The shops are now open a few weeks, and the general consensus seems to be that they’re a flop. This is a bit difficult to say with complete certainty, but going through the comments of people actually based in Japan, it looks to be the case. What was the reasoning behind this marketing stunt? And what are the reasons for its failure?

Primarily, McDonald’s is rather misplaced in Japan with its credo of bigger is better. If you know Japanese Sushi then you know that for them smaller is better. Eating is an art form there and that claim is certainly anybody’s but McDonald’s. As Japanese go rather for first class raw fish than second class overcooked meat, it’s a permanent uphill struggle to get them to accept healthy western culture cheaply packed and containing an indefinable gluey substance called cheese.

Hamburgers and other items sold in Japan are not smaller than in the States as sometimes stated. But taking into account the Japanese preference for Bonsai culture maybe they should. To go against this ingrained reticence in eating by introducing them to the quarter pounder seems like an insurmountable hurdle. Going no brand and playing on natural human curiosity was therefore a major strategic ploy. It definitely spoilt it for anybody else for the future. So it’s certainly not going to set trends.

When playing with human curiosity, there has to be an ahhhh at the end. This ah should have a rising pitch. McDonald’s Japanese adventure has already produced this ah, and the pitch definitely went in the opposite direction. What looks from a marketing point of view like a major coup is turning into a media disaster. Nobody is more unforgiving than a misled human being, and this could have impact on overall turn-over for McDonalds in Japan, now that the secret is out.

What makes me absolutely sure that it was a major failure is the blogging content on the net. There is still a lot of blogging going on about it, mostly negative. I found one blog plus translations of it where it sounds like the absolute opposite happened and people were queuing for block to get in. These blogs all use the pictures of Neil Duckett, but without acknowledging his authorship or giving reference to his blog. To me this looks like shoring up broken dams.

What it winds down to: A major flop produced by one of those over clever marketing gurus was backed by a marketing executive with a bloated ego has cost millions and will cost millions more in lost turn-over. If the executive doesn’t get a bonus, he at least will get the golden handshake when he leaves. All paid gracefully by the costumers of McDonalds, who pay first class prices for second class food.

1. Sell the Hummer brand! Yes I said it. Get rid of I, if they can. If GM can salvage any money out of this name sake then they need to jump on that. If this is not an option, then I would just say bye bye.

2. No more Buick! Who buys these cars anyways? Young people are not purchasing Buicks. Older people would rather buy a Cadillac. I am 29 years old. I am never going to buy a Buick. Anyone who would have bought one must have been drinking that day.

3. No more GMC Truck! I am sounding repetitive now I know. For those of you that do not know, a GMC truck is a Chevy with a different grill, wheels, and maybe interior parts. The line is redundant. I would suggest offering an upgrade to the Chevy line to satisfy those buyers.

4. Build a inexpensive car younger people want to drive! You know why young people end up driving foreign cars? Because there are no cars made by GM that they can aspire to own. Future car buyers do not dream of one day owning a Cobalt. Because of this they fall for foreign automobiles that they love and become hooked on their products. GM needs a cool car! I would simply shrink a Cadillac CTS to the dimensions of a Cobalt. Next I would put the supercharged 4 cylinder in it as the base engine. This needs to be done for less than 22k. I would also offer an upgraded all wheel drive version starting somewhere in the upper twenties.

5. Require all dealers to sell all brands. This would mean that I could walk into a place and see every model the company has to offer. Your chance of selling a customer something is much higher. You now have a car for every possible situation right on your lot. This also allows for constriction of the dealer network, something that is needed.

6. Hire Someone under 40 to be the face of GM! I would suggest going right to Toyota or Honda for this. Whoever is the force behind Scion would do just fine, if they are under 40. Let’s face it people over the age of 40 are set in their ways. Your not going to turn them into GM people if they have been buying another brand forever. GM needs a young, hip, visionary. No more old “car guy” Take a hint from the country electing Obama.

