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Pinoy speak as brand name – “Tisyu” (toylet peyper)
with the brand name “Tisyu”, this is not a joke, there is no mistaking what kind of product it is, specially for Filipinos. (although we are guessing English speakers will get it too.) it is exactly how we say it. we may previously have not known how it is spelled, but now we do thanks to this brand of toylet peyper (this bit is all mine).
i was in the supermarket for other things and just happened to pass this particular display. while i as not looking to buy toilet paper, this brand called out to me and caught my attention, the brand name spoke loudly. how could i resist?
ok, so it made me laugh. but it is a registered brand name and the product was on an island display – in between the laughter, i had to take this brand seriously. an island display is the most expensive display in a supermarket.
the product is very proud of its brand name. it says so on the shelf – “proudly produktong pinoy”.
this is the marketing question – so we have here a product used to wipe what we do not want to touch with our bare hands under there, behind us that its brand positioning that is on pinoy nationalism that one can’t miss because it’s actually on the brand name.
the big question is for this kind of product, is nationalism a motivator for purchase?
~~mindscape landmark ~~
article: 12 books on every aspect of launching and running a business
list of the 12 books:
- “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success” by Shane Snow
- “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell
- “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” by Nir Eyal
- “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki
- “Trust Me, I’m Lying” by Ryan Holiday
- “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss
- “Freakanomics” by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
- “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies” by Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras
- “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
- “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr
- “How Google Works” by Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg
- “The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story” by Michael Lewis
i already had 3 of the 12 books – numbers 2, 4 and 8. but unfortunately ondoy ate all of them.
the worst is losing no. 8, “Built To Last” by collins. the book had the autograph of collins.
ondoy has much to answer to me,
——
source :http://fortune.com/2015/08/29/books-launching-and-running-a-business/
12 books on every aspect of launching and running a business
Finding time to read is finding time to succeed.
This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at entrepreneur.com.
By Firas Kittaneh, Entrepreneur
To expand my knowledge and skills, I read. To source inspiration for innovative ideas and to develop a better understanding of the ever-changing world that we live in, I carefully absorb information from books. Over the years, I’ve read dozens of amazing works but for busy entrepreneurs, here are 12 leadership, marketing and technology books that I would highly recommend. As a whole, they offer valuable life guidance, contemporary approaches to work and unconventional world views that will motivate you to approach things in a new, refreshing way.
1. “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success” by Shane Snow
Shane Snow, co-founder of Contently and journalist for WIRED, The New Yorker and Fast Company, investigates the fast rise of successful individuals and companies to pinpoint the habits and strategies that led to their achievements. In doing so, he debunks the conventional wisdom of reaping success from hard work and instead promotes the use of ‘smartcuts’—smart shortcuts—to reach goals quickly.
2. “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell
Using real-life examples, sociologist Malcolm Gladwell examines the tipping point at which little known ideas turn into social epidemics. What he discovers are three major factors that converge to generate rapid, dramatic changes in society: people with unique and powerful social talents, the stickiness of ideas and contextual circumstances.
3. “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” by Nir Eyal
Educator and entrepreneur Nir Eyal delivers the ‘Hook Model,’ a practical framework for fostering user engagement and building customer habits. This book is a must read for anyone looking to start a company or develop a product because it provides four actionable steps to attract users and to ensure that they continue to come back.
4. “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Drawing from his own personal experiences with his dad and a second father figure, businessman Robert Kiyosaki imparts his philosophy on money management. In particular, he advocates the idea that money should work for people and not the other way around, and offers practical guidance on investing in assets that generate income.
5. “Trust Me, I’m Lying” by Ryan Holiday
Media strategist Ryan Holiday reveals how people like him manipulate the media to meet their purposes. He does this by explaining how blogs drive mainstream news and effectively control what kinds of information are presented to the public. At the same time, he also provides useful tactics on how to run a marketing campaign on a budget.
6. “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss
If you are looking for a better work-life balance, lifestyle design expert Tim Ferriss shares a number of personal strategies to work less and live more while also increasing your wealth. His approach includes defining what you want in life, eliminating habits that waste time and outsourcing many tasks to virtual assistants. He also provides guidelines on how to generate a sustainable source of income.
7. “Freakanomics” by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner apply economic theory to uncover the fundamental causes and motivations for a diverse number of topics that are not typically studied in economics. Case studies include crime, parenting, cheating, and information control. What they find are results that counter established credence and paint a more complicated picture of reality.
8. “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies” by Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras
Comparing 18 ‘visionary’ companies with their top competitors, business consultant Jim Collins and Stanford professor Jerry Porras reveal the characteristics that produce today’s leading corporations. Their research results also refute a number of commonly held business principles, including the notion that it takes a great idea to start a company. Instead, extraordinary companies are flexible and they experiment with new ideas to figure out what works.
9. “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
TalentSmart co-founders Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves divulge the company’s step-by-step program for increasing your emotional intelligence and improving your life. It measures your emotional intelligence skills in four areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Then, strategies are provided for improving your skills.
