Issue 5 - March / April 2013
bmw vS. aUDI:
THIS MEANS WAR BEWARE OF BARKETING SAMSUNG’S CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY BUILDING MEANINGFUL BRAND THROUGH LEAN CREATIVITY
Editor-In-Chief
Abdallah El Demery Assistant Editor
Omnia Mohi Eldin Designed and Sponsored by
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astermind alliance is one of the keys to massive success. The potentials to be achieved are multiplied by 100s if not 1000s of times. Having another perspective makes an idea more complete and achievable.
Two minds are better than one. When you have an idea and you sit with a friend, partner, or an expert to work on it, the results you’ll get are definitely better than the results you’ll achieve on your own. An idea is a gift, when it comes, make the best use of it, don’t ignore it and don’t procrastinate working on it, because if you don’t, someone else will. In such a competitive world we live in, those who add value and make a difference are the ones who will win the prize; the prize of success, self-satisfaction, and recognition. This issue of The Marketing Magazine is embracing new exciting topics worth reading. Interesting guest writers are enriching the content. You’ll also find a very exciting interview with Samsung’s Marketing Director on their CSR activities. Finally, new creative designers are featured. Keep coming back for more. Your feedback is highly appreciated, for any tips or ideas, please email me: abdallah@marnomics.com
Branding
Table of Content
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BRAND HEALTH CHECK
The best brands are a combination of design, differentiation and connection. Building one requires a solid foundation of smart design, followed by determination and persistence.
6,7 lean creativity Creativity is forever evolving. And by borrowing a page from the tech industry playbook, it can get even faster, smarter, and more efficient. Lean applies in every business. It is not a tactic or a cost reduction program, but a way of thinking and acting for an entire organization.
8,9 A traveler’s guide to branding
Too many times we don’t celebrate wins and successes with our team or our clients. We get caught up in the day-to-day and lose sight of what’s important. Enjoying the moment.
10,11 Beware of Barketing
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PR PERSPECTIVE
THE EDUCATION PARADOX AND PR BY SARAH BROBERG I know that nearly every profession in Egypt has difficulty finding qualified candidates and that’s a topic for another time, but the issue is particularly pertinent for PR.
16,17 INTERVIEW WITH
GEORGE SEDDIK: SAMSUNG’S CSR
Samsung Hope for Children program brings attention to the most disadvantaged children in our communities.
18 Digital Darwinism: survival of the business
One thing we do know is it’s not only digital platforms that are evolving; the consumers that use them and society in general is developing.
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trigger emotions
Check your marketing for signs of barketing. Does your competition say “Buy from us. We have the best service, best price, best quality, blah, blah, blah…”? Now compare that to your marketing. Are you echoing the same message?
Playing on the five senses in marketing is nothing new. It’s all about how we experience things; it’s about giving people something they can see, feel, hear, touch and taste so they can then familiarize themselves with the brand.
12,13, BMW vs. Audi: THIS MEANS 14 War
20-23 CREATIVE SHOWCASE
BMW and Audi are two German rivals that have always been fond of taking shots at each other – that’s nothing new. But this rivalry has spawned a new battle where creativity and ad budgets are the weapons.
Mahmoud Hassan Mohammad AlGendy Tarek Sameer
The best brands are a combination of design, differentiation and connection. Building one requires a solid foundation of smart design, followed by determination and persistence. § § § § §
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rom retail to technology, great brands make great businesses. But what makes a great brand, and how can you build one that stays front of mind? Give yours a health check with the following golden rules:
Great brands represent values
Brands that work well usually express a value. This could be quality, value for money, a green or ethical approach, or fun. To ensure that yours is working effectively, make sure that your ‘visual language’ (your logo’s design and color scheme) says the right things. From font to color palette, match your branding with the key value you want customers to perceive. The better your visual language corresponds to your values as a business, the stronger your brand will be. Remember also that brands are never instant – while first impressions count, brands take a while to develop. They’re as much about reputation as they are about appearance.
Great brands offer connection
From General Electric to Apple, people make judgments on and emotional connections with brands. To help them, your brand must work to differentiate your products from your competitors. A useful exercise can be to imagine your brand as a car. Mercedes, for example, says ‘class’, Volvo says ‘safety’ while Toyota says ‘reliability’. The ultimate goal is a single overarching value: just one word or attribute. Of course your products or services will have many positive attributes, but brands often do their best work by focusing on just one, especially at the outset. Focus group testing can help to ensure that your message matches your intent.
