BrandPalace

Brand Advertising Poised to Rebound?

"The cost of raw materials is going up, and marketing is the only thing that offsets those increases. You have to build brand value and spend on marketing."

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By Jonah Bloom

Published in AdAge : May 13, 2009

Could it be that we're about to see an uptick in brand advertising? You might think so based on conversations today with some of the senior marketers attending the ANA's "Brand Building in Tough Times and Beyond" conference.

Some of the results of a survey that the ANA plans to release next week were discussed at the event today, and among the findings was that 74% of senior marketers who responded believe "brand equity" is very important to their company's success. Of course, that hasn't stopped many marketers from paring back their brand-advertising budgets in the past year and focusing most of their efforts on cost-cutting and promotion.

But now, encouraged by the idea that consumer spending might have bottomed out -- or even be starting to trend ever so slightly upward -- some marketers said they would be returning to brand advertising soon.

Marty Ordman, VP-marketing and communications for the Dole Food Co., said that however strongly you believe in your brand, "you have to do your bit to reduce spending at tough times like these," adding that Dole has done some cost-based promotional efforts to reduce the gap between private-label prices and its own prices. However, having witnessed "an increase in the number of customers making multiple-item purchases," Mr. Ordman said that Dole, not historically a big brand advertiser, is eying some digital branding efforts and ramping up in-store ads again.

Need to build brand value
He also said that such periods remind board-level executives of the value of a brand -- especially true if, as in his case, you're competing with private label. That was a point echoed by Richard McDonald, senior VP-global marketing of Fender, the musical instrument brand. "The cost of raw materials is going up, and marketing is the only thing that offsets those increases. You have to build brand value and spend on marketing."

Mr. McDonald noted that while he's seen no improvement in sales of higher-priced musical instruments, Fender has noted improved sales at the lower end of the scale. He said the company is now "redirecting resources" to brand building, particularly through video games, other digital media and partnerships with other marketers.

MasterCard's senior VP-U.S. consumer marketing, Chris Jogis, said the company's belief is that it's important to invest in the brand. "Our strategy and our platform around 'Priceless' remains consistent," he said. "Our marketing plan this year is focused on what we're calling 'outsmarting the times,' and ensuring we are providing as much tangible value to cardholders as possible, to balance with the already strong emotional connection we've built with 'Priceless.'" Mr. Jogis said that while MasterCard might not be spending quite as much as it has in other years, it was able to take advantage of reductions in the cost of media to get more bang for its buck.

Optimistic signs
Cynthia Ashworth, VP-consumer engagement at Dunkin' Donuts, said that the economic climate had worked well for Dunkin', which she described as having established itself as an "everyman" brand. She said the company has boosted brand-advertising spending in some areas, and added that she expects Dunkin' to emerge from the recession with increased market share.

With other major marketers, such as IBM, General Electric and SAP having recently launched significant initiatives to support their brands, these senior marketers' comments might be considered optimistic signs, particularly for those in ad agencies and media companies.

It's worth noting, however, based on the top-line results of the ANA's upcoming survey, that these days marketers regard product as the key to building brand equity (89% cite it as very important in that regard). Other things they regard as very important to brand: customer service (86%), employees (81%), website (81%), marketing communications/CRM (78%), field sales (74%) and then advertising -- regarded by 73% as very important.

Read full aricle here.

The value of Brands

Millward Brown Optimor just published the 4th edition of their annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking. The valuations are based on economic and market data and the proprietary consumer research from BrandZ – the world’s largest study of consumers and business-to-business users’ brand preferences. The result is the most comprehensive and authoritative brand valuation available.

2009 BrandZ™ Top 100 Ranking

View more presentations from Ayman Sarhan.

Spotlight on a (special guest) speaker : Stephen Smith - Delhaize.

BrandPalace is proud to announce that Stephen Smith will be our 'extra special guest speaker' on May 5th.
Steve is Sr. Vice President Strategy, Marketing and Communications at Delhaize Le Lion. In this position he is responsible for all branding operations of one of our country's most renowned and prestigious companies. This is all the more remarkable because Steve is American. He moved to Belgium in July of 2008 after 6 years at two Delhaize US companies. including the creation of the Sweetbay brand for Delhaize in Florida.

