Organic Food Snobs McLovin' It!

It appears branding is all in the eye of the beholder. Two guys decided to put this to the test - and by test i mean taste test. The duo sliced and diced McDonalds burgers to give on a platter to wouldbe connoisseurs to determine what they thought about this "organic delight."

"The experts cut up regular fish fillet burgers, chicken burgers and other meals into small slithers to be served on a plateau. A muffin was enhanced with the delicacy of BBQ sauce. One expert even claimed his sliver of a fish burger “Tastes like cod… rolls around the tongue nicely, if it were wine I’d say it’s fine.”

Possibly the best reactions were when supposed experts were asked to compare their delicacy to the unrefined taste of McDonalds. One connoisseur said “It definitely tastes a lot better, and the fact that it’s organic is definitely a good thing. The taste is a lot richer.” Another connoisseur applauded how pure the food tasted when compared to salty McDonald’s meals.

Cedrique stated at the end that he learned “If you tell people something is organic, they will automatically believe it is organic!” Although the issue runs a little deeper than that. McDonalds has tried selling it’s meals and burgers as sourced from organic ingredients however people are skeptical."

Information sliced, diced and served on a platter from Online Brands

Using Innovation to Reinvent and Outperform Existing Products

It is difficult to always be the first in line – especially when it comes to the new product line. Most businesses find themselves in an already saturated market. They need to fight-to-the-death to win over customers and beat competitors. And when your product seems hardly differentiated from your competitors, this is even more challenging! How do you succeed in this market?

Innovation is the key. While these products have existed for decades they are hardly true to their original form and technologies. While these enhancements are interesting to be seen on a larger scale, it is also fascinating to see improvements to smaller products.

Take for example a plain tennis ball. If tasked with trying to enhance a tennis ball, most people would be stumped. While not perfect, it is difficult for the untrained eye to see any way a tennis ball could be improved. But apparently there is a massive improvement that can be made, one that really does reinvent and outperform the existing good.

Tennis players may complain that regular tennis balls quickly lose their bounce after being taken out of the pressurised tube. And once out it was a steady and irreversible roll away from playability. But Pressureball, experts in restoring and maintaining bounce, made a tennis ball pressuriser to ensure tennis balls never lose their bounce. It can also be used to restore old tennis balls bounce! Compared with having to restock tennis balls every time they lose bounce, this company evidently used innovation to outperform existing products.

This innovative article was curated from Online Brands.

iPhone 6 Dumped in Beer!

No, the man who did this did not think his iPhone 6 looked thirsty. No, he is not an Apple hating extremist. And no, he is not mad. Or at least not entirely mad.

At first you think it’s another iPhone hater wasting money to show his disgust in all things Apple. But then this stupid stunt turns into a brilliant product demonstration for Reviveaphone.This guy has travelled to Australia just to prove a point. He bought some Apple enthusiasts front line spot to get the first phone. If the Reviveaphone was faulty then all of this would be for nothing.

But the phone lights up and works as it should. Leaving the 330,000 viewers interested in this product and amazed at the impressive product demonstration. No plain informercial would have the same reach or impact as this advertisement. It proves that product demonstration shouldn’t be limited to the mundane. And it proves it’s not flying around the world to dump a new phone in beer might not be as insane as it sounds!

Curated from Online Brands

Shop Till You Drop With Disappearing Floor

North Face in South Korea decided to take "shop till you drop" to a whole new level! In this retail stunt, shoppers were left on their own as the floor started moving below their feet. The only direction left was up.

As staff pull a leaver, the floor begins sliding away as shoppers have no choice but to grab onto the rock climbing walls or jump onto the mattress. A screen appears with the challenge climbing to the roof and jumping to catch a free jacket. Watch the video to see how participants manage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7CRMrR24Mo

Curated from Online Brands

Tricks Of the Trade For Marketing Trades

New Zealand is a service economy. In fact, most economies are increasingly service economies. Although products are all well and good, there is a whole supply chain of services used to create them. Not to mention the services required by homes and businesses to maintain products!

