Marihuana in een goktent

Het lijkt een grotere spreiding dan Kim Clijsters ooit in haar carrière gemaakt heeft, maar zo zou men de financiële crisis in tijden van de multitaskende consument kunnen lezen. Lees de gedachtengang hier.

Halfvol of halfleeg?

Een pertinente vraag. Want enerzijds is er de financiële en hypotheekcrisis, anderzijds zijn er ook tekenen of indicatoren die positieve signalen geven. Het geboortecijfer of het modebeeld om er twee te noemen.

Lees de volledige column hier.

Small is beautiful

Dat is ook wat de monniken van de succesvolle trappisten bieren denken. Zo kondigde de brouwerij van Westmalle recent aan de productie niet te verhogen, ondanks de toenmende vraag. Het succes van de abdijbieren bewijst dat consumenten op zoek gaan naar authenticiteit en echtheid. Lees de volledige column over trappistenmarketing hier.

USA

Binnen enkele weken weten we wie de nieuwe president van de Verenigde Staten van Amerika wordt. Lees hier een reeks van 4 columns over de minder bekende aspecten van de grootmacht: de Amerikaanse consument en burger, de Amerikaanse media, de Amerikaanse merken en het misschien wel meest verrassend sociale Amerika .

Terug van weggeweest

Na enkele weken vakantie en een tijd van stilte, kan u vanaf heden weer wekelijks nieuws op deze blog verwachten! Veel leesplezier!

Fons

Wassup

The bid of Inbev on Anheuser-Busch has been widely discussed, and not only financially. A real solidarity movement has risen to defend thé national brand par excellence, ‘Bud', comparable with our own Jupiler. The loss for the 'king of beers' brand is real in the US and emotions are running high.
After the refusal of the bid, Inbev has started an advertising campaign ‘What would not change at Anheuser-Busch’, to illustrate its historical positioning as 'the world's local brewer'.
The saga is a perfect illustration of the development of brands in a global world, where the choice between global efficiency and local relevance has to be made. One thing is clear: thé global consumer does not exist.

See the historical Wassup campaign for Bud beneath and read the column of this week here.

Made by You

It is clear by now that 'user generated content' is more than a hype. Innovative and up-to-date brands have learned to deal with it. User generated content is only one outcome of the empowered consumer. Look at one of the latest hits on You Tube these days, 'Why every guy should buy their girlfriend a Wii Fit’, a movie made by a guy of his girl friend doing her Wii Fit hula-hoop exercises. Excellent and free advertising for the Nintendo play console?

A global CEO study done by IBM, shows that CEO's are aware that the empowered consumer is more than a flash in a pan and most of them consider these 'prosumers' as an opportunity more than a threat.

Read the column of this week here.

We Cannes

Last week, the 55th edition of the International Advertising Festival took place in Cannes. Like every year at the end of June, the whole advertising industry kept its eyes on Cannes to see what campaigns took a Lion home and who was the talk of the town.
Advertising is obviously evolving and changing as it is harder to attract the attention of the hard to get, hard to capture and hard to convince consumer of today. More and more, advertising is evolving towards entertainment, sometimes with a social message behind it. 3 strong campaigns as a proof.

One of the Belgian Lions was for the Music for Life campaign, made by mortierbrigade, where a thirsty black boy interrupted several TV shows. A simple idea made to practice to illustrate the shortage of water in developing countries.



Our BBDO colleagues in New York won a Grand Prix for the campaign for the TV channel HBO. They created the concept 'HBO Voyeur', online but also in real. See the concept and the images of the projection they did on a wall in New York, where it looked as if one could see everything that happened behind the walls of an apartment block.



The Grand Prix Lion in the category direct or one-to-one communication went to JWT India for the newspaper Times of India, which organized the campaign 'Lead India' to promote India from 'potential nation' to 'kinetic power'.



Common in these 3 campaigns is not only the strong 'think out of the box' idea, but also the high consumer relevance and social message. Advertising with a conscience.

