new bank signages picture gallery

here are the pictures of the various new bank signages that have been discussed in WAWAM! for your comparison and appreciation.

the differences are very obvious, as they should be. aside from the differences in style, color and design elements, you can also clearly detect the differences in brand characters. each of these signages communicate a specific brand image or personality.





banks should pay a lot of attention and effort into their signages. most banks don't have advertising, some might not need them even and for many, their signages would be the main if not the only source of brand image for prospective bank customers and are not just physical directional signs.

banks should have a very similar attitude to that of restaurants who know the value of signages, location and ambiance. getting it right in signages can mean to many banks getting it right in brand image.

globe iphone 3G - over-pricing or good value?

to answer that question, we need to look into the consumer psyche. that's next in WAWAM! tonight.

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe
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read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

palin as republican VP - brilliant marketing move or biggest blunder

are we confused? yes we are.

we are looking at this as a purely marketing move, in fact within the realm of strategic marketing – palin as the republican vp partner of mccain in the presidential election.

are we confused? yes, we are. oh, i said that already.

palin as republican vp is either a brilliant marketing move or a big marketing blunder.

it's brilliant as for now, all the good things that were with the obama campaign - obama being an african american, hillary as a strong contender, and all the goodies that went with that, specially the one on hillary and the great convention that just ended have just evaporated and moved over to the republicans.

this choice for now has stolen the thunder away from the democrats. "stunning" is a word often used to describe the choice of palin. i agree wholeheartedly.

that leads us to downside. she is an unknown, at least for now but we will get to know her very well in short order. and that is where the other part comes in -- it can turn into the biggest marketing blunder made in political history.

while we do not know palin much, we do know hillary very well. hillary, the other woman candidate is very much a known candidate, almost the opposite of palin. while we may not know palin yet, it's almost a sure thing that hillary would have a longer list of accomplishments and credentials.

it's possible mccain just took in the weakest leak in his campaign.

while we do not know yet if palin as vp choice is a marketing blunder, we did know before and we are much more certain now that obama not choosing hillary as vp is a marketing strategic blunder. pailin in the mix reinforces and makes obama's non-choice of hillary as a much bigger and more obvious mistake. (read posts in WAWAM! on biden as a good choice but choosing hillary a brilliant move : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2008/08/obamas-vp-choice-biden-is-great-but.html).

as of this moment - the US presidential election is in a flux. much more interesting days ahead. take your seats!

democratic convention - quick points for brand differentiation

• bill clinton was the best of the whole lot. he had power, he made sense, he had charisma and was the clearest and sharpest in delivering the differences between the two, Brand Obama and Brand McCain. he delivered a long list of quotable quotes. his whole speech was crisp and highly engaging from the first word to the last.


• what's with al gore? there was no drama in the way he delivered his piece. did he forget to go to the bathroom before he spoke and was in a hurry to get it done and over with? he had a lot of substance but the delivery killed the points.


• hillary is the up and coming. she can be forceful and interesting. her prospects for the next bid for the presidency are pretty good.


• joe biden underdelivered. or was that a case of over-hyping before he spoke?


• obama covered a lot of ground, the full breathe of what he was supposed to. but i missed the high soaring rhetoric. i thought it was not necessary for him to lose what he has been very effective with in the past.

over and above the performances of the main speakers, history was made today - the first african-american is running for the presidency of the USA. that alone puts the democrats in the win column.

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Barack Obama hits McCain, sets tone for campaign with historic speech ---- read it here -->

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/08/28/2008-08-28_barack_obama_hits_mccain_sets_tone_for_c.html

globe iphone 3G - over-pricing caused a "not-for-me" brand image

the globe marketing people must be grumbling , the long lines and excitement did not materialize on the launch of the iphone. smart telecom marketing people on the other hand must be happy. the smart telecom people are happy because by pricing the iphone at the current levels, it meant globe decided not to use the iphone as the tool to take market leadership away from smart.

why did globe iphone 3G's sales disappoint? i don't think it's lack advertising or lack of promotion. the iphone 3G has been widely expected in this market. people were already waiting for it.

i think it's the pricing.

globe already gave us a hint that the pricing was the killer for their launch. many weeks ago, globe already announced their prices on the iphone. then weeks after that initial launch and around 3 days before the actual launch, they announced a "price roll-back". it's not actually a roll-back since they have not launched it yet, but that back pedalling on the prices told the iphone's pricing strategy was the biggest weakness in their launch plans. in fact we can say with the roll-back, globe admitted they made a mistake on the pricing of the iphone.

"value" or the perception of "good value" or "sulit" is always an issue among filipino consumers on almost everything. fail at communicating good value or fair value and the brand is dead in the market. it does not matter if this brand is the true superior product in the market place. if a brand is seen as inferior in good value, superior product performance will not matter.

and i think this is what happened to globe's iphone launch in the philippines. globe failed on their pricing strategy. i think globe committed this blunder on pricing for several reasons :

• they forgot that their target market, most likely AB, upper C already own a cellphone. they need to be given very strong reasons for them to buy a 2nd handset. they will already be "wasting" the money they invested on their current cellphone, they need a really smart reason to buy the iphone. pricing the iphone at the current levels made them feel it's not worth the investment.
• globe also forgot that their target market most likely own a computer and has access to the internet and read newspapers and magazines. that means they most likely know the iphone has been launched in other markets ahead of the philippines. and they most likely know the iphone is being sold at $199 in the US. looking at globe's announced iphone handset pricing, all notions and hopes of "good value" disappeared.

the instinct of the globe brand manager who "rolled-back" the iphone's price was right. it was just that the price action was too little.

i'm also wondering - did globe forgot to read the newspapers in the last few months? this country has been punished by inflation, the highest in 17 years, gas prices in certain times were being increased on a weekly basis, there is a rice and food crisis and growth has slowed. given that scenario, good value, if not prices have become increasingly very important to consumers. and in that most important criteria, globe's iphone launch failed.

