1.

Making sense of advertising

We all have heard the saying that seeing is believing. In fact we tend to think that sight is the
most important sense. In reality, sight is not our strongest sense, its not even the second
strongest. Scientists have discovered that scent is the most powerful sense. A wine taster will first
smell the wine, take in the aroma, swirl it around the glass and then drink it. Any wine taster
worth his salt knows that you cannot judge a wine by the colour alone.

If you think about your personal life, you remember the smell of your moms cooking more
vividly than you recall the sight of the food. Smells are very important when it comes to giving
cues and releasing emotions for the simple reason that smell is processed in the same area of the
brain where memory is. All the other senses too come into play both in daily life and in the
subliminal world of marketing.

Martin Lindstrom, in his seminal work Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy What We
Buy, stunned the marketing world (truth be told marketers with common sense knew about the
power of scent already) with his findings on the power of senses other than sight to influence
consumers. Some years ago, at a workshop in Karachi, Lindstrom said the reason why Johnson
& Johnson Baby Powder is such a powerful brand is because their key ingredient is vanillin (or
vanilla) which is also found in mothers milk. So smelling the baby powder reminds people of
their childhood and their mother. Thus a powerful brand association is created, below the radar of
the conscious. In Lindstroms opinion, smell is so evocative because it taps into the emotional
brain and not the rational one.

We have recently seen ads and activations in this region where smell played a role. In India, Lux
used a blind photographer to shoot Katrina Kaif because, although he could not see her, he could
smell her thanks to the strong scent of the soap. In Pakistan, Lux created a buzz with a
Mothers Day activation by using scent dispensers to augment their brand installation at a mall in
Karachi. Personally I think Lux missed a good opportunity with their recent Lux Style Awards
activation at the same shopping mall. The area around the escalator was turned into a red carpet
foyer, yet once one got on the escalator, the impact was gone. The brand could have identified
some scents to convey a sense of luxury to spray at the venue and create a more lasting
impression.

The reason why Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder is such a powerful brand is because
their key ingredient is vanillin (or vanilla) which is also found in mothers milk. So smelling
the baby powder reminds people of their childhood and their mother. Thus a powerful
brand association is created, below the radar of the conscious.

Things do not have to be complicated to use smell. Think of a pizza brand using scent dispensers
at a bus stop. The brand can place a QR code on the wall of the bus shelter and people with
smartphones would be able to order. The possibilities are endless for marketers who want to
experiment.

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Coca-Cola had Somali-Canadian rapper Knaan
sing a remix of his song Wavin Flag which became a global hit and a fan anthem. Later, I was
both surprised and impressed when I found out how savvy the Coca-Cola marketing team was.
The signature five-note Coke melody was integrated into the song, a subliminal message
brilliantly embedded by the brand.

Branded sound bites are not unknown in our market. Most EBM ads start with or have strands of
the iconic Pied Piper tune. Britannia in India too has a very recognisable sound bite. However,
for some brands the connection associated with their sound bites is not always so favourable; for
example, Lindstroms research revealed that the Nokia tune, reminded people of work. Could
this have played a part in the brands demise?

Even generic sounds trigger emotions. For example, have you ever been to a supermarket or
department store that plays fast music? Probably not, because these stores know that slow music
encourages shoppers to spend more time there and consequently buy more. Conversely, no fast
food joint will play Beethoven fast music makes you to eat faster and leave earlier.

Some global brands operating in Pakistan play music as a way of following worldwide practice.
Turning to Pakistani brands, it would be amazing if K-Electric and other utility companies could
identify what kind of music helps soothe irate customers who have called in to complain.
Furthermore, if brands start using music in a more effective manner, we might be spared from
having to listen to their latest commercials and offers when we try to call their UAN.

We have all heard about how a first impression is a last impression, and a similar rule applies to
touch. People decide whether they like a person by their handshake. A weak handshake conveys
negative vibes while an overpowering one puts people ill at ease. Studies inform us that a soft
chair leads to a relaxed person and ultimately a less powerful negotiator. Of course, culture also
plays a role in deciding the rules of touch. In Pakistan you dont shake hands with a woman and
if a store employee were to touch a shopper, they might not approve; conversely, touching in the
US leads to more sales.

Touch is the least researched sense, although brands like Apple have been enticing customers
into touching their laptops. The devices are set at a 70 degree angle slightly open but not
enough to view the content and this induces customers to flip open the screen. Another example
is the hotel industrys use of plush carpets to communicate luxury. In fact, the hotel industry has
pioneered sensual marketing in a big way by using all the senses to influence their patrons.

There is no reason why more brands cannot do the same. Mainstream marketers need to embrace
this new exciting world of the senses in order to become more efficient and effective. If they
dont, they risk being left behind, which to me does not sound like common sense.
 The Rise Of The One Brand
2.