Read all about it in this week’s column.

Windchill

Do you also think your weekly shopping bill at the supermarket is higher then before and your fuel, gas and electricity expenses are rocketing?
HUMO and VRT questioned 1000 Flemish people. Seems that 96% feel life is (a lot) more expensive then a year ago. Even amongst the higher incomes, there's a feeling that buying power is declining. Reality or psychoses? Result of the 'spending power' campaign pursued by unions and media?
Also in the supermarket landscape, the effect of the spending power psychoses is noticed. Logically, discounters like Aldi, Lidl and Colruyt attract more shoppers with their low price positioning. But also premium supermarkets like Delhaize play on price. 'The price, quality included' was the headline of one of the ads Delhaize published in national newspapers last week. The spending power debate affects our shopping cart in several ways.

Read the column of this week here.

Search the 10 differences

The cover of the new album of Coldplay 'Viva La Vida' has a strong resemblance with the cover of my book 'Het Merk Mens'.

Both feature the painting 'Liberty Leading The People' by the French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix. The painting dates from 1830 and shows Marianne, the symbol of the French nation.

Mom said: get a degree,...

...then a job...
These times might be over.
While son, daughter, or students in your entourage may be worrying about the upcoming exams, recent research has shown that many graduate students already have a contract in pocket. To them, exams are a mere formality before their careers take off.
The labour market has evolved, the youth as well, and companies must introduce themselves asap to the youth.

Learn it all in our weekly column.

Music to my ears

Some 6 months ago, Radiohead offered its new album on the internet at a 'free' price, from nothing till whatever fans were willing to pay for it. Did this strategy pay off?
It seems so. According to a source in Advertising Age, 1.2 million people downloaded the album and 32% paid for it, good for 6 to 10 million dollars in their pockets. Afterwards, 122 000 examples of the physical album were sold, good for another 25 million dollars. Not bad for an experiment.
It shows that marketers sometimes have to give before they can take. And it also illustrates that distribution models ask for an innovative and inventive approach.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Culture of fear

What a surprise it was to see an almost empty freeway and no traffic jams on a Tuesday morning on the E19! The result of the media alert that already started a week in advance on the possible effects of the train strike. It illustrates the effect the media has on our lives.

Read all about it in this week's column.

The power of ideas

Beyond the idea box. That is the concept of www.mystarbucksidea.com and www.dellideastorm.com, 2 websites were consumers can not only post ideas to Starbucks or Dell, but also vote and discuss ideas posted by other visitors.
This is the ultimate expression of consumer empowerment, thé characteristic of the 21st century consumer.

Read all about it in this week's column.

On holiday

Last weekend, all parking lot spaces in Brussels Airport were full. This is only one indication of the increasing tourism flow.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization predicts that by 2020, the international tourism will double from about 800 million in 2008 to 1.6 billion in 2020. What drives this ‘tsunami’ of tourists and what are the consequences?

Read all about it in this week's column.

Ch'tis

Have you seen the succesfull movie 'Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis'? In France and also in Belgium, the movie is a big hit and is becoming cult.
The explanation for its success is simple. Ch'tis is about real people and is, from the beginning till the end, fully authentic.

Read all about it in this week's column.

The green chairman

Brand new chairman of Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen, Thomas Leysen, pulled the green card in his maiden speech. He suggested that Belgian companies should go for innovative, ecological and energy friendly production processes. The 'VBO' should be part of 'bright green', as he put it. It shows the new wind that blows business world. But also governments think ahead. Steve Stevaert, governor of Limburg, wants a CO2 neutral province in 2020. Up to the citizen-consumers to follow.

Read the column of this week here.

At work

Today, unemployment figures are historically low and employment forces become scarce. And, there seems to be no improvement in the near future. In 2030, when all babyboomers will have left working, the active working population in Flanders will be down with 300 000. It is clear that the proportion between offer and demand on the employment market is lost, and it is the employee that is in control. And thus, the ware for talent is raging and companies have to be more inventive than ever to attract employees. How to behave as employer?

