Merry Christmas - Marketing, psychology and the world

Santa Claus, Christmas carols, gifts, endless queues at the malls and the local post offices, house decorations and more human externalities! Christmas is here! Hohoho!! But, what does Christmas mean for us? Why "Merry Christmas"? Does Santa really exist? How could Christmas decoration both in houses and in retail stores affect our psychology? Marketers and psychologists are actually curious human beings that have studied almost every aspect of human and consumer behavior, including Christmas psychology!

Santa Claus really exists?

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas or simply "Santa", is a mythical figure with legendary, historical and folkloric origins who, in many Western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children on December 24, the night before Christmas. Images of Santa Claus were further popularized through Haddon Sundblom’s depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca-Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colors used to promote the Coca-Cola brand. Historically, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising: White Rock Beverages had already used a red and white Santa to sell mineral water in 1915 and then in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923.

Kids believe in Santa Claus as a function of age. Kids are also more likely to believe if their parents encourage them to do so [Anderson & Prentice, 1994]. But it’s not clear that these beliefs are a sign of greater gullibility or even a greater interest in fantasy.

Actually, researchers found that a belief in Santa was unrelated to other measures of a child's interest in fantasy [Prentice, 1978]. And a recent series of experiments conducted at Harvard found that kids make important distinctions between beliefs in folkloric, fantasy characters and beliefs in other unseen, but scientifically-established, entities. Kids who professed to believe in Santa were nonetheless less certain about it than they were about the existence of oxygen or germs. Another set of experiments revealed that 4-year old kids don't invoke magical explanations for things that happen in the real world-not unless those things otherwise seem impossible [Rosengren & Hickling, 1994].

What happens when kids finally penetrate the veil and reject our fantasies? We might feel a little awkward or wistful. But the kids don’t appear to be heartbroken. When researchers questioned children who had stopped believing in Santa Claus, a milestone they reached around the age of 7, kids reported feeling pleased.

They had figured it out. They were enlightened now.

According to Anderson , it was THE PARENTS, NOT THE KIDS, who reported feeling a bit sad..

Why Merry Christmas?

Tim Kasser, an American psychologist, known for his work on materialism & Kennon Sheldon, professor of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, noticed 10 years ago that "More happiness was reported when family and religious experiences were especially salient, and lower well-being occurred when spending money and receiving gifts predominated. Engaging in environmentally conscious consumption practices also predicted a happier holiday, as did being older and male. In sum, the materialistic aspects of modern Christmas celebrations may undermine well-being, while family and spiritual activities may help people to feel more satisfied". Thus consumerism is not always the answer.

Christmas decoration

Werner & Brown [Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1989] suggested that most people like decorating their house for Christmas. One possible reason for this behavior could be the desire to communicate friendliness and cohesiveness with neighbors. Stimulus homes had been preselected to represent the four cells of a two by two factorial design crossing the presence/absence of Christmas decorations with the resident’s self-rated social contact with neighbors (low/high). As expected, a main effect for the decorated factor indicated that raters used Christmas decorations as a cue that the residents were friendly and cohesive. Decoration interacted with sociability in a complex but interpretable way. 

In the absence of Christmas decorations, raters accurately distinguished between the homes of sociable and nonsocial residents; in open ended comments, they attributed their impressions to the relatively more ‘open’ and ‘lived in’ look of the sociable residents’ homes. When Christmas decorations were present, raters actually attributed greater sociability to the nonsocial residents, citing a more open appearance as the basis for their judgments. The results support the idea that residents can use their home’s exterior to communicate attachment and possibly to integrate themselves into a neighborhood’s social activities.

As regards retail stores and their Christmas decoration, the following video, that explores current neuromarketing methods (measuring stimuli and emotions to retail stores Christmas decoration), might shed light on unconscious consumer decision-making processes:

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Intro to Data Mining for Marketers - Part 2

Data Preprocessing

This stage is the most time-consuming stage of the data mining process. Data is never clean and in a form suitable for data mining. There are few typical data corruption problems in business databases such as duplication of the records, missing data fields, and presence of outliers. The preprocessing step involves integrating data from different sources and making choices about representing or coding certain data fields that serve as inputs to the data discovery stage. Such representation choices are needed because certain fields may contain data at level of details not considered suitable for the pattern discovery stage. For example, it may be counterproductive to represent the actual date birth of each customer to the data discovery stage. Instead, it may be better to group customers  into different age groups and  the chosen age groups should have some significations for the research goal. It is important to remember that the preprocessing stage is a crucial step. The representation choices made at this stage have a great bearing on the kinds of the patterns that will be discovered by the next stage of data discovery.