10. “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr
Author Nicholas Carr explores how the Internet has stunted our intellectual development, specifically how the Internet does not lead to greater knowledge nor deeper thinking despite providing greater access to information. Drawing on historical and scientific evidence, he finds that the Internet encourages skimming, altering how we read and process information.
11. “How Google Works” by Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg
This book discloses how the authors helped build Google GOOG -3.31% when they were recruited over a decade ago as CEO (Eric Schmidt) and Senior Vice President of Products (Jonathan Rosenberg). They take on many topics, including innovation, corporate culture and strategy. The lessons they learned along the way are pertinent to any business.
12. “The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story” by Michael Lewis
Writer Michael Lewis narrates the life of Jim Clark, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who launched three billion-dollar businesses. In doing so, the book provides insights into the process of turning an idea into a reality as well as a window into the people and culture of Silicon Valley.
new UP Fighting Maroons logo’s retrogressive design
the UP Fighting Maroons, University Of The Philippines’ senior basketball team in the UAAP recently announced a new logo.
when i saw it, i fell off my chair.
LOOK: UP Fighting Maroons unveil new logo in time for UAAP S78
Read more: http://sports.inquirer.net/184521/look-up-fighting-maroons-unveil-new-logo-in-time-for-uaap-s78#ixzz3dTMQd64p
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
UP as a university is known for it’s fine arts and design (and architecture) graduates. if you are into fine arts or design, UP is the school for you to go to. it is popular for these courses. in other words UP is known for good taste.
but not this new logo of the UP Fighting Maroons – it is ugly. and yes, i call the design “retrogressive”.
we are guessing this is how the design process went and how it was sold to the UP officials.
the old logo they had was the image of the oblation. and we suppose the direction for the new logo was to have something more active and aggressive, to be more in keeping with the idea behind a “fighting maroon”. the old logo was not “fighting”, it was just standing, not to mention it is naked except for the fig leaf. the last one though is a digression.
the new logo is supposed to embody the “fighting” spirit – a native warrior holding a spear and a long shield. the spear is the “fighting” part but we think the long shield and the stance of the native can be argued as really more of defensive rather than offensive. it is not really as aggressive as you want it to be.
the added plus is that the man with the spear and shield is the most basic component of basketball – offense and defense. the spear is the offense and the shield the defense. it’s logical and it’s also cute. but for us being cute does not count much.
the other part of the logo that we really do not understand is the giant maroon shield with green lining behind the native. what is that for? a warrior with a spear and a shield in front of a giant shield? really? we think the logo would have worked anyway if they removed the giant shield behind the native and let the native just stand on the “fighting maroon” text. we even think the logo would be nicer and more manly without the giant shield behind the native. it will also give better focus on the native, which is the major change in the logo.
this can be minor, but why is the warrior wearing a bandana on his head? we do not see that in the oblation. we think this was an unnecessary component of the design.
the main changes in the new UP fighting maroon logo are : a maroon colored warrior in a “fighting” (or defensive) stance with a spear and a shield.
that leads us to the UE Red Warriors logo. oh yes, UE calls itself “warriors”. although we are very sure when the new UP logo was presented, the presenters were very careful not to use the term “warrior” but used “native” instead. never mind that the UP “native” is also wearing a bandana just like the UE warrior is. and let’s not even mention the color red of UE is very close to the maroon of UP.
the actual images may be different – UE has just a head of the warrior while UP has the full body of the native but we think they are just too close for comfort. the new UP logo is like he full version of the UE logo which is just an abbreviation. it’s like if the UE warrior was shown with a full body, it will look like the UP native with or without the spear and shield.
the logo is the main identity of what they represent. it is best to be unique, to be unlike any other. that is the most basic. the other basic component of a logo is its meaning or meanings. the new UP logo is an obvious attempt to fill it up with meanings but it has forgotten the other component of uniqueness. we think the logo being too close to the UE Red Warriors is its biggest sin.
aside from those, the design elements do not make sense. the design appears to have been some kind of high school project where shapes and symmetry were put without a view for good aesthetics.
one key component of a new design is it is supposed to be better than the old one. this one does not do that. it looks bad versus the old one, a retrogression.
bring back the oblation, please.
this is a WAWAM!
Ateneo, De La Salle and UP – why the college you choose matters – Part 8
University rankings: Find out how your school does!
MANILA, Philippines – Wondering which universities in the country have the most number of centers of excellence (COE) and centers of development (COD) awarded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)?
We compiled CHED’s memorandum orders on COEs and CODs released from 2012 to 2013, came up with an unofficial tally and ranked schools according to the combined number of their COEs and CODs. In this unofficial ranking, we assigned a point for each university’s COD, and two points for a COE.
COEs and CODs are higher education institutions with the highest degree or level of standards in the areas of instruction, research and extension. The COEs and CODs used in this unofficial ranking will all have their designations expired on May 31 according to CHED.
