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Tag Archive: BMW

What Badge Are You Wearing?

Written on December 1, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

As individuals, we’ve always been described and perceived in a particular light. From the jobs we have, the education we received, the actions we take, the thoughts, and hobbies and our differing point of view have all equated to creating and establishing who we are. Though that information might have been relevant in some manner before, it seems that all this information has become more relevant now than ever.

One of the most interesting aspects that social media has created of which is extremely over-looked and hardly taken into consideration is the fact that most of social media is based on information we all manually and willingly input. It’s also information that we all use in an attempt to show everyone else who we are. But social profile positioning is hardly a new found topic. There’s some more intriguing beyond that.

As online users, we’ve all been dissected by our clicks, searches and keywords. Over time, it became a significant indicator of our perceived actions. And though this type of insight has indeed proven to be crucial, our manual input of data has provided profound insights in describing who we are. Even in its infant stage, social measuring is surely going to become a significant source of measurement, if it hasn’t already.

The impact here is, well, awesome. Alright, maybe awesome on a geek-scale. Every action we take is somehow impacting who we are and who those around us are. From controversial influence scores, to the brands we choose to represent, the information we manually input in our descriptions, the friends we have, the pages we “like” and so on, create this impact. Essentially, it all creates our own personal brand. But that itself isn’t a new idea either.

Unbeknownst to us, we’ve been establishing our personal brand from the very first profiles we’ve ever created. And continuing to do this and refine it as time goes by. As we do this we attract others towards us.Whether that be based on intrigue, commonality or some type of previously established relationships. We start to grow and organize tribes. Something Seth Godin brilliantly articulated in his book conveniently called Tribes.

Through all of this, one constant exists. And that’s each one of us. We all act in a way that defines us and at no other time has that been more imperative and pertinent than now. We carry it through our BlackBerry’s and through our iPad’s. We show it through “liking” Coca-Cola, BMW and Family Guy. We explain it through our descriptions, interests and jobs. And beautifully, we do it all on our own accord.

With the whole world watching, with everyone around you watching, with those hidden from sight watching, my question to you is, which badge are you wearing?

(Photo credit)

The Next Brand Wave: Customizable Products

Written on May 27, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Launching new products is more than often a risky and difficult task to complete. Companies that have dominated segments even face this when they’re introducing something that is completely new. Getting consumers to go after something new when they’re already enjoying the traditional product is tough. Equally, if a new product does pass the introductory phase it doesn’t guarantee success. Many seem to fizzle out just a few years after.

With all the work that happens behind the scenes, such as research and development, marketing, advertising, etc, a failed product can be a costly venture. Even with everything companies think they know about the consumer, many of them still can’t get it right (because if they did all products would succeed all the time). I never understood why companies never just asked us in a more direct manner what we would like. And I know some of you are thinking they already do that. But to what success? What is interesting is that there is a strong trend fuelling direct consumer involvement. It’s allowing us to customize what we like, just a little bit more than usual.

Although customizing something has always been around for as long as there has been something to customize, this is customization on a completely different level. And all indications so far are pointing to some success. Companies like BMW and Coca Cola are doing new and cool things. The key seems to be not in introducing a brand new product but rather reinventing an existing one. And letting us reinvent it for them.

BMW is pitching a concept of “built-to-order” vehicles, in the US, where you get to customize your X3 model to your liking. This shouldn’t get confused with traditional options. You can create your X3 from a list of characteristics, making your choices original and your own. Wouldn’t it be great knowing there could potentially be no one else driving the exact same car as you?

Coca Cola has gone down a similar path. Although buying a soft drink doesn’t compare to the dollars spent on the X3, it still applies the same ideology. Always considered one of the best brands ever, Coca Cola is taking it one-step further with their Freestyle concept. Freestyle is based on the idea that you get to choose and pick what you’re going to drink. You literally get to “freestyle” and mix whatever you like from a series of flavours offered by the fountain dispenser. Just think about the combinations you and your friends could come up with. It’s all about you!

Interestingly, Coca Cola’s rival, Pepsi, has been doing something similar in recent year’s, which is something that has already been deemed to be a great success. The concept of DEWmocracy is not only clever but it works. It’s based around the idea that you and I can make-up some cool new flavour, amongst creating other things for the product, and then vote for the best one. We the “fans” are choosing what we want. It is up to us to decide what we want.

And if you still haven’t figured out the underlying point, it’s quite apparent that it’s all about consumer engagement. I’m not simply referring to the clichéd line “the customer is always right.” But what I am trying to point out is (and I’ve been doing this from the beginning of writing blog posts) that we the consumer, customer, “fan”, we all know what we want. Yes, sometimes we think of stupid things. But what company hasn’t come out with something stupid. Not only are you giving people what they want, you’re recreating interest within in your own brand. You’re giving them something to talk about. You’re giving them value by adding value to yourself. We all want our lives to be customized. We all want to be unique, different and great. Engage us, we’ll do the rest.