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

College Of MAWAW! (COM!) lesson no. 1 -- wall-e is all about advertising

COM!, College Of MAWAW! Lesson No. 1

not that we will put a number to every COM! lesson, but since this is the first, we might as well put a number to it.

COM! College Of MAWAW! is for students of advertising and marketing who might be wondering what it is that they can do to learn more about advertising while they are still in school. reading books on advertising, listening to your professors and going to websites (like WAWAM!, ahem, advert plug there!) on advertising and marketing will of course do it, but it will surprise many that there are many things one can do which might look and sound like everyday things you do (they are!) that are actually lessons in advertising. (wow! hehe)

WAWAM! has spoken to students before as part of a series of talks on careers or on advertising itself and would usually end the session with very practical, everyday and very real things that students can do to learn more about advertising.

watching wall-e is one of those things.

why is wall-e all about advertising?

this movie is 1 and 37 minutes long and from start to finish, its all about advertising. it's really about tv advertising and in parts about print advertising.

did you notice? of the whole 1 and 37 minutes length of the movie, i would be shocked to find out if the total amount of dialogue will even reach 15 minutes. the whole movie, a significantly large number of minutes went by without any dialogue! they were mostly visuals. music and sound effects.

not having a lot of dialogue did not bother us at all. in fact through those 1 hour and 21 minutes of no dialogue, we actually understood the story! and not only did we understand the story, we were amazed by the story being told. and to top the great cake with an even greater icing, we actually caught the feelings conveyed by the movie.

that is actually advertising!

tv advertising and to some degree print advertising is all about VISUALS. the power of tv advertising IS IT IS A VISUAL medium. TV is the most powerful medium for advertising and that is largely due to the fact that it is a visual medium. the copy and and the music are there to enhance the visual story, but most of what a tv advertising is, it's power is in the visuals.

wall-e is one such movie - all visual, some music and sound effects and very skimpy, very little dialogue. and yet we did not fall asleep at any time during the movie, we were glued to the screen and most important of all, we understood the story, we felt the emotions, the characters were very real to us, we were able to differentiate and the most important of all, we loved the movie.

now, aren't those the same things we want our tv advertising to be?

for students of advertising and marketing who want to be good in advertising, watch this movie, wall-e and your advertising skills and your understanding of advertising will very much improved.

end of COM! Lesson No. 1.

homeway design singapore tv spot - fun place to work for

this must have been a hit when it aired in singapore.

i have many questions :

• was the song original?
• who is the composer?
• am i right to think the owner of the store is the composer of the jingle? well, at least the copy?
• who was the choreographer?
• did the choreographer also appear in the tv spot?
• when you see an ad like this, do you get the urge to go to the store?
• we assume they are employees of the store, do they still work there?
• is this ad played over and over again in the store?
• and played over and over again in the homes of the employees who appeared in the ad?
  
  
  

the democrat's denver rage party - the challenge of delivering messages on a multi-level stage

what is happening in denver for the democrats is much like a rage party - people from different persuasions, mostly dressed alike but faces with different stripes and inside looking for different things and everyone hoping that after an all nighter, everyone will come out of the door happy and everyone had a night of wild fun to remember.


or, is it?


political speeches and political party events are both very different and the same to that of marketing events for brands and a brand manager's speech in a product launch.


it is the same in the sense that both need to deliver one theme and one message. you want the troops to rally to a specific point. that point is usually where you want everyone in the room to be standing at exactly before take off outside the convention hall or the hotel ballroom to start battle the competition.


it is different in that in a political speech and a political event you not only worry about the people inside the convention room (that's similar to product launches), but you have to worry about what competition can do to you as soon as that tv camera beams its broadcast on tv.


in political speeches and events, it is a must to always operate in multiple levels in everything. messages need to be looked into always from the perspective of many more levels beyond the convention floor.


whatever you say and in this case even what you do not say in the convention will be devoured by the republicans and their strategists and will definitely do something with what they get. that is a range of multiple options - hurl them back at you as an attack or expose a weakness, cause loss of confidence among your supporters or retool their own message in their own convention which will happen in a few week's time.


and that is just the republican side. there is a bigger beast, a more ferocious one out there called the media and analysts. their job is to look at the details, deconstruct and reconstruct what is said and not said to expose both the real message and the one you missed.


it might look easy on the surface - deliver messages that (a) differentiate yourself from competition, (b) define your own solutions well, (c) inspire the faithful, (d) take the high ground, (e) and move the faithful to action.


and all of that need to reverberate and take other forms that will prevent competition from finding something to use against you or the media and analysts finding a weakness that they can highlight. it is always wise to be aware of the two things at the same time -- the good and the bad.


the convention started on a reality check - it is a divided democratic party. and that in many ways define the task obama has in his hands. his acceptance speech need to be a blockbuster, 10 times more inspiring than the speech he delivered when people noticed him. everything should fall into place and get everyone on the ready to go after obama's acceptance speech. too much at stake here that it's a necessity that it lights the whole convention and the nation but not burn down the house.










an interesting article:
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Three Democratic Clans Mix Uneasily

By PATRICK HEALY



DENVER — Neither family wanted it this way, neither the Kennedys nor the Clintons. But the opening of the Democratic convention on Monday brought a stark contrast: a bittersweet public celebration of the life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is suffering from brain cancer, and an embittered private drama about the terms on which the Clintons would yield the party to Senator Barack Obama.Mr. Kennedy, who endorsed Mr. Obama in January, had hoped to lead a hearty, full-throated night of anointing the next generation. Instead, the tribute to him took on the weight of a farewell to the last of the storied Kennedy brothers, with an intensity that rivaled the excitement around Michelle Obama’s speech about the Democrats’ next standard-bearer, her husband.