7. Gm needs a 35 mpg full sized car! I am not talking a hybrid. I do not want to spend an extra 10-20 percent on my car to make it a hybrid. Anyone that has a brain or a calculator would soon know that it would take them years to break even, if ever. GM needs a true gasoline powered 35 mpg sedan. One that 4 adults can ride in. I drive a Saturn Aura, nice, it gets about 30 mpg highway. Close but no cigar.

8. Put a 4 Cylinder in a full sized truck! Blasphemy you say. Most people do not haul a huge heavy load with there trucks. People just like the way they look and occasionally want to hall a couch around town. I thing the 4 banger with a supercharger and the right rear end setup and torque converter would do just fine. Maybe a 4 Cyl diesel with a turbo as most of them have. This would allow for the necessary torque. Point is that in a few years people are going to want their trucks back. I have been without mine for a year and half and I am going crazy. Make a full sized truck that gets 25 mpg and you’re the truck selling giant you once were.

9. Your going to have to not pay your employees as much! I hate to say this. My father is a GM employee. Would one rather have a pay cut or no job. Yes in many cases new hires are paid much less than their formers. Everyone needs to take a pay cut. Most of you people do not know how this company works. It is standard practice to lay 5 guys off and then have the remaining 5 guys work 80 hours a week. You can thank the UAW for that.

10. Once again, market yourself to the younger buyer! GM is losing young people in droves. They buy there first car and it’s a Honda or a Toyota. Maybe a VW. Your never getting these younger people back. They do not worry about the older people, that’s what Lexus is for. GM needs to make younger hipper automobiles that the youth can fall in love with and become GM buyers forever. Oh an enough with the stupid SS moniker. Once again your marketing yourself to a bunch of older buyers who are set in their ways.

These are just a few suggestions I quickly thought of. I would also suggest firing all people who were ever involved in such great automobiles as the Aztec, SSR, HHR, and the Lumina style minivan. These people all need to go. GM makes cars people do not want. They’re not cool. Start buy designing some cool cars.

What is Sales Promotion?

Simply put, sales promotion is a marketing tool that offers the consumer a temporary price cutback. It occurs in such a way that the extra volume sold will be over and above what would have been sold without advertising and packaging alone.

Researchers have come to the concussion that the reason for the increase in sales promotion is attributed to increase in competition among manufacturers and sellers.

When Do You Actually Need a Sales Promotion?

That your product is doing badly in the market is not a sufficient reason for you to embark on a sales promotion. Just like advertising cannot sale a bad product, promotion cannot sales a bad product. Sales promotion basically boils down to exploring and taking advantage of key problems and opportunities. It is necessary that you be sure that promotion is what you actually need to solve the present problem before embarking on it.

When Is Sale Promotion Effective?

Sales promotion is most effective when there is a shortfall in brand performance where the business needs to:

Boost Trial Level

This works mostly with new entrants into the market. It becomes a way of encouraging consumers to try a particular product or service, especially when you are confident about the value of the product. Once consumers become familiar or hooked to the product/service, such promotion is often discontinued.

Increase Repurchase Level

This is commonly found in fast-moving consumer goods. The idea is also replicated in other products to an extent that a buyer may even end up buying a particular product for more than one reason/use.

Knowing When Promotion is Least Effective

A lot of products have moved from being brands to ordinary commodity by virtue of the frequency the engage in promotion. That underscores what we said earlier that promotions should not be used as a solution to accepting bad products.

Sales promotion will do little or no good to bad brands and declining brands.

Promotion as Brand Reenforcer

Sales promotion is not only meant to increase sales, it also helps in re-enforcing a brand. Branding, as a rule must complement advertising notions. But must work hand-in-hand to ensure the desired image and position is achieved.