The University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman came with a commanding lead over other universities with 22 COEs or 44 points. The university has centers of excellence in biology, chemistry, geology, information technology, marine science, mathematics, molecular biology, physics, statistics, broadcasting, journalism, communication, music, foreign language, English, Filipino, Filipino and English literature, political science, psychology, anthropology and linguistics. UP Diliman has no COD.
Completing the top 10 are the following universities:
2. De La Salle University (25)
3. University of Santo Tomas (24)
4. Ateneo de Manila University (23)
http://www.philstar.com/campus/2014/05/26/1327524/university-rankings-find-out-how-your-school-does
Ateneo, De La Salle and UP – why the college you choose matters – Part 7
Five Philippine Schools in Top 300 Asian Universities
The Top 300 Universities in Asia was already revealed on Monday by QS University Rankings and 5 of the Philippine’s schools made it to the elite list of Asia’s best universities.
The Philippine schools who made it to the Top 300 are the UP, Ateneo, UST, DLSU and the University of Southeastern Philippines (USP). The leading Philippine school is the University of the Philippines, the lone Philippine University in the Top 100, ranking at 67th in the list.
The Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) ranked at 109th, the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) at 150th, De La Salle University (DLSU) at 151st-160th and the University of Southeastern Philippines (USP) at 251st-300th.
The Philippines premier university the University of the Philippines (UP) improved by a notch from last year’s 68th place. The Ateneo slid from 86th, along with DLSU from 142nd. The UST also dropped from 148th place.
Topping the 2013 list of Top 300 Universities is the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, followed by National University of Singapore, University of Hong Kong, Seoul National University and the Peking University in China.
http://philnews.ph/2013/06/12/5-phils-schools-top-300-asian-universities/
Ateneo, De La Salle and UP – why the college you choose matters – Part 6
UP and Ateneo’s University Rankings Worldwide 2014-2015 Improved
The worldwide rankings of the country’s premier educational institution, University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University improved a lot in the 2014-2015 World University Rankings by education and career network Quacquarelli Symonds (OS). The results of the latest worldwide university ranking was released on Tuesday, September 26, 2014.
The University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman Quezon City improved itsranking from 380th to this year’s ranking at 367th place worldwide. The bestranking of the University of the Philippines-Diliman was way back the year 2008, where it ranked at No. 262.
The Ateneo de Manila on its part also improved to 461-470 from the 2013-2014 rankings at 561-700. Other schools who made to the Worldwide University rankings from the Philippines are the De La Salle University and the University of Sto. Tomas, as it ranked at 650-and-below.
The DLSU dropped its rankings to 651-700 this year from its previous rankings at 601+ in 2013-2014, while the UST remained idle at 701. According to the latestUniversity Rankings worldwide, the National University of Singapore which is ranked at 22nd overall is considered as the highest-ranked Asian institution.
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
2. (tie) University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
4. Harvard University (United States)
5. (tie) University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and University College London (United Kingdom)
7. Stanford University (United States)
8. California Institute of Technology (United States)
9. Princeton University (United States)
10. Yale (United States)
http://philnews.ph/2014/09/17/up-and-ateneos-university-rankings-worldwide-2014-2015-improved/
Ateneo, De La Salle and UP – why the college you choose matters – Part 5
UP, Ateneo, La Salle in world university rankings for subjects
MANILA, Philippines – Three of the top universities in the country were included in the list of best schools in the world, excelling in English language and literature, based on a 2013 survey released by a London-based research institution.
The University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University made it to the top 200 schools in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking by Subject 2013.
The report showed UP and Ateneo in the top 51-100 schools for English language and literature.
La Salle was in the top 101-150 for the same subject, while Ateneo was also in the top 151-200 in the global ranking for modern languages.
UP, on the other hand, was in the top 151-200 schools for agriculture and forestry. Its ranking, however, slipped to 348th from 332nd in the previous list.
Ateneo de Manila also slid to the 451-500 bracket from being ranked 360th. De La Salle University dropped to the 601+ bracket from 551-600 bracket.
The global university ranking by subject was based on assessments of academics and employers of university graduates.
This year, the company rated 2,858 schools but only ranked 678 institutions.
US schools led the rankings in most subjects, with Harvard University topping 10 disciplines.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the list of best universities, ranking first in seven subjects, followed by the University of California-Berkeley, Oxford University and Cambridge.
Ateneo, De La Salle and UP – why the college you choose matters – Part 4
Companies Still Favor Graduates of Top 8 Universities
MANILA, Philippines – If you are a graduate from one of the top eight universities in the country, you have higher chance of getting hired, according to report from Jobstreet.com in the new Jobs and Salary Report that has been launched recently.
In the 2015 report, companies in the Philippines still place high importance on which university the graduates come from. 71-percent of the companies who responded to Jobstreet survey said that it was an important factor when considering applicants. This year’s result though lower by 6-percent against the 2014 percentage still shows employers favor graduates from UP, UST, La Salle, Ateneo, and government schools such as PLM, PNU, and PUP.
