cebu pacific's dancing flight stewardess youtube video - opportunity for a new brandsell advertising

this youtube video as of this writing has gotten 6 million hits at youtube since it was posted. that makes the video a viral success. but it is an unintended success for cebu pacific as they had nothing to do with its posting, an airline passenger posted it there.

cebu pacific is now top of mind. it is the kind of awareness that brand managers dream about - it's impact wide, it's fun and its free publicity. will it generate business for cebu pacific? it should, but we do not know how much it would be. it also helps that its key competitor, Philippine Airlines is having problems with their own flight attendants who are threatening to go on strike.

actually this video getting so much attention is hurting PAL as much as it is helping cebu pacific. the cebu pacific flight attendant being as fun and engaging is an extreme contrast to the PAL flight attendant who appears to be embattled and combative.

what is the next step? we were thinking this is an excellent time for cebu pacific to air a new tv brandsell advertising featuring the same flight attendant who is featured in the video doing exactly the same dance steps. the flight attendant in that video is very good looking and did an excellent job with her dance, she can be the next commercial model star in philippine advertising. 

mead johnson's brand and corporate image hurt by product recall

the nightmare every product manager wants to avoid just happened to two of mead johnson's milk products - a recall ordered by the FDA due to not meeting fat content standard, saying it is of "inferior" quality. 

in the first place, why did mead johnson release a product that does not meet government regulation standards? that is mind boggling and most specially for a company that sells milk products for babies and children. a milk product needs to be perfect specially on the points of view of safety and quality.  these are qualities every mother expects a milk product to be. the other benefits, like making your child smart or in the case of a product of mead johnson a promise of giving 100% nutrition are the added benefits that separate the brand from others.

fernandez, a corporate affairs manager at mead johnson gave a  weak defense of his company. he said the products they were selling met the FDA standards until the FDA changed them. that does not sound like it's a good excuse. the FDA changed the standards without telling milk companies of the change? is that what fernandez is saying?  



we are thinking if standards are changed, the FDA will let the milk companies know about the change ahead of time to give the milk companies time to develop new formulas and to deplete stocks that have already been produced and already in the stores. this change in standards does not appear to be a health risk, so it makes sense for the FDA to allow the milk companies to draw down their stocks. 


perhaps someone in mead johnson forgot the deadline for the switch over to the new stamdard? maybe there are still stocks of the mead johnson products still in the market that were sold before that got caught in the deadline and were found by the FDA in the shelves. we do not know the protocol the FDA follows in the their checks but it is very possible that the FDA would pick up products from the stores to analyze them. 



we think this forgetful mead johnson employee is the real reason for this problem. fernandez in his statement says they are about to release a re-formulated product that meets the regulation. that to us means someone in mead johnson is very forgetful with the reformulation coming in too late. 


this can mean the products in question will be out of the market for sometime as they will still need to reformulate, get approval on the new formula and produce the product.


this will hurt mead johnson's market share for these products. they are hoping this will not hurt the other mead johnson brands in the market. it's a tough situation to be in, mead johnson will need to do some damage repair on its brands and the company. this is not a good thing to happen for brands and a company that sells milk products to children. let's see what they do after this event.

FDA recalls 2 Mead Johnson milk products

By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:05:00 09/21/2010

MANILA, Philippines—The Food and Drug Administration has ordered the recall from store shelves of two milk products for supposedly deficient fat level content, failing to comply with the standards.
In an order, FDA Director Nazarita Tacandong said Sustagen Junior Milk Drink Powder Vanilla Flavor and Alactagrow Bibo Trio Milk Supplement were being recalled because both failed to comply with the standard fat level content per 100 calories set by the agency.

The two milk products are manufactured by Mead Johnson Nutrition Philippines.
Under FDA standards, the required fat content for milk supplements must be between three and six grams per 100 calories.

An evaluation showed that the fat contents of Sustagen and Alactagrow were only 1.5 grams and 1.34 grams per 100 calories, respectively, "thus indisputably making the same non-compliant to the standard of inferior quality," Tacandong said.

She also advised consumers who have purchased the products to return them to the manufacturer or any of its licensed distributors.