As one political dynasty was celebrating its legacy and ceding the political stage on Monday night, the other dominant family of the Democratic Party was struggling to protect its legacy and accept its own exit from the spotlight. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton had once hoped this convention would be theirs, an exultation of past and future Clinton White Houses. Instead, they were coming face to face with shrunken, supporting roles.




article parsed, read in full here : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/us/politics/26assess.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

LBC, largest philippine courier company tv spot - quickly delivering superior speed through humor

i get a chuckle every time i watch this commercial. i have seen this ad many times and i laugh every time i see it. before this ad, you wouldn't think speed can be funny but that's what this commercial did - make superior speed of delivery, it's brand positioning something very funny and yes very effective.

LBC is the country's largest local courier company. "hari ng padala", ("king of delivery") says what they are - the market leader.

this is one more commercial that shows how a simple story can deliver (courier?) a brand's brand positioning, and this one is brand superiority in a very effective and entertaining way. this builds the case for humor being the fastest delivery system of a brand positioning.

an overkill of analogies on speed of delivery aside, looking at all the other LBC ads, there is an obvious attempt to make it's ads not boring at the most, entertaining and funny at the least. humor and entertainment seem to be one of the best execution handle to communicate a potentially boring positioning of superior speed. there are many ways to communicate that in very serious ways but we are glad LBC has taken it the way they are doing it.

obama's vp choice - biden is great but clinton would have been brilliant!

biden as the vice president for obama is great, it's a perfect compliment to barack. biden is THE guy for foreign policy to obama's seeming weakness in it. he can also be the ferocious attack dog that people like listen to, a great compliment and yes a needed arsenal to obama's charm and over-all goody-goody charisma.

it's a great choice, specially in this time that we live in where teamwork and volume of work that needs to be done sometimes bring down even the best of us.

it's a well-studied choice, but it is not inspiring. and that is its greatest weakness. to me, that is a great disappointment for a candidate like obama whose strength and winability seem to be largely based on inspiration.

obama from the very start kept surprising us. he was not even in any spotlight just a few years ago, until that speech that he made. then he was the reluctant president wanna be. then became the pied piper of young and newbie voters during the primaries. then that charm and charisma. all of those and each point punctuated with inspiration.

biden is a great choice, but its a ho-hum choice.

hillary clinton as vp would have been just a stroke of political genius and yes, since WAWAM! is a blog about marketing and advertising, it would have been a stroke of no less than marketing genius!

going in, clinton already has great political capital. she did give obama a scare in the primaries. the democratic primary race was both historic and electrifying not only because of obama but also because of clinton. obama as candidate for president and clinton as vp would have had the same impact and effect to the general voting population as it had with the democratic party.

clinton already has the built in advantage of being a political icon who almost made it. with her, obama starts his presidential run on a level of strength and advantage. that gives the democrats an unbeatable tandem.

obama choosing clinton would have had an immediate unifying effect on the democratic party and it's supporters. with clinton out of the loop, unity is now clearly an issue instead, one that needs to be addressed.

an obama-clinton ticket is the dream team of US politics. it will siphon in hordes of new voters, women, minorities and ensure working class america stays democratic.

choosing clinton would have clearly defined obama as a true statesman and a brilliant strategist that can easily be used to catapult them to victory and more importantly re-position mccain as a has been and would clearly cement him as old, stodgy and without imagination.

for someone who electrified the country and specially the democrats as inspiring, its a surprise his choice of vp wasn't at all inspiring.

College Of MAWAW! (COM!) Homework #1 : watch pixar's wall-e

it's always great to talk to students about advertising. after the talk, you get the feeling you learned more from them than they learned from you. as a way of giving back to advertising students, WAWAM! launches COM! - the College Of MAWAW!

MAWAW! is WAWAM! spelled backwards. the idea is to give advertising and marketing students some direct positive inspiration before they join a marketing or advertising firm. a common question during the Q&A session with students is - while still a student what do i do to learn about advertising? since WAWAM! is about wasting advertising money, the College Of MAWAW! aims to do the opposite of WAWAM! which is to give positive inspiration for students.

here is the first COM! homework - watch pixar's wall-e movie.




discussion on how the heck is this movie related to advertising is next in WAWAM!

apple ad campaign to be challenged with a $300M microsoft ad campaign

a $300M war chest, now that's every adman's dream. that says a lot of things about many things. here are a few:

vista and microsoft must be hurting if not in terms of sales, it is most likely hurting in brand image as brought about the apple ad campaign. apple as a computer and the leopard as an OS is puny in terms of market share. apple sales have gone up aggressively but it's impressive run up in recent months continue to amount to a very insignificant size compared to microsoft.

the apple ad campaign couldn't be more simpler. it's direct to the point, its plain language and unfortunately for vista and microsoft, the ads speak the truth. these problems are widespread and there is no windows user, vista users specially who are alive who have not experienced any of the failures depicted in the apple ads. there can a few who have not, but they have surely heard it happen to others and they live in constant fear they may be the next.






these apple ads have been running for sometime, makes me wonder why is it only now that microsoft has decided to counter the ads. perhaps because apple computer market share have been really insignificantly low compared to the giant microsoft. they probably decided to finally respond perhaps with recent industry data that showed apple sales have grown and that consumer satisfaction was extremely high on apple and trounces vista to nowhere.

can't wait to see jerry seinfeld's tv ads for microsoft to launch. have been an avid seinfeld tv show watcher and in that show, seinfeld only uses a mac. wonder if this will be a switcher story?