While you can market trades in the same way you would market products, a line does need to be drawn. The best chance service companies have is to focus on their benefits, tangible outcomes and company differentiation.

Benefits of the Service

Similar to product marketing, when trying to sell a service one needs to look beyond the service itself. While you may believe you are in the hairdressing industry, to the consumer you are in the social and self esteem industry. While you may believe you are in the building industry, one again to the consumer you are in the safety, comfort and aesthetics industry.

Take for example this company that sells and installs heat pumps in Hamilton. They do not manufacture heat pumps, rather they sell and install them. It is easy to see the marketing challenge that arises- if the company puts too much focus on just the heat pumps, consumers will be more sold on the brand rather than the service. Goldstar Heat Pumps solved this by targetting communications to both the product and the service provided.

Tangible Outcomes

When analysing service benefits, it is easier to target your marketing promotions. This is because benefits often relate to tangible outcomes. While businesses may prefer to showcase their employees working hard laying bricks or cleaning cars, consumers are often more interested in seeing the tangible result. Take for example this Waikato renovations company Roger Ramsey Building. They are displaying the houses built rather than the tradies labouring away.

Company Differentiation

This is another time where the service sector has the marketing upper hand. When marketing products, companies must put a lot of effort into fostering brand loyalty. But at the end of the day, most consumers accept that an apple is an apple. Whereas with services, companies can zone in on what makes their company unique. Because of the human aspect, services can differ greatly between companies. This allows companies to have a strong selling point on what makes them unique.

Information hacked from Online Brands.

Is Social Media a Passing Fad?

Social media has positioned itself quite well in the world today. It's not just a meeting place for youth anymore - a wide range of people are using it to communicate, collaborate and engage in their interests. Even business has started to play a vital role in it with pages for their brands to advertise and talk with customers. It's been a win-win situation. But is it past its best before date?

Social Media is Still Liked, Buzzed and Favourited

Some claim social media is still thriving and will continue to thrive. This may because of it’s unique selling point. Unlike previous communication tools, it it not just a means for people to communicate. Social media allows connections between individuals, groups and even businesses. It also allows individuals to create their own personalised online profiles and present their best selves – something which has not been possible with traditional media.

Abandon the Sinking SNS Ship

The second main perspective is that social media is on it’s way out and fast. This is because of stats that prove that social media, in particular Facebook, is growing old to segments. According to a study by Piper Jaffray, over one year Facebook use among teenagers plummeted from 72% to 45%.

It Might Not be Black or White

Digital death is not as absolute as it is in reality. This does appear to be a grey area. A third alternative which I would suggest is that social media may be slopping down but only in it’s traditional sense. Think of how far mobile phones have progressed. They now are more powerful than old computers! I would predict social media will become more commerce oriented. And we are already seeing signs of this.

Information curated from Online Brands.

Gourmet Jelly Beans and the Power of Positioning

Being a skeptic, I often find myself pressing the hard questions life throws at me. Like whether the jelly beans I saw advertised really are gourmet. Can jelly-filled confectionary really be considered gourmet? And even more importantly, do consumers believe jelly beans can be considered gourmet?

Online Brands holds the perspective that positioning really is in the consumers minds. So a business can try position it’s jelly beans as gourmet and a country could try and position itself as a pop culture center. But does this really matter when consumers position brands internally? In a sense, yes and no. It’s unlikely a consumer will eat The Jelly Bean Factory confectionary and claim the “berrylicious flavours” are distinguished and fine enough to be classed as gourmet.

However at the same time, it is likely the consumer suckered into paying $3 more for gourmet jelly beans will be predispositioned into believing the goods are high value. This will cause them to have amore positive experience and likely return for more.

Augmented Reality Ad Whips Up a Storm

An augmented reality ad for the new film Into The Storm has caused quite a stir. The advertisement made clever use of augmented reality to alter what would otherwise be a peace Sydney street.

Watch it for yourself here!