Great brands evolve
The best brands, like the best businesses, adapt over time. Once your brand is established, continue to ask whether it reflects how your business is currently positioned. Is it a hangover from when your business was something else?
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Social media is highlighting how fluid brands are and how audiences control and shape them. So in addition to design, it’s important to invest in an online presence for your brand: one that matches your brand values.
Great brands are memorable
If you can build a unique brand, you’ll be also building one that’s remembered. What makes a memorable brand? Again, simplicity helps. Often, it’s simply a color or a scheme (think Cadbury’s purple or Samsung’s white and blue). Sometimes it’s a slogan (‘lowest prices are just the beginning’ or ‘Eat Fresh’). Consistency is key. Make sure that you pick the strongest element of your brand and promote that across all your advertising and marketing materials.
Summing up
The best brands are a combination of design, differentiation and connection. Building one requires a solid foundation of smart design, followed by determination and persistence. It can be hard work, but the more you invest, the more your brand will begin to do the work for you, putting your business top-of-mind for customers in any marketplace.
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Branding
Start fast – get clarity on the problem
Building
meaningful brands through
lean creativity “Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” – Edward de Bono
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reativity is forever evolving. And by borrowing a page from the tech industry playbook, it can get even faster, smarter, and more efficient. A popular misconception is that lean methodologies are better suited to the manufacturing industry. Not true. Lean applies in every business and every process. It is not a tactic or a cost reduction program, but a way of thinking and acting for an entire organization. Businesses in all industries and services are using lean principles as the way they think and do. Get it right, and lean creativity is a winning formula: product and brand communications are not only easier and faster to execute, but more targeted and effective – ultimately leading to deeper brand connections and increased sales velocity. How do we do that? By taking on board three key lessons: start fast, listen and learn, and work collaboratively. There are many, but here are 8 simple ways that will help marketers build meaningful brands by using lean methods.
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Understand identity
By understanding identity, then we can understand a brand. A brand is not a logo, a color, a product or a person – it’s everything a company does, says, looks and acts. A brand is a company’s identity. By understanding an organization’s identity we start to understand the brand at large. Marty Neumeier said it best: “A brand is not what we say it is, but what they say it is.”
Develop one simple brand idea
A core idea can be a story, a statement, a sentence or a manifesto. It doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that it must be simple, memorable, inspiring, meaningful and most importantly – true. A core brand idea is a succinct representation of the business’ strategic intent – the one idea. Nike stays true to one simple idea that inspires everybody to be an athlete. Every piece of communication from Nike stays true to this idea whether it is depicting a chubby kid jogging along a long road or an elite athlete jumping higher than we ever imagined landing a winning score.
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Many times a marketing team will have a different idea and understanding of the problem at hand than their C-level counterparts – this in itself is a problem. Always work hard at the outset to get a unified understanding of what the problem is – articulate it clearly and most importantly put the customer/client/people first. Articulate it in their voice, not your own. Ensuring we have a common understanding of the problem at hand is paramount – how can we solve a problem when we all have a different idea of what the problem is? Dive deep, understand your audience, understand the problem and listen. Ask questions: What are the business reasons behind your branding effort? How does it link to the business strategy? Internally you need to get honest. What is the problem? Have you lost touch with the audience? Does the visual identity of your company reflect the brand? What are the external problems? What are your customers facing? What problems are your suppliers facing? Who is the audience and what do we want them to do? Who are they, what do they do, what inspires them and motivate them into action? Undertake a brand perception health check. How does your audience feel about the brand? Are they loyal, have they lost trust, was there ever trust, or have they only just discovered you?
Listen and learn
Undertaking research isn’t a new concept but the ongoing monitoring of consumer opinion and insight is something that has been born of modern technology. We now have the tools at hand to begin the research process with gusto. There are numerous affordable or even free tools that enable you to undertake your own research and get a deeper understanding of the problem at hand, the conversation, opportunities and of course, your customers. Discover what and where the conversation is and how the business can become a part of the conversation, don’t demand to drive it.
Build a brand team
When building a lean creative framework for your brand there are four key roles that every brand leadership team needs: The brand custodian: this is an internal role, performed by a marketing director or brand director. The role is focused on brand management across the organization and is owner of the brand’s integrity, working in conjunction with the brand guardian.
