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« August 2007 | Main | October 2007 » September 30, 2007 Who is responsible for the Product Quality? The designer, the manufacturer or the brand? I can tell that in Mattel they have been discussing intensely this question during the last three months. So far, the problems they have faced with the Product Quality has forced them to retire 21 million toys and, what is worst, it has definitively hurt its Brand Image.
I guess you know the story but I will summarize it. Some months ago, Mattel announced it will be retiring millions of toys in Europe + USA for they might contain a potentially hurtful paint. Later on, they had to retire more products that contained a magnet that could be swallowed by children. When doing the announcement, they filtered that the reason for poor quality was improper manufacturing done by Chinese suppliers. However last week, one Senior Executive from Mattel met with the chief of China´s watchdog quality, and publicly explained that the problem was not the manufacturing but the design. It is still not clear whether the latter is true or not, but the remark was done under Chinese pressure. So, coming back to my initial question: Who is responsible in this case for the Product Quality? The company that designed the toys, the Chinese manufacturers or Mattel? To me it is pretty clear: The Brand, Mattel, is to take full responsibility. It is so because: 1.They are one commercializing the products. Sure that in this case the power of the Chinese suppliers is huge (China is currently producing more than two thirds of Mattel´s production), that you do not have a real option due to its low production costs, and that supervision is still really hard in this country. But, unless you can guarantee that the production is complying with your quality requisites, you are taking a huge risk and are subject to situations like this.
On the other hand, you have China reputation as a manufacturer, which has taken the worst part. The “Made in China” has definitively suffered and many consumers might decide not to purchase toys (and other items) manufactured there (I will take this point in another blog). Local authorities must do something in this respect on top of forcing a well-known Brand to take the responsibility. Remember: The consumers do not care about the designers or manufacturers you have used. They trust you as a Brand and give all the responsibility to you. Thoughts, comments and remarks are welcome. Think Different!!! Ignacio Gafo 
September 27, 2007
Santiago Iñiguez, Dean and Professor of Strategy
Following on from last Thursday's post by José Ignacio Gafo Gómez-Zamalloa when he mentioned that "Giorgio Armani will be expanding his emporium and open an online boutique of the 3-D virtual world Second Life." I would just like to add that they have opened the store on Second Life and that later today: "The silver-haired Armani will send his avatar to celebrate the opening of the virtual store, and he will be interviewed in the virtual world by fashion Web site Style.com’s fashion director Candy Pratts Price on September 27 at 1.00 pm Eastern Standard Time (6 p.m. BST)" (article by Reuters Newswire, Sep 26, 2007).
September 25, 2007 Nearly everybody would say yes if they have the budget. Being a sponsor or a supplier of the Formula 1, GP Motorbikes or Rallies seems to be really cool. You have to invest a big chunk of money, but the publicity (or advertising) is guaranteed. However, as some well-known brands are experiencing, there are high risks involved. The main reasons for going ahead with a sponsoring of these sports would be: 1. The publicity that your brand gets.
What is nowadays going on with Mc Laren is not for sure what their sponsors are looking for. Looks like that Mc Laren will win the championship, but the sponsor brands are subject to be associated with unexpected things such as individualism, conflict, faking, miscommunication etc. Among all the cases, one of the most interesting ones is MICHELIN. Michelin, a French tyre manufacturer, has been for years both a supplier and sponsor in F1, GP Motorbikes and Rallies. I do not have the figures that they have invested in product development and sponsoring, but I can guarantee that the investment has been huge. For many years it has worked well for them, but during the last years things have turned around. Here is a quick summary:
• Both in F1 and Rallies they have been an official supplier for tyres together with their main competitors. However, problems with their tyres performance (take for instance what happened in Canada in F1 one year ago), fostered the decision to go along with only one supplier (their competitors) and let them apart. For sure, being a sponsor and supplier in these sports has given many benefits to Michelin and their brand image. Actually, I do not think they would have built such a strong brand without them. But the late events have been disastrous for them and have definitively hurt their brand image significantly. Some of them can be attributed to them (according to the press they could have done a better job with the product development), but others were definitively out of their control What do you think about this? Would you invest in sponsoring or look for other marketing activities? My personal opinion is that you have to think carefully when you go ahead with a sponsoring. You may not control factors that can ultimately lead to unexpected consequences. Think Different!!! Ignacio Gafo.
