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A PRINCE JARDINIER PROMOTING LOVE AND TOMATOES
New luxury concepts are hard to find nowadays, but Prince Louis Albert de Broglie of France has accomplished his most cherished dream: to bring his passion for luxury gardening to all those in search of new ways to enjoy this wonderful pastime. Known as the Tomato Prince, he grows 514 varieties of tomatoes on his own estate, conveniently situated in one of the most beautiful regions of France, the Loire Valley.
I discovered this gardening paradise for myself when I was invited to attend a wedding at the Prince’s castle itself, Chateau de la Bourdaisiere. Purchased by the Prince and his brother in 1982, the chateau has become the playground and gardening lab for his brand when it is not rented out for special events. As I explored this truly magical castle and the Prince’s magnificent private garden, I stumbled upon the Prince’s store, selling all the necessary tools and ideas to become a proper prince gardener yourself.
There I discovered that there are 650 varieties of tomatoes, a handy theme for the names of the tables at the wedding (ours was “Forget Me Not”). The grounds of the castle are such a work of art that it even inspired neophytes like me to get my hands dirty.
Art was indeed in the Prince’s mind when he started this business rooted in his own passion and experience for the outdoors, a business founded on “the art of gardening” and named after his own sobriquet: Le Prince Jardinier
From a retail perspective I loved the Le Prince Jardinier and could see why its concept inspired me, and why it had all the ingredients for success:
1) A connection to a passion that is authentic and verifiable
2) A place that is the proof of the brand narrative
3) A dream that connects you to a lofty idea, even if the most you do is plant a couple of roses
4) A reminder of the importance of art and beauty in our lives
5) An aspiration to a lifestyle that you can have a piece of, manifested in something you can cultivate and grow
There in the shop you can find collections of handmade gardening tools, clothing made from natural material and fibers, accessories, hats and must-have picnic wares that could turn a boring weekend into a work of art. Le Prince Jardinier has also expanded its line to include furniture and fragrances inspired by various plants in his garden, from roses to rhubarb.
Not unlike St.Exupery’s Little Prince, here is one who pours love and dedication into growing things, with an imagination just as big as the author’s- enough to fit 650 tomatoes combined.
http://www.labourdaisiere.com/en/prince-louis-albert-de-broglie
GEORGE STEINBRENNER: THE LAST BRANDING LION
I had just finished the book “Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball,” by Bill Madden, a sports writer for the New York Daily News, when I learned of the passing of the Yankees’ famous owner on July 13.
It wasn’t far into the 1,398-page inside story of Steinbrenner’s career that I could see why he would never be on the cover of the Harvard Business Review or held up as a model of effective management. Put bluntly, he was not the employer of the year or the century. And yet, he built the most famous and successful baseball franchise in America.
Steinbrenner had been described by former employees and partners as possibly the worst person to work for or do business with. He fired people mercilessly and never missed a chance to publicly insult his players. He dismissed his personal friend and popular manager, Yogi Berra, through a third person, without even the courtesy of a personal meeting. His fights with manager Billy Martin, hired and fired five times by the Yankees, reached new heights of management gone awry when both began to trade insults on national television.
According to Madden, some of Steinbrenner’s employees even lost their health and sanity under the crushing stress of dealing with such a relentlessly demanding boss. Some of the most colorful descriptions of Steinbrenner attributed to his associates, partners or other owners were “greedy bastard,” “blowhard,” “big mouth,” “liar,” and “hypocrite,” all generally be preceded by the “f” word.
He did not delegate a thing, never trusted anyone, and maniacally supervised the maintenance of Yankee Stadium to deliver the best possible fan experience. Madden cited one instance in which Steinbrenner found a discarded brown bag overlooked by the stadium cleaning crew and ordered the head of maintenance to carry the bag for the duration of the following game as a lesson.
Even the fact that he was a convicted felon (pardoned by Ronald Reagan) did not stop him from forging ahead and challenging any person or organization that stood in the way of his ambition and the success of the Yankees. In one case, Steinbrenner inked a licensing deal with Adidas that brought millions directly to the Yankees, when all such deals were supposed to go through Major League Baseball. The Yankees even have their own TV channel, YES Network, estimated today to be worth $2 billion. It was deals like these that brought the Yankees the cash to recruit the best players and outbid all competitors.
The results? The Yankees delivered 11 American League Pennants and seven World Series titles under his leadership. Most team owners who freely criticized Steinbrenner in private or public were still in awe of his success: the changes he brought to the game, his record attendance numbers, and the continued popularity he helped to build for baseball in general.
“The boss,” as he was called, was imperious, priding himself on emulating General Patton: obsessed, guilt ridden and impulsive, destructive of his own people while building the franchise. This was a management style nobody would want to talk about in business or marketing books…but it worked. Why?
1) The fans and their experience were his focus
2) He knew how to create entertainment and drama that made headlines and created an emotional connection to the team
3) He had an obsession to win regardless of the cost
4) He saw the power of an iconic brand such as the Yankees
5) He understood that his players also needed to be charismatic ambassadors for the brand
While his methods were certainly not to be emulated, his vision and focus were right on target. Steinbrenner knew how to make fans get emotional about their team and made New Yorkers proud in a time of crisis. And he understood one thing in particular: The fans who buy tickets and merchandise, the people who truly make the success of the franchise, are the blood and sweat of any business. He constantly reminded his highly paid players and managers that their primary job was to answer to those people in the bleachers – by winning. It was customer service in its purest (and most ruthless) form.
His basic business principles were in the right place, which is why Yankees pride will be his legacy, while his antics will be remembered as just part of the show.
For his fans he showed his claws, was a moxie and a successful pain in the ass.
THE WORLD CUP IS OVER AND THE WINNER IS BRAND SOUTH AFRICA
This World Cup was supposed to be all about branding and brand presence, the shoe brands on the pitch and the soft drink brands around the stadium and on the streets. Trying to paint the town in their colors was the game plan, and making their products unforgettable with ubiquitous visibility was the goal.
But in terms of branding, most unforgettable were South Africa itself and the iconic vuvuzelas that dominated the discourse. While Nike was busy creating more blight by totally covering the most visible building in Jo’burg with an LED billboard, the fans were having fun elsewhere trumpeting their passions for the game with their logo-less vuvuzelas.
In a globalized world, major international events – the World Cup, the Olympics, World’s Fairs such this year’s in Shanghai, music and film festivals – are opportunities for countries and cities to build their brand image in competition for investment, visitors, talent, and resources for their citizens. City and country branding is what all those events are about, and commercial brands so often miss the importance of that point, thinking they are the only game in town.
But commercial brands are only about selling stuff, when they should be about real emotional connections. Brands miss an opportunity when they focus entirely on selling more goods while ignoring the impact those goods have on society. To them, brand building is a one-way proposition.
So this year, South Africa was the real winner – the underdog team those guys didn’t see coming, the brand that got all the mind share and the emotions, the love and the respect. For once, the right brand won, and its message of hope will stay with us forever. With over $5 Billion spent on infrastructure and new stadiums, South Africa now expects millions more tourists in the coming years.
But as South Africa enjoys its victory outside the stadium, it’s true that some have been left behind. A recent Johannesburg Times article was rightly titled “World Cup leaves no quick wins for the poor.” What about the children who believe they can “just do it” while they are constantly reminded that the products advertised right under their noses may never be accessible to them? What happens when they realize that those messages are really destined for young people in countries they most likely will never visit?
Now we will see if the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will be about Brand Brazil or the same old commercial excess, the streets of Brazilian cities made into a branding playground. By popular demand, the city of Sao Paulo has already banned billboards and visual pollution – will other cities follow suit? And instead of throwing millions at athletes, will companies focus on the real stars, Brazilian cities and their people? Will Brands learn their lesson and spend their excess dollars on leaving host cities a better place than they found them?
This is the next great opportunity for brands that want to make their mark at international events: to engage in city branding, leveraging their huge ad budgets and marketing skills to alleviate poverty and urban blight. Build a school instead of another billboard. Provide kids with equipment so they can start and sustain teams. Help them be winners in life. Even cynics could agree , knowing that an investment in young lives is an investment in future consumers .
IS LUXURY GOING TO BE SAVED BY SOCIAL MEDIA?
At this year’s annual NRF Conference in NYC, there was an optimistic buzz that permeated throughout the event. The general vibe coming from the presentations and workshops was that of relief due to stabilization of the market, juxtaposed with cautious excitement for the changes and opportunities in retail. The NRF event statistics for this year reinforce this observation. According to Eric Olsen, Senior Director of Education Strategies for the NRF, “this year may actually be a record- breaking year for show attendance. This is even more exciting when you consider that the NRF event has been going on for 17 years.”