The brand guardian: the brand guardian can be an internal or external role. This person has a strong focus on the visual
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and communications perspectives of a brand. The role is often performed by a creative director or design director.
The brand ambassador: the brand ambassador is a person who internally or externally promotes the brand. Brand ambassadors are paid by your organization – they may be employees or external parties (often high profile identities) who embody the brand values.
The brand advocate: the brand advocate is a loyal customer, client or employee who is engaged in active promotion of your brand without being paid to do so. They advocate the brand because of their positive experience with it.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Don’t start again every time you have to start again. Build a brand platform and adopt a publishing model to handle content. Create content authors in your organization which are autonomous and focused on content creation – words, pictures, and video; content that is engaging and above all meaningful. Have content editors act as the filter and curator of content – people who are in place to approve, edit and curate content before it ‘goes live’.
Creativity comes from everyone
There are many ways to develop ideas; however, it is our ego that stops us from developing methods. Develop a method for idea generation that allows and welcomes concepts from any part of the business or community. The goal here is to develop lots of ideas from the outset.
Understand the world we live in
A research study by Google revealed that smartphone penetration is increasing and we’re also consuming more apps. Brands need to understand how they can provide consistency and connectivity between the various screen-based devices as well as a unified story and compelling user experience across all platforms.
Time to get lean
It’s both an attention and location economy and we must work better, faster, leaner if we are to create meaningful connections with our customers. We must put people at the heart of our brand building effort. Get to know them, understand them, who they are and how they tick. By putting people first, we are able to develop communications that connect in a truly meaningful way.
Jim Antonopoulos
themarketingmag.com
Branding when all its elements are aligned. In Oia’s case, the distinct and consistent look and feel of its architecture creates a sublime union with the turquoise waters and orange sunsets that frame the island. The result is overwhelming; unforgettable – and simply draws you in.
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traveler’s guide to branding
underneath. It demands you to look deeper, explore further, and learn more. It’s the same when we start working with an organization on a branding effort. The first step is to look at what has influenced the brand’s journey to this point – the foundations it has been built on – and use this knowledge to help inform its future direction. Things like the brand’s inherent values, the key milestones that have marked its history, its personality and what it stands for. Once we begin to dig deep into the meaning behind a brand, we can begin to shape its branding strategy to set it on a new course.
Never underestimate the power of response
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things” – Henry Miller
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funny thing happens when you travel – you see things with fresh eyes. I recently traveled with my family to Europe and Malaysia. Looking back on my trip, there were a number of memorable experiences that made me reflect on the brands I work with at TANK every day. Some are loose connections. Others have inspired my work since getting back. I’ve captured five of those experiences here – call it a traveler’s guide to branding. So let’s get on our way.
Learning from the past to influence the future
Walking around the Acropolis of Athens, and standing at the foot of Parthenon, was breathtaking. One of those moments you can strike off your bucket list. But what really impressed me, almost as much as seeing this magnificent site, was how the artifacts and ruins had been masterfully incorporated into the stunning, modern museum sitting in the shadow of the Acropolis. The architecture of the museum has a strength and simplicity about it, inspired from its surrounds. It’s a wonderful example of the past influencing the future – but not restricting it. In fact it’s made it even more relevant and accessible. The museum allows you to interact and immerse yourself in the history of the Acropolis, such as the glass floor revealing excavations
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If you’ve ever been to Paris, you can’t help but be amazed by the Metro train system. It runs like clockwork. Every train. Every time. And it makes the complicated easy to navigate a harmonious combination of maps, screens and staff ready to help at every station. The best thing about it is you have total faith in the network. You can plan your day and night around it – and you can rely on it. In a busy city that’s gold. With an ‘under-the-pump’ client (which is every client), responding quickly builds trust, confidence and loyalty. It can’t be underestimated, because if you start to become slack in how you respond, your clients will notice – and likely leave. Make sure you have the systems in place to ensure you don’t let your client down. That means a responsive account management team who know the brand inside and out. Or robust project management processes and online collaboration tools that allow the smooth and efficient flow of jobs and tasks through the company. It sounds obvious, but if you don’t have these things in place, it can easily bring a project – and client relationship – undone.