Continuous distribution of the milk products would present "gross deception" to consumers and may "present risk and injury to young children," said the FDA order.

Reached for comment, Janryll Fernandez, Mead Johnson Nutrition Philippines corporate affairs manager, maintained that all its products sold in the country, including Alactagrow and Sustagen Junior, have passed stringent FDA health and safety requirements.

"They remain perfectly safe to consume, contrary to the language used in the order," Fernandez told the Inquirer in a phone interview Tuesday.

Fernandez noted that the FDA issued a "Class III order," the lowest level or recall order used for products that have "technical compliance issues" but do not likely to cause adverse health consequences.

In a statement, Paul Richards, the company's president and general manager, said, "safety is Mead Johnson's highest priority and the company spares no effort to comply with the laws of all of the countries in which it operates."

Fernandez added that the fat content of the two milk products were in compliance with FDA standards before it recently adopted additional Codex regulations for follow-up milk formulas.
He added that the company was already taking steps to meet the new FDA

requirements.
"Mead Johnson is releasing a reformulated version of the milk products that meet the new regulatory requirements," said Fernandez.

toyota's biggest savings promo turn into a customer's biggest satisfaction failure

we have been seeing this print ad for toyota. nothing really special about the print ad, it's a typical promo print ad from the genre of barker, hyper type of promo ads. we have also seen a tv ad for this promo and from what we remember, the tv ad looks like the print ad, also unremarkable. based on just our own observation, it appears toyota has spent the most ad money among all the car manufacturers. most are on promos like these.

the ad we have here is the ad for the extension of the promo, the promo ran in june and this ad announces its extension until july. they could have come up with a different version for the extension of the ad for better impact and awareness. this extension print ad is different from the first version only with an announcement of the extension on the upper right hand corner of the ad.

promos are a good thing or so at least in paper. they are meant to build business. the idea of a promo is that during the time it is ran, the promo will generate incremental business for the brand/company. what happens when a promo turns into a big customer dissatisfaction? here is one example:
http://wawam.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/toyotas-biggesr-savings-turn-to-customers-biggest-customer-satisfaction-failure/

babes in orange mini dress arrested for ambush marketing in 2010 world cup

wow! this is shocking - we did not know ambush marketing can get you arrested! marketers can be criminals after all.

dutch bavaria beer sent a few dozen babes in orange mini dress to watch the dutch games at the world cup in south africa. the beer company paid for the airfare for the babes to watch the game and obviously the orange mini dress. the girls entered the stadium in regular clothes and at a specific time they all remove their clothes to reveal the orange mini dress.

then the girls started the whoopi. how often do you see that many babes in mini dress doing the whoopi in the way they did it? so they got a lot of attention, cell phone cameras took the video, the men around them whooped it up, too. they did not complain, they just enjoyed all of it,

however, there were those who complained - the men at the other of the stadium who were too far to see eye to eye with the babes in orange dress. the other complaint was from fifa who had them arrested.

well, fifa did not have them arrested and charged in court for the mini dresses but for violating the sponsorship and marketing deals for the games. apparently bavaria was not a sponsor of the games. the babes in mini dress were accomplices for the alleged crime.

fifa are such party poopers!

read here:

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Two-Dutch-mini-dress-models-arrested-after-defyi?urn=sow,248867

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article506153.ece/Fans-in-minis-bust-in-undies

this we think is excellent ambush marketing. not only because the babes wore mini dresses but the whole idea of ambushing such an event. bavaria obviously got what they wanted - they got the attention of every dutch male in the audience and at home, plus the global audience and everyone else who went to this blog. i bet bavaria beer's brand awareness and likability scores went up the roof after the game.

it made me thirsty for bavaria beer. will get some tonight.

"Hornitex" - what does it sell? for adults only?

no, this is not a joke. we were driving down mandaluyong one time and right beside our car is the small van that had this brand name painted on its back door, side and front - HORNITEX.

it was shocking! i thought, geez this is the first time i have heard of a pornsite or cyberden in wheels! i thought, man, the police must be on them that they need to have their operation inside a small van to always be on the move to avoid being caught.

of course it was not a pornsite or a cyberden on wheels! it was just my imagination. i did not have my camera with me, so i quickly got my cellphone out and took this picture of the van. traffic was about to move, i got my hand out of the car and took the picture.

there was something written on the van but since traffic was already moving, i did not get to read what it said. it must have explained what Hornitex was selling. i am sure it was something legal, but i did not get to read what it was.

