BRANDOPIA

BrandWagon: Choiroke Promo in Greater Gatwick

 

'Brand' the Marketect says:

"Co-branding your product with a place is one of the most powerful destination brand strategies available today"

Tweepeats: Top Twenty Tweets in November 2011

 

 

1. GuilFAST: BRAVO brandstorms at VinesBMW in Guildford's Auto City for a speednetworking April event featuring Surrey: Stockbroker Belt 
2. Queen Vic: Fab Victorian Xmas Market @Gloucester Quays http://t.co/kNhmo4u1 [vid]
3. Final GrandPrix 2011: Congrats MarkW & RedBull on FI Brazil win. That's 18-from-19 wins for MotorSport Valley, England
4. Lytrography: RT @paulhardycarter At last! Digital photography comes of age http://t.co/0aOcezjK
5. Les Marks: M&S should succeed 2nd-time round in France http://t.co/4bcLA7mO if its cultural branding is on-code http://t.co/IxlfqkVf
6. Thanksgiving: CanAm's annual cultural ritual http://t.co/ztST8vxZ [blog]
7. Imaginacres: HamishTaylor - "Innovate by borrowing ideas from outside your industry" http://t.co/L36xQQjM [vid]
8. United Colors: RT @Brandamentalist Benetton - Brand Building on a Higher Purpose: http://t.co
9. I Amsterdam: RT @EdBurghard Amsterdam is a great case study in place branding - http://t.co/r4Rvey7K 
10. PricePlosion: How brands remain profitable during an era of price pandemonium http://t.co/QV8ivuRD
11. Field of Dreams: Olympic hockey stars feature @EastGrinstead - Epicentre of the Free Spirits of Wealdonia http://t.co/BAd22Ip7
12. The Choir: RT @Choiroke Military wives build a cultural bridge between town & army base http://t.co/YZ2oBdsf
13. Vintage Rally: Crawley's branding stays on-code: Staging Post for Horses (on 4 vintage wheels) http://t.co/OzvIb0LP [vid]
14. GatQwick: RT @interacter RT @MarketingWeekEd Gatwick invests in digital media network http://t.co/3uGzWcGD
15. TheGuy: Lewes Bonfire http://t.co/TzrZIP8g [flickr] courtesy of Sussex: England's Festival County http://t.co/e3SOrsU8 [vid]
16. Co-Housing: Totnes in Devon builds its big brand idea by launching a co-housing group http://t.co/1jJnsbVk
17. Food Hospital: From 'Conventional' therapy (1st Way) & 'Complementary' therapy (2nd way) to a 3rd way 'Culinary' therapy http://t.co/kTaO6fzU
18. England's Garden: Co-brand your product (visitor attraction) with the place it's located in (county) http://t.co/De0u2Gzo [vid]
19. Branded Ritual: TeamBRAVO: World's First InfraCulture Social Enterprise performs an Elvis 'Choiroke' after its brand-stormin session
20. Bear vs Beaver: A Canadian Tale of Two Animals - http://t.co/WVYProfG How to tell if someone is really Canadian http://t.co/GwPbw9M4 [vid]