The Oia factor
While holidaying on Santorini in the Aegean Islands I discovered the ‘Oia factor’. What is it? It’s when all the elements of a brand come together in perfect harmony. Let me explain. Oia is an amazing and beautiful place, known for its blue and white architecture and mesmerizing sunsets. What captivated me is how strong a brand’s identity can be
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The Oia factor. This is what we strive for in defining a brand’s identity. Aligning all of the elements (such as brand mark, voice, visual language, communications, behavior) to create a brand of substance that is memorable, instantly recognizable, and above all, true to itself. When you achieve this – the Oia factor – a brand will not only be seen, it will be remembered and valued. And it will connect with the audience on an entirely new level – one that makes it stand out from the rest.
Simple ideas are often the best
One thing I noticed on the streets of Penang, is that everyone paid strict attention to the traffic lights. Although there was organized chaos on the roads, there was calm at the lights. I wondered why? The answer was a digital sign at the lights. Nothing revolutionary. It simply ticked down so the drivers knew how long they had to get through the lights until they went to red. It struck me how obvious this idea was. Why haven’t I seen anything like this here? In branding, I don’t know how many times it’s proven that the simple ideas work the best – and have the most meaning. It doesn’t mean that the thinking behind them is simple – far from it. But the result has people thinking: ‘Why didn’t we think of that?’ That’s the type of reaction you dream of.
Celebrating together
One thing that Europeans have mastered is the art of celebrating. If you’ve ever been late out at night having dinner in any part of Europe, you know what I mean. They know how to embrace the moment – and enjoy it. Too many times we don’t celebrate wins and successes with our team or our clients. We get caught up in the day-to-day and lose sight of what’s important. Enjoying the moment. There’s nothing better than seeing a brand take flight or make its mark on the world. It’s why we do what we do. So when we get the chance to celebrate we should jump at it. Your team will thank you, and your clients will love you for it. There’s nothing more important than that.
The journey continues
With the holiday now a distant memory, it’s fun to look back on the experience and put into practice some of the things I’ve learned. Hopefully you can take something away from this experience too. Richard Foster
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Communication Strategy
Barketing is any form of marketing that looks and sounds like “me too” to your prospects. It feels to your market like you are competing for attention by shouting louder.
Why is Barketing Bad for Business?
Beware of
The best you can hope for is to confuse your prospects. Duracell and Energizer batteries did this to each other with their too similar TV ads. A barking dog is probably not your friend. Your customers might conclude the same thing when you bark at them. Whether you are a big dog or a small dog barking is just plain annoying. People will ignore or shut out the noise. Often that’s what prospects do when you annoy them with your barketing. It’s not their job to educate you so they just shut you out. If your marketing appears to only send the same message as your competition you are annoying your prospects with your noise and deflating your perceived value. Plus that wasted a pile of money and resources.
Barketing
What do you think when a new potential supplier approaches you with the selling phrase, “I’m as good as the one you use now”? Why would you change?
Examine Your Marketing for These Signs of Barketing Clients speak of you in terms of being “as good as brand x”. That suggests that they see no noticeable difference between you. It’s a danger sign when your staff confides this to clients. Of course the death knoll is when you say it. The ad rep taunts you with the words, “Your competition will be there”. Your blood boils - you immediately take the bait and sign up.
C
heck your marketing for signs of barketing. Does your competition say “Buy from us. We have the best service, best price, best quality, blah, blah, blah…”?
Now compare that to your marketing. Are you echoing the same message? If you are sending the same message as your competition, then what your prospects hear is, “Woof, woof, woof, yap, yap, yap, bark, bark, bark…”
What is Barketing? Barketing is a cross between marketing and barking like a dog. Barking is often repetitive, annoying and loud, and always a one-way message. Barketing is marketing gone the way of dogs. You annoy customers with your message attempt, sound like the rest of the pack and display no finesse.
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Do you design your ads while looking at the competition? Change a color and the contact information? Might a prospect look or listen to your promotions and not distinguish between you - if not for the name? Clients call you by the name of your competition. A colleague introduces you incorrectly by citing your competition’s product line. You receive prospect calls for the competition and find yourself saying “No, that’s not our program.” Is your differentiation summarized in terms of color? You’re the blue. They’re the gray. Do your slogans and tag lines sound similar to the competition?