Read all about it in this week's column.

Ambush Marketing

As proven in the past, the Olympic games are an ideal setting for ambush marketing ie. an attempt of unofficial sponsors to be linked with an important event, at the expense of the official sponsor.
About 10 days ago, an interesting protest action or media stunt happened when protesters of Reporters without borders interrupted the traditional ceremony of the ignition of the Olympic flame. The tone of the Games is set and marketers curiously await the ambush actions of major brands.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Night and day

Though often negative in the news, night shops are becoming an important distribution channel. The consultancy and market research company, Food in Mind, calculated the importance of the shops. It seems that they are worth a turnover of 1,364 billion euro.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Under fire

The storm against advertising and marketing continues. Last week, a brand of clothes got critized for a picture they used, in which 2 young boys were holding a cigar. Clients and organizations like Vlaams Instituut voor Gezondheid or Vlaamse Liga tegen Kanker protested. Some weeks ago, we wrote on the ban of alcohol advertising before 9 o’ clock in the Netherlands. And at the same moment, environmental organizations are fighting for a correct practice of the car advertising legislation.
It is clear that no sector or brand is left untouched. Alcohol, tobacco, cars, … what’s next?
It is clear that brands will have to be inventive with governmental regulations. See an example of BIC beneath.

Read the column of this week here .

Under fir

Complaint index

Complaint management enters a new decade. In our flat world, it has never been easier for unhappy customers to express their unhappiness and managers can thus easily calculate their ‘complaint index’ through Google. In the past, brands tried to remain silent about these customers, today the opposite strategy is more efficient. Some weeks ago, Business Week wrote 'Love the customers who hate you'. The message is clear: managers need to embrace customers who complain about their products or services instead of denying or cursing them.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Adapt or die

Lately, alcohol advertising has become the subject of much debate. With sensitization campaigns running about side effects of alcohol, banning of advertising targeted at specific groups and increased pressure on organizations to promote responsible consumption, what should alcoholic drink brands do?

Read all about it in this week's column.

A brand in bad times

The power of communication is widely acknowledged, but most of the times communication is used to announce good news. However, communication is at least as important in bad times or during a moment of crisis. Dexia has understood this well in the trial against the bankrupt speech and language technology company Lernout & Hauspie. It created a special website www.dexia.be/lhsp, where visitors are informed about the case. Objective is not to plead through the Internet, but to inform all stakeholders in a correct way. The site is a good example of modern information management and a mean to reinstall trust.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Taking over the PBS

Consumer empowerment is a hot topic. We’ve seen it in our recent articles about the iPhone and Postbank-Ing, and now youngsters are planning a coup on our PBS, the VRT.
On www.deovername.be, a group of young, creative people started a campaign to find like-minded people who want to change the VRT, and make more shows suiteable to younger generations. These youngsters, between 14-18 years, get the chance to promote their own creative work. If the campaign is a success, and enough talented youngsters are found, the work of the most talented youngsters will be broadcasted on television, radio and internet. Is this for real or is VRT's advertising agency behind 'the coup' ? To be continued.

Participation in brand landscape

Another example of consumer participation and involved is shown in the Netherlands. After the takeover of Postbank by ING, the latest decided to abandon the Dutch brand and rebrand all branches into ING. No doubt ING has good reasons to replace thé financial brand of the Netherlands, Postbank, by the ING brand. But the decision is much debated, since the 2 brands are perceived as opposite to one another and people have a real emotional relationship with Postbank. The risk for unsatisfied clients is thus real.
One of these clients, Wim Luijk, decided to create the website www.postbankmoetblijven.nl to express his dissatisfaction. How to react as a marketer?

Read all about it in this week’s column.

iPower

I bet some of you are proud owner of an Apple iPhone. And it seems you are not alone. About 8000 Belgians are iPhone users, though the phone is still not officially for sale in Belgium. But also in the US, where the phone was launched last year, about 1.7 millions phone don't work with AT&T and are thus hacked. An ultimate expression of the empowered consumers, who wants to be in control and doesn’t like restrictions enforced by brands?