Strategy
by Mark Ritson
The single most important piece of brand theory of the past quarter
century was published in the California Management Review in 2000.
The Brand Relationship Spectrum was not especially revolutionary and
yet the paper, by academic legend Professor David Aaker and his co-
author Erich Joachimsthaler, became an instant classic.

The reason for its resonance lies in the papers first diagram. Splashed
across page two are a series of innocuous looking boxes that, on closer
inspection, reveal the titular spectrum. Starting with a House of Brands
and concluding with a Branded House, this diagram lays out the
complete geography of brand architecture.

Most companies have more than one brand in operation and yet most
have rarely contemplated how best to link, or separate, those brands for
maximum effect. This question of brand architecture became one of the
fundamental challenges of contemporary branding and, when allayed
with the equally important issue of brand portfolio, came to represent
perhaps the biggest single challenge to successful brand management in
the early 21st century.
Aaker and Joachimsthalers paper didnt invent the concept of brand
architecture, but it did create a widely accepted system for thinking
about the architectural options a lingua franca of brand strategy that
could be used to argue and assess a brands optimum architecture. If I
had a dollar for every time I have drawn out the spectrum over the past
15 years in front of clients or students, I would be very a rich brand
consultant by now.

And it was top of mind earlier this month when Coca-Cola

announced its new one brand strategy in the UK/North-West
Europe. Coke will no longer push sub-brands, instead its moving to a
single branded house, different identity strategy in which the Coke
brand will be the focus for marketing efforts, with the various product
offerings used only to proffer choice to target consumers. With our new
one brand approach, were uniting four distinct brands under the
umbrella of Coca-Cola, explained Jon Woods, general manager at
Coca-Cola GB. Our no and lower sugar variants will benefit from this
closer association with Coca-Cola and featuring all variants in our
advertising will make clear to more consumers the full choice we offer
them.
The move represents yet another example of the biggest brands moving
down the brand relationship spectrum away from the more independent,
pluralistic architectural options typified by the house of brands and
towards the more controlled, singular positions that occupy the bottom
of the chart. In Coca-Colas case, it is explicitly rejecting the balanced
sub-brand strategy that saw Zero as being just as important as Coke and
necessitating a distinct position and execution strategy from its stable of
other sub-brands, in favor of a branded house approach in which the
focus will be on Coke, with the former sub-brands rendered little more
than product variants.

Coke isnt the first big player to move south when it comes to brand
architecture. Unilever famously shifted from a house of brands
architecture down to an endorsed approach in 2004. P&G even more
famously followed suit nearly a decade later, similarly moving down and
away from its long established house of brands approach to allow its
previously unknown corporate brand to create resonance among target
households.
This consistent movement away from portfolios of independent brands
and towards the more traditional corporate brand focus is an enormous
change in the landscape of modern brand management. Combine it with
the rise of brands like Aldi and the unavoidable shredding of hundreds of
brands at big supermarkets and their subsequent deletion from existence
and you have the makings for a tectonic shift in the way brands will be
run in the years ahead.

The reasons for this migration down the brand relation spectrum
financial savings, geographical similarities, the rise of CSR, the power
of digital communications, the rise of retailer power have all, correctly,
been cited. Whatever the reasons, the movement south from portfolios
and towards corporate branding is one of the great marketing themes of
our lifetime.

3.Luxury Brand Strategies: How To Attract

Affluent Customers Through PR
As 2016 comes upon us, the new year is a great time to take a fresh
look at your PR and marketing plans. One of the trickiest and most
desirable sectors to reach is the luxury consumer. For perspective, Ive
gathered the advice of two entrepreneurs who are promoting their
companies to this elite audience well.
Noel Shu is Managing Partner and Head Sommelier at Prodiguer
brands. This company is known for creating the most expensive
champagne ever: nearly $2 million per bottle, and they are poised to
do it again. Maurice Vendome, a rare Grand Cru Rserve Blanc de
Blancs champagne, represents more than 100 years of combined
experience, expertise and leadership from our team and the wine
grower, he says. Tradition holds that first impressions are the most
important. According to Shu, however, every impression is equally
important. We consider it vital that our brand looks luxurious to the
eye, feels appeasing to the touch and tastes exceptional to the palate."
The sensory appeal of Maurice Vendom champagne, at nearly $2M per bottle, is reinforced by a dimensional label that is
delightful to touch (image courtesy of Prodigies Brands)

On the other end of the spectrum, I approached Kevin Layton, CEO

of an Inc 5000 digital marketing company, Data Dynamix. His
company, which has continually reinvented itself to adapt to
marketplace needs, achieved #1,226 on the 2015 Inc. 5000 with a 3-
year growth rate of 343%. Here are the marketing strategies these
executives have used to succeed (with no Madison Avenue agencies or
agents involved):