Go back to the drawing board and relook at whether you've given your customer what they desire, more than just what they need. Connect with them on a level that's beyond their heads. In other words, get to their hearts. Give them a good enough reason to stay with you. Let them experience what your brand can do for them by creating an environment that supports that experience. It's hitting on their senses.

Take for example, Starbucks. It is a brand that has been well documented in the area of brand experience. Think about it. It has positioned itself as more than just a coffee joint. It has become a coffee culture; a place where people not just go drink coffee, but they go to connect, to bond and to socialise. Besides just a quality cup of coffee, it has given a cup of coffee a heart and a soul. Customers want to be associated with that brand so much so that it has become a lifestyle, something they desire and something some aspire to have.

There are many successful brands alike that have created brand experiences. They take their customers beyond just the physical attributes to a whole new level. It's building a whole culture around the brand that makes the brand sticky. The greater the brand experience, the more the customers would want to participate and own the brand.

Brands are buying into entertainment. Just count the number of incidental exposures of products you've seen on television and movies. Take for example, American Idol. Judge Simon Cowell is often seen drinking from a cup with the Coca Cola logo. In fact if you watch closely, the logo is also seen on the plasma TV screens on stage. In other words, branded entertainment is about placing the product either subtly or prominently within an entertainment product.

Product Placement can be verbal, like a mention in the show or visual where the product is seen. It is increasingly a tool used by marketers to push their brands into the limelight and increase awareness through such exposures. What ticks for the marketing folks is that their brand is not just associated with the entertainment, eg. a blockbuster movie or a much anticipated television series, it is also seen being associated with a celebrity when the actor uses the brand in the movie or the television programme. The association has added value for the brand. But branded entertainment has its setbacks.

It can be a matter of too much too soon. If the brand exposure is too subtle, the audience may not see it. If it is too prominent, the audience may get brand fatigue and develop a negative perception towards the brand. That is something you don't want happen to your brand. Think about it. As an audience, you want to be entertained. The last you need is to have brands plastered all over your screen.

After all, there is a place for that in the form of commercials and advertisements. The key is to balance the exposure and the placement so that you can have an edge when it comes to promoting your brand without over-killing it.
Branded entertainment is here to stay. So the next time you're in the theatres or at home watching TV, see if you can remember the brands that caught your attention.

So how do you foster this relationship you have with your customers?

First and foremost as with any relationships, it needs to be worked at and nurtured. Customers come in all shapes and sizes. There are the fans and there are the switchers. Let's take them on one at a time.

The fans

These are the die-hard fans of your brand. They are intensely attached to your brand and make repeated purchases. They form brand communities like chat groups or fan clubs eg. Mini convertible Club. There they bond with other brand users and promote the use of the brand. It's a great way to get positive word-of-mouth promotion. Hearing it from opinion leaders and brand advocators is more personable and believable. It's a powerful way of getting your brand message across to new customers too! Of course, fans of your brand need to be rewarded for their loyalty and support. They need to feel special and be given special privileges such as, be the first ones to know about new products or sales promotions, get rewarded with rewards points, discounts and one-off special edition premiums. In other words, they need to be handled with care and their feedback taken seriously because they give you a bigger share of wallet.

The switchers

These are the folks that have little attachment and loyalty to your brand. They are brand-switchers and are easily swayed by your competitor's brand messages. Even though they are aware of your brand but they don't quite identify or bond with it. In branding, your biggest challenge is to get the switchers to identify and like your brand. You want to move them from switching to trusting, liking and loving. In other words, switch them into fans. Understand their needs and why they're switching. Pay attention to what they're saying. Because they are already aware of your brand, you can focus on winning their trust and commitment.

It's all about building on that relationship you have with your customers. Remember, fans of brands do more than just rake in the sales. They bring in the new converts too!

