Fox’s brand has raised over 60 million dollars from companies and viewers to be donated to important causes in America and Africa (50/50). This was a great way to keep on building a brand that has been strong for quite some years now; and what a way to do so: through helping and giving to those in need. I wanted to bring the issue back to emphasize some of the things they did right (there are many so I’ll speak on the ones most related to marketing and business).

• Split the money 50/50 between the USA and Africa. People tend to react faster and kinder to problems that are closer to home. Not that it was a cold planned move, but it was a good idea and it definitely works.
• Get some huge celebrities on. The power of celebrities in America is a given, and they did it great. From the first Idol (Kelly Clarkson), to a true mix of tv-movie-music celebs dancing and grooving to “Staying Alive”.
• Even if its tough, they touched hearts…and how many I wonder? They ran some very touching and moving video snippets that were tough, and moving…but it worked to get people on their feet and on the phone.
• They advertised it. They had the hosts and celebrities talking about it on different shows, spots on FOX, on the internet, etc.
• Partnerships are key. Through the partnership with ONE.org they gained credibility from the followers of ONE plus they provided a community of like-minded people to join as to be even more helpful and involved in this issues.

This was a great marketing move for Fox and American Idol, but overall I think this was a great human move from a company and a brand to serve as a platform to produce some real and positive change in the world we’re living in. This is exactly what smart brand marketing is all about: growing and improving the brand by making a difference.

A bit of a dramatic title for some long overdue news. Just tonight I saw on CNN the new ad campaign that Cisco is rolling out. “The Human Network” I suppose would be the campaigns title, since that’s what they’re branding themselves with now.

I mentioned this was a bit overdue, and I would guess some people out there would agree with my opinion. Cisco is a great technology company delivering some brilliant products and services to companies out there. However for the past couple of years it seems they forgot that even behind big companies, humans are the ones running the show, making the decisions, and calling the big shots. Perhaps that’s what they’ve realized now and are turning around to be a more human and down-to-earth brand that can service and excel with anyone out in the world.

I have to say I absolutely love the ads, they seem to capture some life in its purest essence and form. They are brilliantly executed (if anyone knows the agency, please let me know) and they finally speak in a language that we can all understand perfectly: that of experiences! Life experiences, ease of experiences, fulfilling experiences that are being fully communicated through the beautiful images they present. Well done Cisco! I hope to see more great ads like this ones, but overall a majestic branding campaign that re-captures the brand in the arena that matters the most: human consumers.

Check out some of this links:

Cisco - “The Human Network” - A whole site dedicated to this campaign, which even pushes the efforts further into real engagement with consumers.

Youtube link for Cisco’s ad  

The folks over at the Canadian Marketing Blog have a great rant on how Dell, as well happen to know, had some serious customer service problems for the past couple of years and got some serious heat for it. Many thought it was an extreme over-reaction from customers, bloggers and business people, while some others thought it was just stupid for Dell to let go of their consumers by not paying enough attention to them.

Whatever it was, it seems (according to Graham Kingma) they are finally doing something about it. He describes in full detail a recent experience he had with some Dell customer technicians. Read this amazing excerpt from the blog:

I was truly wowed by the experience. There was not frustration at all on my part. Just fascination as this Representative kindly and efficiently fixed a problem that wasn’t even caused by Dell (it was a software conflict). It was like having a Dell technician visit my house. This was outstanding Customer Service and has really rejuvenated my faith in Dell.

Now that’s what any brand would like to hear. It should definitely make Michael Dell’s day.

The juicy international arena… that’s what’s hot now. Everyone is talking about getting their brand extended abroad, promoting their products elsewhere and satisfying consumers from around the world. It all sounds nice and dandy but… are most managers ready for the challenge this proposes?

Going international is not an easy task, and certainly not one achieved short term. Most definitely it can be done and if you make it right, you can hit it big time. That said, there is a very important key aspect to consider when extending your brand (& business) abroad: culture.