They announce a 15% price reduction and you respond with an 18% reduction (and hold your breath). You hold a donut and coffee day and they volley back with a pancake breakfast. They give away an iPod and you consider giving an iPhone. New competitors are growing but in a different space of the market. They are avoiding your overcrowded customer space and harvesting more profitable specialized niches. You are so focused on your established but perhaps fuzzy target market that you ignore the newer opportunities and miss the rising threats. If you don’t watch out you might be blindsided. When all the other dogs in the pound are barking, trying to bark louder will only get you noticed for the wrong things. When everyone else is barking you need to do something other than bark. Perhaps you should “meow”. Notice the differences between the TV ads that you don’t skip and the ones that bore or annoy you. Make note of those differences and apply those techniques to your own marketing. Do the same thing as you are flipping through a magazine or perusing your mail. This is the best way to stand out from the competition and turn boring and annoying marketing messages into attention-grabbing and memorable. This is a strategic executive decision. This is not something that you delegate to your marketing coordinator. Are you able to list your strengths and promote them against the weaknesses of your competition? That will probably take some intensive probing. Do not take this lightly. Get outside help with this if it makes sense. The next question is, are you bold enough to do it? Be bold and play unfair. Smite the enemy where it will hurt them the most. No team stops playing when they are ahead by one point. George Torok
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Advertising Pick
BMW vs. Audi
THIS MEANS WAR
Tough Act To Follow Check yourself.
BMW and Audi are two German rivals that have always been fond of taking shots at each other – that’s nothing new. But this rivalry has spawned a new battle where creativity and ad budgets are the weapons. According to Audi Huntington Beach, It all started with a billboard in Los Angeles, CA. This seemingly innocent ad along Santa Monica Blvd. started a steady game of advertising one-upmanship that has included different media, and has even spread around the world. THINK AGAIN
Where it All Began
Rather than shying away from the bold BMW billboard, Audi turned to Facebook and asked its fans to respond to the LA billboard war. The photoshopped responses were very interesting, and at the very least enabled passionate Audi aficionados to get into the frey.
The battle began in California when Audi erected a billboard for the new Audi A4 with the caption “Chess? No Thanks, I’d rather be driving.”
Eventually, Audi responded with a new billboard showing the incredible Audi R8. The caption on the billboard read “Time to check your luxury badge. It may have expired.” BMW’s billboard eventually was moved elsewhere, and that seemed to be the end of the LA billboard war.
But that billboard soon changed with the more snarky addition of “Your Move, BMW.”
BMW’s New Billboard in Hong Kong
Sure enough, BMW did make a big move, with a new billboard directly across the street. Adorning the new BMW M3, the ad simply said “Checkmate.” Even though it wasn’t purchased by Los Angeles BMW, it was still a topic of conversation.
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In the latest chapter of this ongoing saga, BMW created a massive billboard that was erected alongside the Audi of Hong Kong dealership. The ad features a new 5-Series with the caption “Who knew efficiency could be so beautiful.”
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PR Perspective
PR PERSPECTIVE: THE EDUCATION PARADOX AND PR
O BMW: Congratulations to Audi for winning South African Car of the Year 2006. From the Winner of World Car of the Year 2006
Down the Drain
SUBARU: Well done to Audi and BMW for winning the beauty contest. From the winner of the 2006 International Engine of the Year.
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Feel the Burn
The paradox, however, is that those who have studied PR in some way, usually as an off-shoot of marketing or mass communications, have very little understanding of the actual industry and a distorted perception of the work of a PR practitioner (we won’t even get into the complete lack of time management skills, multi-tasking ability and strategic thinking). As a result, we hire candidates who specialize in other disciplines and who don’t bring a bunch of theoretical baggage along with them. Generally, we’ve found that political science graduates and those with finance backgrounds tend to fit the job well. But we’ve still got to train them and we do it on the job. Sink or swim, trial by fire, hit the ground running and all of the other idioms that mean you’d better be ready to work, right now this second and be able to do it quickly, effectively and happily. It’s a lot to ask which is why there are just a handful of really effective PR practitioners in Egypt. It’s a high stress profession, particularly on the agency side, with a tendency to burn people out quickly, but there’s so much that can be done to support up-and-coming PR professionals (if you are one of them, please let me know!) as well as those leading the charge every day so that we build a stronger and more vibrant industry from the inside out.