1. Use organic advertising to set a

foundation. Prodiguer uses its own website and social
media profiles (such as the Founder and CEOs account on
Instagram @ShammiShinh and Partner
@TheBillionairesClub) to share luxury images and
messages that reach a global audience, which leads to
organic features in magazines online and print
publications. (The moral hereimages can be everything.
Use them plentifully, and be sure the level and tone of the
image is true to the tone and style of the brand.) In
addition, they invite associated partners to write about
their stories and experiences with the brand. This adds
referred authority and spreads the brand message more
efficiently to a broader audience than the company could
reach on its own.
2. To drive demand and interest from a high-end
audience, dont make your products easy to
get. When people don't have easy access, they desire an
item more and will work harder to get it. Particularly in a
luxury market, people aspire to acquire what they cannot
easily have. Prodiguer often offers its product in limited
edition bottles, such as its Juliet Immaculate Vodka, which
it launched with Sue Tsai edition bottles. The company
justifies its exclusivity by providing a bona fide luxury
product. The limited and high-end packaging is coupled
with a selective sales strategy that makes the customers
the company selects feel special and increases the
prestige of the product further as high end customers
want to boost their own status by association with the
brand.
3. Transparency tightens the link. By highlighting
production facts in their marketing, Prodiguer makes the
company transparent, giving customers a better
understanding of the company and the products. This
 generates genuine interest. In Prodiguers case, a part of
this strategy includes keeping as many functions as
possible in house. This highlights the company's strengths
and also shows the diversity and skill of the partners as a
business that is a genuine boutique and based on
tradition. The company manifests its transparency in
social media by documenting its travel and events,
bringing fans along by proxy into the company ethos and
lifestyle.
4. Sensory branding: go beyond visual. Shu explains,
Our founder, Shammi, wanted to make the customer
experience unique. So each standard bottle of our
champagne includes a pewter label that is a delight to
touch. While these features may seem simplistic, sensory
branding is powerful for relating to customers on an
emotional level. Brands that employ components such as
touch and aroma in addition to rich visual image are
poised to create a stronger emotional attachment in the
customers they serve.
5. Search is vital. Says Layton, an expert on tactics for
marketing specific brands, Shopping online for luxury
products is no different than shopping for basic necessities
except that it becomes much more fun. Successful
marketing to people who buy luxury vacations, autos,
houses and gadgets involves finding out more about them
on many levels. Where do they hang out online? What are
the experiences they value? For example, when a high-
end consumer dreams about a new Bentley or Audi, he or
she will typically go online and start to read articles about
the experience of others, to conduct searches about
brands and features, and will likely even reinforce their
initial desires by build their very own model from
companys site. SEO presence for the brand in the right
level of articles and reviews is vital.
6. Retarget with skill. If the brand is smart, when a
customer visits their site, the company will drop a
retargeting pixel onto the customers device while they
 are daydreaming about their new Continental convertible.
This allows the brand to follow the customer with display
and banner ads that remind them of the image and
impulse as they surf away. The strategy of Programmatic
Ad Retargeting is effective in any sector, but can be
especially beneficial in reinforcing desire for a high-end
luxury sale. The beautiful image of a high-end product is a
helpful reminder of a product that simply makes you feel
good.
7. Leverage geo fencing for a physical store-front
location. Companies with a physical storefront location
can find high-end customer by geo fencing their
demographic information. For example, if a particular Audi
dealer has purchased geo fencing rights for a one mile
radius from their location, when the prospective customer
drives by, the company knows the demographic and
income level and they know the prospective customer is
nearby. So they send out a fitting mobile, video, or display
offer to the nearby prospect along with their address.
8. Accomplish email marketing with high-end
finesse. Third party email is an effective way to reach the
luxury buyer, Layton maintains. A great email company is
able to obtain luxury lists from publications such as
the Robb Report, Upscale Living Magazine or Travel and
Leisure. The email you create should uphold the visual
elements and prestige of your brandwhile squeeze
page tactics or dirt bag marketing might be
numerically effective in closing a commodity sale, it will
have no effectiveness here. By placing a pixel in the email,
a luxury brand can follow a potential customer with
retargeting ads to the prospective customers phone or
desktop with an invitation for an offer such as a trunk
show or a private viewing for a luxury clothing brand.

One of the best things about being a luxury brand is that your
product name is generally recognized and has a positive
association. Consequently, one of the biggest keys to landing a
luxury sale, according to Layton, is being present in the
buyers minds and eyes when their wallets are open , as a
luxury product is purchased on emotion much more than on pricing,
physical timing or need. It is essential that your product be at the front
of the line with the right emotional attachment and sensory perception
when the customers mood is right and he or she is ready to buy.

As you can see from these examples, luxury branding requires a higher
level of discipline in its planning and execution than a volume or low-
end commodity sale. The perceived value, of course, is what justifies
the higher margin and price. With the right preparation, the rewards
of luxury marketing are immense.