Here are the Top 8 Universities in the Philippines that lead 2015 Jobstreet Survey of Schools that Matter to Employers:
1. University of the Philippines
2. University of Santo Tomas
3. De La Salle University / Ateneo de Manila University
4. Polytechnic University of the Philippines
5. Mapua Institute of Technology
6. Far Eastern University
7. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila/Adamson University
8. University of the East / Philippine Normal University / Technological Institute of the Philippines
The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) is considered a big game-changer in the list of top universities in terms of ‘hireability’ next to Big Four UP, UST, DLSU and ADMU.
While the alumni of the top universities can take pride on the fact that they are favored by most companies, graduates of other institutions should still be confident about lending a job.
Companies say they will still hire applicants even if they did not come from those choice universities as long as “the candidate is trainable/willing to be trained,” and “the candidate fulfills requirements needed for the job.”
In addition, the JobStreet.com’s 2015 Jobs and Salary Report for Fresh Graduates said that out of the 450 companies that participated in their survey, 80% of employers recommended highlighting college internships.
The report also said that 52% preferred applicants who already had part-time jobs, while 50% still give importance to a decent — if not impressive — collegiate report card.
http://www.thesummitexpress.com/2015/04/companies-still-favor-graduates-of-top-8-universities.html
Ateneo, De La Salle and UP – why the college you choose matters – Part 2
Jobstreet: More employers prefer graduates from top universities
Manila, Philippines—Fresh graduates from top Metro Manila schools have a better chance of landing a job, a recent survey of employment search engine Jobstreet.com Philippines revealed.
The survey conducted by Jobstreet.com for Fresh graduate Employability showed that most companies in the Philippines still look on which university the graduates come from.
Among 400 companies surveyed, 77 percent of the respondents said they prioritize graduates from University of the Philippines (UP), Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), University of Santo Tomas, and De La Salle University (DLSU).
The survey, however, said, graduates from other universities should still be confident in landing a job as 94 percent of companies said they would still hire applicants even if they did not come from the top four universities.
Jobstreet.com quoted a Human Resource practitioner saying, “So long as they are able to communicate in English, are trainable and dedicated to work hard, they will still be considered even if they don’t graduate from top universities.”
This, after the survey also indicated that graduates from state-run universities such as Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), Philippine Normal University (PNU), and Polytechnic University of the Philippines are also considered by employers.
According to Jobstreet, employers said fresh graduates need to highlight their internship experience, their grades and extra-curricular activities on their resume to make up of their lack of experience and have higher chances of being hired.
It, however, said that while some employers were open to hiring fresh graduates, some expressed concern about “fresh graduates leaving the job after being trained, [with] poor communication skills, [and with] unrealistic salary expectations.”
Jobstreet.com said that in 2013, 83 percent of companies hired fresh graduates.
Jobstreet: More employers prefer graduates from top universities
Ateneo, De La Salle and UP – why the college you choose matters – Part 1
The universities of choice
how to harness the power of celebrities in TV ads – BMW’s 2015 Super Bowl Ad
this is what celebrity ads is all about and how its true power can be used in TV ads. this BMW ad first takes us to 1994 whenBryant Gumbel and Katie Couric, hosts of the Today Show showed on air they were being stumped by this things called the “internet” and what this thing “@” meant in an email address.
fast forward to today (no pun intended) and the pair is inside a BMW electric car showing us again that they are being stumped by the BMW electric car, having the same kind of discussion as to what the car is all about. the ad ends with Couric once again calling a staff member to explain what it is.
just brilliant advertising!
TBWA\Hakuhodo Ad Agency’s 3-D printed ice cubes – a classy, classic and fascinating creative idea that works
we were floored, our jaw dropped and a word in our mind keep popping up “wow!” when we saw this idea TBWA\Hakuhodo thought of for its client, Suntory Whisky – 3-D printed ice cubes that you put in your glass to enjoy Suntory Whisky. it was hands down, one of the classiest, classic and creative idea we have seen for an alcoholic drink.
it does present Suntory as a very classy and above its class kind of whisky. the exact image and impression one wants when you are a whisky brand.
Suntory Whisky 3-D Printed the World’s Most Incredible Ice Cubes
TBWA creates landmarks and characters in miniature
Advertising craft doesn’t get more delicate than this. Check out the crazy ice cubes TBWA\Hakuhodo created for Japan’s Suntory Whisky.
The agency used what’s called a CNC router (and a process that’s kind of inverse 3-D printing) to carve the designs, which ranged from the Statue of Liberty to the Sphinx to Batman and everything in between. (There even appears to be, perhaps presciently, a Cannes Lion in the mix.)
Miwako Fujiwara of TBWA\Hakuhodo said the CNC router was chilled at -7 degrees Celsiusto keep the ice from melting. The agency used an app called Autodesk 123D to capture the 3-D images and prep them for printing. “A touch of chilled whiskey polishes the surface of the ice and gives a beautiful shine to the sculpture,” Fujiwara added.
more pictures here : http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/suntory-whisky-3-d-printed-worlds-most-incredible-ice-cubes-163782
heineken puts it’s money where it counts – consumer satisfaction
this is one of the boldest moves we have seen in marketing and one very strong show of confidence on the quality and desirability of their product – heineken will give your money back if you do not like it. the basic promise here is that it is the best tasting beer. and if you do not like the taste, they will return your money. it is brave. it is great.
