Playing Your Believes

Marketers can sometimes create a powerful influence over customers by taking advantage of their believes and practiced rituals.

So if I want to sell you a bottle of juice and convince you that it is good for your blood pressure, bones, aging skin, hair, and the bonus, it helps you lose weight! Then, this is how it gonna be:

• Give it a strange name, and preferably a name of something real, rare, and its benefits have never been scientifically proven. So try a fruit name from South America!
• It should be pricy; you know, scarce stuff cost!
• It should not be available everywhere. Choose only some big stores as your distribution outlets; or better yet, try phone and home visiting marketing techniques!
• Now the big trick! To convince people that a singe kind of unknown drink can virtually solve all their health problems, they better perceive it as some kind of medicine! So regardless of the fact that you are selling it as 100% natural juice, you better convince them that they need to take it in dosages. You know, small spoon before breakfast, and one after sleep, I mean before sleep! That would emphasis the image of a medicine, wouldn’t it?
• Give them an extended period of time to start noticing changes. Again, to start noticing!  Something like a month could be good! And hey, if it did not work, they must have done something wrong, maybe did not commit to the precise dosages or times of taking the medicine, I mean the juice!

p.s. this post is based on a true story!

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The iPhone 4 in Saudi

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=iPhone+4&iid=9199086″ src=”http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9199086/customer-displays-iphone/customer-displays-iphone.jpg?size=500&imageId=9199086″ width=”380″ height=”253″ /]I really hope some undercover Apple agents were present yesterday around the retail stores of the phone company that officially released the iPhone 4 in Saudi.

The scene of customers, all types of them: technical savvy, young, mature, students, and employees, all waiting in lines for hours to have the chance to get their hands on that magical device called iPhone 4 is an indication that Apple products are having a good opportunity to grow even bigger in the Saudi market (read more about it in this Saudi Mac post).

So the logical question in such situation would be: how come that a central country in the region with a huge fan base (and huge disposal income!) does not have a direct presence  in the form of Apple Stores or at least a certified representative! To get an answer to such question, a one should be able to penetrate the Apple management minds, which is not a very wise nor save thing to do?!

By choosing not to be in the Saudi scene, Apple has allowed its products and its prices to be manipulated in the market and its fans to be taken advantage of (a friend told today that he knows someone who bought an iPhone4 before it was released in Saudi for about SAR7000 = $1866.5). And let’s not start talking about warranties and technical support.

Will Apple ever listen to its Saudi fans? lets wait and see …

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Sama; Another Sad Story of Saudi Aviation Industry

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=airlines&iid=292693″ src=”http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/292693/airplane-over-runway/airplane-over-runway.jpg?size=500&imageId=292693″ width=”234″ height=”350″ /]The Saudi low budget Sama Airlines is suspending its operations in the Kingdom starting today until further notice.

Should this be a surprise? I would say: No, it was expected!

The whole scene of civil aviation industry in Saudi does not look that good. Whether we are talking airports or airliners, It is a mess, to say the least!

Operating an airlines is a tough business, no doubt about it. Lots of head to head competition and very turbulent business environment. And when you are working in a messy market like the one both Sama and Nas had stepped in, the situation becomes even harder.

I am not sure what kind of business plans they had both studied to reach the decision that the Saudi market is an attractive investment opportunity. Maybe by only looking at the status of Saudia and how almost all Saudis agree that it suck! the idea of having a second airlines should’ve looked appealing. The fact of the matter is that Saudia is a company both owned and supported by the government. And what makes it even worse for commercial activities in such market is when the regulator (GACA in this situation) does not provide any guarantees to protect the fairness of competition. Maybe the new comers received some promises, but businesses are not usually built on promises, they are built on facts, at least when it comes to the market environment.

Now both of the companies are waiting for the promises to be fulfilled especially for fueling prices. It could be a tactic played by Sama to get the attention of higher authorities although it is a hugely damaging move to the company name (especially that Nas did not play along, if it was a tactic!!)

It is another sad story added to the book of sad stories of Saudi airlines business!!

