core is now blocked out and there is a bit of eery quiet as talk of a protest is taking over the agenda. Let's see what happens but one cannot help but feel a bit of trepidation about that - however, everyone is friendly and the security people and cops are going out of their way to be nice.


The sky train is the way to go and Adam Giambrone should be here - vending machines that take cash, credit and debit, the system is clean, easy to read and gets you from Burnaby to downtown in just about 15 minutes. I have yet to see a sleeping ticket taker - becasue the don't have one!


Overall a great vibe - everyone is excited and the city is a see of blue and green.


I was just given a new company ski jacket, inside layer and neck warmer - I think we should be issuing golf shirts and shortls

Favourite quote on how small crowds or individuals can change history

The smaller the attendance the bigger the history. There were 12 people at the Last Supper. Half a dozen at Kitty Hawk. Archimedes was on his own in the bath.— Tony Wilson.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Pepsi Drops Super Bowl To Focus On Facebook (via brandchannel)


This is beginning to read like an obituary for traditional media - especially when brands like Pepsi make strong decisions about marketing spend - good for them - this is the future


Friday, January 29, 2010

BMW Branding & | Changing Positioning Strategy


BMW Group Automobile Industry Branding Changing Positioning Strategy brand brandchannel.com

Ok, after years and years of coveting this brand I bought one.

I am in mad love ... yes, love.

The badge value is off the hook and to all those nay sayers who opine that branding does not matter, me and thousands others are sold before we ever go into the store.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Samsung Game Changer


Game changer (and why I am proud to work here!)