So what was driving the buzz? Beyond the expected showing of the latest retail product and service innovations, there were inspiring stories of success born out of innovative survival needs. Breakout topics such as “Doing more with Less” in visual merchandising, and even a talk with Bert Jacobs, Founder and creator of “Life is Good” was the type of refreshment much needed by the retail industry (if not all industries for that matter).
Speaking of refreshing change, on Tues. 1/12 there was a “Super Session” entitled The New Luxury Paradigm. This was a panel discussion with three esteemed influencers within the luxury retail market: Tory Burch, our very own, Marc Gobé, and Stephen Sadove (CEO Saks Inc.). Within twenty-four hours of this panel discussion, there have been numerous write-ups i.e., WWD, CNBC, CRM.com, not to mention tweets citing this very discussion. The key points from the various write-ups noted the following:
1) stop the culture of silos
2) create a community of clients that can help you in the R&D and research process
3) train people to overcome misunderstandings and myths about social media – its is more than just twitter or having a facebook page
4) bring technology tomake it real
The coverage was great, but thus far has been geared moreso to retail-oriented issues. Given our brand-minded communities, I wanted to capture some the more powerful brand-related mentions from this discussion:
”Brands need to love people back” - Marc Gobe, author, designer and creator of Emotional Branding cited the Coca-Cola Facebook page, as a key example of this point. The site has over 4 million visitors, and was not even created by Coca-Cola, rather two very passionate fans of the brand
“Tweeting has changed me” –citing Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh as a personal inspiration for tweeting, Marc Gobé mentioned that being active in social media changes a person’s perspective completely and makes them more thoughtful, more giving, and constantly aware of the need to share information
“Corporations do not own brands anymore – the people do” – given the universal shift towards a more interconnected world of consumer communities, brands need to be present in the conversations and take part in the dialogue – not attempt to control it. Conversations about brands will happen with, or without, a brand sponsored discussion.
“Women are integrators, they integrate everything they wear into one statement. So why is the retail merchant model not reflective of this?”-
Tory Burch mentioned that“luxury is about how you live.” Marc Gobé further mentioned that brands need to understand the consumer holistically, not in the current retail approach that drives merchants to have a more fragmented view about outfitting their consumer. A fragmented view also results in a fragmented brand experience between on-line and in-store.
“Advertising is not essential in brand-building” -Tory Burch mentioned that her brand has never advertised due to limited media budgets. This potential handicap has turned out to be a strength for her organization on that it has “forced her team to be more creative in how they get the brand message out”.
“The role of designers today” – Tory Burch’s roadshow of personal appearances reinforces the accessibility she wants her brand to represent. It is also a welcomed opportunity for her to hear and see her customers first hand. Marc Gobé cited fragrances as once being an accessible way to be closer to a designer. But noted that fragrances in particular will need to redefine their role relative to a designer brand, and the role they have in a consumer’s life today, “If I were to ask my wife what she wants for her birthday, chances are she will want something for her IPHONE or a pair of shoes rather than a fragrance. Fragrances have lost their specialness.”
For more insights on the above topics, continued dialogue or response to this posting, please feel free to contact me ahumlen@emotionalbranding.comor follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/ADHumlenwhere I am in constant search and share mode with information related to the principles of creating an emotionally engaging brand/consumer relationship.
Anneliza Humlen is President of the Emotional Branding Alliance, the consultancy division of Emotional Branding LLC. Our mission is to evangelize the need for brands to connect on an emotional level with their audiences. We help our clients leverage 2.0+ opportunities to build engaging brand/customer relationships, and cultivate socially oriented corporate cultures.
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS FIND THEIR BEST PATRON IN SOCIAL MEDIA.
I have been involved with non-profit work in a variety of roles: as a consultant, on a pro bono basis, and even as a trustee, so I know the agony of raising funds to sustain such an organization. Finally, though, social media might be the lifeline every non-profit has wished for.
I have advised Action Against Hunger, the Columbia Business School and the Alliance Francaise in New York, to name a few, and I also led a major branding program for Ohio State University some years ago. From this experience, I saw first hand how colleges and universities have to rely on the generosity of successful alumni, and other organizations must constantly seek help from foundations, wealthy donors and corporate patrons.
Courting corporate donors or wealthy individuals who view their donations in terms of ROI or ROE (return on ego) demands a tremendous effort in manpower and time. This is more difficult now in a time of economic crisis, and this pool will diminish over time as more non-profits compete for fewer dollars, and the money available does not grow as fast as it has in the last 30
years.
Historically, one of the most important fund-raising activities for many non-profits is to have a gala with pricey tables serving as donations. It brings an elite few together for an evening of purposeful fun and showing off. These events are a nightmare to sustain year after year, particularly if an organization’s very existence is linked to just one night’s success.
This type of strategy is time-consuming and labor intensive, and furthermore, has created a perception that fund raising is the priority of the well off. Indeed, the average person might think that a non-profit with such access to wealth does not need any more help. This approach to fund raising can disenfranchise the less fortunate but nevertheless very passionate supporters of a cause, movement, or institution.
Change is necessary in a time of crisis, and the first step is acknowledging that small donors can be the key to supporting non-profit organizations.
Witnessing the power of social media and the example of the Obama campaign, I have felt that non-profit groups can gain greater financial freedom by not relying only on corporate sponsors or wealthy donors. In the past 6 months, I have advised the non-profit groups I am affiliated with to look in a different direction and leverage their mailing lists, and encourage their members to join in as friends and be active on social media platforms. Some already do – and it works. I was truly impressed by one organization that raised $600,000 through social media, with around 6,000 followers donating an average of just $100 each.
Granted, this is not possible with every non-profit brand. If you are Action Against Hunger or the Alliance Francaise, you can foster a real following of motivated small donors ready to get involved in what they truly care about. On the other hand, if you are a university that has not fostered a strong connection with its alumni base, you have some bonding work to do. But if your organization moves people emotionally, you will be surprised by the support you could be getting. For non-profits with a popular mandate, social media is the greatest tool yet to get the financial support you need from a larger group of fans.
This is what I have advised my non-profit contacts to do right away (as in, tomorrow):
1) Leverage your mailing list to encourage people to join your Facebook page or
Twitter feed, and post videos on your YouTube channel (you need one).
2) Raise a dollar at a time. Ask your new friends (after you craft a good
explanation of your financial goals) to support you with small amounts of money in incremental steps - even $1 is welcomed. Listen, a mailing list of 50,000 people could potentially represent $50,000 in donations. This is the Obama model, which raised $400 million from 2 million people and has become the tactic to follow.
3) Don’t be afraid to ask. Small donors on social media can be a real source of
revenue, and in many cases have never been approached. They often enjoy the opportunity to make a difference, especially if you offer them a fast and easy way to do so with just a few clicks.
4) Encourage your staff to be active on social media. And most important, make
everyone in the organization a fund-raiser, because now anyone can do it. Make it everybody’s job to have followers of their own. Some of the people I advise do this reluctantly until they see the results and become passionate about participating in the dialogue.
This is not rocket science. It just takes a new mindset, like moving from horse to train travel…and stop snickering about the future of Twitter or fretting over who is going to criticize you for jumping in! Yes, you might be criticized, but that’s a risk anytime you open a dialogue. So get over it, because it is a great way to get instant feedback about your organization and find out what it takes to turn fans into even more passionate supporters.
The beauty of social media is that it is about conversation, sharing, compassion and the willingness to connect. It’s not a large expense to leverage social media for non-profits, since the process is free. Don’t wait, this is what you have been waiting for, a true connection with people wanting to help.
As usual, the first to engage will take the loot, so why are you still reading?
HISTORY MEETS TECHNOLOGY: APPLE & ZABAR'S SQUARE OFF ON BROADWAY
Zabar’s has been the deli of record on New York’s Upper West Side for 75 years, and no one has surpassed its service, experience and quality gourmet food. Zabar’s feels confident enough about its unique offering to dub itself no less than a “gourmet epicurean emporium” on its Facebook and Twitter pages.
Generations of food aficionados have craved Zabar’s mouthwatering hand-cut smoked salmon slices, the baguettes and vast array of cheeses you can’t live without. It’s style as a store: an urban bazaar with stuff hanging everywhere, products piled up to the ceiling and sensory overload at every step. Zabar’s dominates upper Broadway’s quaint community as a signature store that grounds you in the good life of years past still available today. Zabar’s is the place.
But a few blocks south and just a Camembert’s throw away, a newcomer has shown its shining armor. Apple has settled its pure and transparent glass house, a Philip Johnson-inspired glass gem of sleek design in the midst of the Upper West Side’s cozy, antiquated mom-and-pop boutiques.