AUDI: Congratulations to BMW for Winning World Car of the Year 2006 From the Winner of Six Consecutive Le Mans 24 Hour Races 2000–2006
ne of the greatest parts of my job is the education aspect. Whether we’re educating others about the PR industry itself, how to effectively communicate, or interact with journalists - every single day we educate someone, somewhere. It’s not just clients I’m talking about. I’m a firm believer in the school-of-life approach to education, in that hands-on learning in an open, welcoming environment among professional and helpful colleagues will do much more to build skill sets than sitting in a classroom talking theory. This is even more relevant for PR practitioners in Egypt because the education opportunities for specialized and focused learning about the industry simply do not exist. I know that nearly every profession in Egypt has difficulty finding qualified candidates and that’s a topic for another time, but the issue is particularly pertinent for PR because the industry knowledge and practical knowhow is so limited.
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that the burden placed on them is increasing and at some point may become too much to bear. As an industry, we have to think creatively about ways to continue to motivate our best assets so that they continue to shine as inspiration for others. Education is one way to do that. Whether it’s internal training, online learning, brainstorming sessions or one-onone discussions, it’s important to support the industry and those working in it so that they can educate their clients and those around them. It is only through the concerted efforts of passionate PR practitioners that the industry will grow and evolve in Egypt.
Hand Check
As mentioned, a hands-on approach to learning is crucial in the PR industry. You can’t swap books for experience, it simply doesn’t work. Why do you think there are so many books out there written by people who have “been there and done that”? That said, the training we provide our clients in the form of media training, crisis communications, reputation management and a host of others, offer a great opportunity to bring our team members up to speed in a real setting with participants that are engaged and material that is designed to maximize their experience in an interactive, fun way.
Make the Most of It
When people ask me why I love my job, I often find myself giving them the same answer as when I’m asked why I’ve been in Egypt so long: It’s never boring. No two days are ever alike and you never know what tomorrow will bring. There’s always an opportunity to learn something new, do something you’ve never done before, challenge yourself, work with great marketing teams (J) and educate others while getting paid to do it. What more could you ask for? What do you love about your job? Send me your feedback at sarah.broberg@traccs.net
Sarah Broberg Deputy Managing Director
Brain drain is a topic that seems to have popped up a lot over the past week or so in the day-to-day course of business. While it’s certainly not a new phenomenon in Egypt, it is worrisome that just when Egypt needs to draw on the talents of its best and brightest the most, many of them are opting out. That’s not to say that there aren’t many, many talented, dedicated and passionate individuals choosing to stay, but
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Interview
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY interview with George Seddik
G
eorge Seddik is the Head of Corporate Marketing at Samsung Cairo Office where his responsibilities include marketing communications, market research retail management and corporate relations. Prior to joining Samsung’s Egypt office, Mr. Seddik spent 3 years working as the International Marketing Manager for Olympic Group Financial Services. Mr. Seddik, brings with him over 12 years of experience in the field of marketing, and has held number senior and managerial positions, including working as the Sales and Marketing Manager of the International Herald Tribune in Egypt, for several years. Mr. Seddik holds a Bachelor of Arts, which he received from Ain Shams University, and later went on to achieve a Masters in Marketing from the American University in Cairo (AUC).
What is CSR for Samsung? Samsung takes CSR very seriously globally and in Egypt. In Samsung, we don’t only launch products; we launch people’s potentials through our products and CSR activities. When we empower people with technology, we help them to launch their potential in how they communicate easier, change their lives and other people’s lives, whether through a mobile, a tablet, a smart TV, a laptop.. Our philosophy is to help people launch their potential, so we don’t only launch products. That is the core essence of our brand, not only products, it is CSR. We don’t work in markets just to sell and make profits; we have a philosophy to develop the communities we live, work, and operate in.