I enjoy the definition Geographic.com has on culture: “The accumulated habits, attitudes, and beliefs of a group of people that define for them their general behavior and way of life; the total set of learned activities of a people.” 

Interesting and commonly known. But, if it’s so known in the business world how come so many products fail when they’re pushed to another country? Well in reality there might be thousands of different reasons, but I definitely believe most of them are directly connected to a lack of understanding of the culture one is dealing with.

To get back on my title’s topic on ‘judgment’, how are culture and judgment interrelated? Well in many ways actually, but the one I will focus today is: Personal and cultural judgment can lead to a misunderstanding or false imaging of a foreign culture.

Like I said before, going abroad is not easy and managers who would lead the international project must be prepared, but informally and formally. A great think to tackle is exactly that: erase cultural judgment from your mind. We’re taught (right from day one) to judge others according to how different or how similar they are to us. Well, in the international business arena there is just no space for this; if you’re pretending to go abroad and create a consumer out of a native person you first must put yourself in their position, understand their lifestyle, the products they use, the way they use them, the language, the religion, etc… all of which are aspects of culture.

Once again, I conclude a post exalting the importance of research. However in this case a superficial research isn’t enough. If you don’t research a culture deep enough you might end up messing around with a fundamental part of they’re communal being; and when you’re new to a culture, this is exactly what you don’t want to do.

A perfect way to insure a future growth in your business and your brand is by creating lifetime customers. Just as it sounds this is the creation and maintenance of customers along their lifespan in doing business with you, hence creating value well into the future.

This isn’t easy…actually I could even go ahead and say that it is quite hard and complicated. To be able to create a loyal customer who is willing to spend her bucks in you (and only you), is not an easy task and it must be very well planned out to be able to make them feel that way about you.

A perfect industry for the creation of CLV (customer lifetime value) is the automobile industry. According to some studies, adults in developed countries tend to change cars every 5 years. If we agree in that we come to the conclusion that every adult has around 10-12 cars in their lifetime. There is a huge opportunity here! We might ask ourselves, which of these buys hold the biggest importance? I’d say the first three. Let me explain…

The customer goes ahead and buys her first car, if she is very impressed by it (the car itself, but also all the lateral services that are offered), she might get ‘engaged’ with the brand right away. She won’t need any more convincing when she’s car-hunting 5 years later. If that wasn’t the case and she didn’t find it quite an enjoyable experience, she will change dealers the second time, and the third time. My guess is that by the third brand she gets around she will find it satisfying as she has enough past experience to compare it with. If car manufacturers and brands make an excellent  job in marketing and servicing their product (special emphasis in the post-service area), they can turn a traditional non-engaged consumer into a loyal one.

For a while now the green movement has been getting stronger and stronger, gaining followers around the world who are very interested in making a difference in the world.

Whether this is a “fad” or a real concern from the followers in this ‘movement’, the truth is the planet is undergoing some dramatic changes and human beings are partly causing it. As such, many groups are starting to speak out for the planet and the environment and creating solutions for everyday people to do to have a positive impact.

How can the marketing community and business industries chip in? Easily!

There are indeed many ways to do so, but one in which I would like to focus on through this post is: Packaging.

Marketers have learned the importance that packaging brings to a branding and marketing strategy. Packages help communicate messages to the consumers directly on the point-of-purchase, and they are key enablers of brand strength.

Now with the growing attention towards “green living”,  marketers can re-focus their attention on packaging and make it a greener and more environmentally-friendly medium.  By using plastics and products that are biodegradable or easily treatable, package can start to play a “less damaging” role in world contamination. The halt or reduction of double (or even triple) packaging for a single product that wouldn’t require so.

There truly isn’t one specific answer or way to improve packaging for all the brands in the world. Each brands’ needs are different and they all desire to communicate differently; as such the answer to a greener packaging only lies within the companies knowledge-base and expertise.

If you are a marketing manager or owner of your own business, how could you change your packaging to make it more green-friendly?