Hornitex -- textile? animal horns? viagra-type meds?

i got my hand out of my car and pointed to the name for the passengers of the cars behind me to take a look. looking at my back and side view mirrors, i saw a group of teen-agers and adults in a car and a van snickering at what i pointed to them.

i googled the name. whoa! there really is a company called Hornitex! it is located in san juan and check out what they sell. just google it.

must be tough to work for the company.

salesman: hello, sir. i work for hornitex. can i call on you to sell you something?

telephone operator: hello, hornitex. can i help you?

salesman: i am from hornitex, can i give you a demo?

it is not trivia we want from rizal, it is meaning and significance - rizal's house painted green

picture above is a scan from a photo published at the PDI. it is the house of jose rizal, the national hero of the philippines. it is a good example of how bad taste, in this one the choice of the color green can insult the memory of the country's national hero and how it can be insulting to a whole country of filipinos.

if this was marketing, it is a good example on how poor taste in color can screw up the brand image if a national hero and insult and embarrass a whole nation.

National Historical Institute chair Ambeth Ocampo rationalizes the choice of color this way:

In his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on June 3, NHI Chair Ambeth Ocampo explained that the reason for painting Rizal’s house green was to “highlight, and inform visitors of, the meaning of his surname.”

The surname Rizal is rooted in the Spanish word “ricial,” which means a green field ready for harvest, Ocampo said.

well, it is an intent or in marketing it is a brand intent but just because it is there does not mean it is usable and should be used. there are products for example that cause diarrhea if eaten too much, but these brands do not choose to highlight that in their marketing strategy.

we are all familiar with Tide Detergent brand. we all know what "tide" means but we do not see depicted in it's packaging design nor do we see sea water included inside a pack of Tide Detergent Powder.

there are many other more important considerations as to why one should act or not act in meanings of names.

for example, i would like to remember rizal for his writings, his genius, his hard work and his actions and sacrifices that helped the country become independent from spain. in fact, i will be interested to know what he ate for breakfast or what were his study habits that made him such a genius. it can also be interesting to know that the meaning of his surname rizal. but it does not necessarily mean i like to see his house painted green. i'll be happy to see it written down somewhere in a brochure. i do not need to see the color on his house.

the idea behind preserving rizal's house is to give homage and pay tribute to our national hero. we like to preserve the house where he was born and where he grew up so that we can get a first hand view, to somewhat experience his life in that house. we do that out of awe, respect and even love for rizal who has done so much, his life included for our country and the generations and generations of filipinos who have benefited from his sacrifice and heroism.

painting rizal's house green, just because it is some trivia about his name is not a good reason enough to actually take action on. i actually do not care about the meaning of his surname. that did not even play any role in his heroism or his life and i doubt in his own writing.

what mr. ocampo has done is give us trivia. everyone knows we enjoy trivial pursuits for fun or to make fun of. but that does not at all apply to a national hero and most specially to apply that to his house to make it look horrific and trivial.

it is not trivia we want from rizal, it is meaning and significance that we want. when we find meaning and significance in rizal, then we become a better nation. something i am sure rizal would have wanted.

for a historian, i am shocked that mr. ocampo did not know that.

read more about this here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/rizals-house-painted-green-an-insult-to-jose-rizal-and-all-filipinos/

Brand Adam Vs. Brand Kris : the American Idol Marketing 101

this is probably one of the best articles written about the two finalists for next week's American Idol finale. not only does it give a good analysis on the two contestants and how they differ, it's a good read on what Brand Equity or Brand Image means in very practical ways.

during talks to students in universities, we would talk about marketing principles in terms of practical and real life experiences of the students. we use stories, analogies and examples from their daily lives to explain what the marketing terms mean. we do it that way as it engages the audience and more importantly, it's very easy to grasp.

this is the kind of brand differentiation that marketers need to achieve for their brands to succeed in the market. it needs to be well-defined, clear, holistic and executionally different as well. while this demonstrates the clarity and power of the Brand Equity, not here is the target audience.

food for thought - are both brand equities running after the same target audience? the differences are very clear between the two that it's easy to conclude they can be going against very different target audience.

can the american idol audience be divided into two group distinct groups. is there a common denominator?

we could not agree more on this analysis. read the article both in terms of the contestants themselves and at the same what Brand Equity or Brand Image means.

kudos to the author!