While Zabar’s engages all your senses, Apple augments your reality. One helps you connect with the past, the other the future. One is vision, the other is dijon. It’s a story of bandwidth vs. gefilte fish, high tech vs. high touch, image vs. fromage.
You might think that the new will eventually supplant the old and that the neighborhood’s changing face will wreck the values of the seminal, almost century-old family institution. Will Apple’s innovative retail approach destroy Zabar’s old shoe tradition? Is there any progress unless the new destroys the old?
Not at all. For all their differences, Macs meeting old-fashioned bagels are more complimentary than one would think. Zabar’s will sharpen your knives, while Apple will keep you on the cutting edge of technology. Zabar’s makes the bread warm and crusty while Apple makes hot products for the upper crust. Zabar’s is about the old school of two-for-one offerings while Apple is about a million offerings in one.
In other words, both Zabaristas and Applemaniacs discover in both stores the emotions and sensory experiences that are singular enough to be Tweetable to the world. So although Apple offers the world’s thinnest product and Zabar’s the world’s fattest, both are places to discover new sensations, places to enjoy the best of human ingenuity. Both brands are hard not to love. We can only hope that Zabar’s will always stay the same, changing only incrementally to keep us grounded in history, and that Apple will keep on letting us dream beyond the present.
Zabar’s caters to our craving for authenticity and tradition, while Apple supports our need to transcend our reality and see the future. These brands do more than complement each other, but also show us how incomplete our experience would be if either disappeared forever.
GRAFFITI IS A LANGUAGE THAT CANNOT BE IGNORED.
Everything I had ever heard about graffiti is that it is bad, it is gang-related, illegal and that the strictest laws put offenders in jail. Taggers are relentlessly harassed, and in New York if you provide information leading to a graffiti artist’s arrest, the city gives you $500.
But two years ago, when Sao Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab banned all form of outdoor media in the city, he told me in an interview that graffiti art in Sao Paulo is important to recognize. Major marketers impressed on me the fact that if you don’t understand graffiti art, you cut yourself off from segments of the population that are often forgotten but represent your most important customer base. I was reminded that graffiti art is often the only art they will ever see, and the streets are their museum.
This idea reached a new level when Barack Obama commissioned Shepard Fairey, an artist with 14 graffiti arrests to his name, to design his official campaign poster. This was soon followed the Helenbeck Gallery’s wildly successful graffiti art show in Chelsea and the Cartier Foundation’s retrospective of graffiti art.
As a country, Slovenia is sometimes considered a little Switzerland because of its beauty and wealth - and some would say conservatism - so I was really surprised when I interviewed the head of city planning in Ljubljana, who told me with a straight face that graffiti is a dialogue, and sometimes the only one the city has with younger generations unhappy about their conditions. Similarly in Bogota, Colombia, as the city creates stringent laws to ban visual pollution, graffiti has been classified as art and exempted from this law.
There is a movement, an artistic movement without parallel in the past 50 years, emotions exploding in a graphic way on our streets – real, raw and for everyone to see. Limiting access to art through elite galleries might have run its course, and another bubble finally might burst.
DISCOVERING JOZE PLECNIK AND THE REBELLIOUS SPIRIT OF POSTMODERN DESIGN IN SLOVENIA
I went back to Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana, to explore in more depth the work of Joze Plecnik, an architect who influenced Michael Graves and Frank Gehry, among others. Originally trained as an assistant carpenter, Plecnik studied architecture and worked with Otto Wagner, one of the most revered Viennese architects of the 19th century.
After working in Vienna and then Prague, Joze Plecnik came back to his hometown of Ljubljana to rebuild a city that destroyed by the earthquake of 1895. His work includes universities, a market, bridges, churches, interior decor for private houses, furniture design and product design. I discovered that his work was game-changing, provocative and full of symbols meant to convey a spirit of artistic independence for this small nation that ultimately survived dominance by other European powers.
Scholars are only recently finding in Plecnik’s work the stamp of a deeply religious Catholic man yet with a strong will to attack dogmas and preconceived ideas. You can find in his work a certain level of eroticism, and a controversial challenge to the church from an aesthetic perspective. St Michael’s Church, for instance, is the only transversal floor plan ever designed for a Catholic church. Plecnik explained that this was intended to equalize the distance of rich and poor congregants in relationship to the altar, since it is well known that the richest members of the community have always had the best seats in front of the church, often with their names attached to the pews.
Some of Plecnik’s masterpieces in Ljubljana include the University Library and the renowned Triple Bridge, commissioned to alleviate traffic problems. Instead of destroying an existing historic bridge at that location, the architect cleverly added two pedestrian bridges on each side of the original. But one of the highlights of my trip was a visit to one of the few homes Plecnik decorated, where you could see his furniture, lighting and object design together. In that environment you could see how he tested his imagination and showcased his interest in design in a much broader sense.
GEN X FRED PINEL AND THE FUTURE OF LUXURY DESIGN
“Customization with luxe brands today is ‘de la poudre au yeux,’ translated as ‘a lot of hype.’ They have lost their total credibility in this domain.” So said Fred Pinel, founder of Pinel & Pinel, at the start of my recent interview with him. I knew right then that I would be in for some serious surprises from this Gen-X designer.
We met in his atelier right at the foot of Montmartre, in a small street that reflects the secretive feeling of a new luxury brand. When you enter the showroom, the sensuous smell of leather mingles with the hundreds of colors that are Pinel & Pinel’s hallmark, radiating an energy that makes the luxury goods on display feel like a part of the future and not the past. Let’s call it new luxury.
In contrast to major brands like Vuitton, which have walked away from their tradition of creating customized luggage and trunks for the exclusive few, Pinel has made this the foundation of his craft. Looking at his client list, which includes Gucci’s Francois Pinault, soccer star Ronaldo, Michael Jordan, and diverse commercial brands such as Nike, Piaget and Krug, I started to muse that this underground brand with a strong Internet presence might be capturing an untapped segment of the market that longs for customized design, imagination and craftsmanship.
Pinel is a prototypical Gen-Xer. He has a passion for entrepreneurship, a need to break the rules, a desire to be known for something unusual, and ultimately, a love of his craft and all things authentic. Five years ago, he started his atelier with just a handful of people. After a solid career in advertising, he had done what any Gen-Xer worth his or her salt would do – he changed direction and learned a new trade, following his passion for making luggage. This interest came at an early age, when he found some antique famous-name luggage in his grandmother’s attic and decided to break it apart to understand its components, before putting it all back together perfectly. This experience was one he promised himself to return to one day, and now this dream has been realized.
“Modern travel is spiritual as well as real. A trunk is not just a functional object you take away with you, but could be a symbol of travel in your own home. This new type of furniture might stay with you but at the same time constantly take you on a journey,” Fred explained, showing me one of his first creations, a trunk designed as a mini garden for Bonsai trees. In this way, the trunk becomes a symbol that helps you connect with the emotions you feel when on an adventure of discovery. You can see this in another one of his creations, a small trunk that holds the famous Brompton folding bicycle, a whimsical project that he had long wanted to do.
This is where the creative juice comes in. As soon as you redefine the object to connect to an emotional experience, you break the boundaries of its usage and make it a symbol of our human need to escape. “It could also be an object that helps you travel through your life with fond memories,” Fred added. “Take this trunk for a two year old baby, with its mystery drawers where the child can hide his shoes or other personal things. This trunk will stay with that person forever, even to be passed on to another generation.” I realized that I was hearing something different from this designer. His work is not just about aesthetics or selling stuff but perpetuating a tradition, stimulating people in their imagination, and helping them realize a dream even if only virtually.
And Fred’s atelier is truly a place of dreams come true, a place where there is no limit on how far you can think and create quality innovation. A picnic trunk with a lid that converts into a table is yet another example, a “picnic without concession,” as Fred likes to say. Among the many items included in the trunk are an Isotherm container that keeps ice for 24 hours, handmade plates and cups from cold porcelain master Rena Menardi, steel and glass containers from WMF, a Bounds salt and pepper grinder with three grind settings, an Alfi thermos, and a cashmere plaid blanket for comfort on the grass. And, of course, you have drawers for your Krug champagne and crystal flutes to match.
His accessories show the same creative spirit. His bag “The Kilt,” inspired by the famous Scottish apparel, has a small purse on the side that can be detached and customized in various colors. His custom-made crocodile shoes for Nike are unique and special, and to design them he completely disassembled an original Nike shoe and put it back together in the most precise manner. “Customization of a model, limited to a single person and not to be seen on anyone else, is the true spirit of luxury and a trade that has disappeared,” says Fred. His design talent is being recognized in other applications now, such as a new knife design commissioned by Hyatt for its luxury hotels, and his latest trunk, an homage to Mies van der Rohe.