Stephen describes marketing as a unique mix of art & science, leadership & problem-solving, business driver & fun. As hybrid as this typology of marketing might be, his personal interests are at least as rich : he likes to be described as someone who is passionate about leadership, humor, athletics, empathy and his family.

Steve will share his personal ideas on branding and marketing after Session 5, given by Eurostar's Anne-Françoise Piette.

More on Boomer-Marketing

In yesterday's session, Saskia Schatteman stressed the growing importance of marketing to the Boomers (50+). As it happens I just dscovered an interesting blog entirely dedicated to the subject : the "Baby Boomer Marketing Blog", by the US adman Vince Vassolo.
The quote that drew my attention :

The worst and perhaps most pervasive rationale for targeting young people is the notion that if you get them young you’ll have them for life. This is the idiotic “lifetime value” argument that spawned the dearly departed “new economy.” Someone please show me one 50-year-old who drives the same car, drinks the same beverages, wears the same clothes, or eats the same food he did at 16. I mean, besides my brother-in-law.

Some facts about people over 50:
• They make up 29% of the population.
• They control 77% of financial assets.
• They control 50% of all discretionary spending.
• They watch 50% more television.
• They are the target for 10% of all advertising.

By the way, Vince is quoting here another blogger 'the Ad Contrarian'. This man, Bob Hoffman, a reputed agency CEO (now of Hoffman/Lewis advertising in San Francisco , earlier a.o. of MOJO/USA) fills his blog with refreshingly contrarian opinions on marketing and advertising.

Quote :

The consumer has become resistant to marketing, right? Bullshit. Here’s what the consumer has become resistant to: generic, undifferentiated products supported by smug, benefit-free advertising.

Both blogs are worth a read !!

Session 3 : Targeting ... and much more !

Next session will be about Targeting. Saskia Schatteman will deal with questions concerning how to select the right segments in the market and how to reach these moving targets with great accuracy (moving because today's consumer is changing faster than ever before).
Saskia has recently moved from De Lijn to Telenet, as the new Marketing Manager. Before that she built an extensive experience in marketing at P&G.

Our extra guest speaker is Tom Grymonprez. The motto of his speach is :
Content is King… but who is his Queen?
When you hear people talk about Studio100 as a leading entertainment company, you often hear stories on TV shows, musicals, books, films… in short CONTENT. But what is Content for Studio100? Is Content the basis for the Studio100 brand or is it just the product? What is Studio100 making and what is it selling…
Is Studio100 a good marketing case from a content-company or is it a good content-case from a marketing-company…?

Tom Grymonprez, commercial director Studio100 Benelux, will shine some lights on his experiences as a marketer at Studio100. If, in preparation to the session of April 21st, you want to learn more on Studio100s activities, please have a look at the short company film at www.studio100.tv.

Sliced Bread & Purple Cows

Care for an inspiring talk ? It's a lazy Sunday morning and the weather isn't what it should be, so why not let yourself be taken away by Seth Godin ?
Seth is one of the world's most reputed bloggers on marketing : check him out here.
The speech he's giving here was recorded at one of the TED conferences - quite a while ago, but still as fresh and inspiring as can be. Enjoy !

By the way : make sure to pay a regular visit to TED ! Always worth your while !

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Next week's speakers : Helen Willems and Stefaan Bettens

Next week's session is about Marketing Management. Speaker of the day is Helen Willems. She will pick up where Hans Cools left us : the P's of the Marketing Mix.
Helen Willems studied Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen (UFSIA in Antwerp), Applied Marketing (Institut d’Administration des Entreprises in Aix-en-Provence) and followed the International Business School of Georgetown University (Washington). Helen joined Beiersdorf in August 1988, first as a Product Manager, later as Marketing Manager. In ’99 she joined the company's Management Committee. Helen also has an experience as Sales Manager (2006-2008). In 2008 she was appointed Country Manager of Beiersdorf Belgium.
In 2004 to 2005 Helen worked at Beiersdorf France, where she developed a brand new approach to launch new make up products.
Helen Willems won an Effi award for Nivea Visage in 1995

Helen is married, has two children, she lives in Sint Gilles Waas.

