gmtPLUS09 | live from Seoul

Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?  Could it be because owners find this disgusting or…Tom and Jerry isn’t promoting it?

Cats from Asia do not have all that different tastes from Europe. There are no localized tastes, but when you see different main ingredients or flavors which are localized to different markets, these do not reflect the different geographic tastes. I’ve never heard of feline focus group interviews. They do reveal the owners’ localized preference, for example, the French prefer veggies in their cats’ dishes.

Further on Tom and Jerry, I would like to see a animation short or a feature film that incorporates a concept of feeding of mouse- or mole-flavored Nine Lives into the sub-storyline. Because there are no such thing in reality, it would be just shocking (for cat friendlies) enough to use this as a premise for a PPL. By playing on the emotional aspects, you’d get a brand association that sticks.

Link: Seth’s Blog: Picky Cats.

A new survey by NOP World consulting says most Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Toyota customers are considered “active brand advocates”, who will by word-of-mouth recommend the respective brands to friends and relatives. But more interesting is that these brands is the best word-of-mouth of all global brands, not just automakers.

Consumers
in 31 countries, including the United States, were surveyed last year.

More than 90 percent of Americans say word-of-mouth is their
best source of information about products and services, NOP says.
Personal testimonials are twice as important to those consumers as
advertising or editorial content, NOP says.

This is great proof to what they say about empowered consumers. Simple ingredient is to provide high-quality goods and make every effort to resolve customer complaints and concerns, which count to be a exceptional and/or distinguished customer experience. And this inspires customers to go beyond the effectiveness of any PR event.

Automakers can also encourage this type of guerilla marketing by engaging customers in on- and off-line car clubs and offering special events such as road rallies. Such promotions will keep customers remembering and talking about the brand.

Word-of-mouth promotions are a significant measure of
a brand’s success. Customers who talk up a brand are most often repeat
customers. They also tend to spend more money with the
companies they advocate.

Vehicles tend to inspire more brand loyalty than other
consumer products because automobiles are the most expensive of all consumer goods and likely considered an investment, and purchasing a vehicle is likely to be both
time-consuming and exciting.

As Tim Wragg, global director of NOP World’s customer management center says, “People are emotionally tied to their car.”

NOP World’s “advocacy multiplier” study is designed to measure
consumer commitment to various brands. The research defines four levels
of commitment:

1. Indifferent: The customer has little or no brand loyalty.

2. Fulfilled: The customer is willing to consider buying the brand again.

3. Committed: The customer is predisposed to the brand.

4. Active Brand Advocate: The customer is a walking advertisement for the product.

Just having had dinner near Gangnam Station, my gf and I found ourselves walking toward a Google double-deck bus, as shown on the left.

Google in Korea is on a marketing blitz reaching out to Koreans on the features/benefits of the Google Toolbar and Desktop Search.

I like any curious passerby were offered a free Google t-shirt for participating in a Google tutorial session. There were atleast 12 of us crammed into the shockingly tight passenger compartment, sharing 10 or so notebooks. I had no idea what was on the top deck.

As the session began, a Google rep asked fundamental focus group questions such as:

"have you ever heard of Google?" - 5 out of 12 people raised their hands.

"have you ever used any of Google’s products?" - my gf and I raised our hands. Shocking.

On the notebooks, we were shown Google’s Toolbar and Desktop Search in action. Clearly the Toolbar was an instant hit with this particular crowd with its ability to translate any English word (where the pointer rested) into Korean. I wonder if there is a Korean-to-English function in the works.

Lastly we were ‘introduced’ to Gmail and its ever-increasing online storage. Without further ado, everyone was promptly invited to sign up for a Gmail account. We left prematurely and grabbed a couple shirts on the way out.

I had hoped they would have been prepared for folks who were well in the know of Google and its products/services. I wish they gave other prizes such as a Google umbrella (it was raining at the time). Oh well…

On July 1, 2004, LG Corporation split into two holding companies to separate the manufacturing and technology-related businesses from the service and retail operations. But it was not until more recently that we saw the demerger and the division take place.

                                What many do not know is that LG Corp. is known as a chaebol*   (family-controlled  conglomerate). Within the chaebol exists many subsidiaries including LG Electronics. LG Corp began with 2 families, the Koo’s and the Huh’s. The then-known entity was called Goldstar (GS) and later became to be known as LG (Lucky Goldstar).