September 20, 2007 Is this is the end or just begin? Only time will tell. Giorgio Armani is to start selling its clothes online, breaking the paradigm that it does not make sense for luxury items to be sold online. The official explanation given so far is that they lack the proper distribution in the USA, so the online store is the only way to make the items accessible nationwide.
Many questions come to my mind: What do you think about this? Do you think it will work? Or will they be enforced to close it in short? I enclose the news from www.fashionunited.co.uk. Think Different!!!
Giorgio Armani to open virtual store Giorgio Armani will be expanding his emporium and open an online boutique on the 3-D virtual world Second Life. The store will allow viewers to purchase the brand's top 10 products virtually via Second Life currency, the Linden dollar, or in actuality.
September 18, 2007 Seguro que habéis visto un anuncio de García Carrión en el que compara sus zumos naturales con los de Pascual. Para mí es una obra de arte en la historia de la publicidad española, en la medida en la que es uno de los pocos ejemplos que tenemos en España de Publicidad Comparativa. Publicidad que siendo legal, apenas se utiliza en España. La ley de Publicidad establece que la publicidad comparativa es legal, siempre que se base en atributos objetivamente comparables. Pero la realidad dice que en nuestro país nos da miedo embarcarnos en la misma, bien por motivos culturales, bien por temor a que nos retiren el anuncio e incluso nos penalicen.
Los casos como digo son muy escasos. De memoria recuerdo el de Frutopia en su momento, que abrió la brecha y de cierre este último de García Carríón.. También podemos encontrar otros que insinúan la comparativa, como es el caso de Yoigo, pero que no la llegan a plasmar. Para mi es un acierto este tipo de publicidad en la medida en la que va a informar mejor al cliente final, va a tener que basarse si o sí en hechos objetivos y, de hacerse con buen gusto, va a reforzar la credibilidad del anunciante. Así que ánimo desde aquí a la misma. Estoy seguro que os funcionará.
Por cierto, si no habéis visto la campaña de Gª Carrión y Pascual daos prisa. Autocontrol ha atendido a la demanda de Pascual, y el anuncio se va a tener que retirar en breve. Eso sí, lo hará tras haber reforzado su posicionamiento como proveedor de zumos naturales. Think Different!!! Ignacio Gafo
Imagine someone able to make price of your share drop significantly, just by blogging about your company? What would you about it? Would you pay that person or company to speak favourably about you? The latter is a reality. It happened to Apple when www.ENGADGET.com, one well-known blog, wrote about a rumour about the i-Phone. In El País from September 16, a spanish newspaper, you can find a complete article about the influence that the blogs have. In that article you can find among other things that:
* The bloggers were initially asking for money to get their hobby financed. However, the blogs have become a big business in which the estimated advertising is approx. 21.500 million € in 2007 and will be up to 40.000 million € in 2010. On top of the first questions I ask myself: How far can they go? Where is their limit? When will they lose their credibility?
The tricky and key point to me is the last one: CREDIBILITY. So far they have been very successful for people trust them. They do so because the blogs are written by someone that gains nothing when writing favourably or negatively about something. However, as long as it becomes a business the situation is changing dramatically. Because I really doubt that the blogger will be objective when speaking about a company that pays you a huge of money in advertising. So will tend to think everybody (or not?). Share your thoughts and comments. Think Different!!! Ignacio Gafo
“Ser español ya no es una excusa, es una responsabilidad”. Casi nada, menudo claim! Después de tantas eliminaciones en cuartos en todo tipo de deportes en general y en fútbol en particular!!!
