by Ian Stephens at 9:40 am 3 June 2010
Filed under: Home Page
Ian takes a Sunday morning flight in India and gets a clue about the growth of an emerging global consumer group.
by Ian Stephens at 5:18 pm 1 June 2010
Filed under: Branding, Identity
It’s somewhere around eleven in the morning on a Sunday and I’m on a flight from Bangalore to Mumbai. I’m flying on Indigo – one of India’s many new low-cost airlines – and of course as we’re all used to these days the actual onboard experience is pretty much identical to any 737 flight: new plane, clean seats, nice uniforms, smiling staff, M&M’s and Coca-Cola on the menu.
But what strikes me as more profound is that when I look up at the group of passengers that I can see from my vista in seat 12b I could be mistaken in thinking I’m on a flight from Columbus to Chicago, London to Lisbon or even Dubai to Doha. Yes there are a few more saris than you’d expect in Lisbon but not so many – what strikes me looking at the magazines people are reading, their hairstyles, the gadgets they are playing with and many of the clothes they are wearing is that you know that most of these people would be quite comfortable striking up a conversation with fellow low-cost travellers stuck in a queue anywhere in the world.
We’ve gotten used to the idea that brands are becoming more global – especially in luxury and b2b markets where it’s long been argued that the target audiences are globally mobile so brand inconsistency will be punished and consistency rewarded. But beyond the super-wealthy and premium business sectors the driving force for consistency has been more to do with internal ‘supply’ side pressures than external; it’s more efficient to manage one strong brand position, with all that entails for consumer insights, international sponsorships and investment programmes, than to manage 20 or 30 different brands for similar products in different countries. Companies like Unilever and P&G have been exemplars of this for some time now – and it’s why it the UK we’ve had to get used to new names for old brands like Snickers and Cif.
But my low-cost companions aren’t super-wealthy – and most of them don’t look as of they’ll be heading straight for the new Louis Vuitton flagship store in London’s Bond Street next time they’re in town to snap up the latest designs. Nevertheless the similarities in this thoroughly middle-class strata of global society are more striking today than I’m sure they would have been only 10 years ago – even imagining low-cost airlines existed in as many places.
So what? Well if there is growth in opportunity on the ‘demand’ side for more global brands then this could change the way that international companies develop and launch new products for these audiences – not just looking for ‘supply’ side efficiencies from similarities but expecting to find them in unexpected and new places. More new brands launched simultaneously in India and Germany? More advertising campaigns being developed with genuine insight across multiple countries? More products with apparent cultural appeal in one part of the world, finding new markets in another – in healthcare for example?
by Ian Stephens at 12:11 am 4 February 2010
Filed under: Press
Saffron reinforces its presence in the Middle East
Today we announced that we are strengthening our presence in Dubai, through a strategic partnership with Madison Dubai, the independent advertising agency led by Tarek Ghannam.
You might think it seems an odd time to open in a market that’s still in shock from the effects of the 2009 slowdown. But that’s precisely where we see an opportunity and where we’re finding a lot of interest from our clients and partners in the region.
For us the Middle East market is entering a new phase: where there will be a much stronger emphasis and requirement from clients on strategic brand thinking and powerful brand expression.
When the gold rush was at full pace it was all a bit too easy for branding consultancies. All that was required from them was a catchy name and a nice logo and hey presto, the client was delighted and everyone could pat themselves on the back as yet another seemingly successful and competitive new brand was born.
That was then. This is now.
After the gold rush things are a little different. Many of those brands that had an easy ride are finding that it takes something more than a logo to create a brand that people will love. That’s music to our ears and we’re excited about the opportunities to help existing brands reinvent themselves to be more competitive and also help get new ideas off the ground.
The brands that will survive and thrive in this era will be the ones that take branding seriously and create genuine market differentiation and genuine customer preference. They’ll create brands that are as powerful on the inside as they are on the outside of the organisation. Brands that know what makes them special and know exactly what they stand for.
The Middle East will continue of course to take its place at the global economy ‘top table’ as the world recovers, and we expect that some of the iconic brands our children will talk about will have their roots there. We love the boldness and ambition of the region – nothing is impossible and dreams come in XXL size.
by Ian Stephens at 4:11 pm 25 February 2009
Filed under: Branding, Identity
Tags: energy, solar
The time is right for solar energy companies to put energy into building strong brands.
When I was a child and forgot to switch off the light when leaving a room, my grandfather used to say, “switch off the light because I am not working for an electricity company”, the subtext being that electricity didn’t come free. Simply put, his main reason for being careful with energy was an economical one: you shouldn’t waste it because it is expensive.
The environment wasn’t an issue then, but it is now.
The idea of renewable energy, far from being a fantasy is now a real industry, growing at exponential rate for the past ten years – solar energy, in particular, has been growing at or above 20% year on year and continues to do so. Favourable regulations and smarter technology are amongst the factors that fuel, as it were, the growth of the industry. Read more…