Tweepeats: Top Twenty Tweets in August 2011

1. Pow-Wow: Creative conversation with @Louisecamby & @EveTaylor88 about Putting the Show into Business with the Wow Factor
2. Risk/Reward: Risk management for brands http://t.co/Rrta3cY [vid]
3. GrandPrix: Congrats SebV & RedBull on FI Spa Belgium win. That's 11-from-12 wins for MotorSport Valley, England
4. SuperFish: & Jane's Upstairs restaurant http://t.co/Rw8WdkX the best fish & chips in England's Vineyard - UK's Newest Regional Destination. Unless you know different?
5. Flocabulary: Five essential elements of a branded story http://t.co/9Y65eVd [vid]
6. Obituary: RIP Indian test cricket, which died at The Oval on 22 August 2011. Mourned by 1.2 billion fanatical friends
7. Lawnatic: Nice website for Lawnatics - from Novices to Enthusiasts http://t.co/vpWILbX
8. Dream Destination: Where to dream up big brand ideas http://t.co/VQ4KmP4
9. Hotlanta: A branding opportunity for Atlanta, Georgia - host of the USPGA Golf Championship 2011 http://bit.ly/q1paCz [blog]
10. Branded Rituals: World's strangest festivals http://t.co/VvZQoiJ
11. CraicingUp: via @Louisecamby How Irish dancing got started http://t.co/OyLlsEn How to tell if someone is really Irish http://t.co/pKnlBaD
12. Brand Hierarchy: Are the current street riots perceived primarily as London or England or Britain?
13. Brand USA 2: RT @adrielhampton Branding Blunders - The Fall of Brand America http://t.co/Y5cppHW
14. Brand USA Valuation: @FelixWetzel says -The tea party stand off will have a negative impact, the (credit) rating hardly at all.
15. Brand USA 1: Will the downgrading of its credit rating have a negative impact on the valuation of the world's most valuable country brand?
16. Fizztival: Festival of Fizz at LingfieldPark, Surrey featured on @ukvine website http://t.co/gU2NrWD
17. Branded Rituals: Attendances UP at UK's biggest sporting events http://t.co/aEvefZL Of Top 10, five are horse racing events
18. Heathropolis: Author jets into Heathrow as writer-in-residence http://t.co/Z5O9qgP
19. Name-That-Neighbourhood: London 2012 Olympic Park neighbourhood names revealed http://t.co/CxvLD3H
20. GrandPrix: Congrats JensonB & McLaren on FI Hungary win. That's 10-from-11 wins for MotorSport Valley, England

Tweepeats: Top Twenty Tweets in July 2011

1. BrandStorm:TeamBRAVO brandstorms MeetGatQwick - A speednetworking event for networkers. Diary Date - Wed 19th Oct http://t.co/SMYrBy6 [vid]
2. Taboo: Did you know that in the Ukraine whistling is considered to be bad manners and will bring bad luck http://t.co/dSARyMM
3. MatchMaker: Which English county has the greatest number of 'Bride&Groom' shops? Hint: It's 'The Garden of England' http://t.co/oZuz2h6 [vid]
4. GrandPrix: Congrats LewisH & McLaren on FI Nurburgring, Germany win. That's 9-from-10 wins for MotorSport Valley, England
5. CultureClash: After Belgium Day, still no government - A big brand idea within the Flanders & Wallonia culture clash http://t.co/lwE3xes
6. LeTour: Final week of destination brand leader France's finest brand-building event http://t.co/RYWw0Vl
7. VendaBack: Fun ad posters on vending machines http://t.co/25YaoBV Who said Germans don't have a sense of humour http://t.co/jQXls53 [vid] 
8. EthicalTravel: World's Top Ten Ethical Destinations for Travellers 2011 http://t.co/XSD5PG3 dominated by Central & South Americas
9. Hotlanta: Following yesterday's conversation about Atlanta, Georgia, here's a previous blog post on its branding http://t.co/ZQmaRmI 
10. Brand India: Are the new Yoga classes http://t.co/NhMyihi diluting or enhancing India's spiritual branding? http://t.co/bHnVjlp [vid/blog]
11. North-South Divide: RT @marketingwizdom National stereotypes: Map of Europe according to Italy | @flickr http://t.co/fgcKAjT <Benissimo!
12. PowerNap: German unions call for siestas http://tinyurl.com/6yeof67 Should they copy the sleep-any-time Japanese? http://tinyurl.com/37y7qfk [vid]
13. DADology: The changing relationship of Dads & their Kids http://bit.ly/qzEN6a Could brands learn how to adapt their marketing & branding?
14. CultureClash: @Louisecamby 'The Voice' invades the Channel Islands: Capital of Cultural Collisions http://t.co/WSTJmVO [vid] 
15. Stealth Branding: Is Superdry quietly taking over the fashion world? http://t.co/OCYLpGZ
16. BastilleDay: An insight into French culture http://t.co/cmAzH4g
17. Afri-Brand: On 9th July a nation is born - Republic of South Sudan http://t.co/Qt6FybZ Pity about the brand-extended compass name
18. Shabitat: Nice article on Habitat's identikit crisis http://t.co/QBc9iJW A brand lesson from IKEA http://t.co/vEgAO6G [blog]
19. Cast of Characters: Inspiration for branded stories from Harry Potter vs Star Wars http://bit.ly/lpubEn
20. When Cambridge Met Canada: Could Kate&Wills inspire Canadians to find their big branded identity? http://t.co/TWQEmyN [blog]