Budweiser’s “Lost Dog” TV ad at Super Bowl 2015 – Americana, the heart and the beer
Budweiser has a habit of airing ads at the Super Bowl that is decidedly American. this one at the 2015 Super Bowl is no exception. it has the feel, looks and tone of the everyday American, even the cowboy, but it has heart too. delivering the heart part is of course always done best with a cute puppy. with all these things in the brew, how can we resist? come on, lets pop open a Budweiser now!
McDonald’s makes a goal with this promo that will be aired at Super Bowl 2015
this is really a great promo. it is very creative and a perfect match to the advertising brand sell campaign of McDonald’s. it is rare to see promos that work so perfectly well with brand sell advertising.
McDonald’s has been running the “loving it” campaign in the US. in this promo, some customers will be chosen to pay for their McDonald’s orders with “acts of love” rather than money, acts of love like calling your mother to tell her you love her or a family told to do a group hug. they will air this promo TV ad at the upcoming Super Bowl 2015 this weekend in the US.
ad visuals that kill interest – gross out potential subscribers
we saw this ad at facebook. it is an ad for an iOS app where all you do is say the foreign words and the app will translate the words into your preferred language for you to understand what they mean.
that is potentially a great idea for an app except that the app is being sold using this visual in the ad.
i don’t know about you but to me nothing in that visual is pleasing or inviting. it is gross, scary and feels very, very painful. i don’t know how many FB users will find that visual appealing or enticing for them to go to the app store to buy the app because of that visual.
one of the principles in good advertising is visuals that work hard. one way to achieve that is have an image that visualizes the benefit.
yes, okay that visual does the latter – the visual is showing the closed zippered mouth is being opened for it to be able to speak. that is what the app is supposed to do – open the mouths of a foreign language so you can understand them. a closed zippered mouth is something we will not be able to understand.
while the zippered mouth being opened is what the app does, the choice of the zipper on the mouth goes beyond the message. the visual delivers another message which we think is more compelling and more powerful – that of pain and being grossed out. we can have a tagline that says “it’s so good you will kill yourself to get it” to communicate strong desirability but having a visual to execute that thought with something like someone blowing your brains out with a gun will not do it.
this ad forgets that there are other considerations other than accurately visualizing the message. a great ad is a combination of many components and each of these components while they should work well together, all should also help the ad sell. one of the components not working for the ad and in this case killing the ad will make the whole ad fail.
this is a WAWAM!
~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo arvisu
consumer data is king, consumer insight is the queen
“consumer-driven-data” – that is a principle in marketing that is central in any marketing or advertising plan. it is also often used and referred to in many marketing and advertising plans and yet in reality it is hardly used and even more often very few really know what it is and how to find it. it is in many ways something of one of the most “lip service” done in marketing and advertising (“strategic” is another lip service”).
here is one article we found at the Washington Post on fashion retailer Timberland where consumer data is king and was used to renew and in many ways reinvent the brand to a successful turn-around. while consumer data is king, the consumer insight is queen.
always, it is not enough to have consumer data, what is equally important and to some degree slightly more important is to know how to understand, interpret and translate consumer data into a consumer insight that is used in marketing and advertising plans.
it is in that bridge between consumer data and consumer insight where most marketing and advertising practitioners fail at or are weak at.
How Timberland used customer data to reboot its brand
STRATHAM, N.H. — There are few shoes more recognizable than theTimberland yellow boot. You know the one: The high-top styling, the sturdy-looking nubuck leather, the rubber lug sole to protect feet from sheets of rain or piles of snow.
But the durable boot — and the rest of Timberland’s footwear and apparel line — was having trouble weathering a fast-changing retail climate.
Timberland’s revenue was basically flat from 2006 to 2012. It was losing market share in the Americas, its home turf and most crucial market. And it was barreling forward with a confusing and slapdash patchwork of marketing and product strategies.
Here in the United States, it had become something of a hip-hop brand as rappers name-checked “Timbs” in countless songs. In Asia, it was thought of as a comfort brand; in Italy, it was more fashion-oriented. Still more customers perceived Timberland as gear for the rugged outdoorsman, the kind of guy who hikes in the woods for days with nothing but his backpack and his Eagle Scout skills.
“The brand had become stale in many ways, and the focus wasn’t there,” said Stewart Whitney, Timberland’s president.
In the past year, though, Timberland has staged an impressive turnaround, with salessurging 15 percent in the most recent quarter even as the broader retail industry has posted only modest growth. Its sales have improved in every global market and every product category, delivering a fatter profit margin — about 13 percent in 2014, up from 8 percent in 2011.
Timberland has revamped everything from its product design to marketing to merchandising strategies. And data science provided the fuel and the framework for each of its changes.