 Patterns & Market Segmentation

Since there are so many ways we, human beings, are different, it should not be surprising that we would differ in our needs for automobiles. While there are many factors/variables that contribute to these differences, we are considering the following factors for presenting our data mining framework for the aforementioned example: vehicle image (Table 1), customer anticipated feelings (Table 2),  and  demographics (such as age, sex, income, occupation, education etc). The demographic factor plays an important role in the proposed analysis. 

For example, consider how customer needs and preferences for an automobile change as one moves demographically from college student to management trainee; changes in income, occupation, and educational status each contribute to a changing set of customer needs for a variety of products such as an automobile. Many other variables can be incorporated as well.

There are mainly three different techniques to perform market segmentation:

•             Clustering: this approach implies data grouping or partitioning

•             Association: this approach seeks to establish associative relationships between different variables in the database

•             Visualization: this approach consists of providing the user with an immersive virtual reality environment so that the user can move through this environment discovering hidden relationships

Evaluation, Interpretation & Knowledge Discovery

To test how well the identified segments perform when predicting preferences for new customers, two approaches can be considered: train and test error estimation, and cross validation.

After the prediction accuracy is verified by one of the above methods, the segments will be evaluated by the business people in order to determine the usefulness of the segments. The evaluation of usefulness of the market segments should be made by the business team with respect to the following characteristics:

• Substantiality: (segment size): The market segments are large or profitable enough to serve.
• Measurability: (segment profile): The market segments can be identified and measured in terms of data already available. The segment identification is very important: Segments that are based on meaningful differences in customer needs but lack clear segment identification will fail because the segment identity will not be known and an actionable marketing strategy cannot be developed.
•  Actionability: Effective programs can be designed for attracting and serving the segments. The market attractiveness depends on market opportunity, competitive environment and market access.

If a segment fits the company’s objectives, the company must decide whether it possesses the skills and resources needed to succeed in that segment. If the company lacks the strengths needed to compete successfully in a segment and cannot readily obtain them, it should not enter that segment. Even if the company possesses the required strengths, it needs to employ skills and resources superior to those of the competition in order to really win a market segment. Once the company has decided what segments to enter, it must decide on its market positioning strategy - on which positions to occupy in its chosen segments[D. Raicu, DePaul University).

Conclusion

A theoretical, qualitative data mining framework for automatic gathering of relevant and unbiased data was proposed. As a result, the initial investment of producing a new product vehicle without being certain that it will be satisfying people’s needs will be eliminated. Discovering a-priori segments of people being interested in a certain product will also help the managers focus their advertising, promotion, and sales efforts on those categories of people and thus, the time and costs will be significantly reduced.

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International Marketing - A Cultural Metaphor for Greece (Part 2)

Agon

When it comes to Agon, we refer to the manner the comedy-like activities are performed in the daily life of the Greeks. Agon refers to the formal convention according to which the struggle between the characters should be scripted in order to supply the basis of the action. Agon is a formal debate which takes place between the chief characters in a Greek play, protagonist and antagonist, usually with the chorus acting as judge.

We can easily spot the motives suggested by Agon in all aspects of Greek society. Politics, political actions and debates, social arenas, collectivistic activities, TV programs, etcetera are often organized like Agon.

A modern Greek debate that reminds us of Agon

Greece is a country of spectacle, music and discussion and public critic. Greeks revel when communicating in an expressive manner, while the level of noise tends to be high in public spaces. People tend to congregate rather than be isolated from one another. Bystanders do not mind becoming part of the action like the audience of the ancient theater either. Thus, the externalities of Agon on everyday Greek life and activities are more than obvious.