After five years in his 8,000-square-foot atelier, Fred and his 15 craftsmen continue to carry out his dream of pleasing those who can’t be easily pleased. Being a craftsman is not an easy task, but if you look around Paris today you can see a variety of shops, from patisseries to boulangeries, that are renewing the science of the handmade and the mystique of one-of-a-kind experiences. People are seeking out this human touch, another example of which is Etsy.com, the successful website where artists and craftspeople sell truly compelling handmade goods. It seems we are looking more and more for symbols that can offer us an escape, to take us away from the processed life we get led into.
The Web helped Fred launch his business, but he is quick to note that his generation was born to it and the possibilities it created. Gen-Xers want fix the world, and even if they can’t, they will at least try to bring back to it an element of sanity and authenticity. After all, the original purpose of branding was to tell a real story in a compelling way, not to inspire fake dreams of a reality that doesn’t exist anymore. Gen-X might then have an alternative message to inspire us, a message of truth.
Anybody can indulge themselves with something from Pinel & Pinel, from a purse or wrist cuffs to summer shoes, bags, dog leashes, cigar holders (including an innovative cigar box with a unique humidification system), belts with a uniquely designed buckle for improved fit, and credit card holders in hundreds of colors. But if you are truly fortunate and money is not an object, this designer can help you realize any dream that can be made with crocodile skin, leather, wood and brass.
DASSAULT SYSTEMS DESIGN STUDIO: A LABORATORY OF FUTURISTIC IDEAS
Entering the CATIA Design Studio at Dassault Systems in Paris is like entering the future. What started as the most powerful 3D software systems in the world is also evolving to become an instrument of human progress.
Here comes Anne Asensio, former design executive at Renault and General Motors, who is giving engineering culture the design vision and human touch it deserves, and bringing CATIA technology to social, medical and human factors applications. Says Asensio, “If it can be visualized in 3D, then it becomes real. Virtual reality is a powerful way to bring to life the abstract power of ideas to make them real.”Check http://www.3dvia.com/
In the midst of a technology-driven company, Asensio has created design-oriented and interactive groups whose role is to bring the human factor into every equation. Some of her innovative ideas for the future include creating an online museum of new design creations, and using the web as an alternative space for collaboration, where team members can be more who they are. She also wants to bring 3D to the Web to offer it the third dimension it now lacks, and push the concept of online “Live Humans” formally known as Avatars, to become ever more like their human counterparts.
It starts with CATIA (Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application), originally developed by Dassault as an open platform to allow engineers, designers and manufacturers to work collaboratively on the same playing field, breaking down the barriers and silos typical of a normal pyramidal organization. With CATIA, all actors on a project can see everyone else’s progress, allowing manufacturers, engineers and designers to push, bend or leverage the combined knowledge in real time to achieve the greatest efficiency over the life cycle of a project. “Merging imagination and reality is a powerful approach because the information is shared,” says Asensio.
And sharing is what Anne Asensio is all about, particularly when she thinks about how consumers can also be part of the creative process. She experienced this first hand in the automotive industry, where the silo structure is disconnected from the market, leading to many missed opportunities and marketing failures. She says, “By bringing in consumers early in the process through 3D visual simulation, you have a direct contact with their dreams. By engaging them from the start in a collaborative intelligence, you reduce your risks.”
We are moving from seduction through branding to a relationship with consumers or clients right from the start.
If I understand Asensio well, this means that the old top-down model of product creation will be replaced by a greater responsibility towards people and their aspirations. For designers it means moving from style and aesthetics towards responsibility, the love of a product and its integrity. A big marketing revolution is already on the way, with humanist ideals and eco-design integrated into a new industrial production model.
“Mass production is out,” says Asensio. “The car industry has learned its lesson, and the ability to manufacture products with the same or greater margins is now available through technology.” Asensio cited a Chinese company that decided to make their products in France because a new high tech factory in France would surpass the cost savings and productivity possible in China. With machines that can adapt to changing demands and have the flexibility to evolve, the result is “an intelligent production model,” according to Asensio, with CATIA as part of the answer. “Why go to India or China when you can be competitive at home with this new technology?”
CATIA and its virtual 3D high quality experience has already helped Frank Gehry who was an architect who “ just wanted to do curves” innovate in architecture by virtually testing new materials like titanium, enabling him to push the limits of creative possibilities. The Dassault 7X, a new private airplane, has been virtually designed using CATIA, proving that our limitations can constantly be broken by our imagination.
“The virtual is a material like any other,” says Asensio, who sees many more opportunities for CATIA beyond just building private airplanes. In the field of medicine, for example, a virtual 3D world can help an amputee train their brain to “forget” about the lost limb, eliminating some of the painful effects that follow such a trauma. We can model complex body parts, such as the eye, to help medical professionals better understand the secrets of the human body. All challenges can be taken on in this virtual world. “Why not recreate the sensation of speed?” says Asensio, “Or alleviate the fear of flying by training people in virtual reality? Therapy, physical therapy or even education can be made more effective through high level virtual reality.
With a better understanding of the brain, we start looking at life the same way we look at the universe and its infinite possibilities. 3D technology is not new, as Asensio is quick to point out, but the experiences you can create with it are just beginning to have an impact on human issues. This is one of the challenges Dassault Systems is accepting.
From physical to virtual, from material to immaterial, the bending of reality as we know it.
It is the time to be flexible enough to understand a changing world, where technology is now meeting with the power of the imaginary and expand our vision, “ We are not getting smaller or flatter ” says Anne “ with 3D we are expanding our human world ”. If CATIA delivers on its potential to connect science with life, we have yet another tool to bend our lives into a new reality if we want to. People are demanding a new promise, one that takes them to a new level of experience rather than limiting our lives with commodity thinking, services and products that do nothing more than fulfill a financial objective. We have to project ourselves into the future and better understand it. With technology, we can follow demand in real time, or even be ahead of it.
The world is changing fast. “Nobody should forget the Titanic,” Asensio points out. “I was so taken by the process of this ship sinking, first the shock and then the realization: Who would think that something drastic could happen to this powerful boat? But then slowly, the ship starts to take water and slant aft a bit, taking on more water. Really bad, but help is on the way. Then the nosedive – you see the ship upward, disappearing fast nose down. It is mesmerizing to see how quickly it is over.”
STEALING BRAND ASSETS WITH TOTAL IMMUNITY
Knocking off others people ideas or products is not new, manufacturing copy cats of leading brands has always be around but the awareness by consumers on how badly this type of illegal buying could impact their economy and their pocketbooks just don’t resonate yet.
“Jobs are being lost to illegal production, unsafe products and medication are flooding markets without people’s knowledge on their origin , even highly technical car spare parts are being replaced by dangerous one” Says Christine LAI, the General Manager of the Union des Fabriquants in Paris whose goal is to promote intellectual property rights. “Medication is coming from sources that don’t get any official supervision and we tend to forget that the Crocks or Havaiana’s copies we may have found at a lower price could be made with unsafe products that will hurt our skin or create debilitating lesions.”
Hey! We all feel good and smart when getting a good bargain bypassing those brands that we believe overcharge us anyway with their luxury goods, a way for us to circumvent the system and go the “source”. “Maybe a laughing matter for many but a legal one for me” impressed on me Christine Lai in our interview in Paris .She brought forward to me the magnitude of the problem particularly with the growth of the internet and commerce online. Indeed in the age of brick and mortar the damage was somewhat contained, on line it is exponential. She showed me on Ebay illegal products being sold and she browsed through a few websites to show me where Nike shoes that are fake are sold as original. ( one site even prides itself on selling only authentic products). The fraud is staggering. Fake Ipods and iphones are populating the web sphere and brands are being trampled by the onslaught. Think of this as fake money being flooded on an economy, it could destroy it.
In light of Google’s victory on the inclusion of keywords that correspond to certain trademarks, luxury brands fear that this decision will open a wider door to the sale of counterfeited products on line. Not a good news when 200.000 jobs are already being lost in Europe with an annual financial loss for France to be 6 billions euros. Over 178 million products have been seized in the 27 members state of the European Union in 2008, a rise by 126% comparing to 2007. The tsunami is just starting and the money is being made in shanty towns around the world by underground bosses with no scrupul.