Online Brands comments on the ad saying, "Audiences quickly gather and seem enchanted, and somewhat mortified, to see their street get torn up through an augmented reality pane. Audiences are shown stumbling back, jolting and wincing as though they believed the tornado would rip through the screen."

Read more here: http://onlinebrands.co.nz/331/augmented-reality-ad-brings-viewers-storm/

Labour’s Defeat Points to a Forgotten Target Market

Are a political party's devastating defeat and market targeting somehow related? The simple answer is yes! These two seemingly absurd things are actually very closely intertwined, as illustrated by Labour's recent shocking defeat. Not only was Labour defeated humiliatingly, it was also defeated in 2008, 2011 and now again in 2014.

Online Brands comments, "In business terms, it has become disconnected from its target market and is struggling to win back market share. Politics is the ultimate marketing challenge, as every voter has just one vote, and everything the leaders do throughout their three years can affect the party’s brand identity."

Read more here: http://onlinebrands.co.nz/355/labours-forgotten-target-market/

How to Position Your Brand as the Best, Using the Psychology of StoryTelling

It's interesting to explore the psychology behind positioning a brand as the best in its category.

Brands have a wide variety of options to choose from in their marketing messages. Perhaps they could focus on their better prices, the products benefits or overall why they are the better brand.

Although recently it appears brands have favoured questionable approaches to appearing as the beast, namely slamming competitors in hopes that by putting a competitor down they will appear superior. However this often seems to have adverse effects in the consumers eyes. If a company can make their brand appear best, by having fictional characters risk health and good relations just because they value the brand so much, then consumers may follow suit.

Read more here: http://onlinebrands.co.nz/2014/09/08/position-brand-best/

Heat Pump Websites Face Off

Two of the strongest brands in New Zealand heat pumps are Fujitsu Heat Pumps and Mitsubishi Electric. The quality of their heat pumps puts them neck in neck - New Zealander's just can't get enough of their air! But is the quality of their websites such a close call?

Online Brands doesn't think so! They say the Fujitsu Heat Pumps website

"...is like less like an interactive website and more like a sales brochure – except this brochure doesn’t display prices. The great thing about creating a website for your business is the ability to interact with customers and offer them the chance to buy your products digitally. Fujitsu Heat pumps, as far as I saw, did not even offer customers the chance to place orders online. As far as functionality and design goes, this site is pretty bad.

Eek! As one of New Zealand's biggest heat pump brands, you would have thought they have more money to invest in having a working website! And how did Mitsubishi Electric fare?

The greatest point scored for Mitsubishi-Electric is the content, and considering content is key for a great website this works highly in their favour. The site caters information for anyone from those with no knowledge about choosing heat pumps to those who know exactly which model they require. In-depth information is given on each heat pump alongside pictures and additional relevant features.

So Mitsubishi Electric wins  by a long shot! If you're looking for Hamilton heat pumps, and searching through both websites is time consuming, check out Goldstar Heat Pumps. They sell and install both brands.

 

Marketing The Unmarketable

Not every marketer is blessed to be promoting an innovative, one of a kind or just plain exciting product. These marketers have it smooth sailing- the product practically markets itself! Unfortunately most marketers need to try and sell something almost unsellable. Like bottled water.

This is where Evian a water bottle brand faced a dilemma. How could they market a product essentially the same as competitors and one which most consumers could get for free? Strictly brand loyal water bottle enthusiasts are few and far between and so marketers would usually rely on price differentiation. Yet Evian managed to get a large following and stir a social media storm of followers tweeting about plain bottled water!

Evian took to twitter using a real-time campaign to dish out product samples. Anyone in certain areas of New York City who tweeted using the hashtag #Evianbottleservice would receive a sample within seven minutes.

This campaign was extremely successful in generating brand awareness and engagement. Engagement on tweets passed the benchmark for similar consumer packaged goods by 80 percent. Also 75,000 engagements were generated on Twitter resulting from the campaign.

Businesses with little product differentiation can learn from this that social media can be a powerful tool for getting businesses on the radar.