Chorus

The Chorus, though it no longer told the story, was very important, for it set the atmosphere of the play. The Chorus also served another purpose. Even today, in extreme occasions, when the intensity of a situation (perceived as a lifestyle, political, cultural change etc threat) becomes almost too great for any Greek to bear, relief is often found in some very comic episode which is introduced to slacken the tension. The Chorus executed this by a song of purest poetry.

Chorus, Lysistrata

In addition, the mission of the Chorus was to preconceive the audience that the comedy is acceptable and pleasant, in other terms that it was “safe”. Greeks are not at all comfortable in ambiguous situations: the unforeseen is always there ready to “lay an ambush”. In Greece, as in all high uncertainty avoidance societies, bureaucracy, laws and rules are very important to make the world a safer place to live in, even though they do not always work.

Greeks need to have good and relaxing moments in their everyday life, chatting with colleagues, enjoying a long meal or dancing with guests and friends. Due to their high score in this dimension Greeks are very passionate and demonstrative people: emotions are easily shown in their body language, small group behavior, greeting behavior, even in their traditions. The Chorus respected these exteriority characteristics and reproduced them during its actions, as a micrography of the Greek society.

Last but not least, in Thesmophoriazusae there are two Choruses. The doubling of the Chorus is a phenomenon that is repeated both in The Frogs and in Lysistrata, where the two choruses (Old Men and Old Women), appear on stage together after entering separately. The interconnection of the two choruses with the direction of the collective unconscious (as suggested by both Plato and Carl Jung) for both ancient and modern Greeks is more than obvious. The Greek people still pay attention to the elders, since they subconsciously form an archetype for wisdom and respect. Masculinity and femininity social Greek models are also exposed here; If we try to visualize the double Chorus process, it shows that Greek women have the dynamics to be equal to men in terms of social activities, even though, since ancient times, they often tended to stay in the house and define their social status by satisfying their family needs. A controversy that still exists in modern society.

Does the Greek woman still heterodefine her social role?

Conclusion

In short, a cultural metaphor represents a way to obtain new and deep insights into a group's or nation's culture. Cultural metaphors also provide a method for discussing cross-cultural issues, differences, and similarities in a collegial rather than a stereotypical and perhaps hostile fashion. In developing such insights, it is critical that the cross-cultural research be taken into consideration, and it is for this reason that both the dimensional perspective and the communication perspective should supplement cultural metaphors.  Cultural metaphors represent only a starting point for understanding a culture; they are easy to use, but do require much thought to avoid inaccurate stereotyping; and they can be supplemented by other methods.  Most importantly, cultural metaphors allow managers with limited time to gain some understanding of a group or nation's culture that they can apply quickly to the myriad problems that they face daily in international activities.

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International Marketing - A Cultural Metaphor for Greece

Within the field of international marketing, cross-cultural consumer behavior, organization and management studies, Prof. Martin J. Gannon uses cultural metaphors to describe, compare, and analyze national cultures worldwide. In order to explore in-depth the unique cultural characteristics of a nation, Gannon adopts an emic approach, focusing on the qualitative examination of cultural symbols, practices, and institutions within their local context.

For the existing cross-cultural research into a country or a nation, the most influential one is the three-dimensional approach developed by Kluckholn, Strodtbeck, Hall and Hofstede. Their dimensions of culture, such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity, time orientation constitute a base upon which a majority of more recent studies have been built. Their works have been invaluable in the area of cross-cultural studies. However, their works are somewhat incomplete. Gannon noticed that the dimensional approach had weaknesses like :

•  We should not look at a dimension separately, since culture is a complex whole, and psychological phenomena are multiply determined.
• Can be atheoretical (i.e., always need theory regarding why dimensions exist).
• Research in cross-cultural psychology tends to examine one dimension
• Are extremely broad, and miss important elements.
• Can obfuscate within culture diversity and dynamics of culture.

Gannon was based on all four aforementioned dimensional approaches but also on the following elements, which he suggests that should be carefully examined so that a the protocol for a cultural metaphor is applied. Usually, three to seven of these features of the metaphor, that include elements like below, are needed:

The Greek Comedy

Is the Greek Comedy a good cultural metaphor for Greece? Can it meet Gannon's criteria? Let's discover!