Does ‘American Idol’ want an artist, or a star?
Adam Lambert pulled out
all the stops, while Kris Allen stayed low-key

By Craig Berman
msnbc.com contributor
updated 10:43 p.m. ET May 14,
2009

Adam Lambert and Kris Allen could not be more different. Their musical styles and strengths don’t mesh and their personalities are opposites. But they share a skill that explains why they’re the two singers competing in the “American Idol” finale.

They listen.

The judges made it very clear what they were looking for in season eight; performers who could take a song and make it their own. While other singers took that advice from time to time, no singers took the message to heart more than Adam and Kris.

As the other finalists fell victim to unfortunate song selections and karaoke performances, it was the originality of Adam and Kris that kept them on the good side of the four judges. No finalist in history has been more memorable week after week than Adam Lambert.

Sometimes the impact of an Adam performance may be felt more for its strangeness than its skill — his version of “Ring of Fire” caused guest mentor Randy Travis to spend the whole night wearing a “what is this guy doing?” expression — but most of the time, he hits the mark. His “Mad World” was missed by DVRs everywhere the week the show ran long, and it was good enough that the omission inspired outrage and not relief.

Adam's big weakness would seem to be that he's the most theatrical contestant in the history of the show, but he's turned that into a strength by embracing it. By going all-in and showcasing the lighting, effects, and costumes, he's turned his comfort with stagecraft and his Broadway-sized voice into his biggest assets. Nobody loves the spotlight more, and no other contestant has looked as comfortable standing in it.

Instead, his weakness is that he's the most polarizing "Idol" figure in recent memory. He has fans who will defend him with passion, and detractors who would do anything to bring him down.

It's possible that the anti-Adam contingent will watch the finale for the sole purpose of voting against him. But Adam isn’t going to give anyone else much ammunition to hate him. Although when he’s singing he plays the part of the diva, he’s been nothing but respectful as soon as the music ends and always has kind words to say about his fellow contestants.

To win, Adam needs to keep on doing what he’s been doing; take chances, make songs his own, and perform like he’s going for broke. He enters the week with a slight edge, but Kris has been steadily improving and will seize any chance he's given.

Kris is Adam's oppositeWhile Adam is a natural under the bright lights, Kris looks to be the male version of Carrie Underwood, a small-town singer who uses "Idol" to jump into musical stardom. Even after months in Hollywood, Kris still has a country-mouse-in-the-big-city look that has helped endear him to millions of “Idol” voters.

That wouldn’t be enough, however, if he wasn’t also talented. Kris has made every song his own, but in the exact opposite manner of Adam.

Instead of blowing things up to show-business size via lights, smoke, mirrors and costumes, he uses a stool and a guitar or piano to strip down the arrangement and engage with the audience. That makes him less of a spectacle than Adam but easier to listen to, and it has allowed him a number of memorable moments performing less familiar songs. It's always a risk to pick something like "Falling Slowly," which didn't receive a ton of airtime apart from the Oscars, but he was able to make turn that into a compelling performance.

Kris' biggest strength is that it's very easy to see the kind of album he would create and the audience who would buy it. Is there anyone out there who can’t picture him with a hit record that sounds an awful lot like, say, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours?” It’s easier to give him a sellable label than it is Adam.

Like Adam, Kris has a weakness that can double as a strength. He doesn't come across with that star quality aura, and seems pleased and surprised to have made it this far. That humility is what makes him so likable, but most seasons that factor is less important in the season’s final days. In last year's finals the more likable David Archuleta fell victim to an edgier David Cook.