The company says that the cornerstone of the comeback has been a two-year customer study in which it collected data from 18,000 people across eight countries. In analyzing the trove of responses, Timberland was able to diagnose its problems and to zero in on its ideal customer — an urban dweller with a casual interest in the outdoors.
“Research wasn’t a driving factor as much in the previous 20 years,” said Jim Davey, vice president of global marketing. “It was kind of a product-driven organization.”
This data-driven approach was implemented after the family-run business was bought in 2011 by VF Corp., an $11 billion apparel company based in Greensboro, N.C., that has undertaken a similar analysis at other brands, including the North Face and Vans.
read the rest here : http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/01/02/how-timberland-used-customer-data-to-reboot-its-brand/
what is this queen? how do we define and how do we get this queen that is consumer insight?
1. consumer data is not consumer insight – results from consumer research, be it quantitative or qualitative is NOT yet consumer insight, they are just raw data on consumer information, attitudes or preferences. these are just raw data that needs to put into some kind of a mental machine that will churn own consumer insight. many confuse “consumer data” and “consumer insight” as one and the same as when they certainly are not.
for consumer data to become consumer insight, you need to put a few of them together, connect them into a sensible whole and get them to jump out of a trampoline. consumer insight is something that needs to leap out of something, a composite of many points where eventually what comes out is very different from what came in.
2. your experiences or observations, those of the advertising and marketing executives, from the client or from the ad agency is NOT consumer insight nor is it the penultimate consumer data – okay, fine what you or your client think may be part of consumer data and consumer insight, it is not in no way the whole thing or even the core of what consumer data and consumer insight is. a person or even several people’s points of view, experiences or observations are of course valid but they may not be what most of the consumers think and feel. they may or may not be the prevailing and most dominant among the target market. the real and maybe the painful truth is that we, those of us in marketing and advertising are NOT the target market or target audience. our views and experiences are at best anecdotal and taking them as THE consumer data and consumer insight is like playing russian roulette.
3. once the right consumer insight is discovered, it becomes magic where everything makes sense, it gains power on its own and everything flows – that is how powerful consumer insights are. once you find it, your marketing and advertising plan will flow very smoothly from start to finish. you will see that ideas, concepts and strategies build on each other, on to like a strong pyramid. that is how consumer insights are used – they become the core of what you do,
it is possible to have several consumer insights and several may be used in a marketing and advertising plan but there will be a very clear order of things where the weight of one is the shadow of the rest.
we have been witness to just how powerful a consumer insight is. finding it defines the success of a brand. do not use it as lip service, take it seriously, its discovery will make you.
~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo arvisu
neastea’s layers upon layers of leap of logic TV ad that fails – “say yes”
we think the intent of this ad is to be cute and amusing, then after that to be memorable to build a brand image for nestea. but on the road to achieving those goals, we stopped way ahead of it – we didn’t understand the TV ad.
we did not get the ad after seeing the ad once for the first time. it took us a few more times watching it to understand what was going on in the ad.
ads that you don’t get on the first time you watch it are weak ads. good ads work even after seeing it only once. that didn’t happen for us on this ad. and even after seeing the ad several times more and being able to finally get what the ad is all about, we still didn’t get the ad.
there was too much leap of logic in the ad. layers and upon layers of them.
what we didn’t understand was why did the male lead who was making the presentation break into song on top the table after the boss who was seated at the end of the table saw a picture of his daughter with the male lead on the screen?
we got it that the male lead mistakenly showed a picture of himself and a girl on the screen who turned out to be the daughter of the big boss.
why did the male lead break out into a “say yes” song? and even the people around the conference table also broke out into song?
nestea a tea drink positioned here as having the ability to cool things off in “hot situations” apparently led the male lead to sing.
forcing ourselves to understand the tv ad, we think the story in the ad was that to save himself from the embarrassment of accidentally showing a picture of himself and the daughter of the big boss, the male lead led him to propose marriage.
yes, propose marriage not to the big boss who was a male but to the daughter of the big boss who was in the picture with him. but the daughter was not in the conference room, just the dad and his office mates. since the girl was not in the room, to whom was he proposing marriage to? the song had the lyrics “say yes” which we are thinking it meant “say yes to my marriage proposal”. marriage proposal to whom? the dad? nope. to the daughter. but she is not in the room.
the above explains why we did not get the TV ad. the ad has layers and layers of leap of logic. the ad is asking the audience to accept too many things and not only that, to make their own conclusions not only once but many times about the story in the ad.