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read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc

view the latest apple tv ads here : http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

globe iphone 3G launch - no long lines, hardly new subscribers

went to the globe business center at the shangrila in pasig. it was mostly empty, except for the banners announcing the availability of the iphone and a small white table on top of which was a white mac but no one seated on the chair and more importantly no customers buying the iphone. unlike in other markets in europe and in the US, lines did not form to buy the iphone. talked to the person at the door, and he confirmed as of that hour, which was around 4pm, nobody has come to buy or even to inquire about the iphone.

it's most likely the pricing. as posted in this blog, it is an over-priced handset given that most people most probably know that in the US, it was sold only at $199 a handset.

which leads us to an important question - with very few people wanting to buy the iphone, why did globe make the people who reserved the iphone before launch wait for them to get their iphones? what's keepin globe from immediately giving the iphones to those who reserved them?

getting the iphone as fast as they can to the hands of subscribers in fact is to the advantage of globe. it has the potential to create buzz. what was the point of making them wait?

it would be interesting how the press and globe play up this launch.

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

apple vs microsoft advertising war

Microsoft Enlists Jerry Seinfeld In Its Ad Battle Against Apple
By SUZANNE VRANICA and ROBERT A. GUTH


Microsoft Corp., weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.'s advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld.


The software giant's new $300 million advertising campaign, devised by a newly hired ad agency, has been closely guarded. But Mr. Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen, say people close to the situation. He will appear with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in ads and receive about $10 million for the work, they say.


The new ad effort is expected to use some variation of the slogan "Windows, Not Walls," according to several people familiar with the matter. Those people say the point is to stress breaking down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting. The campaign, said to debut Sept. 4, is one of the largest in the company's history.


The attempted image overhaul comes as Microsoft executives privately acknowledge that Windows -- the company's most important brand -- has grown stale and has been battered by Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads. Those ads, created by Omnicom Group Inc.'s TBWA/Chiat/Day, feature a nerdy PC guy getting upstaged by a hip Mac counterpart.


Microsoft's immediate goal is to reverse the negative public perception of Windows Vista, the latest version of the company's personal-computer operating system. Windows is Microsoft's largest generator of profit and revenue, accounting for 28% of the company's revenue of $60.4 billion in the year ended June 30.


The software has sold well, and Microsoft retains an overwhelming share of the market for operating system software over Apple. But Apple's computer sales have been rising, and Vista is dogged by the notion that it has technical shortcomings and is hard to use. Apple's latest Mac vs. PC ads take swipes at Vista. Microsoft says early problems with Vista have been largely alleviated.


While Apple's digs at Microsoft through its advertising campaign have been vexing, Apple is on a hot streak with its products that Microsoft hasn't been able to match. Apple's Macintosh computer business is dwarfed by Microsoft's share of the PC software market, but it has been gaining on its larger rival, accounting for 7.8% of new PC shipments in the U.S. in the second quarter, compared with 6.2% during the same period the prior year, according to research firm IDC. The vast majority of the rest of the market is made up of Windows PCs.


During the second quarter, Apple said it sold 41% more Macs than it did during the same period the prior year; that compares with growth of 15.3% in total PC shipments world-wide, according to IDC. Apple's desktop and notebook computers have won converts among onetime Windows loyalists.


Crucial Role


Microsoft's campaign highlights the crucial role of Windows in the company's broader efforts to expand into new areas. Money from that division is invested into other areas, such as online services that are crucial to Microsoft's long-term growth. Windows is also a bedrock product for sales of other Microsoft software, such as the Office group of programs.


"They are not seen as cool," says Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a New York branding firm. "Apple is cool. Can anyone even recall a Microsoft ad? No." Apple and its brand-obsessed CEO, Steve Jobs, have been producing distinctive advertising since its famous "1984" campaign, which debuted that year in the Super Bowl.


In an email to Microsoft employees in July, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer wrote, "Now it's time to tell our story."

He added: "In the weeks ahead, we'll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista." He said that later in the year the company will roll out "a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers."

Microsoft's large business-to-business presence has always made for a difficult marketing mix with consumer branding. Windows is used by both constituencies.

Mr. Seinfeld is just one piece of the makeover. The campaign will likely include videos of recent consumer focus groups that Microsoft held. In the studies, participants -- who said they had negative impressions of Vista -- were shown a version of Windows called "Mojave." After trying Mojave and liking it, the participants were told that the software was actually Windows Vista.
The campaign is the brainchild of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, a Miami-based ad shop that has helped revitalize brands such as Burger King. Microsoft hired the firm earlier this year after considering several ad agencies including WPP Group PLC's JWT, Publicis Groupe's Fallon and its longtime agency Interpublic Group's McCann Erickson.


Big Test

The campaign is a big test for Crispin Porter + Bogusky. In choosing the firm, a unit of MDC Partners, Microsoft broke from McCann Erickson, which has managed the software maker's previous efforts including the 2002 "Realizing Potential" Microsoft corporate ad campaign and the "Start Something" campaign for Windows XP in 2005. McCann remains on Microsoft's agency roster working on other Microsoft ad duties such as Xbox.


While Crispin Porter + Bogusky has won awards for its Burger King ads, which highlighted the company's king pitchman, not all its pitches have hit the mark. The agency had come up short on its work for Miller Lite with its "Man Laws" ad campaign that featured boxer Oscar De La Hoya and actor Burt Reynolds. The work failed to increase sales. The two companies eventually parted ways.