Humor & Komodia

The word komodia means literally in Greek "party (-komos-) song (-odi-)" and, if this is any indication of its origin, then comedy stems from revels (komoi) where partiers (komastai) sang songs (odai) in which they teased, mocked and made fools of spectators or public figures. Aristophanes used to target and mock Kleon, a famous Athenian demagogue, through its plays. Satira, the modern word of comedy, still dominant nowadays, is externalized in small-group discussions, organized team activities, modern Greek theatres and mass media communication channels, by teasing politicians, celebrities and in general influencing the public, social and political behavior in Greece.

Apart from teasing politicians and celebrities, in most Aristophanes comedies, Gods and goddesses were personified abstractions who seldom appeared in his plays. That means, comedies usually boosted the eternal need of the Greek people till today; Greeks like to feel free. They do not like to be dictated by superior forces and dislike the effects of any power mechanisms on their everyday life.

Prologue & Parodos

Introduction sets the mood and gives some idea as to what the audience can expect to occur. In Prologue - Parodos, the topic of discussion is set between the two debaters and it is implied to the audience that the debate will be refereed. This part of the comedy is representative of the ideas and the innovations that democracy and freedom of speech has established, as a public and politics activity. This concept is in fact the foundation of western civilization.

Furthermore, the Parodos process has a direct association with modern Greek entertainment. Parodos provided entertainment, accomplished with music, dance and extravagant spectacle, which is still what modern Greeks seek for, as regards their leisure pursuits and interests. In addition, the high noise levels produced during Parodos can be characterized as a prelude of the aural space of modern Greeks, who usually tolerate high noises as part of their routine.

Leisure interests and aural space in Greece.

Last but not least, Parodos reflects how Greek relationships, both professional and private, are early structured. Greeks tend to convey their feelings and thoughts, at least partially at the beginning of a relationship, usually the other party has some understanding of what will unfold, but it is only an imperfect preview, like Parodos suggested, because the unexpected frequently occurs.

                                                         ...To be continued...

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5+1 October Top Commercials

The latest commercials that really went viral last month!

5. Honda Illusions

4. Paul Smith Underwear

3. Samsung Galaxy Gear

2. Ray-Ban

1. Volkswagen Woofwagen

 

Lucky Star: Crest

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Neuromarketing for Companies: Can it help?

Neuromarketing is a relatively new field of marketing research which focuses on consumers' cognitive and affective response to marketing stimuli. Neuromarketing is actually a child of the eternal corporate need to sustain a decision by all possible means when the pressure is way over the possibility of a decident to fight failure. Google, Coca-Cola, BMW, Procter & Gamble, Motorola, CBS are a few of the companies who have experimented neuromarketing for the past years. We have previously referred to neuroscience and neuromarketing research here and here, yet academics are still sceptical when it comes to predicting the future of this new marketing method. As a matter of fact, when i asked Prof. Alan Wilson, University of Strathclyde, about neuromarketing research a couple of weeks ago, his cautious response brought me down to earth: "Well, can neuroscience and neuromarketing provide, in the long term, any unique additional value to marketeers, compared to other marketing methods?" Well, i think it's too early to know the answer, but, at least let's try to discover some opportunities that neuromarketing may provide for marketeers, if any.

Trust

Trust is an issue which has been increasing in prominence within marketing. However, while consumer trust in brands and products is off course vital, marketing research has investigated trust on many other levels. Inter-organisational dealings such as joint ventures, strategic alliances and B2B buyer-seller dyads depend on mutual trust between parties. On one hand, consumer trust in marketing claims is crucial if they are to be believed, and ultimately lead to purchase behavior from consumers. The social utility of trust is clear when one considers that firms selling ‘fair trade’, ‘organic’, or other socially beneficial products must rely on consumer trust in their claims for success. Furthermore, in an organisational context, relationships depend on mutual trust between the parties. Without trust, opportunistic behavior dominates interactions, negating the possibility of long-term relationships between parties and again leading to a suboptimal situation for all. Marketing research has commonly conceptualized trust as more than a simple rational economic calculation, and it seems likely that neuroscientific methods can provide considerable insight into the nature and development of trust.