Nike rompe su norma de sólo realizar campañas sólo internacionales y con motivo del Eurobasket 2007 en Madrid –en el que partíamos como máximos favoritos- lanza una campaña en la que apela a los valores patrióticos del deporte español que los éxitos de los chicos de Pepu han conseguido exacerbar. La campaña, realizada por la brillante agencia catalana Villarrosás que encabeza Pablo Zea, se llama Momentum y se ha basado como soporte en TV, cine, Internet y exteriores, siendo su eje central el spot en el que podemos ver juntos a los deportistas de élite Rafa Nadal, Ronaldinho (nacionalidad recién adquirida, no lo olvidemos), Pau Gasol, Fernando Torres y Sergio Ramos, acompañados por los hermanos Muñoz, de Estopa, que les siguen con su arte al ritmo del cajón y las palmas. Para probar el éxito de la campaña no hace falta esperar a las estadísticas; bastaba con pasarse por los últimos partidos de España en el pabellón de los deportes de Goya y ver la cantidad de pancartas de ánimo para la selección que hacían referencia al slogan de Niké. Una lástima –no sólo para los aficionados españoles sino para Nike- el último lanzamiento de Pau que se salió de dentro (la no-canasta más vista de la historia a través de Internet) y nos dejó a las puertas del oro. Pero para matizar estos imprevistos está la pata online de la campaña que a través de la web http://www.tumomentum.es permite enviar ánimos a la ÑBA con el epígrafe “UNA PELOTA QUE SE SALE DE DENTRO … convierte a Pau, Mar, Mumbrú, Navarro, Rudy y Reyes en Subcampeones de Europa de Baloncesto. Segundos de Europa y Primeros del mundo. Envidiable palmarés. Enhorabuena!” Y es que esa es otra de las bondades del mix on-off que tiene que estar presente en toda campaña de publicidad bien diseñada hoy por hoy: el on permite reorientar cualquier tiro un poco desviado… ¿No os parece? Un abrazo Manuel Angel Alonso Coto
El marketing viral parece haber encontrado un nuevo vehículo de difusión, las redes electrónicas de contactos, de las cuales las dos más importantes son Facebook para contactos de ocio y LinkedIn para contactos profesionales. Las "redes sociales" son sitios donde comunicarte con y buscar gente con tus mismas afinidades e intereses. En el caso de Facebook, fue creado originalmente para estudiantes universitarios, pero ha sido abierto para cualquier persona que cuente con una cuenta de correo electrónico. Los participantes pueden elegir participar en una o más redes, en relación a su situación académica, su lugar de trabajo o región geográfica.
Facebook es uno de los sitios más visitados en Internet. Según el sitio Alexa Internet, se encuentra ubicado entre la posición 10 y 20, en junio de 2007. En febrero del 2007 llegó a tener la mayor cantidad de usuarios registrados en comparación con otros sitios orientados a estudiantes de nivel superior, ostentando más de 25 millones de miembros alrededor del mundo.
Con estas cifras in mente, estaba claro que pese al fracaso de iniciativas publicitarias clásicas (banners y otros formatos integrados) era sólo cuestión de tiempo que el e-advertising encontrase la fórmula para explotar este nuevo canal digital. Y la campaña a seguir ya se ha hecho popular: se basó en la viralidad en base a la publicación de las fotos de una preciosa chica desconocida y sus no menos bellas amigas con el objeto de encontrarla para poder devolverle su cámara digital perdida; se trataba de usar la red de contactos para ver si alguien la conocía y que así el generoso uploader de imágenes y vídeos, Craig Radford, teóricamente sacados de la cámara extravidada que había encontrado, pudiera devolvérsela…
La belleza de las chicas y el ambiente digamos “relajado” de algunas fotos que parecían corresponder a las alocadas vacaciones del grupo de amigas, hicieron que la misteriosa chica del bikini –a la que pronto se llamó Wendy- se hiciese famosísima en pocos días, con un ritmo de entrada al Facebook plea (que decía “Estamos tratando de reunir la cámara digital perdida con su preciosa propietaria; realmente sabe cómo usarla!) de una cada 5 segundos… Pronto se supo la verdad: como comenta este artículo del Daily Mail, se trataba de una campaña viral de un sitio para adultos recién lanzado del que la chica era una de las modelos protagonistas. Al parecer, pocos británicos han dejado de visitarlo ante la expectación generada… Anunciante poco recomendable pero sin duda, impecable estrategia publicitaria para vender sus productos. El camino está abierto para campañas más serias y seguro que no tardaremos mucho en ver marketing viral sobre la otra red, LinkedIn, la de contactos profesionales por parte de firmas muy reputadas para publicitar sus servicios. ¿No creéis? Un abrazo Manuel Angel Alonso Coto
Incluso para disciplinas tan jóvenes como el e-marketing, a veces es positivo reflexionar sobre la evolución sufrida a lo largo del tiempo. Al menos es lo que me consuelo pensando ahora que me toca impartir la asignatura "Digital Advertising Evolution" en nuestro nuevo Master in Digital Advertising & Communication que empieza en febrero. No, en serio; es sorprendente ver cómo primero la publicidad digital se asomó tímidamente al mix de medios como soporte muy puntual y segmentado a los medios offline y hoy en cambio cada vez proliferan más los casos contrarios: aquellos en los que incluso el rey de los medios, la TV, sirve como soporte de comerciales que nos dirigen a las webs donde se lleva a cabo la parte del león de la campaña. Ahora mismo, por ejemplo, miro de reojo la "caja tonta" mientras posteo en este nuestro blog y veo como el último minianuncio de patrocinio de CSI no es otro que una cortinilla en la que se nos muestra a toda pantalla el logo del principal portal de anuncios online en España, www.segundamano.es:
Pero no vayáis a pensar que es el único caso. Picada mi curiosidad y ya un poco liado con los saltos de Las Vegas a Nueva York y a Miami para seguir las correrías de tanto equipo de criminalística, me dispongo a zappear un poco por los 32 canales que capta mi TDT y no tardo en encontrar otro ejemplo: Michelin utiliza un anuncio en medio de un Más Que Coches pasado a deshora en Telecinco Estrellas para dirigirnos a su web www.presioncorrecta.com
La integración on/off no ha hecho más que empezar... Y aún quedan algunos que dicen que el éxito de la publicidad digital es algo pasajero, una simple moda. Déberían apuntarse al Master para reciclarse un poco ;o) Un abrazo Manuel Angel Alonso Coto
September 17, 2007 According to a a recent report released by Media Planning Group about Outdoor Advertising, campaigns get much better results after sunset...
