Watch the latest branding strategies and success stories - select a video that helps you smash your brand using sensory branding. Brand management at its best!
Title: Seth Godin interview: Anyone for charity? Running Time: 05:48 Views: 761 Rating: (5/5) Martin Lindstrom interviewes Seth Godin, the bestselling author of "The purple cow", "Sunday meatball" a.o., about the nature of charity. Godin gives os something to consider, for instance the fact that a lot of people are allmost proud of not donating anything to charity at all. Another point is that there are numerous individual reasons for people to give away money without considering having anything in return. For that reason, says Godin, it is allmost imposssible to wrap a charity concept around a brand, so perhaps it is not necessary to try and do so. Bottomline is, according to Seth Godin, that we will still be cheated and lied to by cynical producers, but in the end, when a company really stand up for a good cause like the climate and connects with people who care, it will almost certain become a success.
Title: Micro-serving Running Time: 03:18 Views: 1625 Rating: (4.67/5) Martin Lindstrom is telling about the brilliant single-serving-concept, introduced in the Philippines capitol by the Swiss Nestlé company a few decades ago. The whole idea is to offer small amounts of various products like coffee, tea, perfume, chocolate and so on for the costumers to buy, even if they have only little money in the pocket. The estimate is, that between 30 to 50 percent of the market across the Asian Pacific is in the hands of single-serving-products. Big is not so beautiful anymore, small is suitable!
He informs you about Hyundai's buy-back-guarantee, a concept for car producer to stand up against the economical crisis and finally Lindstrom encourages to come closer to the audience in order to understand more about how they change their willingness to buy - the purpose is to be at front edge and in this way adapt the brands to the different costumer behaviour in the market
Title: Diesel Running Time: 03:35 Views: 2603 Rating: (4.33/5) From the international fair of luxury furniture in Milan, Italy, Martin Lindstrom is explaining how the fashion brands more and more team up with the furniture business. With Armani starting their so called casa-concept Diesel is next in line to take over the baton by releasing a whole new line of everyday furniture, appealing to ordinary people. The purpose is clearly to grasp a part of the enormous 12 billion euro furniture market and branding Diesel even further in the eyes of the costumers. Besides earning more money using the convergence strategy the idea is to bring more people close to what they really want, even if they do not have a lot of money to spend – Lindstrom underlines the strength in offering a lot more people the air of luxury for a modest investment
Title: 40-Minutes Running Time: 04:08 Views: 2951 Rating: (4.4/5) HONG KONG, CHINA: Martin Lindstrom this time focuses on the new generation of product placement at it takes place om the internet in China, where youngsters spend more time on the net than on watching TV. In the succesful net-series "Lucys diary" the consumers are participating in deciding what Lucy is going to do every dag, and in this case the brand Clinique from Estée Lauder has a leading role. The story is tailored to the brand, and in that way linked to the audience as well. He underlines that the brand is taking the lead - the product is in the center and the show is designed around it. If the brand makes sense in context to the story, the connection to the interactive consumers is allready made. This is how the future of brand-building is materializing: through a net-show where show and brand establish a relation to the consumer. He predicts that more of these interactive shows is to come in the near future, containing this much more smart product placement standard. Just wait and see......
Title: MacHeads Running Time: 06:00 Views: 1795 Rating: (5/5) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL: In this video Martin Lindstrom interviews one of the directors behind the Apple movie, to understand the connection between the Apple brand and the consumers. The Apple community shows a very high loyalty towards the brand and its CEO, Steve Jobs. One of the secrets behind the strong Apple brand is partly its ability to innovate new products like the iPod and the iPhone, and partly their way of keeping a great deal of mystery around their product developments that has resulted in millions of fan blogs and websites just waiting for new things for them to look forward to.
Based on these facts Lindstrom has some good points in general, concerning involving the community and nursing the fans of the brand, to be at the forefront of rumours and comments on the brand on the internet to prevent “bad standing” in the market and finally to realise that the true power of the brand is in the hands of the consumers – they in the end decide whether a brands popularity is increasing or decreasing.