---

Tweepeats: Favourite-Fifteen Tweets in February 2011

1. SpellCheck: When you're stressed you eat ice cream, cake, chocolate. Why? Because STRESSED spelt backwards spells DESSERTS 
2. N for Notts: Could things get worse for Notts? - #1 worst for East Midlands Retail Decay @ a vacany rate of 23.5% http://bit.ly/iggLw5
3. Friendly Bombs: Is there any hope for Slough with a 21.2% shop vacancy rate in its Town Centre? http://tinyurl.com/6l67dv4
4. Retail Decay 1: Vacancy Rates for UK Top 6 Worst Large Town Centres http://tinyurl.com/6ds4zmt [vid]
5. Retail Decay 2: Top 6 Worst Large Town Centres in South East England. Discover which county dominates? http://tinyurl.com/5rhjsk4 [vid]
6. Retail Decay 3: Top 6 Worst Vacancy Rates of London High Streets. Shock! - The No.1 worst is a wealthy London suburb http://bit.ly/eOAUPs
7. Marketing P: Borrow from Aristotle - A Marketing P for Philosopy http://tinyurl.com/5u7mece [vid]
8. CultureClub: David Cameron - "State multiculturalism has failed" Could Canada lead EU to a new cultural cohesion? http://tinyurl.com/ya9zmsk
9. Valentine's World: Top Ten Romantic Place Names - Worldwide! http://bit.ly/hTEbX0 [Vid]
10. HorseSense: Racecourse - A Country Club with a Racetrack attached. A magical metaphor
11. MetaMagic: 'The Subconscious Mind is an Incubator'. A magical metaphor
12. Metaphoria: 'Company Choirs are the new Yoga' - A magical metaphor http://bit.ly/ignfN2
13. Ruburbia: Ruban the Fox http://bit.ly/g10wit - a symbolic mascot for the next-gen Ruburban Cities of Medway, GreaterGatwick & Heathropolis?
14. Brandelicious: When Mr Cadbury Met Ms Rowntree http://bit.ly/h9BgVN
15. 2 More Ps: Adding the Ps of Philosophy (eg Socrates) & Physics (eg. Heinsenberg) to the Marketing Playbook

 

Tweepeats: Favourite-Fifteen Tweets in January 2011

 

 

 

1. CultureClash: Channel Islands - Capital of Cultural Collisions - the mother-lode of big brand ideas http://bit.ly/ePCn47 [vid]
2. Confucion: Starbucks say: Picture worth 1000 words. Google say: Word worth 1000 pictures. What you say? http://tinyurl.com/yzfenlt [vid]
3. Brand Italy: Ten ways to tell if someone is really Italian http://bit.ly/gesnDt [vid] 
4. Re-positioning: 1. Airport - Shopping Mall complete with Runway.  2. Racecourse - Country Club complete with Racetrack + Hotel, Golf Course & Helipad 
5. NameGame: The trend of personal naming to move away from religious sources? And towards places & objects? http://tinyurl.com/6coeouz
6. No SWOT?: New use of the old SWOT http://bit.ly/eYvHlG [vid]
7. Flagdom: Welcome to the Unimaginative Flagdom of the Red, White & Blue http://tinyurl.com/6xhac9a [vid]
8. Crawley Together 3: Could a culinary renaissance re-vitalise Crawley's Town Centre? http://tinyurl.com/6hxlase [vid]
9. Simples: Experience Orlov's Mansion Tour at Destination Meerkovo - Home of the Meerkovians http://www.meerkovo.com/ 
10. Oz-tra-lia: Celebrate Oz Day on 26th Jan with Brand Australia - Ten ways to tell if someone is really Australian http://tinyurl.com/687qnhp [vid]
11. SuperBrand: Can the host City of Arlington, Texas overcome the confusion of SuperBowl XLV's 'North Texas' regional compass branding?
12. FocusHocusPocus: Why VooDoo Doughnut would never have got through the Focus Group http://bit.ly/g9CAQO
13. Tribalism: Inspiration from the tribal rituals of The Racing Tribe of HorseWatchers http://tinyurl.com/6gjzx6f [vid]
14. Clandom: After Burn's Night celebrations Scotland should develop a big brand idea based on its Cultural Source Code http://bit.ly/9V0tkH [vid]
15. HocusPocusFocus 2: Alternative to Focus Groups: Anthropology - Observation in real situations with little or no artificial interference