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30754468/

mar roxas' new tv ad - murang gamot, hindi nagmumura (cheap medicine, not cursing)

mar roxas has a new tv ad. the message of cheaper medicine is good and meaningful but is it the right thing to do for his brand image given his recent "putang ina" (SOB) brand image?

there are tactical and executional errors in this new tv ad. read about it here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/

senator putang ina - mar roxas' new brand image?

mar roxas, a presidentiable recently uttered words we don't hear on national tv and certainly not from a senator. but he did say it - "putang ina". it has become mar roxas' defining moment. will it stick till election time? and what should the senator do?

this is actually about branding and can fit into WAWAM! but we posted it at the 2010 presidentiables blog, the spin-off blog where we have placed everything about politics and the philippine election.

these words of mar roxas puts miriam defensor to shame. she sounds like a saint now compared to roxas. president bush had his own defining moment. but he came out well of it. mar roxas did not. what should mar roxas do?

read about it here: http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/

apple ads that bite on vista

it's really very hard not to love these apple ads. it's not just that they do a great job at biting vista, they are very amusing but direct to the point, you know exactly what they want you to understand and remember.

it's very amusing at the way they it exposes the weaknesses of vista. being very competitive and combining that with humor is not very easy to do in advertising. but in these ads, it comes very naturally.

the bonus is that it sustains the image of mac as a very cool and hip brand and product. if there is one element in the mac brand equity where it is clearly superior over vista/microsoft, it is in being hip and cool.

it's no surprise that even microsoft admitted that aside from product problems on vista, the apple ads hurt their business.



Give Up On Vista


Leopard Better And Faster Than Vista


Emergency Refresh


PC News Wire

bayantel tv spot that showed it did not move - a brand character that is not moving at all

in the previous topic on the Six Flags tv spot, we talked about how a strong brand character can be powerful that it will move you to prefer a brand. this bayantel (landline telephone service provider) tv spot has a strong brand character but i think it is one that moves you in the wrong direction - one in leaving a bad smell that you would rather not have.

just like the Six Flags tv spot, this bayantel tv spot also uses humor, i think, but it is one which very few, extremely few people will appreciate. it can put a smile among this very few but i don't it will be enduring, one that will most likely go up in smoke. you know how it is with hot air - it disappears very quickly.

ok, enough of the analogies on farts and defecation.

everyone appreciates humor in advertising and also creativity, specially the unexpected. these are the ingredients for a great ad. but that needs to be tempered with the question -- are these kinds of humor and creativity building a desirable brand image? one of the things we want advertising to do is to build desirability and likability - an affinity to the brand. is there a member of the target audience who will appreciate being associated with a brand that reminds them of farts and defecation?

the most simple way to describe what brand character means is this -- "if your brand is a person, what kind of person will it be? describe your brand as if it is a person with personality, attitude, looks, etc."

that is usually how the section on "brand character" (or "brand personality") is stated in many advertising brief and advertising strategy forms used by many ad agencies.

looking at this ad and deconstructing the brand character statement in bayantel's ad strategy, it will probably read something like this : "bayantel is a male who wants to defecate but can only fart and now wants his money back. he is a very practical person."

brand character statements are in fact those that usually end as "this brand is someone you want to be your friend" -- anyone want a friend who likes to fart and defecate?

clearly a WAWAM!

Brand Philippines : Charice Pempengco On The Oprah Show

countries are like brands, they are also known for something. the difference is that for brands, marketing people can choose and shape what it wants their brand to be known for. no such thing for countries. what a country becomes known for sort of happen almost in a random and uncharted way.

that is not for lack of trying, country leaders do determine and execute what shape a country wants to become. but country leaders are not the only determinant of a country's brand image, every single person in a country's population can help shape that brand image, for better or for worst.

charice pempengco is one who will shape of Brand Philippines that is for the better. she recently (september 9, 2008) appeared again in the oprah show and is again getting rave reviews in the internet.

the internet is a very important medium for charice. and here's why - charice has been joining singing contests in the philippines for many years since she was young. she hit it big when she joined a signing contest put up by abs-cbn, one of the top two largest tv station in the country. charice did not actually win that tv singing contest, she placed second in it but it didn't matter as she nevertheless sprung to international fame and the internet led her there.

charice has already appeared in the oprah show before and in the intro to her, it said charice became internationally famous when one of her singing performances was loaded on to You Tube by a stranger. in three month's time, charice's you tube hits has totaled to 13 M, making her a you tube singing star.