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Ramadan’s Prices Hikes

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=grocery+shopping&iid=5210525″ src=”http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/5210525/products-shelves/products-shelves.jpg?size=500&imageId=5210525″ width=”234″ height=”311″ /]Few days to Ramadan and the consumerism carnival has already started. Consumers, retailers, and the Ministry of Commerce and its monitoring bodies are the usual triangle sides of the price hiking struggle and debate; who did what to whom!!

One of the strangest analyses that popped out this year came from ‘an official’ at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) according to Arab News (here) The manager of the Corporate Social Responsibility at the JCCI is saying that the consumers themselves are the problem of any prices hikes because, those bad consumers, have brand loyalty!!!! He is also adding that there is no need for any prices monitoring systems, and assures us all that the Saudi market is one of the most open markets in the world, even more open than the West!!

I am not sure how Mr. Official understands the concepts of brand loyalty, consumer protection, and open markets but here are some comments:

• When consumers trust a brand and develop some kind of attachment to it, then it should be their own choice to continue with it or not if the brand owner decided to increase the price for any reasons (e.g. manufacturing costs, new features, raw materials cost, etc). But when the prices increase not because of the brand owner but because of other factors in the local supply or distribution chains, then whose responsibility is this? And even more, what if the brand owner is a local who takes advantages of different seasons to increase prices without any reasonable justifications, whose responsibility is this?
• There are no contradictions whatsoever between free markets and consumer protection activities. Not only that, I can take it a step further and argue that, consumer protection groups are major signs of a truly free market!
• Prices monitoring is one of many responsibilities of consumer protection groups. Quality checks, fighting monopolies, be the channel of communication between the customers and other governmental bodies are all examples of such activities. Again, how all these activities contradicts free and open markets??

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The Golden Question

For any business owner or leader out there; the moment of truth kinda of question could be the following one asked by Jim Collins (according to this HBR blog post):

If your company went out of business tomorrow, would anybody really miss it and why?

Although it’s a simple question, its answer contains the essence of the organization, its soul, and its whole purpose of being alive and competing in the market. If a leader or a number of executives failed to answer such question, then there must be something wrong!

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=confused+woman&iid=5191135″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/5191135/close-young-woman-with-her/close-young-woman-with-her.jpg?size=500&imageId=5191135″ width=”234″ height=”234″ /]There are some interesting points the blog post is referring to in case a leader wants to know why his/her company should be missed. But let’s look at it from the other way around. Let’s see it through the eyes of you; the customer. Think for a moment of a company that you will be really missing if you heard now that it will be a history starting from tomorrow, and why would you miss it?

If you honestly answer this question, your answers will be almost the same as those mentioned in the HBR post, the answers that every business leaders should be aspiring to and working on having in his/her company.

Allow me to be the first to start … These are my choices:

• Starbucks: This is by far my most favorite brand in the world. You could even say that I am emotionally connected to it. Noting that I am neither a heavy coffee drinker nor someone who spend a lot of times in coffee shops. But I admire it because I feel that they care. They care about the quality of their products and the quality of the services they are providing.
• Sony: The Japanese electronic manufacturer will be my second choice. I trust whatever products they’re producing. Whenever I see Sony, I see high quality.
• P&G: Proctor & Gamble, the known FMCG manufacturer. There are no choices whenever that one of the products to be choosing from carries this company name. They have a vast range of brands under P&G, and they are all my first choices especially in Health & Well being and Household care categories.

Now, what are your favorite brands and why?

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iPhone4; The Antenna Lessons

Surprisingly enough, the day our fellow blogger Qusay published this post about the iPhone 4 and its antenna issues (The Truth About the iPhone4 Antenna Problems), I was going through a heated discussion, to say the least, with a number of friends about how Apple handled the aftermath of the whole antenna story.

I have to start by saying that as an engineer, I totally agree with all opinions stated that the whole issue has been really overblown and taken out of context. It would not get that much of attention if it was not for Apple. If you want to exercise your brain cells a bit and read about some engineering stuff, read this post discussing the issue in a very simple and direct way.