Brand Wyevale R.I.P: War of the Roses

A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers

DES: Wyevale, the UK's largest chain of destination garden centres, has not only emerged battered and bruised by corporate inner-fighting and outer-takeovers, but it also seems to have left its branding brains splattered all over the business battlefield.
TINA: The company has announced that its well-established brand name - Wyevale - is being ditched on the compost heap for the more generic corporate name - The Garden Centre Group.

DES: Remember what happened to GM - the generic General Motors Corp name? And ICI - the generic Imperial Chemical Industries corporate name? The notable exception being GE - the generic General Electric Company led by the brilliant Jack Welch - now sadly retired. (Hint: GE's competitors in many of their categories are moving quickly from generic, un-focused positions to take up focused, specialist positions).
TINA: And to make matters worse, just a couple of months after being voted 'UK's Best Garden Centre' by 7,500 gardeners in an online BBC Gardener's World poll, the company also announced that the Wyevale name would be pruned from every customer-facing garden centre - nationwide.

DES: Only to be replaced by either well-established local names such as Blooms and Bridgemere or local place names such as Slough Garden Centre.
TINA: Poor ol' founder Henry Williamson must be turning in his well-manicured grave as he witnesses the toll that the War of the Roses 2001-09 is having on his beloved Wyevale brand.

'Brand' the Marketect says:

"Cherish the legacy of a brand that you inherit, then future-focus its cultural source-code."

Note: This post was inspired by Jo Allen, Creative Director of brand development agency Savvy&Victor located in Sussex: England's Festive County

Related articles by Zemanta

• Gardening firm blooming in recession (guardian.co.uk)

Michelin Star vs No Star

A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers

DES: Our new French restaurant client has given us one of our biggest destination branding challenges yet.
TINA: Not only are they just 4 months young in a recessionary market, but their primary competitor is formidable - boasting a Michelin star rating and over 12 years experience in the marketplace.

DES: It's time for a bit of marketecture - re-designing the structure of the marketplace's positive perception of the Michelin star rating.
TINA: Somehow, we've got to find the weakness in the strength of the Michelin rating system.

DES: A little bit of research has uncovered a distinct possibility.

TINA: Yes, back in 2004, a whistleblower from within the Michelin organisation, Pascal Rémy, a Michelin inspector wrote a tell-all book in 2004, claiming that Michelin had become extremely lax in its standards. He gave evidence that, though the guide claims to visit all reviewed restaurants every 18 months in order to keep the guide up to standards, they are actually visited about every 3.5 years, unless a specific complaint had been made.

DES: Throwing some doubt on the gold standard for quality restaurants is a game we've got to start playing if our client is to make serious inroads in its marketplace.
TINA: It's now a question of prospects preferring either frequent, consistent, good standards or infrequent, inconsistent, great standards.

DES: Chances are the 'high-end' segment would continue to frequent the Michelin-rated competitor, while the 'aspirational' segment now has a serious alternative in the form of our client.
TINA: What's more, it's those very same aspiring customers that we would call upon to do the mystery testing - not just once every year or two - but every time they frequent our client's restaurant.