“Textile products and shoes are still in the lead of ranking of copies but we observe a very worrying phenomenom: over 463.000 hygiene products, cosmetics and perfume and over 881 205 fake drugs have equally been seized” says Christine LAI
The amazing thing is that the industries concerned are fighting the problem through legal means leaving the public completely in the dark about those problems. Given the apathy that exists with consumers vis a vis what is perceived by many as fat cat brands there is little emotional compassion to help. This is where the brands need to change, regain the public trust, show the importance of buying the real thing and move people in their direction or the problem will get uglier and uglier when considering the speed and agility of the counterfeited manufacturers.
Here are some actions that will truly help change the tide.
1) Brands should move aggressively to make consumers partners in this fight as they are the one that can make the biggest difference.
2) Brands have to have a strategy in social media in order to own the dialogue on the web around the danger of counterfeiting and establish their credibility there.
3) Brands have to have to have an emotional connection with people beyond the legal fights that are beyond anybody’s reach.
4) Brands have to encourage people to vouch for their brand authenticity and establish their credibility.
5) Brands have to fight where the enemy is , on the web not with traditional media
This is no laughing matter . At the Union des Fabriquants there is a small museum filled with some of those counterfeited goods for everyone to see. Those products that did not make it trough customs are a real experience in understanding the depth of the problem. Let’s hope that it symbolizes a contained problem and not the worst to come. When our recovery hinges on people’s consuming power we can’t let this happen or the fake goods will have their own museum on what used to be genuine products, the real brands….albeit dead.
l’Union des Fabriquants is a Paris based organization that help global companies such as Nike, Dior , Vuitton, Hermes, Peugeot and Renault to fight for their intellectual property rights.
IN ST NAZAIRE, FELICE VARINI PAINTS THE TOWN RED
When traveling around the world, I always go up to the roof of my hotel to look at the city landscape. I am always amazed to see the amount of empty space that represents a potential blank canvas for artistic expression.
It is easy to imagine what the look of a city could be, with the help of landlords, government and corporations, if it became an outdoor museum unto itself. This idea had occurred to me many times before, but I actually found it in St. Nazaire, an industrial harbor town in France, a city that took on the challenge of transforming a docking zone into a work of art.
Inaugurated in 1856, this industrial harbor was fortified by the Germans as a submarine base during World War II. Leaving behind the scars of military fortifications and the risk of seeing this part of the city die, the city saw an opportunity in those ugly structures and the vast spaces they offered, a place for cultural events that could bring life to this part of town. But not until recently did the city realize that the adjacent and active dock zone could itself be part of that cultural movement. Why not connect a city with its current industrial reality in a positive way, through art?
The challenge of transforming one of the ugliest and uninteresting parts of the city into a stage for artistic movements was daunting, but ultimately brought thousands of visitors and made this dead part of the city alive again.
With the help of artist Felice Varini and the support of local businesses, a painting superimposed over a few buildings across the harbor created a larger than life painting that is among the most fascinating street art I had ever seen. As you walk across the vast space where the painting is spread, you appreciate the various elements that range over several buildings, only coming together as one painting when seen from a designated area on one building’s roof. From this vantage the painting, spanning over two kilometers, reveals itself in its entirety and impresses the viewer with its magnitude and breadth.
SOCIALIZING LUXURY BRANDS BY ANNELIZA HUMLEN
Now as the economy begins to rebound, marketers anxiously await the opportunity to “get back to business.” Many will defy the need for change and stay within their marketing comfort zone – attempting to do more with less. For others, they will heed the lessons learned and will attempt to institute change for the better, where ever possible. But for some, such as luxury brands, who have managed to remain relatively strong during the recession, they must not upset the balance of their success. To do so, they need to carefully understand the drivers of their success in order to sustain, and hopefully leverage going forward in this new economy.
First, when evaluating the world of luxury, we need to analyze the word and definition attributed to “Luxury.” It used to be that luxury brands and market segments traded on “aspiration” and played a “badge-like” role in the lives of the consumers. Think back to the Polo world of Ralph Lauren, it may not have been real or attainable – but it was an association that can be “acquired”. In many ways we can look to this era of traditional luxuries as one that succeeded because it was a “push” driven economy. During the 80’s-90’s such “push” of lifestyle and aspiration was accepted, and welcomed by consumers – both mass and luxury.
Today, the mode of communication between brand and consumer is more about a “push and pull” type of exchange. This interaction is a process, but more so an engagement success criteria that should not be thought of as irrelevant for luxury brands. Rather, it’s an opportunity for luxury brands to capitalize on today’s meaning of “luxury” and leverage their role within a consumer-driven society.
Today’s luxury brands represent opportunities for consumer self-identification, personal expression, entertainment, satisfaction and reassurance. People seek out luxury brands not because of the opportunities or promotions they offer (i.e. contests, or giveaways), rather it is because of the brand’s ability to reinforce their emotional needs such as power, security, optimism, control and comfort (If you’ve ever read the consumer accolades on Stuart Weitzman’s Zappos boutique, you will see exactly what I mean. In today’s socially infused world, luxury brands represent a unique promise – one that is about potent personal reassurance, and a truly consumer-centered perspective.
So when you consider some of the strong numbers being reported during the recession by high-end fashion or by premium retail segments (representing a predominantly female consumer audience), you begin to understand the perceived “necessity” and intrinsic value that these brands hold.
This “added value” in luxury branding is not monetary, but emotionally and experientially driven. Examples of successful luxury brand tactics are “first to know,” exclusive invitation, membership and opportunity to identify with, and personal attention to detail- just to name a few. It’s no wonder that the finest hotels in the world understand that not only do you need to address a guest by their name, but you must also make the effort to remember their stay preferences. How else will a guest believe that in fact they are staying in a luxury hotel?
Looking ahead at the future of luxury brands and their role within social media, I suggest the following points to keep in mind in order for luxury brands to secure/sustain success:
1) Utilize social media to help your brand overcome perceived arrogance. Remember that in this new consumer-driven economy, brand arrogance may be ignored, but eventually so will your brand.
2) “It’s never too late to change” and evolve your brand. Social Media is relatively new, so your audience will be forgiving if you are late to the party. But if you never show up for it… well that is another story.
3) Remember that you are not your father. Nor does this generation of consumers, want you to act that way. The age of baby boomer, didactic, one-way communication is over. Time to spend as much time listening and engaging and being sincere about your interest.
4) Think outside of your box and move beyond thinking about your brand as either bricks or clicks. Consumers get bored very easily, remember that luxury is part entertainment, so you need to find ways to constantly engage their attention and retain their loyalty
5) Give them something to talk about. Every great experience makes for a great story. Stories represent opportunity for buzz and therefore social media sharing. Give your audience a positive reason to do the talking for you.
6) This consumer-driven economy means that if it’s less about you (brand). You need to start sharing the spotlight with the people who have made you.
At the end of the day, luxury brands cannot be defined according to right brain associations such as demographics, price-points and distribution channels. Rather, luxury brands represent the left brain dynamic which is about a person’s emotional, sensorial and experiential satisfaction. And although this part of our thinking defies logic, it does respond to the need for communication and community.
Anneliza Humlen is an industry leading brand strategist/Evangelist for new media communication who has worked with a broad range of retail brands over the past 15 years across mass and luxury categories. Her work spans branding for everyday luxury retail such as Nordstrom, large ticket luxury purchases such as BMW, and luxuries that even most affluent individuals dream of, such as the $40 million dollar next generation business jet brand Falcon 7X.
WHEN STREET ART MEETS BOURGEOIS CULTURE...NO PHOTOS PLEASE!
Founded in 1984, The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris “was conceived as a laboratory where contemporary artists would be free to create innovative new work,” according to a publicity brochure. Without saying so, another important objective of the Fondation is to promote the elite Cartier brand, with its Fortune 500 clientele.
With their latest exhibit, “Born in the Streets,” a show on graffiti art, Cartier might have really stretched themselves too far in trying to associate their elite brand with a subversive art form.
Following the Helenbeck Gallery’s dramatic and highly successful show in New York featuring some of the same artists, Cartier recognized, albeit in a very traditional museum style, the importance of street art as a language younger generations use to make their voices heard.
Still, most of Cartier’s clientele would recoil at the thought of having their house tagged, so I found it ironic that Fondation Cartier produced a little booklet for kids with tips on how to become a good graffiti artist. This touches upon a naïve belief held by some in elite circles that graffiti is an aesthetic exercise instead of the expression of a wrenching struggle by minorities to remind the rest of society that they exist.
The fact that the price of entry to the show was too expensive for most anyone from the parts of town where this art originally flourished, and that you were forbidden to take pictures of the paintings, shows how much Cartier missed the point. Cartier might have successfully offered the cheap thrill that makes for good conversation among its clientele, but failed to convey the spirit of street art, which is an ephemeral and rebellious message broadcast in the street for everyone to see… for free.