Even though Mr. Seinfeld's popular sitcom stopped production in 1998, the 54-year-old comic still has major appeal with consumers, according to Davie-Brown Entertainment, a marketing company owned by Omnicom Group. The comedian ranks 41st out of more than 1,900 celebrities in terms of broad appeal, the firm's data show.


Still, after 10 years of reruns and only occasional appearances by Mr. Seinfeld in the media, keeping the franchise fresh with younger adults is a concern. Last week, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Television, which distributes "Seinfeld" in U.S. syndication, announced the "Seinfeld Campus Tour," in which it's sending a 60-foot "Seinfeld"-themed bus to U.S. colleges to drum up interest in "a new generation of viewers," a spokeswoman said.


Mr. Seinfeld had been a spokesman for American Express, and his "Superman" commercials and Web videos in 2004 won raves. People familiar with the Microsoft campaign say that the company was aware of trying too hard to pander to youth, so didn't want a celebrity that was too hip, or a possible flash-in-the-pan.






source:
thttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB121928939429159525.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

read more posts on this microsoft and apple ads here : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20am%20mac%20i%20am%20pc

australia's hahn beer tv ads - why men are from mars and women are from venus

you need to view at least two of their ads to be able to fully appreciate the campaign.

while the bud light beer ads are all about how men try to get it on with women, the hahn beer ads seem to be all about how not to get it on with women.

the ads reinforce the stereotypes about men and i suppose in many ways the stereotypes on beer as well. it's hard to imagine something like a wine product being able to pull off the stories in these ads. but it's easy to imagine how men can actually behave the way they do in the ads.

i wonder if hahn beer consumption among men went up while beer consumption among women went down. the ad reminds women of what things they don't like about men and by extension, will it tell them why they should not buy or consume hahn beer? it's not a clearly polarizing commercial, but it does put across very clear and separate messages to males and females.

its an ad full of humor, will women find it humorous enough that they won't get turned off on hahn beer? beer is mostly a male product and it can make sense that the ad plays up to the males. or does it?

it presents hahn as the beer for the boorish, clueless and insensitive male. are there men who would like to be seen as that kind of male? or would that make men prevent them from being associated with hahn?

for this ad campaign to work, meaning generate sales and not hurt hahn's brand image, it assumes the target audience has a lot of humour and are very much open minded enough to take the whole thing as a tongue-in-cheek ad and result to hahn being seen as more endearing than a beer that you don't want to be associated with.

it's a high risk campaign.

what???

The Top 13 Serious Questions Serious Buyers Of The Iphone Should Ask Globe

you already know you are paying an obscene amount for the iphone and that you allowed globe to make an obscene amount of profit on the iphone handset sale. you also know the iphone as of this writing and as you are reading this is having a lot of hardware and/or software problems. while apple and in fact steve jobs himself said they will be fixed sometime in september, that might not be of any comfort to you as you will get your iphone tomorrow or in the coming days.

when you go to the globe store or when you call globe customer service to inquire about the iphone or when you get your iphone, make sure you ask the following questions:

1. how extensive is globe's 3G network? are all of globe's cell sites on 3G? exactly where is this available and where are they not available? the iphone connects to 3G networks, it there is none in the area you are in, it will connect to EDGE and that slows down the whole thing and is the reason why the iphone is unable to make a call or calls are dropped often.
2. what is the firmware saved on the iphone that is being handed to you? is it the latest?
3. did globe actually try using the new firmware in the philippines? did it work? there have been reports that the latest firmware did not work for some.
4. if they tell you the latest firmware has not yet been loaded into your iphone - do not leave the globe store and ask them to load it for you right in the store if that is possible. and once loaded, try the iphone to see if it works.
5. 3rd party applications are unable to run on the iphone because of a software bug, ask them if it's wiser for you not to upload any 3rd party application until it is fixed in september.
6. if the iphone turns into a brick for whatever reason, where do you go for fixes? globe? or apple?
7. and how long will they be able to fix it?
8. while they are fixing your iphone, will globe give you a replacement cellphone to use9?9
9. if you give the iphone to globe for fixing, does globe themselves fix it or do they send it to apple? the latter means a much longer servicing time. the apple service center takes anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks to fix anything.
10. how long is the battery life? how many hours will it last after being fully charged if used only as a cellphone? if used as a cellphone and as an ipod?
11. exactly what areas in the philippines is covered by globe's internet service?
12. how fast is this? the iphone comes with a number of internet hours for free. there is a big difference in the amount of data you can view when an internet connection is slow versus one that is fast.
13. there is a version 2 of safari, has this been loaded into your iphone? if not, you have to go to the itunes store and buy it. do you have a credit card that you can use to pay for this software?
    

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

australia's hahn beer - next in WAWAM!

part 6 : globe's iphone 3G pricing a good time to launch or just a "good time"?

i both agree and disagree with the analysis on the timing of globe's launch of the iphone. i agree that consumers, even high income ones are now more value conscious than before. we also know that in times of economic worries, the tendency specially among high income consumers is to at least delay purchase of high ticket items.

i agree with the analysis that within that framework, globe's iphone launch is bad timing as of the moment BUT ONLY IF globe launches the iphone at the price they have set it. it is a highly over-priced product specially that philippine consumers, specially the high income ones are aware that the iphone is being sold in the US only at $199 or equivalent P9,032 versus their declared price of P15,100 for plan P1,599 and for pre-paid buyers at P37,599.

in fact this prevailing attitude of looking at value before making high ticket purchases may be the best time to launch the iphone IF glone launches the iphone at the same US price of $199.

at $199 or P9,032.00, all consumers will view the iphone as giving the BEST VALUE given the low price together with superior technology and features, bar non and superior brand image, bar non. given the iphone brand image and verifiable superior features, many will most likely see the iphone as dirt cheap.

and that goes to the point i have raised earlier where we are saying the iphone may be used by globe as their weapon of choice to gain new users and most specially a substantial number of switchers from smart and eventually become market leader in as short as two year's time.

unfortunately, based on the pricing that globe has announced, globe seem to have decided they do not want to use the iphone as their weapon to gain market leadership. smart telecoms must be relieved of globe's decision on its pricing on the iphone.