Neuroeconomic research has begun to investigate concepts of trust beyond rationality in recent times. Neuromarketing research can also be insightful to the investigation of trust. First and foremost, it is clear that, despite the centrality of trust to marketing relationships at a number of levels, controversies over the very nature of trust still exist. Neuroimaging is likely to offer considerable insight here. Research suggests that the caudate nucleus, which is often active when learning about stimuli–response relations, is involved in experimental games requiring some kind of trust. Yet is trust a simple response to a repeated positive stimulus, or something more? More interestingly, is the trust a buyer says they have in a seller, or a consumer in a product claim, similar in terms of the nature and location of brain activity to the trust that individual says they have in a close friend or family member? 

In particular, measuring both the spatial and temporal characteristics of neuronal activity may be important. For example does trust in an advertising claim or new business partner require increased information processing effort and time than trust in a long-term friend? This will have important implications as to the nature of trust. Furthermore, is consumer trust in claims relating to a product similar to a purchasing agent's trust in a contract with a supplier, and in turn is this of the same nature as the purchasing agent's trust in the individual sales executive they have negotiated with? Can trust be transferred from an organisation to a representative of that organisation? Finally, does trust evolve throughout the course of an inter-organisational relationship, or with continuing loyalty of a consumer to a single brand? Is trust ever truly existent in short-term marketing relationships? Exploring and understanding such questions about the nature of trust will then lead to greater ability to explore the antecedent factors to trust, and an ability to enhance firms' ability to build trust with customers and collaborators for mutually beneficial outcomes.

Pricing

Pricing is a key tool used by organisations in the positioning of their products. Marketing research has investigated the effects of price on consumers. Despite the amount of academic knowledge available, companies appear to use little of it when setting prices, leading to suboptimal situations for both consumers and firms. Understanding the psychology of pricing is of crucial importance if firms are to make optimal decisions and in fact has considerable utility in a broader sense. Pricing research has implications for how we understand information processing in any decision context where resources and information are scarce and costs must be weighed against benefits. Recent behavioral research for example has explored errors made by consumers when they process prices ending in 0.99 rather than a whole number -suggesting that individuals pay less attention to later numbers in a sequence. At this stage however, almost all pricing research is behavioral in nature, and relies on ‘assumptions’ about what actually occurs when individuals process pricing information.


In fact, pricing seems to lend itself almost perfectly to neuroimaging research. For example, simultaneously exploring the temporal and spatial nature of brain activity may help us understand exactly why prices such as ‘$4.99’ are perceived as significantly cheaper than those such as ‘$5.00’. Do individuals really ignore the final two digits, or are they processed in a different manner or at a later time - for example only when detailed comparative decisions must be made? Furthermore, do time or other pressures influence the processing of prices? 

Furthermore, neuroimaging looks likely to provide considerable insight into the nature of price information. Is the price of products a purely rational piece of information, or does it have emotional and/or reward-based connotations? It seems likely that the price of a basic product such as sugar is very different in nature from the price of a conspicuous product such as a Nike sports shoe, or a BMW sports car, which should be evidenced in changes in the location of brain activity when these prices are viewed alongside their associations (Source:UCLA). Research such as this will allow us not only to understand how prices are processed, but will afford insight into all situations where seemingly rational information is processed in decision-making situations.

Source: Forbes

Here is a recent pricing example of neuromarketing research: Kai-Markus Müller of Stuttgart-based The Neuromarketing Labs, using EEG brain wave measurement, gauged the emotional reaction of consumers to different prices for a small cup of coffee, which costs €1.80 ($2.45) at a Stuttgart Starbucks.The firm claims their results show that our brains reject prices that are too low or too high as being unrealistic, and says that the optimal price point for that small coffee in Stuttgart would be €2.40 ($3.25). Starbucks shareholders might like the idea that at least some of the firm’s products could be priced higher, but some caution is in order. For commodity items like coffee, lower prices tend to increase sales while higher prices discourage them. It would be quite unexpected for a higher price to increase unit sales for this type of product (Source:Forbes).