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=iPhone+4&iid=9364152″ src=”http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9364152/apple-holds-press/apple-holds-press.jpg?size=500&imageId=9364152″ width=”234″ height=”351″ /]As for Apple the brand, nothing new, it has always been controversial. From where I see it, Apple did a good job in its disaster recovery actions. Maybe I am saying this because I am an Apple fan, but even this should not be so surprising. Apple has always looked to its customers as a niche market, as a community, and Apple likes to play according to its own rules. Steve Jobs had acknowledged the antenna problems, he talked about what the company is doing to rectify it, how the company cares about its customers, and how the company understands its potentials, its competencies, and its mistakes. And guess what, I believed him, and most, if not all, Apple fans believed him as well. Maybe coming from another company or another CEO, we would doubt it. But this is the kind of relation Apple has built over the years with its customers, they trust each other! And this is a point that should not be taken so lightly, it is a lesson in the long term brand equity building, and how customers may react to a brand they value and believe in, especially in times of wrongdoings or disasters.

If there is anything I would say that Apple should’ve done better, then it is the timing of reaction. They kept silent for days without a response while the Internet was going mad over the issue. Steve Jobs himself admitted this point when he said that ‘If we could do this again, we would have tried to mitigate the problem.’

The iPhone 4 is the most successful product launch in the whole history of Apple; isn’t that enough to realize the kind of a relationship Apple has with its customers??

I am willing to buy the iPhone4 once released in my country … are you?

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It is Time To Dance

The videos you are about to see have been around the Internet since the beginning of the year. However, I’ve just got the chance to see one of them via an email that my sister sent me.

And let me tell you; beside having fun watching it … I am impressed  🙂

Now, we all may agree that traveling is fun. But the worst part of it is definitely going to the airport, any airport! I mean who really loves the waiting lines, security checks, dragging or pushing bags all over the place, and the constant anxiety over delaying or canceling flights at any moment. Add to that the glooming sensation that usually occupies airports at seasons when everybody wants to go back home or fly out and start vacationing.

So can you quickly think of any thing that could ease such situation and make it fun. Think … any thing … I am not sure you came up with any thing near this. The Portuguese airliner named TAP Portugal turned the airport floor … into a dancing floor.

Before seeing the video, let discuss some marketing stuff:

• The Power of Surprise: For advertisers and social media marketers, nothing beats surprises in determining how successful a campaign might be. One of the videos had been seen by more than 300,000 people in only 3 days after being released through the company YouTube channel. Just to have a glimpse of how successful that campaign is, just think of what are the odds of you ever hearing about TAP Portugal!!
• The Happy Brand: I am not sure you will be seeing the staff of TAP Portugal dancing all over the place every time you travel with them, but you will always remember that these people made you genuinely smile. That video was shot during the christmas vacation. So the company was actually celebrating with its customers, and easing the whole airport experience on them.

I cannot help but thinking about what our local carrier, Saudi Airlines, might do to entertain its customers in such a way??!!

Enjoy …

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Foul Mouthed; Be Carful

President Obama and his administration have been under pressure to take a firmer stand against the the tragedy of the oil spill taking place at the Gulf of Mexico. As days were passing by without any hope of a working solution, people frustration was getting stronger and they were expecting their President to do the same. So on one of his TV interviews, Mr. President responded to a question about how the crisis meetings were going on by stating that one of these meetings’ goals was ‘to determine whose ass to kick.’

So ‘Should Leaders Ever Swear?’ was the question asked by Dan McGinn recently on HBR Blog. Should leaders really give up formality in certain situations to attain certain goals? Or such tongues slips could cost the leaders and their organizations later on?

Strangely, the post refers to a study that has been published in 2007 where the researchers emphasized the importance of using unconventional or uncivilized language in the workplace. Not only that, but they also grouped workplace profanity into two categories:

• Social Swearing: where swearing just pops up in the middle of causal conversations.
• Annoyance Swearing: which is used in stressed situations to release pressure or used as ‘relief mechanism’ as they put it.