Introducing Lifestyle Brands: The Emerging Branding Strategy

Written on May 10, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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My blog post today has been inspired by the feedback I’ve received from two previous posts that I’ve written. And I’m going to expand on the ideas and insights a little further (free of charge of course). Not too long ago, I wrote a blog post called 4 Insights Into the Future of Advertising that has received some buzz. The article itself addressed what the future of advertising will look like. And I highly suggest you read it before or even after this article.

Not too long after that article, I also wrote a guest blog post on idaconcpts.com called How to Market to Millennials, which received some significant buzz. It dealt with the mysterious issue of marketing to the Millennials (or Generation-Y) demographic. Again, I highly suggest you read it before or after this article.

By Christopher Chan

The idea behind today’s article originally stemmed from a comment left by Carol Phillips but involves ideas from both articles. She suggested a 5^th insight into the future of advertising where it “may be the beginning of the end for the ‘product brand’ and a golden age for ‘lifestyle brands’.” And I completely agree with her on this. Either brands will have to transform or it will be the end of them.

Previously, brands have been an aspect of life. Something we interact with and use but most important, something we did not necessarily need for life. It seems that there is a shift occurring where brands are becoming a part of our life, representing a style of life. Some brands have all along had this aspect of “lifestyle brand” (for instance Virgin, as brought up by Carol). But there are some outlier brands that are taking this type of brand strategy serious.

Apple would definitely be the simplest and easiest one to dissect. And it’s a brand that is quite frankly apparent to everyone, regardless if they are an Apple product user or not. The fact of the matter is that Apple is simply not selling a product, it’s selling a lifestyle. A lifestyle that is being pushed by the Millennials. A lifestyle that is putting outlier brands into the mainstream.

Imagine for one second if you couldn’t use your iPhone, iPod, MacBook or iPad. The brand is not simply reflecting your lifestyle. It is becoming your style of life. We are making these products more necessary to life than they have previously been.

Though, Apple is simply a small piece in a pie that is getting larger. In a recent article, Chanel and BMW were considered top brands by Gen-Y amongst others. One thing all these brands have in common is that they are not selling you a smartphone or a purse or a car. Rather they are selling you an iPhone, a Chanel accessory and a BMW 6 Series. And it’s an aspect that dominates the Millennials way of thinking.

Rather than waiting to buy products that they can truly afford (and when I say truly I mean they are not simply working for the next thing they want to buy but actually have the capital to live that lifestyle), all Millennials want to live their dream lifestyle now. And it doesn’t really have to do with the products being luxurious. It has to do with the products being part of a dream lifestyle. It has to do with the product representing who you are and how you want to be perceived.

In the next five to ten years, we’ll all be witnesses to lifestyle branding. Some of these brands have always set themselves in that category. And there are plenty that are emerging. However don’t be surprised if you start to see less obvious brands take on this different role. After all, they are all trying to sell to you.

The Cycle of Influence

Written on April 8, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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What’s the last thing you wore when you went out Saturday night? What kind of mobile phone do you have or want to get? If you could buy a car, which one would you buy?

The answers to these questions can be far and wide, and I’m sure I would get a few that no one at all, including me, would expect. But interestingly enough, the answers to these questions have more in common than we’re willing to admit.

The way we act, dress, talk, buy, well basically anything we do is done in a way to present ourselves in the best way we can to the world. Everything we do is a statement. Whether that statement is saying, “I want to be different” or “I want to be the same” we were influenced in making it. We are the influencer and the influenced.

By teddy-rised

And you can disagree all you want with this. But you bought that shirt for a reason. And you’re going to wear it today for a reason. And the reason is you want to be perceived in a particular way. It’s a cycle that exists and we’re all a part of. You are the influencer and the influenced.

What’s interesting about this is that everyone at one point in time has been one and the other. It doesn’t matter whether you fall in the innovator, early adopter, early majority, late majority or laggards category of the product adoption lifecycle, you have played the role of the influencer and the influenced. And there is nothing wrong with one or the other. However a lot of people have a problem with accepting the fact that their choices were influenced by something else. In a world where we’re all suppose to be unique, we are effected by other people’s choices more than we know or want to accept.

That’s not to say we’re all the same either. Imagine your current Facebook profile. We all have characteristics that make us different. But you built your profile in such a way that when people look at it they will understand you with a certain perception. That’s why we post “cool” links and attempt to make our status stand out. And when you came across that one profile that made you think something, ultimately it influenced your decision on a thought you had.

It’s the reason why we tell our friends the books we’ve read. It’s the reason behind why you would want to drive a BMW. It’s the reason why you have a BlackBerry and why people around you would get one. It’s the reason why we’ve all seen the same movie.

We influence and we’ve been influenced.