Nothing related to daylight but to the fact that people have just got out of work and look anxiously to anything relaxing to look at wich can release their stress. This explains why this trend of ads' night succes increases in downtown business areas... Although surprising this conclusion follows serious research and can ber of significant importance when designing a campaign in these times of growing electronic outdoor media, for which you can select the hours you want your add to be shown... What's your own experience, if any? Do you agree with this report form MPG? Best regards. Manuel Angel Alonso Coto
September 16, 2007 Imagine someone able to make price of your share drop significantly, just by blogging about your company? What would you about it? Would you pay that person or company to speak favourably about you? The latter is a reality. It happened to Apple when www.ENGADGET.com, one well-known blog, wrote about a rumour about the i-Phone. In El País from September 16, a spanish newspaper, you can find a complete article about the influence that the blogs have. In that article you can find among other things that:
* The bloggers were initially asking for money to get their hobby financed. However, the blogs have become a big business in which the estimated advertising is approx. 21.500 million € in 2007 and will be up to 40.000 million € in 2010. On top of the first questions I ask myself: How far can they go? Where is their limit? When will they lose their credibility?
The tricky and key point to me is the last one: CREDIBILITY. So far they have been very successful for people trust them. They do so because the blogs are written by someone that gains nothing when writing favourably or negatively about something. However, as long as it becomes a business the situation is changing dramatically. Because I really doubt that the blogger will be objective when speaking about a company that pays you a huge of money in advertising. So will tend to think everybody (or not?). Share your thoughts and comments. Think Different!!! Ignacio Gafo
September 11, 2007 El entorno turbulento que el IE pronosticaba para el Marketing Farmacéutico hace cinco años es hoy una realidad irrefutable. La regulación enfocada a reducir precios y márgenes se ve reforzada por las políticas de los financiadores en cada una de las CC.AA. Además, los prescriptores reciben la presión de los gestores de los diferentes ámbitos de la sanidad: atención primaria, especialistas y hospitales.
Por ello, desde el Instituto de Empresa y en colaboración con Antares Consulting, hemos organizado una conferencia en la que trataremos de comprender las razones de los financiadotes, de los gestores de los La Conferencia se impartirá los días 17 y 18 de octubre de 2007 y tendrá lugar en las instalaciones que el Instituto de Empresa tiene en la calle Castellón de la Plana 8, 28006 Madrid. Si el tema te interesa, dispones de más información en:
September 09, 2007 How would you feel if you get an exclusive and highly priced gadget, accept to make an 18 month commitment with a Telecom company, and then face, two months after the gadget has been launched, that it has a price cut of 33%? What would you do? What would be your perception about the brand of the gadget? Well, this is exactly how the US customers that got the Apple iPhone till one week ago felt when they knew that gadget had a 200 US$ price cut. They have actually made such a big noise, that the Company decided to compensate them with 100 US$ upon request.
I am pretty sure that Apple has good reasons for dropping the price by 33% (most likely sales far behind expectations and a huge overstock), but the point is that a great disappointment has been caused to the current iPhone customers and to the Apple brand. Was Apple overoptimistic when launching the device? What could they have done different to avoid this situation? Is the 100 US$ pay back to the current customers reasonable and the best solution? Launching a new product, specially if it is a new category for your company, is a great challenge full of uncertainty. However, situations like this have to be avoided by all means. They only lead to customer dissatisfaction and brand destruction.
