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Archive for the ‘Thursday Night Insight’ Category
Friday, May 16th, 2008
Director Nick Hague’s second Thursday Night Insight post takes a look at what the colours we adopt in both our personal and business lives really say about us.
If you want to get ahead, wear red.
Well I would say that wouldn’t I, being an avid Manchester United supporter, especially in the aftermath of their winning the English Premier League last weekend. However, it appears it might not be all down to the tantalizing skills of Ronaldo and Rooney but have something to do with the colour of United’s home kit. So say academics anyway who have analysed all the English Football League results since 1945. It seems that red is a testosterone-fuelled colour that exudes strength, aggressiveness and passion.
It must be said that my view might be slightly biased, but has the colour chosen for Manchester United’s home kit played a significant part in the club’s success; especially when viewed against their city rivals, Manchester City? And can the same be said when looking at other derby rivals? What about Liverpool and Everton or even Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – has colour influenced the historical path that these clubs have trodden? Even when looking further afield to the USA, attempting to determine who the best all-time NBA basketball team isn’t easy, but surely the 1995 Chicago Bulls team would come close, especially if viewed on the most games won in a single season.
Of course, there isn’t one deciding factor in success but colour does play a part and the same should be said within business. Branding is all about communicating the essence of your company, your products and your services to your own personnel and to the wider world. It is about letting existing and potential customers, and your staff, know what sort of company you are and what they can expect from you. It is an intricate process of combining visual communication with behaviour to create an image in the public’s mind of who you are.
Far too often, companies approach their marketing and logo creation in a very simplistic way. Many companies spend so much time focusing on second guessing their target market and don’t put enough resource behind market research to find out the market’s view on a brand, what it stands for and the brand personality. Branding research can deliver a wide range of colours that can be used differently to deliver consistency and powerful positioning in logos, corporate marketing, packaging and even uniforms. Take a look at the colours below and what they stand for:
- Red – strength, aggressive, passion, boldness
- Blue – regal, authority, dignity, security, faithful
- Orange - fun, cheeriness, warmth, positivity but can also look cheap if used on its own
- Green – environment, tranquility, health, freshness
- Pink - femininity, innocence, softness, health
- Yellow – optimism, motivated, energy, cheerful
- Purple - sophistication, spirituality, royalty, mystery
- Brown - earthiness and subtle richness
- White - purity, truthfulness, contemporary, refined
- Black – somber, serious, distinctive, bold, classic
- Grey - authority, practical, conservative
What does your corporate brand say to you and your market?
For more information about how B2B International and market research can help you and your company please visit our pages on branding and corportate positioning, or take a look at our white papers for information on branding in b2b markets.
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Thursday Night Insight, Nick Hague, Branding |
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Friday, May 9th, 2008
In his first Thursday Night Insight post, Research Executive Oliver Truman looks at how an unlabelled 170 year old beer serves to illustrate some important points on the nature of brands.
Belgium. Famous for fine chocolates, Brussels sprouts, statues of urinating children and also as the country that gave the world the Duffel coat. Furthermore, and contrary to the belief that it’s impossible to name 3 famous Belgians, it’s also the birthplace of Audrey Hepburn, Hergé and, erm, Jean-Claude van Damme. And all of this, without even mentioning that it arguably produces some of the best beer in the world.
I can certainly attest to this last point having visited the country recently – Not only is it a far more diverse country than it’s ever given credit for – it must also be said that the ale in Belgium is pretty good, too.
You may, at this point, be wondering where on Earth I’m going with all these misty-eyed (and, it could be said, dreadfully stereotyped) ramblings about the place. Well, it comes back to the beer…
You see, during my trip I was lucky enough to have sampled what is considered by many to be the finest beer in the world: Westvleteren Abt 12. This shining example of tradition over the depressing homogeneity of the modern world has been brewed by Trappist monks at the Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren for around 170 years, with little change in the methods or scale of production in that time. Indeed, production levels have remained static since about 1946, in spite of skyrocketing demand for the stuff and record levels of brand awareness.