TV ads are usually just 30 seconds. it is such a short time that effective ads are those that deliver the story of the ad, the message in a memorable way and finally to impress or capture the audience in just 30 seconds. this ad fails right at the very first stage of the process.
we are wondering if this ad was tested. we think this ad will fail miserably on understandability and recall. it will probably come at par or score close to likeability but its over-all score will be bad.
the likeability score will be its best score because of the song. while the production value of the song is poor, it’s obvious the male lead was not singing the song, the melody is interesting enough to make it okay on likeability,
we also think the ad was made because of the song. we are guessing the creatives and the client liked the song a lot, and when they fell in love with the song, they somehow convinced themselves it is a good ad.
and then propose marriage just to save yourself from embarassment of showing a picture with the girl? come on! they were not even naked in the picture!
it is not a good ad. it is a WAWAM! (what a waste of ad money)
~~mindscape landmark ~~
carlo arvisu
when use of a celebrity in TV ad fails – the new security bank’s TV ad with Megan Young
use of celebrities in ads is a huge trend in the philippines, it has been for decades years now. almost all the ads you see in TV, print, billboards and hear on radio use a celebrity. use of a celebrity in advertising is the go-to ad concept for most if not all the advertising agencies in the phiippines. we do not know how that happened or if that was instigated by ad agencies in general or clients in general. that is an interesting question but it is for another article in the future.
for now, we are interested in this particular celebrity TV ad by security bank using megan young.
megan young won the Miss World beauty title in 2013. she has brought so much glory to the country for this win 
specially when it has been a long time when the country has won a major international beauty contest title.
beautiful women and men have been big choices for philippine advertising agencies specially if they have gained celebrity status. the usual choices are TV and movie stars and big sports heroes like manny pacquiao but beauty queens specially someone like young who has won a major international beauty contest classifies her a celebrity endorser.
security bank is a medium sized bank in the country. it has a good reputation among institutional or business bank clients but not as popular and in fact has very little mass consumer clientele like the top 3 major banks. you would know very few among your friends and relatives who bank with security bank.
security bank is not a big advertiser among the banks. it makes sense that it is not since its clientele, specially among mass consumers is not that much but it has been known to try to get into attract mass consumer clientele from time to time in spurts and in very limited efforts in the past.
this advertising with megan young represents a giant marketing effort for security bank. it has been many, many years since it had released any kind of advertising and in this magnitude. it has been airing heavily in the past weeks.
in marketing this megan young TV campaign represent what is called a brand relaunch where the bank re-positions itself and puts across a “new bank”, a new security bank.
based on the TV ad, security ad wants consumers to “switch to the new security bank, you deserve better“, the tagline of the ad. the “new security bank” offers the following new services : “priority queuing”, “exclusive privileges” and a “relationship manager” with all that intending to give clients better, more efficient, faster and personalized banking services. the ad shows young going into the bank and talks to the camera about her “new relationship” and she breezes through the bank services and gets attended to by a handsome relationship manager who wears a suit, no less.
well, that part of the handsome relationship manager in a suit is for certain an over promise and the roominess and good ambiance of the security ba
nk branch featured in the TV, we do not think there is one single branch of security bank that has that kind of employee and branch design. but let’s pretend that is not an issue in this ad for the moment.
the ad also shows megan young being served coffee by the relationship manager. another over-promise that we should pretend we did not see in the ad and something we should not expect in an actual security bank branch.
the issue we have on this TV ad is much more than the over-promises of what a security bank branch looks like and what happens to customers inside the bank, what we are making a point on is the choice of the talent in the ad, the celebrity endorser and what the promises of what a new security bank is all about.
first a side bar – technically, security bank as a whole has not been changed. it’s not really a “new security bank” but its a just new product that security bank offers to well-off clients. this “new relationship” or the “new security bank” that is being talked about in the ad will be given to a select number of clients – those who have a minimum P100,000 deposit in the bank, not to all clients of the bank. because it is offered only to a select few of its clients, it is just one product in the bank. do not expect to get the kind of servicing in a security bank if you are an ordinary bank client.
this new product of security bank is being pitched to young bank clients, the yuppies given the use of young who is herself young (pun unintended) and the ad uses references to “relationships that are not complicated” a modern-day reference to social media (facebook) that young adults are familiar with and most likely very few older adults know about.
from there the question comes up on the defined target market of the ad – young yuppies as we would think very few of them can afford to have a remaining balance of P100,000 in their bank accounts. they can afford to buy an iPhone worth P30,0000+ but hardly will you find people at that age bracket having that large amount of cash in their bank accounts.
now back to megan young.
the point of this “new security bank” but actually the new security bank product is that it promises to give its bank clients “special treatment”, something that clients of other banks and other security bank clients will not or do not get. what it is saying is that bank clients get the regular treatment of having to line up, no privileges and no relationship manager tending to your personal needs (including coffee being served). it is saying many bank clients get the regular treatment, not the special one.
and that is where the choice of megan young as talent in this tv ad shows a disconnect.
megan young IS A VERY POPULAR CELEBRITY. everyone knows her. for being a celebrity and this kind of beauty with an international beauty title, she WILL get special treatment from any bank or in fact any establishment like restaurants, department stores and malls even if she does not do anything, ask for it or have P100,000 with her to open a bank account with. getting special treatment, even the priority ones is part and parcel of the benefits one gets in being a celebrity and being an international beauty titlist.
we are willing to bet that if she enters any branch of any bank, the branch manager will most likely stand up from her desk and attend to her. she is that recognizable and that is what we do for celebrities.
using her in this ad then destroys the whole concept of the “new security bank”. if the bank used a regular person, a non-celebrity in the ad and the ad proceeds to show this regular person gets special treatment in security bank, then the ad works and delivers the message very well.
the point of relationship products like this is that one gets “special treatment” even if you are an ordinary person but has P100,000 minimum deposit. a regular person gets special treatment, that is the idea.
in this ad and with the new security bank product, the choice of a celebrity endorser destroyed the very idea of the new product. it’s a WAWAM!