Read all about this week's column here.

The new communes

How do communes, the co housing projects that were popular in the 60ies and 70ies amongst people revolting against capitalism- look like anno 2008? Do they still accommodate former hippies? It seems that a lot of pragmatic 20-somethings also choose to live together with friends or like-minded people.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Psychosis

The whole world is looking at the evolution of the stock market. The decreasing share prices brought along panic and new speculations about a possible recession. But even financial analysists must admit that the recent evolutions are more based on psychology -or even psychosis- than on the current situation and behavior of companies and consumers.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Consumers become swarms

Our digitale age also influences the way we decide what to buy and consume. AdAge predicts that BRAND SWARMS will find their way in 2008: people will be influenced more and more by other consumers: their partner, kids, friends, colleagues and also social networks. So, goodbye 1-to-1 marketing, hello social networks. Brands will have to behave even more excellent and consequently in order to be recommended.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Recession or not?

One of my latest columns, regarded a slight decrease in consumer confidence at the end of 2007 and announcements of a recession of the economy. Interesting to read how NRC Handelsblad also published a commentary on this issue. It was titled 'Self-confidence of the European Economy'. Key message is that we mustn't let ourselves talk into a recession. Yes, the US is heading for a financial crisis, but consumer and business confidence in Europe is still good. Read the comment article here.

Green car show

This week the 86th edition of the car show lands in Brussels. Theme this year is the environment. The show illustrates how cars and green can go hand in hand. But, not only green is hot, cheap is the newest trend, abroad but soon in our regions too.

Read all about it in this week's column.

The year of China

Thé picture of 2007, that also perfectly announces 2008, is this one. It was published last summer in Het Nieuwsblad, one year before the official start of the Olympic Games. No doubt, 2008 will be the year of China. Already last year we were impressed by the economic growth of the country and China is expected to be the largest economic force by 2030, though some suggest a yellow bubble is created.
It is my belief that the Olympic Games will do the same for China as Expo 58 did for Belgium and Western Europe 50 years ago.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Trends for 2008

As the end of 2007 is approaching, we see consumer trends popping up everywhere. Some interesting -and less interesting- marco and micro trends from Adage. Meet the Renaissance Marketer and learn about the Brand Swarm.

Read all about it on adage.com

Water

Tomorrow, Music for Life will start officially, when 3 radio announcers of Studio Brussel will lock themselves up for 6 days in a glazed house in Leuven. Just like last year, the action is for the benefit of the Red Cross. This year, Music for Life is fighting for potable water for everyone. What is the success recipe behind Music for Life?

Read all about it in this week's column.

Sao Paulo

A new EU-regulation concerning advertising was voted last week. The regulation stipulated that programs can only contain 12 minutes of advertising an hour and certain programs towards children or movies and informative programs can only be interrupted once in half an hour. In Sao Paulo, the city mayor decided in a new 'clean city' law that as of January, all outdoor advertising needs to be removed. The regulations are there to protect consumers against an endless offer of advertising.
In Belgium, the existence of the JEP (Jury of honest and ethical actions in advertising) was questioned last week. It is my opinion that there is still a future for JEP, however it needs to evolve with our society.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Generation M

After the babyboomers, generation X and generation Y, the first signs of a new generation arise. This generation is born after 1989 and is the first generation that to be born with the internet. From SMS generation to generation M for millenium, mobile, multi-media, Msn, multi-tasking or even Mega Mindy. This generation knows what they want and they want it 'right here, right now'.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Wii would like to play

As Christmas-time is approaching, a few of you might recognize themselves when I tell you my children want a Wii-console for Christmas.
Like the iPod a few years ago (or was it last year?), the Wii is expected to become one of the end-of-the year hits, on top of all child’s wishlist.

