And just one day I talked about authenticity...

... we have Volkswagen scandal, that illustrates how a brand can lose its equity and consumers' confidence with the wrong (and truly unethical and illegal) choice. Let's see where this ends, but, for the VW brand, this is a really harsh blow.

Don't ruin your brand's authenticity

For the past 6 months, "gym brand X" advertised that their competitors were not giving towel, or a gym bag for free - that everything was actually paid by the consumers. Which, makes sense, actually. But what doesn't make sense is that, now, "gym brand X" is starting a "get back to the gym" promo... offering a... new gym bag...

Guys, don't you ever do this! This ruins your brand's authenticity! The consumers that actually agreed with you, nodded, and said "we can't trust these gyms that are saying that they offer us stuff that we pay in our monthly fees; I am lucky because I can trust "gym brand X"" now look at your promo and realise that was just a marketing move - and they will not like it. Consumers are smart people (they are like you and me, we are consumers, actually...), they remember, they can see the dotted lines. So don't try to fool them.

Consumers nowadays have plenty of choice. Which is a great thing! And means that they can be pickier than before and simply choose or reject a brand based on values. Which makes a marketeer job even more exciting, and implies we know, defend and grow our brand's values and purposes. Your brand needs to stand for something, and you need to stand for your brand at the eyes of consumer. 

So, a piece of advice. Be authentic in every marketing move you do.

Would you temporarily re-name your brand?

Yes, you can do it. Nestlé is doing it now in 2015, with one of it's strongest brands. A bold move, Nestlé is re-naming KitKat to names like "Youtube Break" and "Adventure Break". 

The fact is, you can do this with your brand, if it is strong enough (KitKat equity is incredibly strong), your brand communication is more than its name (and, if you look at this link, you will find the brand visuals are kept) and if the new name is completely aligned with your brand equity / communication idea - and what more "kitkatish" would you have than remembering that this brand is all about having a break, and enjoying a moment of pleasure?

Quick project management tip

Get your key stakeholder involved in your project and your solution as early in the process as possible. This way, you will the opportunity to reflect his / hers point of view in the early stages of the project, saving painstaking discussions and changes in later stages.

Who are the super-sharers of videos?

According to a Unruly research, 82% of shared videos in the internet are shared by a "super-sharers" group that represents only 18% of internet users, but that do so at least once per week (half of them actually shares daily, it seems). This is the group that you need to target for a video to go viral in the web! You just need to find them...

P.S- The same research concludes that the best day to share a video for it to become viral is on a Wednesday (hump day, anyone?), followed by Thursday and Friday. So, now you know why I am sharing this on a Wednesday (though no video attached).

Logos and luxury

For many years, luxury brands made sure they would design their products so their logos would become big and visible, as a beamer of aspirational brands that would drive penetration in the middle class thirsty for status symbol. But, interestingly enough, over the past 5 years, luxury brands have started to see this as a dangerous and harmful move, that actually drives away the higher classes from their products and damages their equity, turning their brands into middle class wannabees instead of the real thing. The luxury brands don't show off anymore, because wealthy people don't want to show off their wealth, but prefer more discreet branding and products that are driven to self rewarding experiences rather than show-offing that can be offensive. This idea, conveyed in a research paper from Wilson, Eckhardt and Belk in the latest HBR issue, has long been observed in part of Europe where "old money" sits, but, according to the authors, can start being seen in some of the new biggest luxury markets as well, as China. It would mark a very different period for luxury branding, and a very challenging one - I must say I am rather curious to see how this develops going forward...

Break your industry's bottlenecks

July's Harvard Business Review had a very interesting article on breakthrough innovation. That article said that, in order to revolutionize the market, you should focus in 5 types of common industry's wisdom and established rules - what the authors call " industry's bottlenecks". If you do it, then you will be focusing on the big structural problems that are endemic to your industry, thus you will be able to satisfy consumers in a way no one else does.

The 5 type of industry's bottlenecks the authors urge us to focus are:

- Outdated purchase or usage experience

- Superfluous major expense category

- High financial risks for customers

- Disengaged employees

- Detrimental side effects of the product or service

If you want further explanation, you should read the article. But just by looking at these, I can find 2 bottle necks in my industry that I will aim to break...