Ultimately, however, it did a powerful thing by helping to bring street art a level of recognition it deserves. Mon Dieu!
NOSTALGIA
In July 2009 People’s Magazine came with a new issue on the 70”s and it’s innovative spirit. That same year a film on Amelia Earhart’s life is hitting the bigscreen bringing back for Women and Men what it took to live an independent and adventurous life. If we ad that Coke designed it’s iconic can with the starsand stripes of the American Flag for the 2009 Fourth of July you know that the brand is going back to it’s root and powerful heritage of Happiness.
Emotionally the amount of material goods that has spoiled us for the past decade is making us reconsider our reality, bring home how those “things” we consume impact the environment and make us look back for examples in our past history that are truly inspiring. We love those people who stood for something larger and are in awe with the magic the old brands could share with us. Are we unsatisfied? I can’t answer that question but I know that we are missing something that is genuine and true. We are seeking more trust and truth.
Being nostalgic while keeping a eye in the future is a great strategy for brands. Keep on inventing, but make sure that you do it with the values most people associate with a positive, happy and constructive outlook on life.
THRILLER.
Michael Jackson is not with us anymore and I was in Los Angeles the day he passed away. We went that evening to the hospital at UCLA to witness the crowd and the “fans” of the musical prodigy. I found a crowd of all ages here to participate together in the mourning of a musician that created so many memories for them. Some reminisced their first concert, others how his music brought a little sunshine in their lives. The man has left us, the music will stay and with it our best “souvenirs”.
Check out my Flickr photos.
S.P. STREET ART IN L.A.
Curated by Choque cultural the famous street art gallery in Sao Paulo, Scion Installation L.A. presents Brazilian street art artists, Calma, Carlos Dias, Ramon Martins, MZK, Silvano Mello, Speto, Titi Freak & Zezao.
Opening on February 28, 2009 till March 28, this show celebrates the energy of an emergent artistic movement in Sao Paulo. A film by self taught artist Calma on painting a small village in Bahia re-enforce the idea that Art’s new museums might be the streets, our houses, our place of worship or even the cemetery.
Carlos Dias pure power paintings bring the decorative, the absurd and his musical inspiration to the fore in a explosion of colors and graphics that challenge your reality. Silvana Mello’s work communicates powerfully through our feelings and Zezao, a calligraphic painter famous for his activities in sewers reveals that beauty can exist in the most challenging places.
Scion Installation L.A. 3521 Helms Avenue. Culver City.
OBAMERICANA.
"Americana" describes the interpretation of the colors and graphics of the American flag in lifestyle, fashion or political products. In America, the national flag is a cherished source of pride, and many citizens see the flag as a symbol of their personal freedoms.
Unlike some countries, the American flag is not just an untouchable symbol of state power but rather represents people's love of their country. Although the treatment of a "real" flag is strongly guided by custom (flag burning remains controversial, for example) creative interpretation of the flag's design in commerce, social events or political functions is not just accepted but welcomed. The more the better, it seems.
During Barack Obama's inaugural celebration, we looked for Americana and found some truly interesting interpretations that used the flag in a fresh and positive manner. Showing those colors seemed to make everyone feel hope again.
A CROWD IN THE COLOR OF HOPE.
On a day not to be forgotten, two million people were present to witness the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as President of the United States. It was an historic moment not only celebrated across the country but also watched closely by people all over the world.
And what a crowd it was. In freezing cold temperatures, I felt like a part of a growing mass of people in a state of grace, even though most spectators had waited shivering for hours before the event began. Amazingly, no arrests of any consequence were made, and everyone I encountered was courteous and helpful. Even in the worst moments of waiting, and despite the inevitable logistical failings brought on by the tsunami of visitors, everyone showed a patience that would have been unimaginable anywhere else...including New York.
At no time did I see people who were fearful, frustrated or angry. A few attendees had to be treated for hypothermia and others just could not stand the cold, but overall, there was not a sense of frustration, despite not always knowing where to go or having room to move. Instead, the human river took on a life of its own, becoming its own intelligence, moving as a unit to what seemed to be right thing to do, driven with a common purpose. It was the strangest experience I ever had, a well-behaved crowd of people who knew instinctively where to go with practically no guidance.
Some in the crowd were children - not just those who came to DC but also those children around the world who perhaps slipped into a neighbor's house to cluster around a lone TV. These children have now seen for themselves what unites us, and some will be inspired to lead. More still will come to believe that hard work, education, a strong will and hope can get them somewhere. But after sharing this experience, surely none of these children will ever see the world in black and white.
We all came together for a day, and we will come together again, one powerful and emotional idea at a time. Hopefully, we will become that best kind of crowd: moving together peacefully with a common purpose, a sure sign that we are progressing as a human race.
A PIN FOR YOUR THOUGHTS.
Being in Washington on Inauguration Day was a singular and uplifting experience, amazing in its diversity. In the vast crowd, I could see large numbers of young people who had traveled a long way to their nation's capital, African-Americans who felt vindicated for a horrendous history of slavery, and visitors from all over the world here to express their silent vote.
On that historic day, what they all had in common was the need to express what they believed and felt. Curiously, pins seemed to be a common answer. No wonder, since pins are fun and easy to wear - some wore them with a passion, given the quantities that adorned their clothing. T-shirts can also make strong statements, and tattoos even more so, but in such cold weather a pin is it! On the Mall, you could see pins in all languages and colors - some as elaborately crafted as jewelry and others designed in different sizes from very large to truly tiny. Pepsi - a visible participant in the event, as I noted before - had the smallest pins, simply sporting its new logo.
As I looked over the crowd of hundreds of thousands who had been patiently waiting since the earliest morning hours to claim a part in what they believed would be the political event of their lifetimes, I could feel their collective emotions.
But the pins, silent in the noisy celebration, were the best expression of people's individual emotions wanting to be differentiated and shared. Everyone needs a little love and craves having their voice recognized. Love was plentiful here in Washington, and the pins were here for each one of everyone's thoughts.
FROM UNKNOWN TO REVERED IN TWO YEARS.
THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN ANALYZED THROUGH THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF EMOTIONAL BRANDING.
Barack Obama's amazing rise is one of the most phenomenal stories in recent history. Other American presidents, such as Jack Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, came from similarly modest notoriety, but what sets Obama apart is the expectation that he has stirred and the barriers he has broken, one of which would have been unthinkable only a few years ago: race.
People went for the emotions, for the hope and the change that are built into America's DNA. Compared to other nations, Americans just feel different about their country's mission as the main guardian of freedom in the world. And for many people across the globe, the USA is still the ultimate guarantor of a world that can give an equal chance to all. Now, millions of children from South America to Africa, from France to Japan, have seen an American election that has given them a new spark and a new reason to believe that we are progressing as a human race.
As a hint of things to come, let's look at the Obama campaign as applied to the 10 Commandments of Emotional Branding. You'll see that, unlike many brands, the Obama campaign hits on all the right emotional connections.
1- From consumers (voters) to people.
Not special interests, but people. In the second quarter of 2008: 258,000 people, with as many as 110,000 on the Internet, bring $32 million into Obama's coffers. Starting in February, $1 million a day was donated to the campaign [ Obama by Marc kravetz. Dalloz ]
2- From product to experience.
Two books, two compelling stories. The Obama brand had a tone of gravitas and intellect, as opposed to the McCain camp's appropriation of Joe the Plumber.
3- From honesty to trust.
Obama had made a tough call: "Don’t go to war." Obama stood up for sincerity at a time when most stand for nothing outside of focus group-approved strategies.
4- From quality to preference.
McCain was a respected hero from the past, but Obama was seen as the future.
5- From notoriety to aspiration.
"Yes we can." Obama shifted the message from fear to hope, a message ultimately about being loved.
6- From identity to personality.
"We are the United States of America." Obama took pains to define a greater public call, not just the agenda of the Democratic party.
7- From function to feel.
The "Yes We Can" acceptance speech was viewed on YouTube by 15,283,062 people; McCain's concession speech had 300,000 viewers. [As of January 2009 ]
8- From ubiquity to presence.
Total transparency. Sarah Palin was ubiquitous but disingenuous, while Barack Obama connected with authenticity. The choice of street artist Shepard Fairey to design Obama’s official campaign portrait also connected with youth. Watch our video about Fairey here.
9- From communication to dialogue.
The campaign talked to us on a personal level (a community of influencers estimated as close to 2 million people), with the Web as the rallying point and a channel for participation.
10- From service to relationship.
With the idea that we are all in it together, Obama created Organizing for America, a new group that will continue the campaign's grassroots momentum and give ordinary citizens a role in the changes ahead.