Title: Practical Branding Running Time: 03:56 Views: 2745 Rating: (5/5) SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Martin Lindstrom reports from the west coast of the USA, where he gives advices on how to tempt more costumers in to the stores, in spite of the actual economical crisis. Could it be an idea to appeal to the more practical sides of your product? Could the possible weakness of a product be turned into a strength?
The example is of how the producers of the South Korean car Hyundai offers a special buy-back-guarantee to new costumers, in case their job situation changes in an unfavourable direction. Finally Martin suggest to look for opportunities to set up strategic alliances, as well among the brands on the global scene as between stores next door to each other on the local marketplace in any small town.
Title: Country Branding Running Time: 05:00 Views: 2000 Rating: (4.7/5) NICOSIA, CYPRUS: How can a flag be used to expose a country? In the divided Cyprus in the Mediterranean the Turk people has decided to put a big Turkish flag on a hillside on the Greek part of the island. It is lid up by thousands of light balls to send a friendly regard to their neighbours on the other side. Martin Lindstrom explains how several ways of underground branding can be used to put a country in the eye of the international tourists. He gives an example of how the Oscar winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire” is supposed to increase the number of visitors to India by more that 8 % next year, and other ways of making the global audience draw attention to the qualities of your country.
Title: Daring to be different Running Time: 02:35 Views: 3276 Rating: (4.63/5) ISTANBUL, TURKEY: In the borderline between Europe and Asia new methods are taken in use to keep up revenue. Construction sites are changed into big artificial castles with the product name all over it, and an insurance company is using man-size dolls dressed like burglars on the balcony’s of buildings to create attention to the idea of getting an insurance against theft. Martin Lindstrom talks about taking chances, running on the edge and using provocative ways of drawing attention to the product, both offline and online, to secure a dialogue between costumer and company. Change the usual commercial into an unusual with a different angle – and watch what happens!
Title: Nigerian Palms Running Time: 03:41 Views: 7905 Rating: (4.33/5) LAGOS, NIGERIA: This week Martin Lindstrom is in Nigeria to check out how an outdoor campaign has attracted people’s attention. A number of palm trees are really radio towers for a local telecommunication operator, and has changed a normally bad looking traditional tele transmitter into a good looking tree, by using a well known symbol and a sense of humour. He refers also to a well remembered IKEA-campaign in Copenhagen and Richard Branson’s airship stunt over the center of London towards British Airways – it certainly doesn’t have to be boring to be in charge of an outdoor marketing thrust.
Title: Master Dog Running Time: 03:06 Views: 2048 Rating: (3.67/5) SANTIAGO, CHILE: This week, Martin Lindstrom is in Chile to show us a very unusual but highly effective way of marketing a product. A brand of dog food, called Master Dog, cleverly placed its canine into the plotline of a popular television show, so it would become a well known cultural icon. The dog in fact became the hero of the show ensuring everyone would remember the dog and thus the brand; showing how placing your main brand image in context in a plotline really does work. This type of advertising is thus referred to as doggy placement.
Title: Earth Hour: Switching off to Build your Brand Running Time: 03:22 Views: 7934 Rating: (4.06/5) NEW YORK, USA: Earth Hour 2009 was held on Saturday March 28, 2009 between 8.30pm and 9.30pm local time around the world. Cities around the world switched off their power to support the annual Earth Hour initiative. This week Martin is in Time Square to find out if consumers really care about the environment? Would they pay extra for green goods and services? How about brands, do they care about the environment? Also, are brands using the initiatives like earth hour in an advantageous way? See it from the perspective of Time Square as Martin finds new and innovative ways to build your brand.
Title: The Kelly Experiment Running Time: 02:49 Views: 8892 Rating: (3.36/5) NEW YORK, USA: Recently, the NBC’s Today Show teamed up with Martin Lindstrom to undergo an experiment, testing the theory on our buying behaviour. The subject, Kelly, was suited up with an electrode cap and sent through a supermarket aisle twice. The first time there was no promotional material to grab Kelly’s attention; and the second time there was. The results proved that promotion actually works, Kelly is overcome with the prospect of ‘getting a deal’. To watch the NBC footage please go to our News Page.