Conclusion

Trust and pricing were just two examples where neuromarketing/neuroimaging tools can assist marketeers and organizations further understand consumers. Neuromarketing research itself is constantly evolving, both in terms of technology as well as insights into exactly what activity and processes in various areas of the brain actually mean. As technology evolves, we will be able to measure frequency, temporal, and spatial characteristics of brain activity more accurately and in a complimentary fashion, potentially leading to new insight into what were previously well-accepted brain functions and areas of activity. I hope that neuromarketing will offer marketeers much insight into how humans behave during what is a large part of our modern lives.

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Monozukuri for Sustainable Brands in the 21st Century

The word Monozukuri has only been in use for almost 15 years. In 1998, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office set up a "Monozukuri Kondankai", in order to reverse the trend of deindustrialization and hollowing out that Japan was experiencing after the end of the Japanese financial bubble by affirming Japan’s strengths in manufacturing. In general, monozukuri  is the "art, science and craft of making things." While monozukuri is used to describe technology and processes integrating sustainable development, production and procurement, it also includes intangible qualities such as unique craftsmanship and dedication to continuous improvement. In the Japanese tradition of Monozukuri, when an item or human effort is taken into use, there needs to be a benefit for the society as a result while, at the same time, the balance between production, resources and the society should be maintained. Monozukuri should therefore be an inspiration for most global organizations in the 21st century in their effort to create strong, innovative brands, which deliver compelling content through their media channels, especially then it comes to branding and brand storytelling.

Toyota and Nissan lead the way

Companies such as Toyota and Nissan have already tried to elevate their brands or the company’s core interests by creating unique content that exceeds infomercial-like self reverence.

Back in 2011, Toyota chairman Fujio Cho said that Toyota’s mission is to “preserve the Japanese Monozukuri". What does "monozukuri" mean here? It probably captures the Toyota perception of sustainability. According to Toyota monokuzuri, the person doing the making is de-emphasized and the attention is on the ‘thing’ being made. This subtle difference reflects the Japanese sense of responsibility for using ‘things’ in production and their deep respect for the world around them both animate and inanimate. In its application of Monozukuri to the production of automobiles, Toyota has pursued a sustainable method of making its cars ever more safe, environmentally friendly, reliable and comfortable and circulating this perception to its customers.

At Nissan, brand storytelling has been dubbed “kotozukuri,” complementing the Japanese manufacturers’ mantra of “monozukuri”. Brand agnostic stories, intentionally omitting reference to the parent firm or its competitors, or in Nissan’s case, look to raise the profile of the people, products, technologies and relationships as part of infotainment. 

 

Why? Actually, it's about Nissan's recognition that traditional media and consumer engagement face more challenges as well as expense amid a growing range of choice. Meanwhile, internal communications, often constituting corporate media or house TV units until now, have expanded from a parochial approach to include more content for mass distribution. The relationship with broadcasters and print media, who often have their own on-line presence, has evolved to include video embeds, undeniably showing return on investment versus the cost of similar paid media exposure. Use by the blogosphere or consumers also has powered the metrics of successful marketing, as “shares” and “likes” offer potential for viral exposure.

It seems that every organization may perceive Monozukuri in a different way. However, "Many names now describe the trend such as brand journalism, corporate narrative or 21st Century Kotozukuri, but all require more sophisticated storytelling and delivery, making ties to traditional agencies"  (Dan Sloan, Nissan Global Media Chief).

Back to storytelling

Storytelling is a well known and ancient art form. Persona-focused storytelling is essential to branding. When it comes to creating a powerful brand narrative, the persona – the articulated form of the brand’s character and personality – comes first, and all other elements unfold from there. A compelling brand starts with a strong, well-drawn, and quickly recognized persona, the essential connection between what a company says and what it does.

This brand persona creates a long-lasting emotional bond with the audience because it is instantly recognizable and memorable, it is something that people can relate to, and it is consistent. Nike, McDonald’s, FedEx are all examples of brands with personas that fit these criteria. In each case, there is a clear personality associated with the brand. These companies understand that it is their clear articulation of their brand persona and their discipline in placing that persona into stories that work with and help strengthen that brand persona is what makes the difference between strong and weak brand associations.