~~~ mindscape landmark ~~~
carlo arvisu
BIR’s public shaming of doctors print ad – brilliant ad, disparaging to doctors & it can be banned from publication
this is Part 2 : BIR’s public shaming of doctors print ad is disparaging to doctors and the profession
this print ad has gotten thousands of reactions from pinoy netizens on the very first day the ad was published. not surprising, many of the negative reactions, angry even came from doctors themselves. non-doctor netizens also gave a lot of reaction to the ad almost in the same 
intensity and content – some liked the ad, others didn’t.
this i think is the first public shaming ad published in the philippines. it is the first of its kind that we have seen in our entire career. there have been other shaming activities done in the philippines but not an advertising campaign like this one.my non-scientific scanning of the reactions to the ad i think are mostly negative where they are saying they do not like the ad. this is not surprising. i think the negative reaction to the ads both by doctors and non-medical netizens is a result of the tone and concept of the ad – it is public shaming of a group of people.
we have heard alfredo lim’s shaming campaign against frug pushers when he was interior secretary where he spray painted the homes of suspected drug pushers to identify the occupant as one.
“shaming” of tax cheats is one of the intended objectives of this print advertising campaign. the question of course is will shaming the doctors get them to pay the appropriate taxes?
the number 1 objective of any ad campaign is to get the target audience to take action after seeing the ad. volume sales, market share increase or attitude change are the goals of advertising. for this particular ad, the intended action is for doctors to finally pay the right amount of taxes on their earnings.
another objective of ads, in the top 2, is to create awareness. this ad has done extremely well on the awareness part as we can see that it is the key topic talked about of almost everyone exposed to media, both in the internet and traditional media. the ad and accompanying controversy it 
created led to it being front page headline news at the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 4, 2014 .
the kind of exposure it got and the resulting discussions obviously had this ad over-achieving its objective of creating awareness on the importance of properly paying your taxes. we think on this alone the BIR and the ad agency that developed it should look at the ad as a huge success.
high awareness is the first step before action. with awareness very high, will the doctors take action and stop cheating the BIR and start paying the correct taxes?
that is actually left to be seen. we suppose the BIR has some way of tracking whether this public shaming ad campaign will generate more taxpayers to pay the right amount of taxes. an increase of 10% will be a great achievement.
filipinos are big on reputation. things like protecting or preserving the good name of the family is important to us as a race. this is even more important for doctors. doctors get their patients on the basis of their reputation. we know of names of doctors who are good in certain fields of specializations. while they have not been specifically named in this ad, we think this ad will have the effect it intends to achieve and will succeed on getting more doctors to pay the right taxes.
aside from avoiding an even indirect slight to their reputation as doctors, this ad will signal to the doctors that the BIR in the next tax filing will closely scrutinize the tax returns of doctors. the BIR with this ad has put the doctors on notice. that should instill some kind of fear on the doctors. we won’t be surprised if many doctors have hired accountants in the past days to have their tax returns professionally and accurately prepared in the next tax filing which is in a few weeks time.
the doctors feeling shamed and insulted by this ad has merit. i think the ad do disparage the reputation of doctors. the key problem of the ad is that it does not have a disclaimer that not all doctors are tax cheats. all it has is this fictitious name of a doctor and this one ad talent appearing to be a doctor. the ad even without directly saying it generalizes ALL DOCTORS to be tax cheats. of course not all doctors are tax cheats.
releasing just this one ad first obviously singles out doctors. we only get to know that there are two more versions only from news articles on interviews done by BIR chief Kim Henares. the ad could have just featured the “generic tax cheat”, not identifying specific professions and that could have removed the problem of disparaging the practitioners of the medical profession. but if that was done we do not think it will be as provocative and effective as this ad is.
PMA president: ‘We are not tax evaders’
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/582198/pma-president-we-are-not-tax-evaders
the print ad actually talks about doctors as tax cheats which has nothing to do with their medical skills and reputation. but regardless, it is understandable that the doctors feels slighted by the print ad. for people who belong to a profession where reputation gets you business and your livelihood, even a indirect insult can have the same intensity.
>> more to come <<
~~~ mindscape landmark ~~~
carlo arvisu
Read here :
Part 1 : BIR’s public shaming of doctors print ad is brilliant, it should win an ad congress award for excellence
https://wawam.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/birs-public-shaming-of-doctors-print-ad-brilliant-print-ad-disparaging-to-doctors-it-can-be-banned-from-publication/
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