One thing is for sure: this campaign will change forever how brands communicate. It starkly revealed the limits of old (one-way) media and the power of the Internet as a way to reach out to communities. Successful brands of the future will be inspired by the novel, grassroots ways the Obama campaign created awareness, belief, compassion and purchase intent (sorry, voting intent) in millions of people in a very short time. Obama has proved that this is now the age of Emotional Branding, finally coming to life through bandwidth and technology in the most powerful way.
How do you see the Obama campaign through the 10 Commandments of Emotional Branding?
INAUGURAL OBSERVATIONS: THE MEANING OF BLUE
By most accounts, one to two million people will take over the big DC this week to participate in the most celebrated inaugural ever in America. What will that entail? First, the toilets!
Yes, they will be the most visible items on the Mall, one for every 300 people, according to the New York Times Take Patience and Good Shoes are already set up, and for some reason have left branding aficionados cold. No markings, no visible ownership. Except maybe the Pepsi van that’s inconspicuously present. Hmm! Those toilets are mostly blue…any underlying subconscious approach there?
INAUGURAL OBSERVATIONS: SHADOWING THE OBAMA BRAND
Arriving by train in Washington, D.C. from New York City, and then taking a ride on the Metro, I was struck by Pepsi and Ikea's new advertising efforts to connect their brands with President-elect Obama's campaign.
The idea of brands associating themselves with celebrities is not new, and connecting with living or dead legends has been a marketing tool used by many, including Apple most famously. In America, President's Day promotions leverage patriotism to try to sell cars, but is there a difference there? Should the Obama Story be out of bounds? Looking at the Pepsi and Ikea advertising, their direct approach felt odd to me and I thought, "Why couldn't they create their own 'Obama-ness' for themselves?"
I dismissed it, thinking, "What do I know? I might be the only one in that camp." That was, until I got this message on my blog from a Pepsi consumer:
"I was in Target a few weeks ago and noticed the change in the logo and my daughter and I both agreed it looked a little too much like the campaign logo. I told her I would never buy Pepsi again even in a restaurant. I think it is cheap and really arrogant of a long time brand to 'change' like that. They should have stayed out of politics. I have been buying Pepsi products since the 60's. Never again. Nothing will change my mind. I do not want a constant reminder in my house."
What do you guys think?
THE CURRENCY THAT WILL NEVER FEAR DEVALUATION IS "IDEAS".
As we launched this website the world of branding and the world in general is going through one of the most devastating moment in modern history. As we moved to a massive slow down of commerce and seeing the dreams of many evaporate with their brands.
If you are not the Vuitton or the Wallmart of the world you will suffer and see your customers walk away from your brand in mass. My first book emotional branding was published in 2001 in the midst of an another yet more limited crash the end of the technology bubble.
My logic at the time was that there is nothing to fear for those who invent and I claimed that ideas are the fuel for success and that ideas are actually the new currency when real currency has lost it’s value and meaning.
With this website I am going out with confidence and hope for the future at a time where new leadership can stimulate again those creators that change the reality. Of our lives. We will see again value coming from invention in new products not arcane schemes bent to bring about new financial disasters, when working for a brand will again become a source of pride instead of just oiling a machine for greed.
Emotionalbranding.com is the start yet modest of a thinktank where the best brains will meet and express themselves, where the best ideas will shine and the spirit of innovation will reign.
We will be there to stimulate you with material that will push your limits and comfort such as the decision by the mayor of Sao Paulo to ban all form of outdoor media or the power of the graffiti world as a movement that will define art in the future.
Our medium will be videos , they will bring a vivid take at the world of branding as it is experienced by people and lived by marketers. It will also bring forward those who are giving brands a bad name and spot the absurd downward spiral by some brands to lie effectively when in fact they hurt all of us.
We will bet on ideas as the new currency. Please join me in making this world a better brand.
MAKING THE PLANET A BETTER BRAND
Yves Saint Laurent, the French design legend regarded by many as the most stimulating fashion designer of the last century, left us recently at the age of 71. A Daily Mirror headline punned that he "went out of fashion," an elegant way to signal his passing but not particularly apt, since his legacy is sure to live on through generations of designers and creators.
Nobody will deny Yves Saint Laurent’s impact on women in the 60’s, but we may not recall that without him, women might not be wearing pants in such large numbers today. In the 60’s women were not even allowed to wear pants in some restaurants in New York City, of all places. Legend has it that when famous socialite Nan Kempner was refused entry to a restaurant for wearing pants, she retorted, “Fine, I will take them off,” and did so on the spot.
Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent’s lover and business partner, remarked in the Women’s Wear Daily tribute issue (June 3, 2008) that, “He transcended the merely aesthetic in fashion and penetrated social territory.” This is actually a very timely idea, as marketers today try harder to re-connect emotionally with their consumers.
Putting women into pants was not Yves Saint Laurent’s idea alone - Coco Chanel had an extraordinary role in changing a woman’s silhouette, and women during the Second World War wore pants to work in the factories deserted by men at war. What Saint Laurent did was to legitimize and promote the trend once and for all through his gender-bending fashion shows at a time when women wanted to change the world around them.
This fashion “detail” escapes most but I noted it wryly in watching the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nominee. Not only did we have two formidable women like Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama making history in the world spotlight, but they were comfortably doing so in pants!
The fascinating branding lesson here is that Yves Saint Laurent’s influence led millions of women around the world to make pants a part of their wardrobe, creating a market for that product that did not exist before. His inspiration and vision gave women the outward symbols of what they were feeling, to express their newfound freedom. By emboldening women with a new look, Yves Saint Laurent gave them another tool to change perceptions, and in doing so, connected them to his brand emotionally. In his own words, Saint Laurent wanted to “make women aware that they are women and give them supremacy,” and in this statement one can see how much of his success was based on his intuitive ability to tap into the emotions of the women for whom he designed.
In an indirect way, he might have created billions in revenue for the fashion industry with one single and powerful consumer insight. By tapping into an important transformative social drama, he challenged the status quo and invented a lasting product with a lasting market. Fortunes were made not only because somebody wanted to make money for money’s sake, but because a new product idea had crystallized a movement.
By challenging convention, Saint Laurent fostered change and progress. In a world where everything needs a financial justification, where monetary drivers are the primary motivating factor, he showed another side of business that was just as profitable but certainly more imaginative and insightful. In the above-mentioned WWD issue, Donna Karan summed it up well, saying, “he marked an era in fashion that was untapped before...he was not afraid to experiment, to show his creative passion…he took risks.”
For Yves Saint Laurent, making the planet a better brand meant inventing a new offering that helped women define themselves, bringing legitimacy to an article of clothing we now take for granted. We see this kind of thinking in other industries as well. Toyota’s hybrid car defied all logic to become a symbol of environmental responsibility and created a new class of consumers who are buying cars strictly for emotional and moral reasons. The Prius has forever changed how we see cars and has improved the brand cachet for Toyota’s other models. Small wonder that Toyota’s market capitalization is now equal to that of Ford, Chrysler and GM combined.
There are more examples: Apple’s foray into delivering songs online has revolutionized that market, and Unilever’s new vision of the beauty business with their Dove brand has expanded their customer base by helping women feel good about what they buy – and themselves. Deborah Adler, the young designer who invented a new container for prescription medication (now carried by Target), solved an information problem through a packaging solution that could save the lives of thousands by helping them avoid taking the wrong medication.
There are many more products and brands that have not yet been invented and therefore will not show up on the charts of traditional marketing research. We can’t predict when they will emerge or what impact they will have but, not unlike the contribution of a lone fashion designer, they are begging to be invented. Or discovered.
Making an impact on the world sometimes starts with such a simple idea as a pair of pants, a car that uses less fossil fuel or new drug packaging that saves lives. Brands make the greatest mark when they have conviction, audacity and a long-term vision of their impact on the world. Inspired concepts are the results of a deep knowledge of our society and an understanding of the trends that influence our purchasing behavior. The mission for brands should be to make their products reflect the reality of people’s inner challenges, and understand the universal desire to experience life to the fullest.
Besides, making the planet a better brand might also help you knock the pants off your competitors.
GRAFFITI: THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF REBELLION
Brands are always late in speaking the language of young consumers or expressing themselves with the right visual narratives. To be believed you have to have conviction, to be preferred you have to have audacity, and to connect with an audience you have to understand their values.
New generations need art and the creative process to propel the artistic rebellion that feeds their appetite for affirmation, or simply tests the elasticity of their minds. Shepard Fairey, the world-renowned graffiti artist turned communications entrepreneur for some of the best global brands, told me in an interview, “Young people are looking always towards a rebellious spirit they can make their own.” If you paint on a wall you can go to jail, he says, which gives you “cred” and legitimacy. “My reputation is based on the fact that I do take risks - young people appreciate that.”