Say you have a new brand you need to promote and raise top of mind awareness quickly. But you've a budget that is hopelessly pathetic. Plus the fact that your boss is breathing down your neck. What can you do? If you have been developing good relationships with the media, this is the time it would come in handy. If you haven't, you should start, quickly.
The thing to remember is that you need to have open and honest communication with the media. This is because you can only control your end of the message. You can't control what the reporters will write about your brand. The report can make or break your brand, so remember to do your homework first before jumping into the frenzy. Know who you want to reach. Pitch your stories to the right media. Be sure to make your releases newsworthy. Provide good story ideas and angles in your press kits and releases. Always be ready and available to field questions from the media. Relevance and timeliness are important factors to consider. Know your surroundings and what your competitors are up to. Plan your news releases to coincide when an event that will add to your visibility. Say if you're launching an environmental friendly car, you pitch the story to the media to tie in with World Environment Day for example.

An editorial gets you through the clutter of advertisement. It is more believable than an ad and it gives your brand more credibility. You'll get your eyeballs and it's more cost effective than buying ad space. Although you don't have much control over how the article could turn out, a positive story could at least get your boss off your back and get your brand off on a good footing.

 

Here are some valuable tips.

Be Consistent

Keep your brand message and brand image consistent. Customers build their trust on what you project and if there are inconsistencies in what you say and what they perceive, you’ll lose that trust in your brand. So if you say you can deliver brand x pizza in under an hour, make sure you keep to that.

Provide a Lifeline

If there are queries or problems, your customers need to know how they can reach you. You have to be accessible to them so that they that they can turn to you when things go wrong. A helpline, email, website are valuable tools that allow your customers to reach you.

Be Ready to Act

It’s one thing having customers call you, it’s another responding to their needs. It’s crucial to be responsive to your customers’ needs and concerns. Handle their feedback, whether positive or negative, well and professionally. This way, not only are you providing customer satisfaction, you are also building customer loyalty. Why is that important? It is because repeated customers are more cost effective than acquiring new customers. Make your customers happy and they’ll return.

Be Committed

That means making the customer feel that you’ve got their interest at heart. You are genuinely interested in serving them and giving them the best so that they can be satisfied. By doing that you’re building your trust bank. When crisis strikes, it’s what’s in your trust bank that will help you tide through the tough times.

So effectively, invest in a customer-oriented approach. In return, customers will respond with trust because they like your brand and because it satisfies them and meets their needs. That’s the key to building a successful brand relationship.

This is you if you have a brand to promote. You are the source of the brand. Together with your marketing communication agency, you decide on how to position your brand and who you want to reach. Once the brand position and the target audience are decided, you start developing your brand message.

The brand message

The brand message is what your company wants your customers and other stakeholders to perceive. All the information and experience of the brand should be designed into the message. Here's where the 4Ps of marketing; product, price, place (distribution) and promotion play a crucial part in how you design your brand message.

The communication channel

It's all about picking the right media to reach the right target audience. Knowing the habits of the target audience is important in deciding which media channel to communicate the brand message through. For example, if your target audience is car owners, advertising on radio would be a better bet than on a parenting magazine. Media channels include TV, radio, newspaper, magazines, billboards, internet, mailers and product placement on TV shows and movies.

Noise

People are being bombarded by advertisements every day, everywhere. So how do you get your brand message through all this noise and clutter? Well, your message will not be seen and heard if your copy is poorly produced, and has a lack of clarity. Bad timing of the release and clutter from your competitor's messages are also points you need to consider. So remember the lower the noise level, the higher chance of your brand message being seen and heard.

The customer

This is the group you want your brand message to reach and get a positive response. You want your customers to remember your brand, to like it enough to act upon a desire to purchase it. To help you hook the customer, your brand message needs to be simple and relevant. Also allow your customers to ask questions and to interact. This will create positive perception of your brand.

Feedback

You want to hear what your customers think about your product. This is an important key in any marketing communication. Besides gathering information about your customers, you can also generate more leads, provide more information to reinforce their liking for your brand and to be sure you are on the right track in your brand messaging and channel choices.