That long-lasting and implicit trust is what distinguishes the great brands from the rest of the pack. It will also protect the brand when it makes a misstep. Nike has a strong brand persona that is all about performance and winning. Their long-used tagline, ‘‘Just do it,’’ is instantly recognizable as is their logo, the swoosh. In 2006, Nike teamed up with skier Bode Miller, which seemed like a good idea at the time. After all, he had won two silver medals at the Olympics in 2002, four gold medals and a silver medal at the World Championship in 2003, and in 2005, he became the first American in 22 years to win the World Cup title. His performance trajectory was clear. If anything, it seemed that the difficulty would be in finding words to match his expected performance.

There was no shortage of words: in TV spots for the 2006 Winter Olympics, Miller was shown talking about performance, talking about his attitude, and talking some more. But there was not much ‘‘doing’’ – he fell short in all five medal attempts. Worse, he did not even seem concerned with winning, an attitude that did not match well with the Nike brand persona. This created a disconnect between the audience and the brand, since the fit between Bode and Nike clearly was not right. Monozukuri here, as a unique value proposition for the consumer, through storytelling, went wrong.

Brand my brain

Brain studies have shown dramatic effects of branding. In one famous study, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to see how subjects’ brains responded when they were given Coke or Pepsi. Some of the subjects were given the soda without knowing which brand it was, and were asked to give their preference on taste alone. Others were given the soda and then an image of Coke or Pepsi was flashed at them before they took a sip.

The result? The blinded tasting resulted in no preference for one brand over the other in the group, some preferred Pepsi, others preferred Coke, but they did not know which was which, so the overall results were what you would expect in two chemically and physically similar drinks. The unblinded tasting was something else altogether. While there was no influence of brand knowledge for people who thought they were drinking Pepsi, there was a very strong brand influence when they were shown an image of Coke. Their belief that they were drinking Coke actually altered their experience to the point where some areas of the brain lit up only when they believed it was a Coke that they were drinking. Clearly, branding is a real, measurable effect. Coke lit up the hippocampus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, areas of the brain related to memory, control of action, and self-image. Our brains love Coke even more than our taste buds do.

How is it connected to storytelling? Actually, a lot of it has to do with the fact that Coke has been telling a good story, using an exciting yet accessible brand persona that people easily relate to. Storytelling has been engaging listeners and readers for ages and Coke figured out how to make that work to their advantage. Researchers have shown that successful storytelling (as a correct Monozukuri version) strengthens the connections consumers have to brands to a great extent.

Conclusion

When it comes to brand development, a unique perception of Monozukuri for each organization may lead our audience in the brand story and its actions. Marketing strategists should always perceive and apply Monozukuri in the optimum way to genuinely connect with the audience and ultimately convert them into loyal customers.

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Competitive dynamics for marketing strategists

Time for strategic decisions.

Strategic marketing primarily revolves around the application of a great deal of common-sense. Dealing with a limited number of factors, in an environment of imperfect information and limited resources complicated by uncertainty and tight timescales. Use of classical marketing techniques, in these circumstances, is inevitably partial and uneven. For most of their time, marketing managers use intuition and experience to analyze and handle the complex, and unique, situations being faced, without easy reference to theory. A good marketing strategist should be drawn from market research and focus on the right product mix in order to achieve the maximum profit potential and sustain the business. The overall strategy, coupled with the knowledge of the customer which has been absorbed almost by a process of osmosis, will determine the quality of the marketing actions implemented.

Strategic Marketing Planning Process

Strategic decisions

Directional (sub)strategies

Portfolio Planning Tool 1
BCG Matrix (1970) - Strategic framework for resources allocation

Portfolio Planning Tool 2
GE model

Portfolio Planning Tool 3
Shell/A&H 3*3 Matrix

Back to the basics:Porter's competitive strategies

Requirements for generic strategies

Applying the best marketing strategy for every different situation

Back to the basics again: Ansoff for diversification

Critical factors for success/KPI's

Timing

Competitive position strategy

Failure, an unknown word 

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