This week’s video blog goes behind the scenes of the experiment; Martin giving exclusive insight into what this means to us as consumers and marketers alike.
Title: EcoBrand or EcoFad? Running Time: Views: 4671 Rating: (4.6/5) TOKYO, JAPAN: Is the environment just another fad? Will the recession lead to the destruction of ecomarketing and the environment debate that has been so prevalent over the boom times? This week, Martin is at one of Tokyo’s largest toy stores, Hakuhinkan, whose loyalty to the environment, expressed with its new brand line The one and only Earth, could keep them liquid; as well as keeping the environment debate open.
Title: Luxury in a recession Running Time: Views: 18553 Rating: (4.57/5) TOKYO, JAPAN: This week, Martin Lindstrom explores the epicenter for luxury brands worldwide, here in Tokyo, and how they will survive in this recession. Even in Japan, the ‘cheap generation’ is forming, opting for discount brands over luxury brands. The reason for the decline in sales of the luxury stores is due to the changing nature of societies perception of fashion, that is it is no longer fashionable to buy and show off luxury items.
Title: Rounded thinking Running Time: Views: 18732 Rating: (4.19/5) HELSINKI, FINLAND: This week, Martin Lindstrom is in conversation with Stefan Lindfors, the designer of a bottle that’s revolutionising packaging design – and the attitudes of retailers to it. Plup is a Finnish company which directs much of its profits towards environmental work. Lindfors has designed a doughnut-shaped bottle made from HDPE, a recyclable and durable plastic. Reusability is a key feature of this highly practical design. Stackable, easy to arrange on tables, the bottle satisfies the functional needs of store shelves and restaurant tables while offering itself as an easy-to-carry drink bottle for ongoing use. PLUP donates 10 euro cents from very bottle sold to the effort to clean up the Baltic Sea and the company supports environmental projects in every market of which the bottle is a part. A small company with a big mission and a brand to achieve it.
Title: Believe it or not Running Time: Views: 5434 Rating: (4.34/5) New York City, U.S.A.: Ripley’s Believe It Or Not is 90 years old. The brand has been through some quiet years but is making a comeback. Capitalising on the potential of the brand’s own TV show to promulgate the brand, Ripley’s is about to launch ‘Ripley’s Relic Chasers’. The brand will own and operate content the show’s content and broadcast via TV, broadband and wireless. Ripley’s believe the three-pronged approach will maximize brand awareness and revenue generation for the marketing investment.
Title: Storing future ideas Running Time: Views: 7070 Rating: (4.78/5) Tokyo, Japan: au by KDDI customer outlets are giving us a glimpse of the retail future. The cell phone brand’s flagship store is stocked with futuristic brand concepts and communication products for today. No cash changes hands - the store is a meeting place for ideas, and for consumers to become intrigued by them. Dialogue continues online at the au by KDDI website which provides a forum, for example, for adidas fans to compare notes on training and on their mobile training device, the ‘au x adidas’. The store of the future is about products in context, building a fan base, and perpetuating invaluable viral marketing.
Title: The General Running Time: Views: 5950 Rating: (4.62/5) Detroit, U.S.A.: 2008 marks General Motors’ centenary. It’s a landmark that’s accompanied by mounting financial loss and a host of oil-price challenges and environmental issues. Having led the market for decades, GM is now struggling to stay ahead of its rival, Toyota. GM is looking ahead to releasing a battery-powered vehicle in 2010, but will that be too late to resurrect the brand? Too many products and too many unremarkable retail outlets area marketing obstacles that no amount of money can conquer. GM will need to find a new focus to negotiate the next century.
Title: Clicks and mortar magic Running Time: Views: 4593 Rating: (4.79/5) Tokyo, Japan: @cosme started life online, as a web based cosmetics store. Now it’s thriving offline, having established its first retail store. And it seems all 6 million of its online customers are making their way to the bricks-and-mortar location. As it does online, the store sells leading cosmetics and ranks them according to customer evaluation. Customers try the products and happily provide feedback, forging a lasting relationship between consumers and @cosme, and spreading invaluble brand awareness by word of mouth.