view that intro to charice and first singing performance in the oprah show here :




after viewing charice's first performance in the oprah show, above, it's easy to understand how charice can be very good at defining Brand Philippines. she has done extremely well so far, google her name or search in you tube and there will be a long list of accomplishments. she has not only appeared in the oprah show but she guested at the ellen degeneres show last christmas. she has also appeared in a few concerts in the US and has become a sensation in a korean tv show. her star is getting brighter after every gig.

this one, below, the september 9, 2008 oprah show tells us her star got brighter. we are hoping for greater success for her. charice' success is the success of Brand Philippines, too.

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.

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.

------------

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.

---------------

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 are you willing to do for building Brand Equity?

it's paragraph 1 on page 1 on chapter 1 in marketing and advertising books we read - the Brand Equity is most sacred and should be built and defended to death at all cost, at all times.

and that seems to be what exactly they did for Brand China. and done to the extremes - to perfection. but, it is china though, so it is expected. the question is, being in marketing and advertising, are you tough enough to do the same thing for your brand?

remember that opening night at the beijing olympics? there was a girl there who gloriously sang this song. after watching her, everyone felt an international singing star was born. she wowed the 91,000 live audience in the audience and she achieved the same thing to millions of tv viewers worldwide.

well, the olympic organizers did a milli vanilli on this one. (read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milli_Vanilli )

it turned out this girl with a most pretty face (picture here) lip-synched the song. another girl, presumably off stage, unseen by the camera was actually singing. and this where it becomes extremely bothersome and bizarre - the girl with the beautiful voice was judged by the organizers as not pretty enough to be seen on worldwide tv, thus the decision to get a pretty face to appear singing that beautiful voice.

that was done in defense and in building Brand China into perfection. are you willing to do something like that for your brand?

this was not the only major effort executed for Brand China.

the other element of the olympic opening that wowed all of us was the fireworks. before the game began, i wondered what kind of opening china will have. when i saw the fireworks show, that made a lot of sense to me. china centuries ago invented fireworks. what an excellent match that the country where fireworks originated used it extensively during their day of glory.

to what extent were they willing to go through to make sure Brand China was perfect? apparently there is no limit.

some of the fireworks you saw on tv were computer graphics! well, the fireworks were real and were launched in real life at the stadium but what the viewers saw on tv was computer work that was done over a one year period.

the official reason given was that it would have been too dangerous for the helicopters filming the sequence to show it live on tv, thus they opted for computer graphics. (reminds me of the ginebra san miguel photoshop work!)

it's a noble reason, it's also great, well perfect for Brand China.

how many more efforts at building Brand China was executed in china? i have a nagging suspicion we will find out more in the coming days. this is just the 1st week of the games.

now, think about it --- do you have what it takes to build your brand's equity the way Brand China has been doing it?


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read about the pretty face for the beautiful voice here :
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gvdGdbFHvF8M_eJh8CSMEIbZ8tFAD92H0VV81


read about the computer graphics fireworks you saw on your tv here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2534499/Beijing-Olympic-2008-opening-ceremony-giant-firework-footprints-faked.html

bank of commerce print ad - battle between the soul vs audacity?

just thinking aloud - i wonder if the missed opportunity at greatness in that bank of commerce print ad was a battle between brand image, actually corporate image versus the audacity of being creative?

maybe bank of commerce likes to be the serious, conservative and buttoned up bank. that shows in the very symetrical layout, well placed text and muted and unassuming fonts.

having an ad that can be read both right side up and wrong side up is an audacious creative concept. they liked the spunk, but their corporate soul held them back. with that kind of a layout and concept, it calls for a headline with equal spunk. this was one ad where the headline needed to call attention to itself.

when it comes to the battle between the soul and audacity, for this bank, the soul won!

metrobank : new signage crossed lines from the dark age

this is the old metrobank signage which has since been replaced with a new one just recently. it's a simple design - monochromatic with the logo graphics and text logo as the key elements.

the approach on the new metrobank signage was to add new elements to the singnage - a white border around the logo graphics (a diamond resting on the the letter M) to call attention to it and yellow accents.