But don’t be surprised if your sprouts aren’t the only ones who want a Wii. Adults love it as well. Video-gaming doesn’t only appeal to children, as you already know. It is though remarkable how Nintendo achieved to fulfill the needs of casual gamers (which, in contrast to “hardcore” gamers, play in series of short time slices, though we all know how addictive games like Tetris or brain training can be)
But with the Wii, Nintendo went a step further than just casual gaming: with its motion sensing controller, the gaming experience is more intense. By making crazy movements, console-gaming has become more fun. The the Wii sets up a social experience and connects people in front of the telly, probably reflected in its slogan “Wii would like to play”.

The Wii widened the market for videogames: in contrast to the other consoles, which appeal to a rather male audience, the Wii’s customer demographics are equally female and male (while only 11% of the PlayStation 3 users are female). Not surprising, giving recent study by Information Solutions Group (ISG) that 76% casual gamers are female.
It is thus time that marketing managers realize that females are entering the main stream gaming market, and remove the babes section on gamers websites or promo-girls disguised in Lara Croft.

So don’t be surprised, if your parents show up a little more often at home to play with their grandsons and daughters around the Wii.

Paradox

How to explain the following paradox: consumer confidence is decreasing, confidence of entrepreneurs is up. Who's right? And how to explain this? Will the mortgage crisis in the US affect European economies and are we heading for a recession? Some pertinent questions, where it's important not to jump to conclusions.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Now the book

The readers of this blog have already noticed the announcement of my new book 'Het Merk Mens'. The book describes the paradoxes we find in our society today. Like a BMW on the parking lot of the discount supermarket Aldi, adult women over their 50ies riding a Harley Davidson or grand children learning their grand parents to surf on the net.

Fo more information on the book, go to www.hetmerkmens.be or read this week's column.

Copernicus is dead

At the end of this month, the 26th Marketing Congress of Stichting Marketing takes place in Ghent. Topic this year is 'Marketing in a flat world'. How do brands have to behave in a global and ever connected world? The more global the world is, the more we appreciate local touches. Brands like Mc Donald's or Pampers have understood this and behave upon it.
Read all about it in this week's column.

Fons van Dyck is keynote speaker on the congress on Friday 30 November.

Tomeke tomeke

The most popular Dutch dictionary, het Van Dale Groot woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal, took up TomTom as a synonym for navigation system.
Just like Bic and Google, TomTom becomes a generic term for what it stands for. A brand’s dream! Certainly when you know that it is expected that the number of portable navigation systems in Europe and North-America will grow with more than 100% at the end of 2007. TomTom is worldwide market leader in this segment.

Happiness

Last week, the Flemish newspapers reported on a study of In Petto, the Flemish Youth instance, and the VUB. The research investigated the degree to which Flemish youngsters find themselves happy. It was remarkable to see which finding of the study was highlighted. Some focused on the positive aspects, others titled the more dark side of our youngsters. It is clear that black and white is not inherent to our information age and nuances are demanded. Also characteristic of the information age is that no subject is left uninvestigated, which permits us to be better prepared then ever.

Read all about it in this week's column.

Marketing rocks

The music industry is clearly reinventing itself. Recently, Radiohead decided to sell his new album only on the Internet (see also below). Even more remarkable was the fact that people could decide themselves how much they paid for the album. The other 3 'historical' P's defined by Philip Kotler -place, product and promotion- also ask for a new approach in the Internet age.

Read all about it in this week's column.

T-shirt in a Bottle

Coke is making t-shirts out of recycled plastics. To make fabric, plastic bottles are shredded, distressed and turned into polyester thread. This fabric is turned into a T-shirt with little branding other than a small, red Coca-Cola tab on the bottom of the right seam.“We envision a world in which our packaging is no longer seen as a waste, but as a resource for future use”, according to Kelli Sogar, Coke’s licensing merchandise manager. With this effort, The Coca-Cola Co. approaches to the trend of invisible branding and Social Responsibilty of Business.