Title: Product misplacement Running Time: Views: 8777 Rating: (4.14/5) London, United Kingdom: It’s true that advertising history can offer examples of stunningly successful product placement campaigns. Sales of Reese’s Pieces went up 30% during the ‘E.T.’ era, when Steven Spielberg’s little alien enjoyed them. But product placement overload has diminished the technique’s influence on consumers, and increased our suspicions of it. The latest Sylvester Stallone Rambo movie purportedly contains around 110 product placements – about one a minute. Martin Lindstrom’s global neuromarketing study, Buyology, proves, for the first time, that not only is uncontextualised product placement unable to find a place in our long-term memory – our brains actually delete any awareness of the brand.
Title: Rights of ritual Running Time: Views: 10513 Rating: (4.3/5) London, United Kingdom: Are you superstitious? It’s likely you claim not to be. But Project Buyology, the largest neuromarketing study ever conducted, confirms that our brains are hardwired to be seduced by superstition as a form of ritual. All over the world, car accidents increase on Friday the 13th. Building floors jump from number 12 to 14. American Airlines planes have no row 13. The seduction of superstition and ritual is used cleverly by marketers. Guinness and Corona beer and Magners cider are just three products whose popularity has been partly secured by the consumption ‘rituals’ that accompany them.
Title: Product placement peril Running Time: Views: 20686 Rating: (4.19/5) London, United Kingdom: How well does product placement really work? Coca-Cola spent a fortune as the key sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, yet most Chinese citizens were under the impression that Pepsi was the chief support. Martin Lindstrom’s Project Buyology tested product placement, examining the brains of over 2,000 consumers around the world with fMRI technology. The shocking findings are that product placement, as we know it, is a massive waste of advertisers’ money.
Title: Crisis ready? Running Time: Views: 6344 Rating: (4.24/5) Trondheim, Norway: These days, every consumer is a broadcaster. No longer is the brand in sole control of its representation. One email entreating motorists to patronize small gas stations rather than the corporate giants was sent, supposedly, to a million recipients throughout Scandinavia. Anecdotally, it seems to have had an effect. While Shell Oil and others deny any diminution in trade, forecourts seem less busy than usual. How would your brand respond? What crisis management strategies do you have in place?
Title: Making brand sense Running Time: Views: 10028 Rating: (4.85/5) Bogota, Colombia: We perceive and comprehend the world through all our five senses, but few brands build communication between all of them. Some brands are even unaware of the valuable sensory signatures they own. Crayola is one. Having built ownership of the crayons’ distinctive smell over decades, the brand seems to have expelled the scent from its products. Smell is a powerful branding tool, able to key into memory and emotion while bypassing rational assessment. What sensory signals does your brand own, and how can you make the most of them?
Title: Branding high Running Time: Views: 9988 Rating: (4.88/5) Above western Europe: While airlines in the U.S. are cutting staff and grounding flights, overcome by the pressures exerted by the oil crisis, Singapore Airlines is maintaining its characteristic calm. The brand has cultivated the Singapore Girl icon for over thirty years and matched this hallmark of style, grace and finesse with a range of signature brand expressions which include innovation and overt customer focus. The branding efforts have been consistent and on-message, upholding an unswerving and high-flying global perception of Singapore Airlines as a luxury brand of choice, rather than grounding the brand image as just another carrier.
Title: The Apple of their eyes Running Time: Views: 19270 Rating: (4.62/5) Sydney, Australia: What makes a guy travel around the world to visit a store opening? In the case of Apple fans, it’s a combination of brand loyalty and love and a competitive streak. When Apple opened its Sydney store, hundreds of brand aficionados flocked to the city in hopes of being first in line to enter the sparkling new store when it opened. Driven by dedication and admiration for the brand’s personality and values as much as its products, these self-motivated brand fans are united in a common language of love for the brand. Is this akin to religious fervor? Join Martin Lindstrom to examine the parallels between brands, cult and religion.