Our special guest will be none other than Stefaan bettens, General Manager of Jet Import. Maybe the company doesn't ring any bell to you, but their brands will certainly do. Jet Import is the company behind Red Bull, Corona, Heineken, Carpe Diem and many more top brands in Belgium.
Stefaan stems from a family in West Vlaanderen, active in bottling and distributing lemonades. He founded Jet Import more than 20 years ago. Stefaan studied Economy, Management and Marketing and Sales Management in Gent. He has a passion for classical music and the good life.
He certainly also has a passion for strong brands - topic of his personal testimonial on Tuesday 31th.

More on Red Bull : here.

Houston, We Have Lift-Off

I think we had a successful lift-off of our BrandPalace journey. Hope you liked it, and am anxious to know more about your feedback and evaluation (Lena will make a quick report very soon).

Next week Helen Willems (Beiersdorf) is scheduled  to speak about Marketing Management. She will start where Hans left us : the 4 or 6 P's (or were it C's ?) of the marketing mix.
In the meantime I want to share with you some interesting resources for further reading on today's (and next week's) topics.

1) Studymarketing is a one-man initiative of Yodhia Antariksa, management consultant in Jakarta. He singlehandedly crafted a rich database of articles, presentations and other material on Marketing, Brand Management, Consumer Psychology, Strategic Management and Innovative Thinking. Vaut le coup !

2) Homa  is a digital database of concepts, models, and analytical processes, developed by Prof. Ken Homa, for the "exclusive use" of students, alumni, faculty, benefactors, and designated friends of Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. But I'm sure he will have no objections for you to browse through this rich source of background material.

3) Businessballs offers lots of free templates, samples, resources, examples, articles, tools and diagrams, tests and quizzes (free for download) for training, human resources, management theory, sales, business, personal and organizational development. E.g. : if you want to review Hans' slides on the Boston Consulting Grid, have a look here !

4) Two websites worth visiting on a regular basis are Brandchannel (by Interbrand) and John Quelch's blog on Marketing- and Brand Management.

Of course there is much, much more !! Feel free to browse my delicious bookmarks here.

If yoù want to share interesting readings, websites or other resources with the rest of us, use the comment button below.

10 Rules for Branding In a Post Branded World

Interesting reading : a Manifesto for making branding work in a post-branded world, by Jonathan Salem Baskin (author of Branding Only Works on Cattle, columnist for Advertising Age, and daily blogger at Dim Bulb).

We live in the twilight of a branded world born over 100 years ago. Most marketing remains blinded by the fading glare of its old, outdated promises. Yet there is a new approach to brands ahead of us, based upon a definition that is less about static image and imagined identity, and more about real-time interaction and actual involvement between company and consumer.

Get the pdf here.


Via : ChangeThis - a site with tons of intersting stuff to read & think about.

Unveiled : super special guest speaker Pierre Marcolini

CREATIVITY, INNOVATION, PASSION - THE VALUES OF A TRUE BRAND

Created in 1995, the company Pierre Marcolini counts now almost ten stores in Belgium, a store in New York, in Kowait, in France and four stores in Japan. This young and innovative firm exports more than 30% of its sales and favours its development throughout gastronomic countries in order to offer the « Haute Couture » of chocolate. This success is the result of his quest for perfection, absolute meticulousness in his preparations and a faith that has been rewarded several times by prestigious awards.

Warned manager, this untiring creator has clearly understood the necessity of exporting his creations all over the world. Large cities such as Tokyo, Kuwait, Brussels and Paris now offer stores with the famous cocoa pod, now invariably linked to the Marcolini taste. 

Pierre Marcolini, Belgian but of Italian decent, is now giving chocolate a new dimension and returning to the essence of chocolate, with the highest respect for the authenticity of the products. Whether he makes amazing chocolates or ambitious desert recipes, Pierre Marcolini continues his search of perfection, every single day. Pierre is one of only two Belgian 'chocolatiers', and one of four in all of Europe, the title of chocolatier being bestowed solely upon those who select their beans, roast them and make their own basic ingredient, 'couverture'. He uses only the finest cocoa beans from Venezuela, Madagascar, Ecuador and Mexico.

More info : Pierre Marcolini

We are incredibly proud that Pierre has accepted our invitation to speak about his passion for a perfect product and a perfect brand. Pierre Marcolini is scheduled on our session covering 'Brand Stewardship', after Françoise Burlet, on May 12th.