Think Different!!! (but please be careful ;) ). Ignacio Gafo
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has offered compensation to customers who have already bought an iPhone - after the firm cut $200 (£99) off the price.
September 08, 2007 The story of David vs. Goliath seems to be here again: Small Nintendo vs.the giants Sony and Microsoft. And again ,as in the story, the smartest one has been able to win the first battle (the war will definitively last for years!). I will start quoting an article from Digital Trends that points out: New figures from market research firm NPD show Nintendo's Wii has dominated console sales during the period next-gen system have been available.
Remember a year ago—or maybe six months ago—when most industry-watchers were expecting the next-generation video game console wars to center on Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360? New sales figures from market research firm NPD covering the period from November 2006 to February 2007 show the Nintendo Wii significantly outselling both its more-powerful (and more-expensive!) competitors. The Marketing Theory explains that you have to identify uncovered needs in a market , segment or divide this market according to a criteria, decide which segments you want to go for and define a marketing plan and proposition coherent with it. It seems to be really easy, but real life shows that it is not! All industries are full of “me too” products instead of innovative approaches. Nintendo has been extremely smart in their approach as it haS discovered and attacked a new and unexplored segment in the video-console market: Users that want to have fun and do not look for best of the best graphic resolution (Playstation and X-Box target group), but for ease of use and simplicity. By doing this, they have been able to do the following: • Expand the video-game market, attracting new users that would not have purchase a console.
This makes clear to me that we have to rethink our businesses and our segmentations. Maybe, a Wii opportunity is there in your industry! Comments and opinions are very welcome. Think Different!!! Ignacio Gafo
September 06, 2007 Os adjunto una nota de prensa sobre el status de la publicidad en el móvil Movistar, Vodafone y Orange estudian fórmulas para llevar la publicidad al móvil Reportaje. Las 3 operadoras han organizado pruebas piloto. Movistar, con Coca Cola, Vodafone con Ikea y Orange, con Amstel. Falta por definir el modelo más rentable para el anunciante y el valor para el usuario. Las 3 operadoras invirtieron en redes el 2006 hasta 2.062 millones de euros, 36 más en 12 meses. (...) Francisco Román, consejero delegado de Vodafone España, señaló ayer que en los próximos meses la compañía empezará a incluir mensajes publicitarios a sus clientes a través del móvil. Román, desveló que ya ha firmado varios acuerdos con compañías que quieren enviar mensajes publicitarios a los usuarios de Vodafone. Sin embargo, señaló que aún no se ha cerrado totalmente el modelo de negocio ni algunos aspectos técnicos, como por ejemplo si los mensajes publicitarios se enviarán de forma remota como un SMS normal o si se distribuirán por proximidad cuando un cliente pase cerca de un comercio, a través de tecnologías inalámbricas como el bluetooth. EXPANSIÓN 4 / ABC 72
Think Different! Ignacio Gafo
September 02, 2007 Let me start quoting Anssi Vanjoki, HJ, Head of Nokia Multimedia Division when asked about the similarities between the iPhone, iTunes and the new devices and services announced by Nokia on Friday 31st of August: “I don´t know what is copying and what is original, but if there is something good in the world, we copy it with pride”. When Apple announced its iPhone several months ago many people (including myself in this Marketing Community) assured that a warm welcome by competition was to be given in short.
The first one in the welcome party was HTC that launched, almost at the same time as Apple did in the USA, a superb device called Touch. It basically had a wonderful design plus a touch screen, that made it really attractive in spite of its high price. I personally do not think that it is as good at the iPhone (if you haven´t seen and touched it, go to the closest Apple Store in your place where it will be exhibited), but it is for sure a good competitor available in all carriers. However, what everybody was really waiting for, was for Nokia, that joined the party last Friday. What they announced was really revolutionary as they stated they are (at least they will do their best) to reposition themselves from a hardware company to a services and software one. The fist step for doing so is the launching of a new brand called OVI, door in finish, under which it will provide the new Internet related services, including Nokia Music Store. Moreover, they are to launch new devices that include many of the iPhones specs such as the Touch Screen , and, according to them, the best customer experience. As Nokia Chief Executive, Olli-Peka Kallasuvo, put it: “Nokia definitively appreciates the challenge”.
From a Business and Marketing point of view this starts a really interesting fight where we will see: 1. If Nokia is really able to reposition itself. Whatever it happens, this is going to be a great victory for the end user as far as its needs and customer experience is really taken into account! Thoughts, forecasts and opinions are welcome. Think Different! Ignacio Gafo
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