Source: Advertising Age

ALDI informs

An honest relationship is a solid basis for a good relationship. That is what Aldi must have thought when it started communicating about the expected price increases. For a company that is characterized as silent and closed, this is at least a remarkable action. Aldi first communicated in Germany, then in the Netherlands and last Friday, Aldi published an ad in some newspapers in Belgium announcing some price reductions as well as 'price increases if we really have to'. A positive act for the brand or not?

Read all about it in this week's column.

Infantile

Benjamin R. Barber has published a new book called 'Consumed' or translated in Dutch 'de Infantiele Consument'.
In the book, consumer capitalism is under fire. Key thesis is that modern consumer society constantly creates artificial needs and makes consumers 'kidults', who prefer easy, simple and fast things. Is this a correct interpretation or too black and white?

Read all about it in this week's column.

JEP Campaign

Last week, the “Jury for ethical practices” (JEP), launched a campaign to promote its own body. Are these messages relevant for consumers? And do all consumers know JEP?

Building a b(r)and

Last week, rock band Radiohead released their latest album on the internet. Nothing new, except that fans have a lot to say in the purchase process: each decides how much he or she is willing to pay for it. A precedent in the music industry.

The music industry's business model is changing. The drop in revenue coming from records (whether be it from material or unmaterial formats) needs to be compensated by increased revenues from touring, sponsoring, merchandising... Ringtones can help, but also more "creative" ways have been developed to extort money out of the fans: during live performances, a band requested its teenage crowd to call a specific number with their mobiles so they could get a video of themselves at that performace and share it...

Apparently, new ways have emerged to milk cash out of the fans. However, it still remains unclear how the whole business model should be re-conceived. Recent events have demonstrated the artists and labels willingness and attempts to adapt: Sarah Bettens released her album through a newspaper, which required the newspaper to double its circulation. Madonna resiled her contract with Warner for a "360-degree" contract that including concert, merchandise and endorsement deals (and - who knows - video games...). And multinational record companies have dropped selling songs protected by digital-rights-management. Have they lost any hope in capturing value from online sales? This week Economist article provides an answer to that. Clearly, changes are undergoing.

Besides its innovative pricing policy for the download version, Radiohead is also set to release a box containing several LP's, cd's, booklets and artwork. Price tag: 40£. Thus, on the one hand, songs available for download to anybody; on the other hand, value-adding merchandising, in line with what the most loyal fans would expect.
In any way, unconditionally agreeing with the consumer's demanded price once again shows how the consumer is getting has the final word.
Consumer empowerment: not only in the building of a b( r )and, but also in the pricing of its products… and record companies should realize that as well.

Marketers are returning to the great outdoors.

Outdoors Lion Winner 2007

Frustrated by the declining ability of television to deliver mass reach that is cost-effective, advertisers are putting renewed emphasis on reaching people when they’re away from home. Out-of-home advertising offers a wide and still widening range of opportunities for marketers to make contact with consumers, according to Millward Brown. But...

Sputnik

50 years ago, the first satellite was launched and thus the official beginning of the space program era. Today, the world is more then ever into space ship programs and technology. Tomorrow, visiting the universe can be a dream come true for one of us, whether it is with Virgin Galactic or Q-music.
People are clearly looking for new adventures and discoveries. But not only in space, new paths are walked. Also on television and in the studies youngster's choose, we see a passion for science and discoveries.

Read all about it in this week's column.

New campaign Dove

After the succesfull campaign "Evolution", beauty brand Dove, has released a new campaign "Onslaught". The beauty-industry advertising is under attack again. See the campaign below.

Peeters&Pichal

In the new program on Radio 1, Peeters&Pichal, consumers can pour out their harts to the presenters. Small and large issues of our consumer society pass in review. Recently, a large multimedia and hifi specialist, was under fire when some consumers complained about the selling of used and returned products. Hard day for their spokeswoman or lucky that consumers care and speak up?

Read all about it in this week's column.