marketing

Vans – Staying consistent and true pays off

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On Tuesdays, I walk after work to my Tai Chi class at Psyrri neighborhood in Athens. As I walk through some of the oldest neighborhoods in the Greek capital, I wind down and get myself mentally ready for the class. During a walk few days ago, I noticed something different adjacent to BIOS bar located at Piraeos street that had not been around previously. There were some people chilling on the pedestrian street, who seemingly belonged to the same “tribe”. I quickly figured out they were all somehow related to skateboarding. The rather “rough” signage outside BIOS signaled that this is an event by the Vans brand. For those who are not familiar, Vans is a manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, based in California.

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Vans – Staying consistent and true pays off

Tell me what do you see when you look at me

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My wife recently bought a case for her new mobile phone. It is a relatively inexpensive, minimal, black plastic mobile phone case. As I was ready to dispose the case’s packaging and since I am obsessed with recycling, I went through the small letters on the packaging to make sure that the case was ok to recycle. We have seen a lot of initiative on minimizing packaging footprint, either by light-weighting packaging, by indicating with clear recyclable signs or even by using compostable containers.

mobile_case

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Tell me what do you see when you look at me

Looking for hints = market insights

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Few days ago I experienced two events in synchronicity. This is exactly the kind of magic happening and occurrences click in your mind.

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Looking for hints = market insights

Succeeding a 5-Senses Product Experience

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Summer is already here and I literally don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy ice cream. Thinking about ice cream category communication you can argue that most of the time it is all about indulgence. You usually see ads with melting caramel close ups, mouthwatering slow motion pack shots and cracking chocolate sound effects to generate the impulse and the crave for ice cream.

As all of this takes place in the wonderful world of advertising, what happens in real life? Ice cream surely looks great, smells great and tastes great in real life, but is this what the whole product experience should be about? Could we involve all 5 senses in the tasting of a product? Continue reading “Succeeding a 5-Senses Product Experience” →

Succeeding a 5-Senses Product Experience

Adding ritual for a change and adding odor to a ritual

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On a recent low budget city break, we visited Sofia. The unexpected joy of a leisure trip without any particular reason is a priceless feeling.

Speaking about unexpected joy, I can’t help thinking about the category of instant lotteries which works exactly in this way. During my trip, I experienced two cases of clever market practices in this category. Continue reading “Adding ritual for a change and adding odor to a ritual” →

Adding ritual for a change and adding odor to a ritual

The power of sorry for a quick turnaround

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Most of us have experienced arrogant behaviors from brands or hilarious mistakes in email campaigns. Incidents like these happen quite often and they shock, to a small or larger extent, consumers’ trust to the brands as they evoke a spectrum of negative thoughts and feelings.

BlooperOops

I had a positive experience with the www.doctoranytime.gr in two cases where they followed a very professional and efficient approach (both offline and online) to serving my needs as a customer and patient.

One day some weeks ago I received an email from them with regards to my appointment with my gynecologist. Nothing wrong with that really, besides the fact that I am a man…

I didn’t stay to this incident much to judge negatively the company, however I felt a little concerned about how this company uses my address to distribute emails and it crossed my mind to unsubscribe from the mailing list. For some reason I didn’t and to my surprise I received some minutes after the first “gynecologist appointment” email a second one from them… Continue reading “The power of sorry for a quick turnaround” →

The power of sorry for a quick turnaround

Empathy in marketing

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It’s only few weeks after the terrible terrorist strike in Paris on the 13/11/2015. This has been an attack that shocked the entire western world as we know it and spread sadness to everyone. Paris, similarly to New York have been terrorist targets not only because they belonged to France and the USA, but mainly because they are iconic cities with landmarks widely known to the world and synonymous to the western way of living. This is exactly the same reason these two cities have been vastly used in marketing campaigns of several products.

Few days after the attack, I visited my neighborhood’s supermarket for the weekly grocery shopping when I  saw a perfume product display with the promo message #myriseparisi (translate from Greeklish: #smellslikeParis).

myriseparisi

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Empathy in marketing

How do effective win-to-win partnerships look like

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I keep a close eye in the breakfast cereals market since the early 2000s, when breakfast cereals were relatively underdeveloped as a category in Greece. Together with the growth of pasteurized / “fresh” milk, breakfast cereals grew vastly during the last decade riding on the global health & wellness trend in the food industry.

The category itself has a lot of great characteristics on shelf. The 3 things I particularly like in this category is that there is a pretty clear segmentation (kids / teens / family / muesli / adult / functional), there is room for innovation and experimentation (possibly the only way to differentiate in a category that would otherwise have been a commodity) and lastly there is plenty of available facing space to communicate on pack.

Frozen Cereals Final

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How do effective win-to-win partnerships look like

A Dutchman and an Irishman once… told me

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I would like to share with you two stories/conversations that took place during the last month.

First Story: It was a few days before Fat Thursday (ελληνικά: Τσικνοπέμπτη) and I was walking alone, when I ran into this familiar Dutch guy.

– Are you in for barbecue and some beers? He asked me

– That sounds great! I replied

– OΚ, let’s meet on Thursday, I ‘ll get the beers.

Second Story: It was a rainy afternoon in the first week of March in Athens (I always wanted to start a narration with such a cliche) when I encountered an old Irish friend.

– What are you doing on St. Patrick’s day? He asked me with his distinct Irish accent

– I don’t know, I’m staying home I guess. No matter how much I miss Ireland, Irish pubs are quite congested on the 17th of March. I got back to him

– I’ll make sure I will pass by. For ould times sake… he said

– I’ll be waiting for you. I told him and with my mind in Galway, I walked away

You must be wondering who are these guys, right? Well they are not real people but simply… brands! Continue reading “A Dutchman and an Irishman once… told me” →

A Dutchman and an Irishman once… told me

How to W.I.R.E. your business for an “overnight” success

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LOGO TELIKOI admit it. Many times I feel obsessed with the basics. I believe that if the fundamentals are right, then you are most probably half way there. Like electronic experts are fond of neatly wired equipment with a clear architecture, I am amazed of how the coffee brewing company Coffee Island has W.I.R.E.d itself for success.

wires

photo credit: IMG_5071 via photopin (license)

Let me elaborate in the following lines what I have discovered during my visits in their stores and how I came up with this new abbreviation of mine. Continue reading “How to W.I.R.E. your business for an “overnight” success” →

How to W.I.R.E. your business for an “overnight” success