Davis ThinkingI was delighted to see the flight attendants handing out snack packs, remembering the most delicious chocolate covered caramel on an earlier flight. Eagerly breaking the seal, I was met not only by the chocolate, but a most unfortunately named package of crackers.
The term "Guggenheim Effect" used to denote the positive role the brand played in Bilbao's resurgence as a destination site. It became well accepted vernacular, not only in the museum community, but among the wider community of brand and marketing experts. In recent weeks, however, the term has been re-appropriated by European media and citizens to express a much more negative and even sarcastic view of the cultural institution.
The company that tracks what people watch on TV is expanding a new tool that measures what people are looking at online to markets outside the U.S.
Facebook is looking east for its next phase of expansion, as it prepares to take on entrenched competition in China, Russia and Japan and become the first social network company to connect 1bn people. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of the world’s largest social network, said that after relying largely on organic growth to reach almost 500m members, Facebook would soon begin to make its first strategic local moves.
Television set makers are forecasting a dramatic increase in shipments this year as the global economy recovers, 3D sets go on sale, and flat-panel TVs become cheap enough for the mass market in emerging countries. Six top Japanese and South Korean brands – Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Samsung and LG – are targeting a combined 42 per cent increase in unit sales this year, from about 100m to more than 140m. The four Japanese makers are also hoping to claw back some market share, forecasting a 47 per cent rise in shipments, compared with 36 per cent for the two largest South Korean companies.
Sears Holdings Corp. is looking more seriously at selling its proprietary brands outside of Sears and is pouring money into beefing up its online business in an effort to become relevant to a new generation of shoppers. Sears and Kmart stores aren't going away, but they could be a hybrid of what they are today, said Edward Lampert, Sears' chairman and majority shareholder, at the company's annual meeting Tuesday.
Apple has been forced to delay the international launch of its new iPad tablet computer by a month to the end of May because it was struggling to meet strong demand from US customers. The computer company said it had sold 500,000 iPads in the US in the first week since launch but was not able to keep up with demand. Analysts had originally forecast that the company would sell between 100,000 and 400,000 units in the first burst.
Three years ago most western european countries had a local social network that was the most popular social net in the country. Today Facebook is dominant in most of western europe and those local social nets have largely been bypassed. It would seem that Facebook leveraged the size of its network (approaching 500mm people worldwide) to beat its competition in social networking. But what's interesting to me about that is that it also means that it leveraged a network that was larger out of country to beat an incumbent who initially was larger in country.
The customers at the Zamisa Tavern in Durban receive every encouragement to drink the products of SABMiller, the international brewer that has dominated South Africa's beer market for decades. Castle and Black Label lagers are relatively cheap. Publicity for Castle beer festoons the walls of the bar, in Umlazi, a township. And anyone driving up to the bar from the centre of Durban cannot fail to notice a huge roadside advert warning drinkers "to beware of the little green bottles". This is a not-so-subtle reference to the more expensive premium brews offered by SAB's Dutch rival, Heineken
Sitting in a meeting room that looks out on a frozen Baltic bay, Nokia Oyj Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo mentions a biography he’s reading. It’s about Mauno Koivisto, the president who butted heads with his own Social Democratic Party en route to opening Finland’s 1992 bid to join the European Union.
Home Depot Inc. swung to a better-than-expected profit in the fiscal fourth quarter on smaller charges and its first increase in same-store sales in nearly four years, as consumers—especially those abroad—warmed up to renovation spending. Carried by the momentum, the world's top home-improvement retailer also gave a cheery outlook for this year and boosted its quarterly dividend.
Strong soda sales in developing economies such as Brazil and India pushed Coca-Cola Co.'s fourth-quarter profit up 55%, but tepid consumer spending continued to pressure its business in North America. The company's earnings reflect a trend reported by other consumer-product makers in recent weeks: Consumer spending has generally bounced back in fast-growing markets in Asia and Latin America, but has yet to make a comeback in the U.S.
Although both “international SEO” and “multilingual SEO” have become popular keywords for all types of agencies to target in their own self-promotion efforts and are popular type-ins of the relevant domains, “international social media” isn’t yet anywhere on the radar. The term “social media agency” is searched for in Google just 1,900 times globally per month compared with “seo agency” which hits 9,900. Perhaps the buzz lags behind the reality? Why so? Too difficult, perhaps?
Whether you’re opposed to having an enormous Target store in your quaint little town, or love your local Target’s big-box convenience, or perhaps live outside the US and always wanted a Target to call your own -- we’ve got good news for all of you. The red-and-white retailer recently announced a major shift in strategy. For years Target was all about massive expansion, opening more than 100 stores in some years, and an impressive 60 in a challenging 2009. In 2010, however, Target will open fewer than 10 stores. Instead, it will beef up its current stores with, well, beef and other groceries. Target will also begin a push into foreign markets including Canada, Mexico, and South America. But NIMBYs shouldn’t put away their protest signs: the big box brand is looking to test a smaller-store format in several urban areas.
When all was said and done -- after all the Sturm und Drang of hallowed British brands being tainted by crass American fake-cheese marketers -- all it took is what it usually does: the right amount of cash and stock. All told, more than $19 billion worth. The Kraft acquisition of Cadbury seals the legacy of dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein, who advised Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld as CEO of Lazard before he passed away a month after the initial bid in September, Brett Foley, Jacqueline Simmons and Zachary R. Mider report in Bloomberg.
For a new CEO, first impressions matter. Early in his tenure as president and chief executive of the Volkswagen Group of America, Stefan Jacoby got an angry letter from a VW dealer in California, declining his invitation to attend Jacoby's first all-hands dealer meeting. Jacoby was about to become the most recent in a long line of Germans bearing promises. " 'I don't want to come to Orlando and hear all these lies,' " he recalls, quoting the note. "I was impressed with the honesty, and to a certain extent, I could really understand it."
Last week I attended the World Economic Forum’s second Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai. There were over 700 experts and thought leaders from business, academia, civil society and government putting forward their ideas. I am a member of the Council on Design. And like last year it was beyond inspiring to see the growing influence of design thinking in these unfolding debates.
Walmart is launching a drive this year to cut billions of dollars of costs from its supply chain by combining its store purchasing across national frontiers in a new stage in the globalisation of its business. The effort is part of plans by the world’s largest retailer to increase the proportion of goods that it buys directly from manufacturers, rather than through third-party procurement companies or suppliers.
As Web 2.0 and Social Media became globally pervasive, the landscape proved expansive, overwhelming, and bewildering. It required a social cartographer in order to visualize its grandeur. Thus, in August 2008, the original Conversation Prism was born with the help of Jesse Thomas of JESS3. The Conversation Prism continues to rapidly evolve as social networks emerge, merge, and vanish. One thing that we cannot overlook is that the true language of engagement is indeed international. Communities around the world have rallied to adapt the Conversation Prism to the reflect the social networks that thrive within each country. So far, those countries include France, Japan, and China.
Estee Lauder was set to export its Country Mist makeup when country managers there pointed out that “mist” is slang for “manure.” Oops. The product was re-branded Country Moist in Germany. A sports utility vehicle from Mitsubishi was called the Montero in the U.S. and Latin America, and marketed as the Shogun in Europe. But named the Pajero in Asian countries, this SUV certainly amused Spanish-speaking travelers. How does a smart marketer avoid such embarrassing pratfalls with its good name?
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