"It's impossible to communicate functional benefits in an engaging way"

If you said that, I think you should have a look at this 2009 campaign from Knorr...

Never underestimate the power of a strong movie

Movies are powerful things! With a good storyline, credible leads and involving play, they can draw the attention of millions of people worldwide. And help introduce habits or innovation or build perceptions. <p><p>

We are just seeing an example of that, on these days. "The Hunger Games" is a strong movie, one of those that actually makes millions based on a good story and book. The main character is particularly skilled at shooting arrows - and owes her survival to that, making archery a key element on the movie. So, guess what - in the US (at least), archery schools are seeing a steady in flow of new students, sales of bows have tripled, archery became cool. You can read more about it in http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/22/hunger-games-fever-makes-archery-cool-for-kids/<p><p>

Now, just think on what a smart and sustained inclusion of a brand and habit on a good storylane can do. Just think of Martini and James Bond, Steve McQueen and Ford, Top Gun and Air Force recruits. It really works doesn't it? Just remember, as always, to try not to be intrusive and to make it an integral part of the story, being a key part of the flow, naturally.

"Share a coke" - Australia

50% of teens and young adults in Australia hadn't taste a Coke - so, Coke came up with this brilliant campaign, perfectly aligned to individualism but also the joy and happiness of sharing. Don't you admire a 150 years old brand that is capable of doing engaging campaigns like this one, putting its full weight behind a crazy idea?

http://vimeo.com/38134755

A quick word on TVCs

It is kind of fashionable to say "the TV Commercials are dead". For many it is a way to claim they are fully embracing the digital and social media trend, completely rejecting the predominant communication model of 1920 (with the radio) - 2005. It is a modernisation claim! That I don't agree with.

First of all, "interrupting advertising" (the advertising the consumer gets because s/he is watching a show and then gets advertising in the breaks) is still a major force. Daily, many consumer choose to watch TV shows - it is not something that is forced upon them. Consumers have the choice of TV channel, of TV vs digital vs social vs newspapers vs ... and still choose specific shows. And the most effective way to communicate on that specific type of media consumption is through commercials in TV breaks.

Now, the point is quality. Of creativity, of being able to break the (considerable) clutter and strike the message on the hearts and minds of consumers and shoppers. And is actually the crucial point! It is not enough (it shouldn't be!) to air a commercial - it has to be the right commercial! Consumers need to remember the commercial, the brand, the message after watching the commercial. Creativity and quality need to strike these points!

And people like good commercials! It is curious to see that it even breaks strongly into the digital world. One of the most successful sites is Youtube, that has TVCs as one of its backbones - everyday, millions of people look for the "so dead" TVCs in this site. People like good commercials.

Now... Remember that TVCs shouldn't be considered alone. They should be integrates in a whole multi-touch point campaign, that shares the same creative idea.

Pinterest is already the No 3 social network in the US

I told you a couple of months ago - Pinterest would be big (http://consumerconsumerconsumer.blogspot.pt/2012/02/interested-in-pinterest.html) ! It already is! In March, Pinterest got over 100 million visits in the US, above Linkedin, Google+ and Tagged. And now, it is rolling out globally...

http://mashable.com/2012/04/06/pinterest-number-3-social-network/

Skype vs Facebook and Twitter?

There was a time Skype would advertise its benefits vs phone companies - Skype then positioned itself like a "free phone calls" company. Now, it has released a new ad - and with strong ties to a different positioning. In that ad, Skype is comparing vs... social media! It is stressing that staying in touch involves real image and voice, and not only a few scattered messages in a Facebook wall or a tweet. And, on doing so, it is actually saying, we are the best and most qualitative social network consumers have in the digital world. And that is a very interesting positioning evolution!

http://mashable.com/2012/04/05/skype-facebook-twitter/

Some quick sentences on trends

There are actually a few places in the world where you can see trends starting to emerge earlier and then spreading out across the world. Clear examples are New York, California and Japan, especially on anything that involves electronics, internet or social sites, or Paris and New York on what relates to the beauty industry. Those are the places where trends are generally born before they take on the world – just think about Facebook a few years ago, Pinterest or brunches.

That means that many times, the best way to understand how a trend will settle in your country, you shouldn’t rely only on the data that is presented to you on the current state of that trend – you would actually do better in looking at the place where the trend was born and what it implied there and then understand how is your country lagging behind, catching up and doing any specific local adaptations. That will work like a time machine – by looking at the past, you will be able to understand the future in your country on what relates that trend. Trust me - it is a very powerful and efficient tool!

On higher prices

Consumers’ perception on price is a funny thing. Sometimes and for some products, a low price is a must have, other times and products you can’t sell if you don’t have a high price. And the fact is that too often marketeers focus on pricing as the ultimate barrier to sell a product to a consumer, and forget pricing is actually a key area on the marketing mix.

First of all, if you have a high price, you need to sustain it with a tight and strong mix in all the other dimensions. Consumers who are ready to pay higher for a product are usually the ones that demand very high standards in product performance and packaging. They are the ones who can only be impacted by clever and spot on communication. And usually place (where is the product actually sold) is cornerstone – you don’t expect to buy a Ferrari in a shack or a Dolce & Gabbana perfume in a Lidl discount store, right? If you can’t actually deliver high performance against high standards in those 4 areas (vs consumers expectations and competitors performance), then, you sure can’t command a sustained high price for your product.

But then, again, there is the other side of the mirror – consumers’ perception and how they are influenced by prices. If you have a great product, but you sell it too cheap, a large proportion of consumers will probably say that the product isn’t better than competitors sold at higher prices (even if they fail to meet the other 4Ps standards) – and thus will reject it. If you want to build a quality perception of your product or brand, you have to sell it at a high price, in order to drive higher segment volume. And be extremely careful at managing your promotional price.

But managing a high price is also incredibly difficult – especially if you need to rely on distributors or trade to reach your end target. They will usually be very pressured to actually drive prices down – especially if they compete vs other stores that sell your product. You have to be extremely careful when managing your price with them, to ensure correct deployment, stressing the strength of all your mix (a tip, make sure your trade actually values higher priced mixes and is interested in sustaining that pricing strategy).

But then there also is a magical side on higher prices. By having the right price, you can actually improve your business margins. And, in a high quality product, a higher price means longer strides – to reach a turnover target, lower priced products need to run, to have a higher volume of sales. Many people think that by selling at a lower price, you can actually sell more volumes and thus compensate the lower prices – but that is not necessarily truth. When thinking about volumes and prices, one also needs to think about elasticity. And the objective is actually always play at the top of it – sell at the highest possible price, without breaking volume.

If you can build a higher quality mix, able to sustain a higher price without significant volume breaks and you can effectively (and legally) manage price in the market, then you can play the high card – a higher sustainable pricing strategy, able to command both higher revenues and margins. Congrats!