Big Brand, Zero Bucks
	Don’t blame you if you think there aren\'t any more start-ups left -- but there are. Now, more than ever, you can establish the brand you\'ve dreamed of. It\'s cheap. It\'s easy to harness communications channels. Consumers are keenly attentive to anything new. Cheap?How can you establish a dream brand if you\'re not equipped with a wallet as heavy as Coca-Cola\'s and a communications network as expansive as AOL Time Warner\'s??
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	The Situation Placement Game
	Situation placement creates a brand image in the consumer\'s mind around an initial product, and then builds follow-up products around the constructed notion. The technique makes brands the raison d\'être of those follow-up products. Your product becomes the hero, enhancing a story rather than simply appearing as an added element without any effect on the plot, as is the function of product placement. But how do you engineer this for your own brand? How do you secure space for your brand in a computer game? How do you manage to have your brand featured in a popular song or placed centre stage in a hit movie?
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	Stop Guessing
	Over the years, promotional tools have become oft-used weapons in the brand marketer\'s arsenal, employed by thousands of brands to attract and retain customers. Last year alone, more than 20 percent of total marketing expenditure went to promotional activities. Analysts predict that, by 2003, 50 to 70 percent of Internet marketing budgets will be spent on promotions. One of the major benefits of running promotions has been the window such efforts can open on consumer behaviour. Brand builders can monitor the effect of promotions by soliciting action from consumers -- getting them to complete coupons, enter competitions, return product labels, you name it. The response to these gimmicks then stands as a clear indicator of the success or otherwise of a campaign. Compare the measurability of this strategy with that of, say, pure TV advertising, which affords brand builders scant consumer analysis in the short term.
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	Small Spending - Big Branding
	It\'s a familiar phenomenon: the biggest brands, like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, spending hundreds of millions of dollars in brand building and brand maintenance. Daily, we\'re inundated with TV, radio and print messages that account for much of that brand building investment. Americans see close to 30,000 TV commercials a year, on average. Let\'s think about this for a moment. \"Watch\" doesn\'t necessarily mean, \"see.\" Not every marketing campaign benefits from reflexively pouring millions of dollars into TV advertising. You shouldn\'t despair if your own marketing budget comes in at a couple of hundred thousand dollars...or less.
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	The Situation Placement Game Part 2
	Last week we spoke about how product placement has turned into become situation placement – the question is however \'How in earth do you create such plan\'. How do you secure space in a computer game, manage to be mentioned in a song or shown in a movie? That’s what this week\'s article is all about. Before even considering going along this track you need to consider what you want to get out of it. In contract to traditional “above the line” marketing – it’s almost impossible to measure the effect of this approach – at least on a short-term basis.
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	ROI Branding
	The days where branding was all about big budgets and doubtful return on investments is long gone. Even though the big brand image campaign still might work – its harder and harder for any company justifying the big investments they require leading to alternative ways of building and maintaining brands – like ROI Branding. Let me check up the health of your brand – from a ROI point of view – ensuring that you haven’t overseen three of the most effective alternative ways of building brands. Team up…
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	Now Hear This
	We\'re spending more and more on marketing and securing fewer and fewer results. Last year, marketing budgets increased 7 percent. But effectiveness decreased 2 percent! We need something else. Fancier TV spots, snappier graphics, and more frequent e-mail won\'t do the trick. Something\'s missing. Let\'s step back and think about who we are: sentient beings. Do we make the most of the five senses? How can we strategically use them to build brands?
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	Made In...
	Imagine you were offered a choice to purchase two different cars. Nothing was said about the cars, not even the price. The only information you have would be the country of origin. The first car is produced in Turkey – the second in Switzerland. Which one would you choose? Most people wouldn\'t hesitate. They\'d select the Swiss car, because Switzerland has established a reputation for products that are high quality, precise, secure and of good design. A country brand is everything. It\'s a factor in attracting tourists, trade agreements and consumers\' perception that earns respect. This respect extends to its citizens, and the way they are treated the world over.
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	How to Rip Out the Competition in One Go
	Some years ago, an Australian takeout pizza place used the Internet in an attempt to boost sales. Traffic was slow. Hardly anyone visited the site. The need for an increase in traffic was urgent. If traditional online media planning had been used, banners and links would have been purchased and the URL added to the shop\'s phone-book entry. It might even have invested in some traditional ads. The pizza place went a different route. Instead of spreading money between off- and online ads, it spent the entire budget on radio. The spots were simple but extremely effective. So effective, the restaurant\'s increased business caused most of the local competition to shut down.
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	Creative Thinking is Required
	Some years ago, an Australian takeout pizza place used an untraditional channel in an attempt to boost sales. Traffic was slow. Hardly anyone visited the site. The need for an increase in traffic was urgent. If traditional media planning had been used, print ads or direct mail would have been purchased and the phone number added to the shop\'s phone-book entry. It might even have invested in some online ads. The pizza place went a different route. Instead of spreading money between off- and online ads, it spent the entire budget on radio. The spots were simple but extremely effective. So effective, the restaurant\'s increased business caused most of the local competition to shut down. How\'d it do it?
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	Contextual Branding
	When I first surfed the Net, some six years ago, I clicked on every banner ad that came before me. I reckon this was, not so much because I was in desperate need for home loan advice, fly fishing equipment or wedding dresses, but because I was curious to see what a banner ad was all about. I can promise you, I\'m not curious any longer! But I am still curious about ads that appear in logical contexts. In these cases, the advertising message makes sense and, piquing my curiosity because of this fact, encourages me to revert to my earlier discovery-oriented behaviour.
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	Brand plus Brand
	Will the recent alliance between Proctor & Gamble and Gillette succeed? Well some years ago, the American Marketing Association produced a study with an interesting result. In a consumer survey on co-branding, 80 percent of respondents said they would be likely to buy a digital-imaging product co-branded by Sony and Eastman Kodak. However, only 20 percent of respondents claimed they would buy the product if it were branded by Kodak alone, and only 20 percent said they would buy the product if it carried only the Sony brand.
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	Brand Different
	Recently – well it feels like that – a dear friend of mine, Tim Pethick approached me with a great idea. Well he felt it was great I – to be perfectly frank – felt it was rather trivia. The idea was to develop another juice brand. If you happen to live in Australia you would know one thing – that is that Australia hardly need another juice brand – in fact if you happen to visit any major grocery store they display at least 10 meters of juice in the fridge – minimum. Another juice brand I said and looked rather sceptical – yes he answered knowing what my feedback already would turn out to be.
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