The monks’ view is a pragmatic one – "We sell beer to live, and not vice versa", in the words of Brother Joris, the brewery director. To this end, the monks have never advertised their ale and it continues to be sold in unassuming, label-free brown bottles. The question then arises: how has the “brand” of Westvleteren been cultivated?
On first blush, the fact that I should even describe Westvleteren as a brand, and not a quaint cottage industry may be anathema to some. It is easy to simply think of brands as being constructed from logos, slogans and colour schemes all backed-up with global, wall-to-wall advertising in the manner of big consumer names like Coke or Nike.
This is anything but the case: instead, brands are probably best thought of as the consistent norms or values that become attached to a company or product. In all sorts of ways, brands are shortcuts for the feelings and connotations we all attach to particular commodities and entities.
In this respect, Westvleteren is just as much a brand as any other: The tradition and folklore surrounding the product, and the undeniable quirkiness that this brings, all serve to create a strong identity - the like of which many marketers would kill for. That said, it’s probably safe to assume that the monks of Saint Sixtus don’t see it this way.
And all of this has direct relevance for those operating in Business to Business markets. Very often in these more specialist, niche markets, the visual aspects of a brand may be less pertinent than to bigger, consumer-oriented multinationals. However, this isn’t to say that branding shouldn’t concern B2B companies – it just happens to be manifested in different ways.
Just like the wider public, industrial buyers purchase on the basis of trust. This means that other projections of a company’s ethos and values become especially important – and this may include, just as in the case of Westvleteren, the provenance of a product or an unusual story behind a company.
However, while all this is easy to assert, perhaps the most difficult part of cultivating a successful brand is firstly identifying precisely what an organisation’s strengths and core values are. With years of experience in helping organisations to build effective corporate identities, this is something that B2B International is pretty good at.
More information about branding is available through the following B2B white papers:
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Friday, May 2nd, 2008
In this, his first Thursday Night Insight blog post, Jason Zhang, Deputy General Manager of B2B International’s Beijing office, takes a look at stereotypes and preconceptions, and reiterates the importance local knowledge plays in understanding people’s opinions and perceptions. Presently working out of the B2B International UK head office, Jason knows first-hand that, in spite of some common ground, there is still plenty to talk about when the East meets the West…
Before coming to Manchester for a two month placement in our Stockport office, I went to see my uncle in my home town near Beijing to say goodbye. My uncle, who is nearly 70 years old, has worked his whole life as welder for a local pharmaceuticals manufacturer, and has never travelled outside of China. In spite of this, he does know the name of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and he knows Manchester to be the hub of England’s textile industry. However, he also asked me “Are there still a lot of people in London who suffer because of the heavy smog?” It surprised me that my uncle still thought London to be a heavily polluted city as I know that this has not been a real problem for some years now.
To be honest, I myself also have some preconceptions about the UK. Two Saturdays ago, I went to watch Stockport County play MK Dons at football. I was expecting to experience some sort of hooliganism but there were none there! I am not a football fan, but just thinking about English football makes the concept of hooligans spring to mind.
Let me tell you another funny story about myself. Some years ago, when studying for my Masters degree at the University of Hull, I did some shopping in the supermarket ASDA. At the cash point, the staff asked me “Cash back?” I was so excited to hear that, as in our country the supermarkets have some kind of lucky draw to reward their customers by giving them cash or vouchers. So I answered, “Oh great, how much can I have?” When I saw everybody in the queue laughing at me, I finally came to realise that there was something wrong with my understanding of the expression “Cash back”.
It is fair to say that everybody has got his or her own perceptions and opinions about the outside world. However, the most successful companies out there are those which are very good at continually listening to their customers and understanding their perceptions. In turn, these companies then inform their target audience with certain information via specific vehicles.
Let us look at the example of Carrefour, one of the most successful foreign supermarkets in China. The French operator opened 19 stores alone in 2007 across mainland China, with the total number of stores now standing at 109.