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http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20080818-155357/Timing-not-so-good-for-iPhone-3G-in-RP-says-analyst




Timing not so good for iPhone 3G in RP, says analyst
By Lawrence CasirayaINQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines--Despite the hype surrounding Globe's forthcoming launch of the iPhone 3G, one analyst believes Apple's latest device is coming to the Philippines at a very bad time.


"The iPhone's roll-out in the Philippine market came at a very bad time," said Benedict Ferrer, analyst for XMG Asia Pacific. Globe is scheduled to launch the iPhone 3G on August 22. The operator initially announced earlier this month that it would sell the device for prepaid accounts at P41,899 and P48,899, for the 8-gigabyte and 16-gigabyte models, respectively.


Last Friday, Globe announced price rollbacks and said it would sell iPhone 3G prepaid kits starting at P37,599 (8Gb) and P43,799 (16 GB)." Despite of the price cuts made by Globe, technology consumers are now very cautious on spending for high-end luxury items due to spiraling food and transportation costs," Ferrer said in comments e-mailed to INQUIRER.net.


He believes Globe's revenue growth from iPhone subscriptions will still be limited due to "application cost, value proposition and application usage acceptability among consumers." In terms of preference, he said consumers in general will still prefer prepaid plans primarily because these do not have a "lock-in" contract with Globe.

The iPhone 3G is also available via postpaid subscriptions ranging from P1,599 to P4,999 in monthly fees. "iPhone's brand recognition, market positioning and loyal followers will provide the strategic advantage in capturing high-end techno savvy consumers versus other smart phone brands," Ferrer said.


Globe's prepaid plans come with P1000 in load credits spread over five months, or P200 per month. Also, the first 1,000 phonekit purchases will get an additional P1,000 discount off the purchase price, Globe said in last Friday's announcement.

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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

battle of the new bank signages - BPI gets it right!

of the few banks that have recently refurbished their signages, BPI or Bank Of The Philippine Islands is the one that got it right. BPI's design is simple and very clean, elegant, classy and looks pretty solid.

they did away wit any lines, just their red color, graphics logo and their name logo. no frills but very effective. they have also decided to emboss the everything and that gives it a more 3D effect and gives their signages a lot of class. when lit at night it's really very effective.

BPI is known to be the largest bank network in the country and this design reflects that leadership. it's also a good thing that they have put in their signage the branch location. this helps a lot as often times they have more than one branch if not on the same street, definitely in the same vicinity. knowing exactly the branch name helps make sure you are in the correct branch.

they also have a vertical signage and it also works very well as shown in the above picture. this bank is more known as BPI and that makes the vertical signage work for them. this signage works because of the lack of clutter. all they have are clean and simple lines. very appropriate for a bank of their stature.

what ails the iphone

there are two problems: a) the iphone is unable to connect to 3G networks and b) 3rd party applications won't run.

read articles here :

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/iphone_new_version/
http://blogs.computerworld.com/iphone_firmware_update_woes_continue
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/08/19/steve_jobs_vows_iphone_app_crash_fix_for_september.html

google the problem and many other articles will pop up.

apple released a firmware update yesterday for the connection problem to 3G networks but there are still complaints. the other problem, 3rd party applications not being able to run will be fixed in september.

that means philippine buyers of the iphone from globe might have a dead phone when they get it. customers will need to update the firmware first and hope for the best that it will be able to connect. unless of course globe takes it upon themselves to first update the firmware before they hand over the iphone to their customers.

it would also be wise for philippine customers to ask globe if its wiser not to upload any 3rd party application until september. if customers download them now, they might not run and might cause more problems.

let's see if globe's sales personnel and customer service are up to the task before them.







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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

The Top 10 Reasons Why I Am Not Buying Globe's Iphone

10. i keep reading nasty problems with the iphone - battery life sucks, it shuts down on it's own, connectivity problems, turns into a brick, unstable software, etc. the iphone 3G is just on it's 1st year, apple products are always at their best on year 3 or year 4.

9. i already have a cellphone and it's doing great.

8. i have a nasty feeling globe will repent and will be forced to eventually reduce their prices. so why buy now?

7. globe's landline and internet services suck big time! many of their internet subscribers want to burn down globe. if they have not improved on this over the years, how much more worse will it become with a new product like the iphone that is very much into the internet?

6. i am not a techie. the iphone is a lot like a twin to the internet and very much into frequent upgrades and synchronization on the net. if something goes wrong, i don't think i can fix it. what if my computer crashes? i lose all the data and all the goodies. it will be a pain to transfer to another computer.

5. what if something goes wrong with the iphone? or i need to replace the battery? i won't have a cell phone for 2, 4 to 6 weeks!? argh!

4. what, deal with globe's customer service? that scares the hell out of me. how much do they know about the itunes and the internet? it's hard enough being able to contact them now, what more with additional iphone users?

