Wednesday, December 19, 2012

World's coolest brand ranking helps promote employer branding

Apple voted 'coolest brand' in UK

CoolBrands top 20

  1. Apple
  2. YouTube
  3. Aston Martin
  4. Twitter
  5. Google
  6. BBC iPlayer
  7. Glastonbury
  8. Virgin Atlantic
  9. Bang & Olufsen
  10. Liberty
  11. Sony
  12. Bose
  13. Haagen-Dazs
  14. Selfridges
  15. Ben & Jerry's
  16. Mercedes-Benz
  17. Vogue
  18. Skype
  19. Nike
  20. Nikon
The technology company Apple has been voted the "coolest brand" in the UK.
It beat Aston Martin, which has taken the top spot in six of the previous seven annual CoolBrands surveys.
Online and technology brands performed well, with YouTube pushing Aston Martin into third place. Twitter came fourth, followed by Google and the BBC's iPlayer.
The results are decided by responses from 3,000 consumers and a panel of 39 experts.
Twitter, Skype and Nikon were in the top 20 for the first time in the 11 years of the survey.
Some of the luxury brands have dropped out of the top 20, including Maserati, Ferrari, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, which all featured last year.
A quarter of the top 20 brands are free to consumers.
"It is interesting that in this age of austerity our perception of cool has increasingly shifted from aspirational, luxury brands to free or more affordable brands that provide us with pleasure," said Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands expert council.
YouTube was among the biggest risers, having come in tenth place last year. 

Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19692371


According to the ranking of BBC UK, which ranked Apple as the world's coolest brand and also other brands respectively. This type of brand ranking it a great marketing tools for employer branding. Even though many brands have been working really hard in order to compete in employer branding in order to get the best people to work for the company. However, by telling people how good you are might not be convincing enough. As, people seems to rely more on statistic and ranking. Thus, if the company can maintain itself to achieve its position in some type of brand ranking such as coolest brand, best brand, most successful brand, etc. These type of good statistics will help the brand gains good reputation and can persuade more employees to join the brand.


Toyota VS Honda


Category
Automotive company in Thailand (Toyota and Honda are the 2 dominant players in the market)

Positioning
Toyota: Reliable and economical car
Honda: Fun, efficient, and affordable car

Target Market
Toyota: target more toward first jobbers who prefer safe car with reliable image
Honda: target more toward university students with the fun image

Toyota
POP                                                          POD
-         Compact car                                  -  Fuel efficient
-         Engine                                           -  Environmental friendly
-         Car performance                            -  Higher price
                                                       -  Reliable

                                               

Honda
POP                                                          POD
-         Compact car                                  -  Fun
-         Engine                                           -  Lower price
-         Car performance                            -  Excitement



Positioning definition: I think both of the brands defined its positioning correctly because even though the car itself is more or less the same but both of them try to differentiate themselves from one another by target different group of customers.

Improvement: I think both of them are doing well in communicating their positioning toward their target customers and also state clearly the distinction from one another.






                                   

Tesco partners with Apple for Clubcard deal

I have found this article online about Tesco partners with Apple for Clubcard deal (Tesco membership card), which had launch right before this coming Christmas for the best Christmas present ever.

Tesco has partnered with Apple for the first time to offer Clubcard holders deals on a range of the tech giant’s products, such as iPads and iPods.
Tesco460
Tesco partners with Apple for Clubcard rewards offer.
Clubcard holders can use reward points earned by shopping at Tesco or using its credit card to buy a range of 10 Apple products. These range from EarPod headphones for £16 worth of points to a fourth generation iPad for £430 worth of points.

A Tesco spokesperson says: “This is a great opportunity for Clubcard customers to use vouchers they’ve accumulated on this great range of market leading products. We have a range of products to reflect all budgets, including some really accessible entry point products like the iPod shuffle and EarPods.”
Clubcard customers earn points every time they shop at Tesco including in-store and online grocery shopping, petrol forecourts, and on all general merchandise products bought through Tesco Direct. Points can also be colected every time the Tesco Credit Card it used.
Tesco does not offer any similar deals with other hardware brands.
The promotion has been launched ahead of the Christmas season but will remain a permanent feature of Clubcard.
Products in the offer include:
MacBook Air 11” 64GB for £540 in Clubcard vouchers - RRP £849
iPad 4th generation 64GB with WiFi and Cell for £430 in Clubcard vouchers - RRP £659
Apple TV for £70 in Clubcard vouchers - RRP £99
iPod Nano for £85 in Clubcard vouchers - RRP £129




In my opinion, I think this move of Tesco to partner with Apple is a great move to gain competitive advantage over other retailers. As, nowadays other retailers can caught up with the membership card strategy and collecting points. However, if Tesco can partner with company like Apple before other competitors, it will help Tesco gains competitive advantage over others. In addition, it also helps boost customers' brand loyalty. As, people feels that they receive better benefits by joining a club card and also willing to shop more at Tesco in order to collect points. However, Tesco must also be aware that this competitive might not last long as sooner or letter other retailers will come up with other campaigns in order to compete with Tesco. Thus, Tesco has to try its best to keep this unique advantage and also prepare for plan B later on.