DES: A year is a long time in the restaurant industry - 3.5 years is even longer - chefs and kitchen staff change, suppliers and their supplies change, even ownership could change.
TINA: It's going to be a tough 'David' vs 'Goliath' bun fight this summer.

'Brand' the Marketect says:

"Often times, simply focusing on a destination's brand strategies isn't good enough. You've got to throw doubt on the market's measurement of performance standards."

Notes: For more powerful marketecture strategies, please read 'The Impossible Advantage' by Bucholz, Wordemann & Wiley

Related articles by Zemanta

• Michelin releases 100th restaurant guide (ctv.ca)

Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time

A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers

DES: Joel Comm's new book - Twitter Power - has finally persuaded us both to join the ranks of the Twitterati.
TINA: Arguably, one of the better tomes on how to leverage this incredible tool, Twitter Power is jam-packed with clever ways to start and dominate a marketplace.

DES: I was particularly interested in Chapter 8: Using Twitter to help build a brand.
TINA: From creating a story to actually writing the tweets.

DES: The examples of three well-known destinations: Starbucks, Whole Foods Market and The Home Depot, were very thought-provoking.
TINA: Starbucks, for example, appears to be using the site as an extension of its customer service.

DES: Tweets are mostly from a customer service representative answering questions in a laid-back style of baristas chatting with their customers in the coffee shop itself.
TINA: Whole Foods on the other hand, uses its site to convey the story of its brand, complete with green background and matching green images.

DES: While the Home Depot offers not only short seasonal tips but also suggests where followers can find solutions to their home improvement projects.
TINA: Finally, Starbucks has a second Twitter account that supports its My Starbucks Idea website by letting followers know what's happening to their ideas, and to thank them.

DES: Joining the Twitterati is going to be a whole-new experience and adventure for the two of us.
TINA: And with Twitter Power to guide us, I think we're in pretty good hands.

'Brand' the Marketect says:

"Twitter goes way beyond its simple question: What are you doing? ."

Dynamic Duos: Co-Branding Restaurant with Country - Part 2

A creative conversation between Des and Tina, Brandopia's mythical brand developers

DES: In Part 1, we discussed how Cuzini, an independent restaurant located in a mid-sized town near London's Gatwick Airport, should re-focus itself on the smaller but available Sri Lankan market in the UK - dominated by the Indian curry houses.
TINA: Here in Part 2, we'll focus on a brand strategy based on building a cultural bridge between Sri Lanka and Britain.

DES: So passports in hand, let's take a virtual trip - first to Sri Lanka and then Blighty.
TINA: But not to the usual tourist hotspots. What we're looking for are cultural clashes and contradictions to inspire a big cultural brand idea.

DES: Well in Sri Lanka, the obvious culture clash is between the Tamils and the Sinhalese - a feud that's been going on for decades.
TINA: But interestingly, the country's most popular sport - Cricket - brings these two warring factions closer together - in a game gifted by the British.

DES: It's also hard not to notice that within the Ceylon Tea estates, a minor revolution is going on where owners, managers and workers are starting to integrate both Tamils and Sinhalese.
TINA: 'Tea for Two' - Sri Lanka's gift to Britain - has over time become a symbolic self-identity and self-expression concept for both nations.

DES: Ceylon Tea and English Cricket - the perfect cultural symbols for Cuzini to build a cultural bridge between Sri Lanka and Britain.
TINA: So Des, to bring this powerful big brand idea to life, which branding programme would you suggest launching first?

DES: 'Save-the-British-Cuppa' from the onslaught of the coffee bean is a media-oriented programme Cuzini could consider launching before, during and after the English cricket season - co-branding with the various tea councils and their tea brands

'Brand' the Marketect says:
"First go beyond your product or service concept when trying to find a big cultural brand idea to position your brand. Then use your brand as a megaphone to help broadcast your market segment's self-identity and self-expression values."

'Brand' the Marketect asks:
"Now let's have some great examples of co-branded cultural ideas in your part of the world please."