Today the conglomerate’s subsidiaries have been reorganized and separated between the Koo family’s LG Corp and Huh family’s GS Holdings. (Scroll to bottom of page for subsidiary hierarchies for both LG Corp and GS Holdings.)

LG which had been involved with its customers’ facets of daily living (shopping at the convenience marts, purchasing fuel at the gas stations, and shopping from the Home Shopping network) gradually transferred to GS. Because LG no longer had the casual points-of-contact and the informal relationships with customers, many thought LG as a whole had become GS.

GS had more brand exposure because of the context of their products which were predominantly things you needed for living, while LG had less contact because their products focused on technology and business.

Another reason of this mass confusion is blamed on LG’s lack of PR and brand management/marketing interest preparing for and after the demerger.

The demerger gave both companies opportunities to celebrate coming into their own. GS Holdings successfully ran TV and radio commercials, newspaper and print ads, and other promotional events to announce their arrival. Even afterwards, GS is still out there educating and informing the public of what they do, what they offer, and what its future holds for consumers. Meanwhile the bigger LG was silent as if it was business as usual. Their arrogancy and complacency was very apparent.

Based on the performance of both companies throughout this ordeal, these are the implications:

• The lesser-known GS Holdings increased brand awareness created by their post-merger PR and marketing exposure.  To an extent, the GS Holdings brand equity has increased partly because of LG’s inactions.
• The heavy barrage of GS Holdings advertisements compared to the zero produced by LG was misinterpreted by the general public as well as high-ranking government officials. They had thought the LG Corp dissolved and became GS Holdings because of what they saw, read, heard and based on their assumptions.

Only after the damage was obviously apparent did LG run some TV advertisements declaring the new LG. But it was too little, too late.

*Samsung (which includes Samsung Electronics) is another Korean chaebol controlled by the Lee family.
Incidentally after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Samsung had to be
saved by foreign investors. While foreigners own majority of the
outstanding shares, the Lee family owns a minority stake yet with full
control.

Getting through to the powerful
and elusive Generation Y is crucial to automotive marketers. To reach
the 63 million Americans born between 1980 and 1994, car companies are
relying less on traditional media advertising and more on event
marketing, product placement and digital media.

By 2010, Generation Y will buy one of every four new cars and
trucks sold in the United States, say executives of Scion, the youth
brand of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. By 2020, Scion says, that share
will rise to 40 percent.

As they chase Generation Y, automakers say their advertising plans include less mainstream media.
Ford Division will spend less than 80 percent of its marketing
dollars this year on traditional TV and print advertising. Ten years ago that figure was 98
percent.
Ford is spending more on so-called customer-relationship
marketing (CRM). That includes Internet promotions; integration of Ford
vehicles in TV shows, movies and video games; and sponsorship of sports
and music events.

Many of these efforts by automakers are aimed at young
consumers. American Honda Motor Co. Inc. is sponsoring a tour this year
by alternative rock band Maroon 5.
Toyota’s new marketing deal with the National Basketball
Association includes special advertising and marketing rights. They
include signs during games and the use of the NBA logo in Toyota
promotional efforts.

No hard sell

The key to reaching Generation Y, marketers say, is avoiding the hard sell.

Young consumers "don’t like in-your-face marketing," Miles Johnson of Ford says. "They want to find you on their own."

As a result, automakers seek TV options other than the traditional 30-second spot. Product placement is one such alternative.

• The April 14 episode of the NBC reality series "The Apprentice"
  assigned contestants to create a launch campaign for the Pontiac
  Solstice roadster. Pontiac has incorporated its vehicles into stunts on
  the CBS series "Survivor."
  
• Ford places its vehicles in music videos shown on Fox’s
  "American Idol." Those placements are part of a larger deal that
  includes Ford commercials on the show.
  Such placements also occur on scripted series that appeal to
  young viewers. A central character on Fox’s "The O.C." drives a new
  Ford Mustang.
  

New appetites

Some automakers simply aren’t familiar with the diverse youth
market, says Simon Needham, group creative director of Attik, a San
Francisco ad agency that has the Scion account.
Needham cites a youth-oriented magazine, Yellow Rat Bastard,
in which he sought to run Scion ads. "Imagine trying to explain that
one to the executives," Needham says.

Generation Y has a constantly changing media appetite and is
easily bored, Needham says. Many young consumers have access to
technology such as the TiVo personal video recorder that allows them to
avoid TV commercials.
Scion’s Dawn Ahmed says the growth of such technology is "something
that’s looming on the horizon that we need to address fairly quickly."

Link: Automotive News.