3. battery life is one big issue. with all the other goodies in the iphone, i don't think i can stop myself from using it more on things other than as a cellphone like text or voice calls. and those other things WILL discharge the battery. i need a cellphone to send/receive text and voice calls and i want that available to me 24/7. using the other goodies in the iphone puts me at risk of discharging the battery and losing it's primary function of being a cellphone for text and voice calls.

2. i feel very cheated in having to pay the over-pricing of the iphone by globe. can't stand the thought i'm allowing globe to screw me. imagine, i would have the feeling of being screwed for 2 years, the lock up period.




and the number 1 reason why i am not going to buy globe's iphone is:

1. i already own an ipod touch and it's great! i am able to enjoy all the goodies of the iphone without having to deal with any of the current and future bad things about the iphone and most specially globe, read - # 2 to # 10, above. most of the coolest stuff on the iphone are on the ipod touch.





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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

mccain's obama attack ads - speed and strategy

i think mccain's advertising ad campaign is being run very well - very professional, admirable speed, highly consistent and well thought out strategy.

they are able to come out with tv ads within 24 hours of a new development on the barack obama side. we have seen two ads aired, one within 24 hours, the other within 48 hours of obama's announcement of joe biden as his running mate. and these are no oedinary tv ads, i think they are very effective and very well thought out ads.

this speed to airwaves is definitely creating momentum for the mccain candidacy as it is effectively removing steam and power from the obama campaign. polls show the mccain and obama numbers are getting much closer and that's because obama's numbers are slowing down if not shrinking while mccain's numbers have not changed or slowly improving. that may show the impact of the attack ads that the mccain camp has been releasing - they are chipping away on the strength of obama and slowing it down.

the ads are also very consistent on one strategy - the message of inexperience, lack of skill, lack of ability and weak leadership message the mccain campaign is portraying obama to be.

it's also interesting that the mccain ads are delivering that strategy and messages through a very effective way - the use of what the other candidates like clinton and biden have said previously about obama. it's very tangible and clear and creates a solid question in the minds of the voters about obama.





it is no surprise that these two ads carry the same message, they are on the same ad strategy that the mccain camp has decided to adapt for the attack ads.

it also builds very strongly and i would say very effectively on the split that occured within the democratic prty brought about by the long drawn, bitter and highly passionate campaigns waged by clinton and obama. to this day, the clinton supporters are still clinton supporters and continue to be obsessively so. now, obama is saddled with an extra task of winning over clinton supporters within his own party on top of the the general voters and going against mccain voters and supporters. he has some extra baggage to get over with.

if obama loses the election, it is very possible that clinton's dogged determination to stay in the democratic nomination process will be tagged as one of the key reasons for it's failure to win. clinton held on to it too long and too strong. it was the fear many were saying then and it's possible that its effects are now showing.

the convention in denver will put into the arena new messages and bring out new arenas, it will be interesting to see just how much power mccain's attack ads truly have in this election.

next in WAWAM! ---- what can the obama camp do?

e-trade tv spot - an easy way to explain easy

sometimes, explaining "easy" is not easy and actually very hard to do. admen know this and is almost a daily struggle.

"easy" is a most natural brand positioning for many companies, especially those that do business through the internet. businesses in the internet aim to take business from brick and mortar businesses. and we all knowthe difficult challenge we face in the space we need to navigate from home to store and those pesky humans we have to deal with when we buy in stores can make things very difficult for us. that is essentially the positioning of e-trade - easy.

we have also very often heard of the term "back to basics", it's like a going back to where you came from.

this e-trade tv spot combines both - showing us how easy it is to demonstrate and communicate "easy" and doing it in a very back to basics way - where we all came from, from being babies. i don't think there is a more basic and easy way.

while i was marveling at this ad, i kept looking at the mouth of the baby and kept wondering - how in the world did they do that? the lips were practically mouthing the words. not that i read lips, but it did look very much that way. and then that punctuation they did at the end that came from the mouth of the baby - how did they do that? it was on cue!

come to think of it, it's not easy making this ad about easy.

other things to consider before buying globe's iphone

there are other considerations that consumers will need to look into when they buy globe's iphone. aside from it being overpriced, meaning globe is taking an almost obscene profit on handset sales, look into these things:

battery life seem to be a killer for the iphone. reviews have mentioned it's extremely short. to make it work well for you the whole day, you will need a charger in your office and in your car.

an internet connection and a computer is a must. the iphone is very popular for it's regular need to update it's software from the apple website.

you cannot replace the battery yourself, you have to bring your iphone to the apple service center for that. in the philippines, iphone batteries from apple itself are very expensive, something like P3,000 per battery.

waiting time for apple to repair anything is quite long, anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. that includes replacing batteries.

getting the iphone serviced in the philippines will be very difficult. this is very much unlike the nokias that most people are familiar with. having a nokia serviced with almost every mall having a service center is still a real pain, what more for apple where it's service centers are too few?


read here an iphone owner's story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081900479.html




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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

are there enough consumers who will bite the iphone overprice?

it's interesting that globe even before it actually launched the iphone reduced the prices for the iphone. news and blog reports said they did so as globe got so much flak for the pricing strategy they initially announced for the iphone, thus they rolled back the prices.

it's a very strange move to roll back prices even before you launch a brand. obviously something must have happened since the time they first announced their over priced iphone.

it's good they have reduced the prices, but that's not enough. the iphone are still over priced.

in the philippines, the issue is ALWAYS about cash outlay and value. that's the reason why the philippines has evolved to be the largest market in the world for SMS - because of low cash outlay of 1 peso/txt and that spells good value.

paying that amount for a cell phone that YOU KNOW is being sold at $199.00 only makes its buyers more than just being ignorant but probably enjoys paying much more for things than what they are actually worth.

will globe find enough new subscribers who are willing to bite into their overpriced iphone?