Watch this in action here.

Telecom's Rebrand Sparks With Potential

Telecom's decision to rebrand to Spark has much much contended. For every supporter, there seem to be at least two critics (or tax payers). However some would argue that to survive in the digital economy, Telecom needed to rebrand. Here's why:

Telecom Needed to Rebrand

Because of hyper connectivity and the rapid development of ways people communicate, Spark needed to adapt to peoples changing needs. The company has shifted focus to mobile networks and many digital endeavors. As the world becomes more technology oriented, Telecom needed to rebrand to emphasise their adaption or otherwise be left behind.

Rebranding Could Shed Negative Perceptions

It is no secret that Telecom had come under public scrutiny over the past few years. After downsizing repeatedly, having broadband cut and being accused of being expensive and vague, many New Zealanders become disillusioned with Telecom. By repositioning the brand as “enabling our customers to thrive” users may be more optimistic about the brand.

Sales and Operating Profit Were Falling

Although Spark was attempting to cut costs quickly, sales were falling faster. Operating earnings were down by 5.8% and net earnings from ongoing business fell by 12.5%. Although rebranding is potentially a risky venture amidst financial uncertainty, It has been largely successful. Following rebranding, Spark’s annual profit almost doubled.

Read more on Online Brands

Deaf Restaurant Sees Business Opportunity

There seems to be a restaurant for everything today. Restaurants with cats, BBC Sherlock themed restaurants, and even restaurants in Japan dedicated to robotics. While these restaurants are all well and good, they don't serve much of a purpose other than entertaining diners.

An innovative restaurant in Canada wanted to challenge this. The Signs restaurant is one in which spoken orders fall on deaf ears. This is because you can only order in sign language.


Online Brands explains, "Diners are not completely thrown in the deep end of course. Guided by a menu with instructions and translators to greet customers at the beginning, diners are fully equipped to place orders and enjoy this unique experience.

And it truly is a unique experience! President and founder Anjan Manikumar claims that “this is the first restaurant of its kind.” Being the first is key to Sign’s strategic differentiation. Canadians would likely see this as a unique dining experience which will generate high interest in the restaurant, especially in its first few months!"

Read more here!

Five Sneaky Retail Tactics

Marketers are experts at playing mind games. This is something we like to gloss over because it is why we have such a bad reputation. Communication expertise combined with insight into why consumers make purchases, lead marketers to be able to successfully implement retail tactics. A great marketer could convince you to sell your left hand then buy it back for double the price!

Knowing marketers retail tactics can help you become a more conscientious consumer. Or as a samll business, it could give you some ideas! Online brands explained the tactics below:

1.The Instant Markdown

In essence, this occurs when retailers claim a hefty markdown from the retail or original price. Consumers would rush to purchase a good claiming to be 60% without considering whether they really are making a 60% saving. It is possible the retailers stepped up the price beforehand to make the illusion of a great saving.

Solution: The best way to ensure you don’t fall for this is to price spy. Although it is not possible to keep mental tabs on every good in stock, it is possible to have a general idea of basic goods prices.

2. Decoy Pricing

If you upsized a meal, or purchased a large drink just because it only cost $1 more, it is likely you have fallen prey to decoy pricing. As claimed by Redditor Chrisfrat, “If there is a small and a large size and the small is $2 and the large is $8, most people will buy the small. However, if you add a medium at $7, most people will buy the large because they say, “Oh, It’s only a dollar more than the medium.”

Solution: An economics rule of thumb claims that rational consumers only purchase goods until they are satisfied- ask yourself whether you truly want an upsized meal or whether you just want the satisfaction of a decoy saving.

3. The One Overpriced Option

By having one or two items on the menu expensive, all other items will appear affordable in comparison. Consumers will believe that just by purchasing any item except the overpriced one, they will be making a saving.

Solution: For overpriced options often the best solution is simply being aware of it.

To read the other tactics, check out the article on Online Brands here: http://onlinebrands.co.nz/174/five-sneaky-retail-tactics/