The rise of Samsung shows the transformative effect that global sports partnerships can have on brand awareness: Today that recipe is being replicated by other growing companies – from Acer to Adecco to AON. David Benady reports
1993 and, in a hunting lodge on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Lee Kun-hee, the visionary boss of Korean electronics and industrial giant Samsung, is exploding with rage. Having summoned the corporation’s top brass, he pulls no punches as he tears into the company’s sloppy practices and low quality products. “Change everything,” he tells the executives.
Over the next 15 years, Samsung is transformed from a producer of second rate me-too products into a respected brand that will overtake Sony in electronics and challenge Nokia in mobile phone handsets. But it wasn’t just a renewed focus on quality that propelled Samsung into the public’s consciousness; it was a concerted campaign to boost brand awareness.
Central to this was the Olympic Games. Lee, a scion of Samsung’s founding family, was a dedicated advocate of the Olympics and it was Samsung’s long-term sponsorship of the Games that in no small part powered Samsung’s extraordinary rise to global ascendancy.
In 1996, Lee became a member of the International Olympic Committee and, in a strategy document for Samsung, he stated: “Devise strategies that can raise brand value, which is a leading intangible asset and the source of corporate competitiveness, to a global level.” A year later, Samsung signed up as a major Olympic sponsor or TOP (The Olympic Partner) and has been a senior sponsor of every winter and summer Olympics since then. In 2007, Lee signed up the company to sponsor all the Games until 2016.
Lee understood that building a global brand was about more than simply making desirable products. The Olympic tie-up would create awareness of the Samsung name but also show that the company grasped the wider importance of corporate philanthropy and social responsibility. As one Samsung insider says: “The first step of Samsung’s move to grow the global brand was to get simple brand recognition and then awareness of being a high quality brand. As they enter new global markets they have found there is already an awareness of the brand name because of the Olympic sponsorship.”
In 2008, of course, Samsung’s corporate reputation was hit by Lee’s conviction for fraud but some believe that the warm glow of corporate responsibility communicated through Lee’s commitment to the Olympic movement may have mitigated the worst effects of the tax scandal on Samsung’s reputation.
Samsung is just one of many emerging brands that have exploded on to the world stage since the mid-90s using the springboard of sport. Leading players from China, Korea, Thailand and the Middle East have used global sporting sponsorships to get their names known and to build their reputations.
So it is no surprise that alongside well-established Olympic sponsors such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Omega, some lesser known brand names have become involved. Taiwanese PC manufacturer Acer became a TOP sponsor in 2008 as it seeks to boost global awareness of its rapidly growing business. London 2012 has a deal with Adecco, the employment bureau group that previously operated as Alfred Marks in the UK. Steve Girdler, Adecco’s director of London 2012 explains the tie up in terms of the connections between the event and Adecco’s business. “There are many analogies between the workplace and sport - the importance of leadership, dedication, teamwork, competition and the belief that people can truly make a difference,” he says.
However, he declines to comment on the role the sponsorship will play in building name recognition for the brand. However, some brand owners baulk at the expense and hard work involved in a full Olympic sponsorship – the nine TOP sponsors pay up to £50 million for each Games and have to provide much of that in kind through supplying staff and technology. Olympic sponsors buy the right to use the ring logo in their advertising and can leverage the association through corporate and internal marketing. But their brand names cannot be exhibited in the sports arenas or through TV broadcasts. As the Samsung insider says: “They have never been particularly interested in exploiting the Olympic sponsorship in the way that other sponsors do with other properties. They take a genuinely altruistic view of putting something back into the community. They are more interested in exploiting other properties such as their Chelsea shirt sponsorship or the NFL tie-up in the United States.”
Even so, the Olympics holds a compelling attraction for emerging brands looking to signal their global ambitions. Chinese computer maker Lenovo described its tie-up with the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics as its “coming out party on the world stage.” Lenovo had just acquired IBM’s personal computing division and used the Olympics to demonstrate its transformation into a global brand. It also backed the Beijing Olympics as a Worldwide sponsor.
But the restrictions on branding at Olympic events has deterred many bourgeoning brands. A surer way of stamping a brand name on the worldwide public’s consciousness is through linking up with football.
Mobile operator Vodafone has made extensive use of sponsorship to build its awareness as it has grown into the world’s biggest mobile business. Global brand director David Wheldon says Olympic sponsorship gives uncertain returns. “The Olympics is very good on the internal engagement level and you get the ability to use the rings in marketing. But there is no presence for the brand in the games themselves and no TV visibility. Unless you invest heavily in making the Olympics work for you, you won’t reap the benefits,” he says. He compares this to sponsoring club and league football which offer measurable criteria of awareness such as viewers’ screen time exposure to the brand name. And of course the main Olympic Games only take place every four years, while many brands need a constant drip of exposure to familiarise people with their existence and to become part of the wallpaper of their daily lives.
Vodafone’s push under former boss Sir Christopher Gent to become a worldwide player inspired its Manchester United shirt sponsorship between 2000 and 2006. The English Premier League is a powerful global property watched in 202 countries and the football clubs are closely followed in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
The mobile operator’s biggest leap on to the global stage was its take-over of Mannesmann in 2000 - the largest corporate takeover in history. The deal led to the rebranding of Germany’s Mannesmann D2operation and Italy’s Omnitel under the Vodafone name. Wheldon says Vodafone’s Formula One sponsorship was vital for building name awareness in both countries. The brand was sponsor of the Ferrari F1 team, a powerful property in Italy which was gaining fame in Germany from its German driver Michael Schumacher. Another significant property was Vodafone’s £8 million-a-year sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League between 2005 and 2008.
Vodafone’s sponsorship strategy has helped it build name recognition in countries before it even enters them. “In Ghana, spontaneous awareness of the brand before we entered the market was already 27%. That comes from our global sponsorship portfolio. In some markets where we don’t operate we have over 50% awareness. Sponsorship has done well in laying the groundwork of awareness for us,” says Wheldon.
By comparison to the continuous hammering home of brand messages from regular football games and F1 races, Olympic sponsorship seems loftier. Its attraction lies more in its ability to communicate brand values. PC manufacturer Acer signed up as a TOP Olympic sponsor in 2007 and will supply hardware and technical assistance at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 and at London 2012. Vice-president of marketing and brand Gianpero Morbello says the sponsorship will be assessed by measuring awareness of the company’s core values before and after each Games. He claims the Olympic association will build Acer’s brand values of competition, speed and dedication.
He adds: “The Acer brand is relatively wellknown, though we still have a way to go. We are strongly pushing the brand as we’ve already reached an important level of market share.” Acer recently became the world’s second biggest PC company with its purchases of Gateway and Packard Bell.
Recent sponsorship announcements in UK football demonstrate the lure of the Premier League for brands seeking global fame. Earlier this year, US re-insurance giant AON signed up to replace AIG as Manchester United shirt sponsor in a deal reportedly worth £20 million a year. AON’s vicepresident of global public relations David Prosperi says the deal aims to build brand recognition and values after a period of acquisitions. “From a business point of view, you have to look at brand awareness of Manchester United in China and India where our clients and prospects are big fans of the club. If you can provide an opportunity for a client or prospect to attend a match or be involved in an activity with a team member, that is a tremendous opportunity to provide value to a prospect,” he says. He plays down AON’s lack of any obvious connection with the world of football. “We share with Manchester United an ambition for worldwide appeal and the pursuit of excellence. We both want to be number one in our areas,” he says.
Global sponsorship properties are a powerful way to promote the name of an emerging brand, outstripping ad campaigns and other forms of communication, though prices are being pushed to stratospheric levels. There is evidence that the Olympics is losing some of its allure for global brands (see box ‘On the slide’). But the rings have an irresistible lustre for many emerging brands wishing to associate themselves with its exalted values of responsibility and ethics.
As for Samsung’s ex-boss Lee Kun-hee, his Olympic involvement may be far from over. The South Korean Government is being lobbied to grant him a pardon so he can resume Olympic diplomacy and help the country’s bid to stage the 2018 winter Games in PyeongChang.
On the slide?Olympic sponsorship has endured turbulence recently. After Beijing, four TOP sponsors pulled out. Johnson & Johnson, Lenovo, Kodak and ManuLife all ended their deals.
According to M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment’s Neil Hopkins, the nature of being a sponsor has changed. “Global sponsors needed to be in for the long haul - Kodak had been in since the start of the last century. In the last year, we’ve seen change at that top level,” he says. This may reflect dissatisfaction with the lack of opportunities to exploit the tie-up.
The Li Ning strategySponsoring a global sports property can do more than spread a brand name to new markets. An Olympic link can be a powerful tool for building the stature of a brand in its home market.
Chinese sportswear brand Li Ning sponsored a number of international teams for the 2008 Beijing Olympics including the US table tennis team, Sudan’s track and field athletes and Sweden’s Olympic delegation. But this was not to boost its international standing, since 99% of its sales are within China. The brand, once China’s top-selling trainer marque, had slipped into third place behind Nike and Adidas. It sought to create an illusion of international standing to compete with them. Abel Wu, its head of footwear told Business Week: “As a local brand, we need an international image.”
London 2012 will be a watershed for local sponsors. Lloyds TSB was the first to sign up as a local partner and other UK brands such as BT, EDF and BP were on board by the end of 2008. They seek to project a positive image within the UK rather than looking for international recognition. “The London Olympics is generating more local money than any other, probably because the UK is a mature sponsorship market,” says Neil Hopkins.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Apple PR Machine in full speed again....