Tesco partners with Apple article 

BMW`s Slogan


BMW
“The ultimate driving machine”

           I think BMW made a really good choice choosing this slogan for its brand. As, BMW is an automobile and motorcycle manufacturer, which produce car and motorcycle. With this slogan, it can represent the expertise in both fields: car and motorcycle. Moreover, with the word ultimate, it helps guarantee the customers’ expectation of the best car in the industry. Customers can be sure that if they decide to go for BMW, they will get a car safest car with the best quality and best performance. So, with this slogan, it helps enhance the brand equity of BMW.


LEGO Brand


LEGO

              During my stay in Europe, I had a chance visit LEGOLAND at Billund, Denmark. During my visit I was surprise that the brand was quite successful. At first, I thought the category extension to do the theme park is bit too far from the brand itself, plus LEGO does not have characters to compete with big players such as Disney or Universal. Thus, I always thought that this might not be a good idea for LEGO to extend its brand. However, I was proofed to be wrong. As, when I visited the theme park, it was crowded. Moreover, by having a theme park on its own, LEGO create more brand awareness among customers. In addition, the expansion of them parks to many regions across the globe is also a great way to market the LEGO brand and boosting the sale of LEGO toys.


DHL`s Slogan


DHL
“We keep your promises”

           DHL is the global market leader in the logistic industry and the logistic company for the world. DHL commits its expertise in international express, air and ocean freight, road and rail transportation, contract logistics and international mail services to its customers. So, I think the slogan of “we keep your promises” suites very well with the brand equity of DHL. As customers of DHL are looking for the reliable and efficient logistic services that guarantee on time delivering. That’s why the customers are willing to pay more for DHL delivery instead of using normal delivery from the post office or other logistic companies. Thus the slogan of keeping the promise is the right decision of DHL for choosing this slogan. In addition, it also helps enhance its brand equity in the customers’ perspective as well. As the customers feel better when they know that the company will keep the promise of on time delivering.




Ryanair


RYANAIR

              Ryanair is a budget airline, operating in many countries across Europe. My first trip with Ryanair was during school break in November. I booked the flight from Budapest to Paris. As, Ryanair does not operate in Vienna, so I had to travel down to Budapest in order to took the flight. However, I did not mind the traveling 4 hours from Vienna to Budapest as it save me around 100 Euros. 


CLEVER Brand

CLEVER
             
Clever is the first brand in Austria that I can recognize due to the fact that Clever provides almost every product in the supermarket under its brand. Beside its great name and many product categories, Clever brand products are normally cheaper than other brands with relatively same quality. Thus, Clever is always on top of my mind when I do grocery shopping, if I find the stuffs I want under Clever brand, I will go for Clever instead of other brand. Due to its good price and good quality, it makes me feel smart every time I buy Clever products.
All in all, I think Clever is a very smart brand with smart name, smart product categories, and also smart move in distribute its own product. As, you will be able to find clever in almost all supermarkets in town. 







Google - Employer Branding


EMPLOYER BRANDING
GOOGLE

              I think Google is one of the most successful brands in employer branding. Google is representing the creativity, fun, and thinking outside the box. The company tries to deliver this image to its target employees in order to compete for the best people to work for the company. This image of Google had been perceived as a very consistent image as everyone can see these personality of the brand through their website, office, etc. Moreover, as I research more about the satisfaction of Google employees, they seem to have a great time working there and there is one comment that I really like is “At Google we laughs a lot.”






American Express`s Slogan


American Express
“Don’t leave home without it”

           This is one of my favorite slogan even I don’t have an American express on my own. However, with this slogan you can get a feeling that credit card is an important element in life that you should always have with you every time you step outside your house. I think this slogan contributes very well to the brand equity as a credit card company. I’m one of the people who really feel insecure without my credit card. So, I think American Express’s slogan “Don’t’ leave home without it” is the best slogan for a credit card company that I couldn’t agree more.


LONGCHAMP - My favorite brand


Brand Mantra
Function : Bag
Description : Luxury but affordable
Emotion : Little big bag



Positioning
Longchamp is positioning itself as a luxury brand for leather goods. However, it also extended the brand by proving Le Pliage collection, which provide the Longchamp bags in affordable price. This smart move of Loghcamp made the brand become famous all around the globe and also increase brand awareness. The reason that make Longchamp becomes so successful is the fact that Longchamp provided luxury goods for affordable price. So, it increase brand awareness among middle class which may not be able to attain luxury bag in normal price such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, etc. to go for Longchamp instead. Moreover, people also prefer buying real Longchamp instead of fake Louis Vuitton because at least they know that they have the authentic bag and they feel better about themselves. Besides Le Pliage collection, Longchamp also have other collection that more upscale and more expensive.



Target Market for Le Pliage Collection
-         Women
-         Age 20-25
-         University students or fist jobbers
-         Middle class and above
-         Lifestyle: youthful, fun, luxury, independent, search for self affiliation


Weird Brand - Doodycalls

Doodycalls is a brand that provides service of picking up the dog poop. When you take your dog out for a walk and if he or she poops on the street, you can call the company to come and pick up the dog poops. At first, I considered this brand as a really weird brand in my perspective. As, I thought, why would people have to call someone else to pick up their own dog’s poop, when they can just clean it buy themselves. However, when I reconsidered, I think this is a very smart brand as sometimes it might be hard to clean the dog poops and sometimes you might be in a rush and don’t have time to clean it by yourself. So, I think this brand should be more and more successful in the future as people are becoming more and more busy nowadays


http://www.doodycalls.com/