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What does Samsung do regarding CSR to improve people’s lives? And what is the motive behind that? In Egypt, we’re taking it very seriously, we’re doing things to improve lives of people into, not only quantitative; on scale level; how many beneficiaries from our CSR activities, but also on the qualitative level. For the last three years, we’ve launched Samsung’s “Hope for children”. A very large proportion of Egypt’s population is children. That’s what we aligned to the global team stressing on the importance of this cause. This is the third year we’re taking on with “Hope for children”. Samsung Hope for Children program brings attention to the most disadvantaged children in our communities. The children who without help fall further behind due to health issues and failure in schools. Providing Samsung expertise, technology and resources can help ensure children everywhere to receive necessary health care interventions and access to educational opportunities to children, the catalyst for change. This is not the only intuitive we’re doing. We’ll be launching to other CSR initiatives in Egypt. One of them is related to Samsung’s new Bani Sewaif’s factory, this factory will have a school, not an ordinary school, a school to teach older people technical education for example. How can they do maintenance for: mobiles, washing machines, and refrigerators to name a few. We’ll be working on this project for at least the coming three years. Those who will graduate from this school will be very well qualified, have been trained either by local or global staff teaching them international
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maintenance standards. This kind of education isn’t focused on just teaching them how to read and write, no, we will give them an opportunity to work and apply the skills he’s obtained throughout his technical education. By doing this, we’ll be helping to lower unemployment rates, thus improving the economy. Those who excel, we will give them a job with those who provide Samsung maintenance services. Apart from this initiative, this factory will employ a large number of people, giving a push to life in Bani Sweif as well as improving houses and the infrastructure there. I believe that everyone working with CSR should be passionate about it, to have relevance to his/her country. Even if there is a global initiative his/her company is doing, they need to relate this to their country and its needs. People should think about CSR as a sustainable project. A CSR project shouldn’t just be for one year and it’s done, no, it should carry on. A mechanism has to be put in place for the project to be sustainable. So these are the three key ingredients to successful CSR: passion, relevance, and sustainability. Not only that, contribution from company’s staff is very important; why not giving their spare time, with ideas, by doing things themselves if they’re capable, they’re ambassadors. If they believe in it, they’ll spread the word and give momentum, not just inside the company, but also in the society and the circle of interest they live in.
In order to improve, we have to measure. How do you measure your CSR activities? In order to measure, you definitely need to set Key Performance Indicators. However, a good CSR will give you a positive impact that you’ll definitely see on the spot when unpaid media channels feature these activities. This is something we can’t influence. It is just obvious for those who see the impact of our activities on the Egyptian society. The moment you do CSR, people get to notice what you’re
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doing, even when you’re not advertising your CSR. If you’re doing the right CSR, your brand equity will be boosted whether you ask for it or not. It’s not about making charity, we’re not a charity company, but we are fully aware that any place we work in, we have to work on its development. This is something we believe in and everybody has to believe in. Now we’re in an age where products are there and people can compete on products forever, but our brand is what counts. At the end, yes we have a very supreme technology, but another competitor might have a better one, but if people are loyal to my brand, they will select the brand for a cause, not just the product or the technology, we believe in that. Our shield is our brand. CSR is one of the very important factors that keep your brand healthy, growing, and strong. CSR is no more a luxurious option. It is as important as products themselves, in order to survive, you need to be serious about your CSR, you need to believe in it, you need to work and invest in it and it is not a fancy function to have anymore, it is something that all brands should take care of.
What advice would you give to the youth entering this industry, what skills they should have and what spirit they should embrace? Sincerity is what we need to have in everything we do. Believe in what you’re doing, be very sincere about it. Don’t take things lightly. Always have a win-win with everybody as much as you can. Be ethical about what you’re doing to the people and your work. Focus, focus on where you want to go, if you’re focused and you have a specific goal in front of you, and you’re obsessed about it, as Paulo Coelho said ”
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
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Digital Marketing
Experiential Marketing
Digital Darwinism:
survival of
trigger
the business
emotions
One thing we do know is it’s not only digital platforms that are evolving; the consumers that use them and society in general is developing, being driven by the hunger for more information and connectedness, and the speed at which these anthropological and technological changes are happening is incredible.
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harles Darwin famously believed that it is not the strongest of the species that survives or the most intelligent – it is the species that are the most adaptable to change, and in business at no point since the industrial revolution has this been truer. By now everyone is aware of the power of digital media and platforms, and that companies must embrace them and have a large digital component – if not a lead digital component – in any marketing campaign. But how fast are digital platforms changing? Where are they going? And how will whatever comes next influence business?
A perfect example of this is a Facebook community where, when managed correctly, there is little need to push out sales messages about products or services. Brands can ask their community to give their opinion on the same products or services offering their customers a sense of inclusion with the brand that was previously not there. Brand equity and affinity is built through cohesion, which then leads to advocation and sales.