compared to the old singnage, the new one has effectively brought metrobank out of the dark age.

it is now more engaging. the addition of the yellow color even though minimal in the horizontal signage made a big difference. it gave the signage a little more life.

the design works quite well on the horizontal signage but i think it's a disaster on the vertical signage. there are just too many lines and colors on the vertical one. the yellow became too prominent and all of a sudden they added white borders. they were thin white borders but it added to the clutter.

the new design called attention to the "diamond on the letter M" logo graphics. i had not noticed it much before. it could have used a little more drama if instead of the logo graphics rendered flat, they could have raised it or made it looked embossed. that could have given it a little more class.

the important question on this singnage, as it should be asked for all sinages - is that the brand image or brand character the bank wants to communicate to clients? the new signage of metrobank carries with it a set of new brand images. do those match with the thinking and direction the bank has set for it itself?

separately, i suspect other banks copied some of the concepts and ideas from the metrobank signage. more on that in the next discussions.

hooters philippines - brand equity that can't make mountains out of mole hills

we don't know if it was a soft launch, but hooters launched its first restaurant in the philippines at the mall of asia in pasay city. didn't see any ad or anything in media, just by word of mouth, specifically the mouths of men.

the interesting part is that just a few days, probably within hours of it's opening, pictures of the waitresses of hooters philippines circulated in the internet. and that got me thinking about a pair of errrr brand images and brand equity.

restaurants have them too. any owner of a restaurant will tell you, to succeed in the restaurant business, you need to be known for something. the more specific you are known for, the better.

in marketing research, there is a tool called word association where the respondents are shown or told certain words and the respondents playback the word that comes to mind upon seeing the word stimulus. this tool allows researchers to determine what are the images consumers associate with certain thoughts or concepts. for restaurants, it is almost always the food they are known for.

here's a short exercise. there are some restaurants that are a no brainer. please say the names aloud and say them quickly.

pancake house = pancakes; chicken bacolod house = chicken bacolod; lapid's = chicharon.

there are some that's not in their names, but its a quick answer. again, say them aloud and say them quickly.

ferino's = bibingka; starbucks = coffee; max's = chicken; jollibee = spaghetti; digman = halo-halo; aristocrat = chicken barbecue.

hooters = boobs!

what? boobs? is that food? well, boobs aren't food (at least not edible) but let's be honest here, when you say hooters, the first thing or first pair that comes to mind are female boobs. i don't think anyone has ever said steak, ribs, soup or salad when you say the word hooters.

simply put, perhaps to annoy the feminists, big female boobs is what hooters is known for. and it is these pairs of reasons that hooter girls are famous for and most probably the most photographed waitresses in the whole world. just like the hooter girl on the picture, what she has in front of her, a pair that are proud and smart is what hooters is known for.

that's really very hard to explain to my 10 year old son - "son, let's have dinner at hooters, i want to look at some things." but that's a separate story all together.

don't blame me, the hooters logo says the same thing, too. ok, so an owl hoots and that explains the image of the animal being there. sure, the eyes of owls are huge but the shape of the eyes and the two dots are conveniently placed in the middle of each eye and that tells us exactly what we are supposed to look at, well ok and to hoot at.

perhaps, this hooters logo should have PG13 rating?

that takes care of clearly establishing what the hooters brand equity is.

like the hooter girl counterparts in the US, the pinay hooter girls were also photographed extensively. and by looking at the poses of the pinay hooter girls, aside from how to carry a tray of food and having an intimate knowledge of the hooters menu, it seems how to pose for pictures has been part and parcel of the hooter girl training program. the poses of the pinay hooter girls are exactly the same with those of the hooter girls in the US.

BUT, there is a big difference. based on the pictures of the pinay hooter girls, it appears hooters philippines have failed to deliver on the hooters brand equity. it's a deflated brand equity that even the best of the underwires failed to compensate for.

if i was the asia regional marketing director of hooters, i would definitely tell hooters philippines is off strategy and off brand equity. recommendation - hooters philippines need to uplift and upgrade it's brand equity, if you know what i mean.

hooters philippines brand equity - it's a WAWAM!

here are some pics of the pinay hooter girls. with profound apologies to the ladies in the pictures.