However, both types of swearing mentioned above should not be so much treasured when talking about PR activities, branding initiatives, dealing with staff, or in front of customers. Using improper language could cost the organization a lot of its image and authenticity in the eyes and hearts of its customers. And could definitely makes it a repulsive place to be working in.

Not only organizations, even when we are talking about personal branding of leaders (business or not) and celebrities of any kind, having a bad mouth is a trait that sticks to the person and cannot be easily forgotten.

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Rooney&iid=9151450″ src=”http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9151450/football-england-algeria/football-england-algeria.jpg?size=500&imageId=9151450″ width=”234″ height=”167″ /]Jack Welch, the infamous CEO of GE between 1981 and 2001 was known, beside his managerial abilities, to have a tough tongue that likes to throw the f-bomb now and then. And for those following up the World Cup nowadays, we’ve just seen the poor kid named Rooney throws some of highly tuned trash at the camera after England’s last match with Algeria (read about it here)!!

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The Psychological Cost

I have a confession to make. and if, by any chance, Steve Jobs is reading this; I am sorry!

I have been a long time advocate of Microsoft and I hated the gut of Apple before even trying it!

My reasoning was simple, we would not know the world as we know it today without Microsoft Windows and Office, and that is partially true even after my confession. In other words, I was feeling gratitude toward Microsoft more than being happy with its system quality. I was not looking at its shortcomings, I was looking more to its role in my daily life.

Anyway, before this get very sentimental … this post is neither about Microsoft nor Apple. It is about our psychological attachments to certain brands.

There is something in marketing called ‘the switching cost;’ They are the costs a person, or even an organization, has to pay when deciding to choose another product, supplier, service, etc. The cost here should not be only thought of in terms of financial means. Beside money, there is time, efforts, and there is physiological costs as well. And to make things clearer, think of switching from a phone brand to another. You have to spend some time learning and getting familiar with the new brand.This is a switching cost right there and some people might not be willing to deal with.

Psychological switching cost or barrier, plain and simple, is anything a brand does in an attempt to relate to its customers. This will turn into feelings such as admiration, respect, love, …, etc in the customer minds. And eventually, customer will get attached to the brand because of these feelings. The touch of a product, the smell, the quality, or customer service, all these are examples of investments that can be made to create the required psychological switching barrier.

So the next time you are drafting your branding strategy, or planning an advertisement campaign, you better not only think about customers buying more of your products, but how customers will never think of switching to your competitor. Not only having more customer attention through the ads, but having more customers relating to your brand through these ads.

Now, If you look around, you might find something that you are psychologically attached to; maybe the perfume that makes you feel sexy and mysterious when wearing it, a clothing brand that adds elegance to your personality, what about the brand of your laptop, or the type of the car you are driving.

So, do you have any confession to make 🙂 … share it with the rest of us …

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Small Details Matter

I took this picture while waiting on a traffic light (you may want to click on it to have a better look). And that is what caught me eye in it:

• It is a branded car for the ‘Saudi Automatic Laundry’, let me emphasis on the word “Saudi”. Now the question is: what is the blond guy wearing the none traditional Saudi costume doing in a supposedly Saudi laundry!
• The print on the car is almost fading away and the car itself is not clean; but this is another story and may be another blog post.

It could be argued here that this is not a big deal; it is a laundry service for the God sake!And we all know that laundry services in Saudi do not give a damn about branding! And this is, unfortunately, true but it is not the point!

The point is just a reminder of how the logo, name, slogan, fonts, colors, and ad pictures of a particular business should all contribute to create a brand, or to be more accurate, to create a part of the brand personality (there are a lot of other things to do to build a brand!) Each and every one of these aspects create associations in the mind of the customer and those associations will determine how he/she would relate to the brand.

Great businesses, no matter small or big sized, take care of these small details when crafting their images and building their brands. That’s why Apple will never use an orange photo on its packages, Fedex will never use a turtle as a mascot, and you will never see an ad for Porsche without seeing it racing the winds!

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