I hope the new I-slate completely disrupts the industry (again).


I love these guys - they up the game every time out


Let's see what happens......

Posted using ShareThis

Friday, January 15, 2010

THIS is Why TSN is eating CBC's lunch


This is one cool as video and kudos once again to the creative minds at TSN

Saturday, January 9, 2010

What a surprise ... she is the ultimate video vampire




Hmmm...she is probably the biggest global female movie star and St John is a B-grade fashion brand. I am not surprised by this, and if you ever read Vanity Fair (I mean the ads in VF, since the magazine is 95% advertising) she COMPLETELY overshadows the brand ... and whoever made that decision took a long time to figure that one out .... perhaps a single link test would have saved them a couple million....and I don't know anyone who ever made the connection between her social activism and the SJ brand







Angelina Jolie "overshadowed" St. John fashion brand

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Angelina Jolie, the former face of U.S. luxury knitwear maker St. John, "overshadowed the brand", the label's chief told an industry publication on Friday as the company unveiled its new look.
People
St.John this week launched a new spring 2010 print advertising campaign starring British model Karen Elson, 30, a redhead who is married to White Stripes singer Jack White.
Absent from the promotion, was Hollywood superstar Jolie, 34, who was hired by St. John as its public face in 2005.
Jolie's departure had been announced in June 2008.
St. John chief executive Glenn McMahon told Women's Wear Daily she "overshadowed the brand. We wanted to make a clean break from actresses and steer away from blondes and cleanse the palette."
Separately, McMahon said in a statement that "we needed to show a modern point of view of St. John. We are evolving the brand."
During the years that Jolie promoted the company's fashions, she became one of the most recognizable and sought-after celebrities in the world through her romance with actor Brad Pitt, their six children, and her charity work in Africa and other countries.