The truth is: no one knows for sure. One thing we do know is it’s not only digital platforms that are evolving; the consumers that use them and society in general is developing, being driven by the hunger for more information and connectedness, and the speed at which these anthropological and technological changes are happening is incredible. A true concept of digital Darwinism would dictate that only companies that have the capacity to evolve with these online and offline shifts will survive.
Many companies get scared by these changes and do nothing, which is a sure way to fall to digital Darwinism, but some see it as a huge opportunity to get their customers (communities) to work for them. Online brand advocates will talk, share and build your brand in the eyes of their communities on your behalf, for little or no cost.
So how do you make sure your company is adaptable to change in the digital world? Let’s start with your brand. From a digital perspective your brand is becoming less and less of what your marketing or communications department says it is and more a collection of conversations of what your customers say it is. As these conversations develop, over time so will your brand – whether you like it or not – so why not harness that power and embrace that change? Don’t get me wrong, brands must still be recognizable and instill a level of trust, but confidence in consumers is now gained through a new social means and, even more worryingly, if not handled correctly distrust can be instilled faster. Your customers, now enabled through technology, can make more informed decisions by filtering, sorting and finding information at lightning speed; they can opt in or out of advertising and compare, confer and discuss their experiences. They have evolved and we must treat them differently. And by that I mean fundamental communication, such as the tone of voice and key messages used, not just churning out the same marketing communications on these new digital platforms.
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Next companies must prepare for even more change and become adaptable. Five-year plans are all well and good but more than this it’s important to instill a culture and company ethos of adaptability, as the five-year plan will be out of date in a year. It’s inevitable that consumers will continue to progress and current marketing strategies will become redundant, and even the new ones destined to diminish within only a few years. More than anything companies must be nimble, fast to refresh strategies and open to trying new things. In Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection the whole point was that some species didn’t make it. As you read this article there is the chance your company will meet the same fate, the only thing that will stop you is to become more open to digital change. Fast.
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One of the deeply rooted senses that produce an instinctive emotional reaction is ‘smell’. As 75% of our emotions are generated by scents, smell is directly connected to the limbic system in the brain. Therefore, it represents a direct line to feelings of happiness or hunger, both of which are quite difficult to get away from.
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n average, people are being bombarded with over 10,000 visual advertising and promotional messages per day. While 80% of marketing campaigns are simply visual, how do you know if your message is getting through to your audience? To break through this cluttered environment, we need to enhance consumer’s senses and emotions by adding new elements of engagement that will encourage people to interact with your brand. Playing on the five senses in marketing is nothing new. It’s all about how we experience things; it’s about giving people something they can see, feel, hear, touch and taste so they can then familiarize themselves with the brand. By triggering our senses, we get an emotional response. The feeling of something comfortable, the taste of a favorite chocolate, or the smell of a nice coffee, all this can provide an exciting way for people to experience something in sensory delight.
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From the experiential standpoint, smell has an instantaneous effect on our emotional state that can be either good or bad, and ultimately affects our shopping and spending behavior. Consumers are attracted by favorable scents but disguise other bad odours. As people are able to recognize approximately 10,000 different odours, the opportunity for brands to emotionally engage with consumers by their senses is wide-ranging. The subconscious messages triggered by sensory elements can drive higher brand recall. Cosmetics are a good example of this; the smell of their stores is what differentiates them from any other retailers. Soaps are often designed to look and smell like bars of chocolate or colored fudge, enabling customers to feel and try their products before making the final purchase. Multi-sensory experiential campaigns can build rich experiences and create deeper engagement with consumers. Yet, in-innovative audio technologies such as audio spotlight devices are being used to play at people’s imagination, getting some amazing reactions from the audience. Today, many emerging technologies can be used to cut through the clutter of purely visual messages and grab the attention of consumers. By creating a multi-sensory experiential campaign that links to people’s emotions, you can certainly develop strong bonds with your audience and offer a real experience for people to feel, touch and connect with your brand on a new level. Sally Durcan
themarketingmag.com
Mahmoud Hassan www.behance.net/mahmoudcave
CREATIVE SHOWCASE 21
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Tarek Sameer
Mohammed AlGendy www.behance.net/gendy
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www.behance.net/tarek-sameer
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