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read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

part 5 : globe's iphone launch strategy : double the price, take a pass on the chance to market leadership

here is the bottom line for globe on the iphone launch - it has missed the boat on many things in their marketing launch plan for the iphone.

what a shame and what a waste - globe passing up the chance to take market leadership from smart. globe's very high and out of reach pricing strategy on the iphone shows globe is treating the iphone just like any other other new cellphone model. globe has totally missed the point on the true power of the iphone and what it can do to it's market share.

globe decided to take a marketing strategy of taking short term profits on the sale of the iphone handsets over long term market share growth, user base expansion and market leadership. they preferred profits on cell phone unit sales over increase in number of subscribers.

the true value of the iphone is it is an irresistible magnet to consumers. and if we are going to read the marketing strategies behind the iphone's world domination marketing plan, we will most likely read these statements:

1. superior product features and capabilities, bar none
2. superior brand image, bar none
3. superior pricing, if not highly competitive pricing

globe has grossly missed the point that the whole story behind the iphone is all about the increase in number of subscribers. the whole marketing strategy put behind the iphone is global domination, it is about numbers - the number of iphones sold. number of iphone units solds translates to exactly the same number of subscribers!

this was nurtured for the iphone from day 1. the iphone was launched just a year ago - it had industry leading features and in fact took the whole market into a whole new different playing field. it's price was very stiff but it continued to sell just the same and to wow consumers and the industry.

the net effect of the iphone's year one was --- superior product and superior brand image. while the iphone achieved it's year one cell phone unit sales objective, everyone knew the only barrier to world domination was it's price.

that is what they fixed on year 2 with the launch of the iphone 3G this year. the highly aggressive 50% off $199 pricing was meant to silence all other competitors. here you had industry leading features, industry leading brand image and what did they do? added 3G and dropped the price like hell. in marketing terms, that's a very clear signal that the iphone is on it's way to world dominance. that kind of pricing is meant to close down all competition. it has been successful so far. it has now sold more than 3 million handsets.

we are talking here of only year 2 for the iphone! think of what will come next on it's year 3! the iphone juggernaut has only just began. we all know what apple is capable of, specially on technology, innovation and design. if we are all wowed by the iphone now, we will be blown away on year 3.

think what the ipod has achieved! the scale of success and numbers that the ipod has achieved is what the iphone intends to do. and globe did not see that?

this is the other part that globe has failed to see. we think globe can easily take market leadership away from smart with the iphone in a very short two year's time. it's amazing how globe can choose profits on a few handset sales versus 15 to 20 million new subscribers by next year! the numbers that globe is missing on their current iphone marketing strategy is staggering!

we think the marketing strategy that globe has decided on the iphone is a monumental failure of missed opportunities.

we are talking of monumental missed business opportunity just on their mobile service business. the other huge missed opportunity is on their wifi internet business. pldt dominates this segment of the market. globe has launched their own internet service but it is nowhere near what pldt has done.

the iphone 3G, together with it's wifi capabilities could have trampolined globe into becoming a real threat to pldt on internet services. use of the iphone for internet browsing is of course very different and inferior versus using a laptop or a desktop but they could have used their internet use through the iphone as a consumer base to convert them into subscribers to their telephone based laptop/desktop internet subscribers at home.

it's really hard to understand how globe's plans for the iphone misses many of the facts about the iphone and how it has failed to see the long term view.

read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone

part 4 : iphone 3G philippine launch - globe gives up chance to market leadership

WAWAM! is of the opinion that with the 3G iphone, globe has an excellent chance in gaining market leadership over smart in the philippine mobile service market. the iphone has all the right ingredients - a pedigree of success in other markets, a hands down "it" cell phone image, no debating it is the must-have cell phone today.

it's features and capabilities are unmatched by its competitors. more importantly, it has been priced in the US at $199.00. at today's peso - US$ exchange rate of P45.39, that's just P9,032.61. with its features and brand image, that is dirt cheap.

the iphone was launched in the US a year ago at double the price. the price cut apple did when they launched the 3G ("twice as fast, half the price") was meant to achieve market leadership.


and that is exactly where the problem is in globe's planned launch of the iphone - it's pricing. globe has originally announced a very high price on the iphone but just last friday announced a new lower pricing. but the new lower pricing is still way too much compared to the US price and the iphone's implied pricing strategy.

the lowest plan is at P15,100, that is a +67% versus the iphone pricing strategy equivalent peso of P9.032 at the lowest post-paid monthly fee of P1,599 here at globe.

for existing post-paid subscribers, subs of the lowest monthly rate will need to pay P29,000 for the iphone or equivalent US$638.90 or +220% versus the pricing strategy of US$199 in the US.

these pricing structure tell you globe's marketing strategy in their launch of the 3G iphone is not to gain market leadership but to make a huge profit on the iphone sales. it looks like they do not believe the iphone is capable of pushing globe to market leadership.

this is short sighted marketing and i think a fatal mistake. this is a one time chance to gain market leadership for them but they passed it up for short term profit. what a shame and a WAWAM!





read WAWAM! posts on globe's iphone launch : http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/globe

read WAWAM! posts on the iphone here :
http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/search/label/iphone


read more about globe's iphone pricing here:
http://blogs.inquirer.net/m-ph/2008/08/18/globe-rolls-back-3g-iphone-prices/
http://www.mukamo.com/globe-sell-iphone-3g-philippines-august-22-price-41899-pesos/