Some years ago, I supervised some customer satisfaction face-to-face study projects for Carrefour in Beijing. There I leaned that this French operator was the first supermarket in China to introduce live seafood displays of fish, crabs, prawns, etc in their stores. They understood through listening to local customers that Chinese people like live fish as they are fresh. Previously, the only place to buy live fish was in the open market. Now you can see, in all the Carrefour supermarkets in China, big glass tanks full of water where live fish and other water creatures are swimming around.
So, perhaps you should ask yourself - How good is your company at listening to customers and translating this into marketing campaign actions?
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Thursday Night Insight, Jason Zhang, Market Research China, International Market Research, Customer Satisfaction, Market Research |
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Friday, April 25th, 2008
In his first Thursday Night Insight post, research executive Russell Clarke assesses the challenges brought about by the new REACH legislation.
In business-to-business market research, we need to have a thorough understanding of the challenges that are faced by our clients and their respective industries. Being profitable, building customer relationships and raising awareness of the brand are regular challenges for all companies. Every so often, however, an industry faces a new challenge that has a major impact on every aspect of its business. The new REACH EU legislation is a perfect example of this.
REACH (or Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals) is a new system for controlling chemicals within Europe. The legislation aims to provide detailed information on potentially harmful chemicals throughout the supply chain. It potentially affects any company which is importing a substance into the EU on its own, in a mixture, or in a finished manufactured product on or above 1 tonne per year. This simple fact means that a huge proportion of the industrial market is affected.
Under this legislation, companies must provide a revised Safety Data Sheet for each "substance" and register this with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). An outline of these costs that was released in December 2007 indicates that registration will cost up to €31,000 for each individual substance. Registration will be phased in over a period of 11 years. Whilst there are discounts available for companies wishing to submit joint applications and for SMEs, it is clear that this will be an expensive exercise for all concerned. When you take into consideration the range of products manufactured or supplied by the large organisations within the chemicals industry, you start to see the kind of resources that will be required to comply with REACH.
Aside from the technical and administrative implications, a great many businesses will also be considering the ramifications this legislation will have on their supply-chain and on their customers.
For further information on the REACH legislation the following websites may be useful:
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Russell Clarke, Thursday Night Insight, Industrial Research, Industry News |
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
In her first Thursday Night Insight post, Marketing Manager Caroline Harrison reflects on how cultural differences hold the key to the success or failure of products or services across the globe.
After years of study and years of employment in the fields of marketing and market research, I would like to think that by now I understand the value of market research. After all, day-in day-out, I see clients discover things about their business, or their clients, or the markets in which they operate, which they had never known before; sometimes they already had an inkling and, naturally, sometimes market research proves that they were right all along. But equally often, the research we conduct for them throws up surprises.
Around this time last year I was struck by a bolt of lightening (metaphorically speaking, of course). In a flash I saw the true consequences of not carrying out market research before entering a new market.
I was living in Beijing at the time, working in the B2B International China office. Many things strike you as different in China, but I was fascinated to find that the whiter your skin, the more beautiful a woman is considered to be over there (dark skin is apparently associated with peasants who have to toil in the fields all day). This was great news for me since finally there was no pressure to frazzle myself on a sunbed or waste hours applying fake tan.
Not that I could fake it had I wanted to, and that’s my point in all this. Because here’s the thing; beauty products in China all contain whitening agents rather than the bronzing agents so many equivalent products in the UK contain nowadays.
Although I found this to be an interesting observation, more than that I couldn’t help but think how crucial local knowledge and cultural understanding are when looking to enter a new market.
Imagine some executive of a beauty products company sitting in his or her cosy office back in the UK. With the nation’s top-selling moisturiser (featuring tanning agent for that natural sunkissed glow, of course!) reaching saturation point in the local market, it looks like it’s time to launch the product abroad… So where would be good? What about China? After all, with 200 million 15-34 year old women at your disposal, just imagine the clamour for this hugely popular product… And just imagine the profits that would come rolling in…!
Of course, I now know that the reality would be somewhat different. Without investigating the market in advance, this ambitious executive would have one of the costliest and most momentous product launch failures of all time on his or her hands.
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Caroline Harrison, Thursday Night Insight, Market Research China, Market Assesment |
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