Graffiti might be the voice of a generation that wants to welcome change. That has not escaped Barack Obama’s campaign strategists (brand managers, if you will), who commissioned Fairey to do a portrait of the candidate. Tapping into the rebellious style graffiti evokes to connect emotionally with a younger generation might only be symbolic at this point, but it shows the importance of mastering the visual vocabularies that can win the respect of a generation. “Art is not peace, it is war,” says a sign in Fairey’s gallery, and other graffiti artists will tell you that their mission is to forcefully reclaim the city’s visual landscape from what they consider the ugliest form of visual pollution, commercial advertising.
An idea not lost on the art world is that the most exciting artists and the most promising artistic cultures are no longer to be found at the Whitney Biennial, but in the unexplored street corners of Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Amsterdam or Athens, where artists are reclaiming the cityscape as their canvas. Brands, for their part, should take note of this evolution.
Looking back at all those brands that have failed to reach younger consumers, I am wondering if by working with artists like Shepard Fairey, Blek le Rat, Banksy or Os Gemeos, they would have found visual narratives that strike the right chord. In so many cases, it is not the art itself that inspires but rather the spirit behind the art. The true challenge for brand managers is to creatively harness their rebellious impulses to be in sync with their audience.
THE OLYMPICS, A PRIEST AND A NUN
The world watched with awe the spectacle of the 2008 Olympic Games. This year was particularly tense with China playing host, its moment in the spotlight at times overshadowed by international criticism of its policies: its human rights track record, its role in Tibet, environmental impact and suppression of a free press.
In the middle was the International Olympic Committee, which loudly proclaimed its commitment to peace while being seen by many as a passive supporter of China's ills. Before the games kicked off, I visited the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland and observed the kind of peace that the IOC passionately supports. On the lawn of their Olympic Museum, you can admire a sculpture by Carl Fredrik Reutersward called "Non-violence," depicting a gun with its barrel twisted into a knot. A plaque in three languages in front of the sculpture states, "In honor of the Olympic movement's unceasing efforts to create peace and non-violence through sport." Inside the museum itself, a special exhibit on the Beijing games is also quite an affair, repeating variations on its stated mission to promote peace and stimulate people's imagination through sports.
Still, in the middle of this brouhaha, the quaint Swiss town that headquarters the IOC and the Olympic Museum seemed not to be in sync with the rest of the world and was quite absent from the public debate over China. On the contrary, people in Lausanne seemed more interested by news of a local nature: a potential rise in capital gains taxes, the recent arrival of a Nescafe store, or the launch of a new Red Bull "cola" drink. Residents might prefer to browse a collection of European Cup products designed around the Swiss flag, or stop into The Outsiders, a boutique specializing in graffiti supplies.
However, a photography exhibit I saw at Elysee Lausanne (Le musee de l'elysee, un musee pour la photography) led me to wonder if the Swiss might have been addressing global politics in a subtler way. The exhibit, "Controversies," seemed to have momentum, garnering as much if not more interest and passion as the Beijing Olympics exhibit just next door. It forcefully addressed the challenges photographers face in preserving their freedom of speech when their work provokes controversy. To drive the point home, the Elysee Lausanne promoted the show all over the conservative town with the iconic photograph of a priest and a nun kissing, originally shot for a Benetton advertisement by Oliviero Toscani. What was described at that time by United Colors of Benetton as "the affirmation of pure human sentiment" seemed to draw a pretty good crowd.
At the Olympic Museum, it was bright and optimistic: all red and yellow, the national colors of China and the Beijing Olympics identity. You could pass under a yellow and red Chinese portico to enter the Olympic park and have lunch at the museum restaurant at tables decorated with yellow and red menus, place mats and napkins. By contrast, the photographic exhibit at Elysee Lausanne was set up in a loft-like atmosphere with little lighting and a lot of drama. The ambience was silent, dark, quiet and profoundly reflective.
I wondered if the timing and proximity of the Elysee Lausanne to the Olympic Museum revealed a quiet way the Swiss can make strong points without disturbing the social calm. Their message clearly goes one step further than the Chinese debate, or a passive yet powerful questioning of the IOC's role: Is freedom challenged everywhere?
Which leads me to ask: Are the Olympics losing control of their freedom to express what they stand for in a meaningful way? I think specifically of a documentary by Tom Jennings, a director who has spent three years covering the journey of the first Chinese Olympic baseball team, a bold entry from a nation that has no baseball league. To train this team, China sent athletes to Phoenix, Arizona to work with two American managers in preparation for the 2008 Games. It's a true, emotional story about harmony and fostering international friendship through the magic of sports, but, apart from a PBS program that aired during the games, the film received no attention from Olympic sponsors.
I'm sure there are many other stories like this that will never make it to the public - stories of hope, harmony, excellence and fairness. But good stories are so often suppressed if they don't align with national propaganda or fit into the superficial, adrenaline-driven ads produced by the corporate logo-divas.
So, dominated by global superpowers and equally powerful global brands, there is a wrong-headed war over the Olympic ideal: brand dominance versus hegemony. The public sees only the conflicting and violent news continually plastered on TV screens, with the dark side winning! Greed over idealism, cynicism over sincerity, power over humanism. Might the Olympics have unwittingly become the perfect vehicle to promote envy, anger and revenge?
Caught between demanding sponsors and national interests, the IOC seems like a football in a soccer game: important and essential, but anonymous and getting kicked around a lot. Of all the messages that will keep lingering after these - and future - Olympic Games, which one do you want your kids to remember? The ideals of the Olympics or the very few overpaid athletes, the violence of politics and the manufacturing of unattainable dreams by media machines? Should the IOC stay passive in the middle of those fights, or should it try to rise above the fray?
With the purported "threat" of China, a nation of 1.3 billion people eager to make the jump into the 21st century, we saw a lot of posturing, propaganda and patriotic nonsense, and we are sure to see more even now that the games are over. In the future, The IOC should rise about all this and draw their own conclusions, perhaps that non-violence is something that you can actually die for, and that the solution to violence is to continue to propagate a message of peace in the most powerful way. To have this impact the IOC needs to promote their message better than Nike or Adidas, better than the soft drinks, better than any of their sponsors because at the end of the day, they need to be the true hero.
I don't know if a priest kissing a nun in a fashion advertisement sent a bigger message than making the Beijing Olympics a poster child for all the ills of the world. But if, from quiet Lausanne, the IOC's message could remain the most powerful of all, it might create a cascade of positive behavior. It could be the sole message that stays with us forever, inspiring us, drowning out the cynical chatter - the message that will keep us going as the human race and in our own personal challenges.
It could make the planet a better brand.
ELASTICITY AND RIGIDITY
Recently I went to see “Design and the Elastic Mind,” the visionary design and science exhibit mounted by Paola Antonelli at MoMA, and it is still very present in my mind. It’s a case in point revealing how science and design can be so compatible - how they help improve the way we consume energy, solve human problems or create beauty, sometimes just through observing nature. The possibilities that the marriage of science and beauty revealed were amazingly compelling, and the exhibit might well be the most stimulating I have ever seen in design.
Just adjacent to it in the museum was a highly advertised exhibit called “Color Chart.” After seeing “Design and the Elastic Mind,” where I could freely photograph any pieces I wanted for my reference or to share later with friends, I was told by a guard at the color exhibit that, for copyright reasons (some of the work came from private collections), I wouldn’t be able to do the same there.
What a contrast, I thought: On one side, elasticity and an open platform, the democratization of ideas for everyone to share, and in the next room, rigidity. The limitations of bourgeois art loaned by collectors who went to all the effort to share their prized possessions with us common folk on one condition: no photos. God forbid…someone might just sell the images and they would not see a cent! How frightening would that be?
I noticed that “Design and the Elastic Mind” was packed, full of energy, amazingly dynamic, an atmosphere fueled by the presence and passion of visitors who could not help but express their pleasure. Imagination was in the air. “Color Chart,” on the other hand, was eerily empty when I was there, rigidly strange with a frightening vibe very much at odds with your expectations of an exhibit about the power, energy and vibrancy of color.
What a contrast, indeed, but also what a message. In art and design there will always be the world that inspires and stimulates us, versus the one that is bankable and destined for the vaults of auction houses or the graveyard of commoditized ideas. Fortunately, “Design and the Elastic Mind” is reminding us that art and creativity have long been about risk, imagination and pushing the limits of audacity, lest it become a mummified version of itself in a museum.