Google Is Number One in the PSFK Good Brands Report

April 25, 2010 By Simren Deogun Leave a Comment

PSFK has spoken, and what they have to say is mostly expected but not any less inspiring. Their annual Good Brands Report ranks Google as the number 1 reigning brand for a second year.

Apple takes the second spot with Nike at 7 and Twitter at 8, all presumably predictable outcomes given their perceived brand power. However, the list is not a Google / Apple promo session, it, in fact, throws in some welcome twists with Jamie Oliver (3), MIT (4), Ace Hotel (5), and Foursquare (9) gracing the list.

PSFK Good Brands Report 2010

What is the Good Brands Report?

Being a genuinely good brand in 2010 takes more than a widely used product and an ubiquitous global presence. Though there is no precise formula, what the ten good brands on our list have in common is a penchant for imagination, innovation, environmental responsibility and social consciousness. — Piers Fawkes, PSFK, Founder

Well, if that’s all it takes! Each brand is ranked out of 10 in the above four categories by a panel of industry experts. This isn’t just another list, if anything, it should grow to be a definitive source of insightful brand analysis for not only equity and awareness but also social and marketing impact.

Why Google?
Connectivity. Openness. Accessibility. Customization. And Free.

These five factors are what I extrapolated from the report as determinant of Google’s success not only as a brand but as a global enterprise with an incalculable amount of clout.

Google’s ability to remain true to its core product in search and yet simultaneously branch out into a mobile phone OS with Android, a Microsoft Office rival with Google Docs, along with Buzz, Wave, and a host of SEO apps has redefined the act of differentiation.

PSFK does a wonderful job at eloquently summarizing the highlights of what makes Google the number one pick. The report adopts a refreshing focus, instead of only dictating the facts of Google’s success, it also effectively relates how you and I can apply the same in our own business and marketing practices.

Why Not Apple?
Apple isn’t exactly a loser in this situation, only shy from the number one spot by 0.16 points, Apple is clearly catching up to Google in the brand category — and, in some areas, has already far surpassed it.

Apple outranked Google in the categories of innovation and imagination, and, well, if it hadn’t, I’d be rather alarmed. Outside of search and Google’s everything-sharing application in Wave, Google isn’t necessarily known for imagination, but more so slight reinvention.

Most of the score differences were admittedly slight, with Google really only stealing the thunder in the social responsibility category, which is somewhat expected given Apple’s tepid past with suppliers.

PSFK deems Apple a true game-changer, no arguments here, driven by its product design, endless innovation and futuristic thinking all centred on user experience. What Apple does best is reinvention — reinvention executed so well that it borders on real invention. From the CPU to the iMac. The mp3 to the iPod. The mobile phone to the iPhone. And now the tablet to the IPad. Apple’s game is founded upon taking what the market currently offers and making it so incredibly irresistible to a consumer that it can transform any desire into an absolute necessity.

Even without the number one spot, Apple is a dangerously powerful and still-growing brand.

What You Need to Learn from PSFK
Ultimately, success is derivative of many things, but we should all listen to what PSFK (and its industry experts) have to say. The report is not just a simple-minded overview of today’s brands but rather a teaching guide indicative of what marketing success means in 2010.

Out of PSFK’s 10 Key Learnings, what we all need to understand and practice is “re-imagining the world”. It’s a beautiful thing that can foster change, encourage passion, and spawn innovation. So, start asking yourself, how could you see or do things differently?

Read the full PSFK Good Brands Report 2010.

Filed Under: Business, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wind Mobile Hijacks Gizmodo.com

April 19, 2010 By Simren Deogun 3 Comments

I cyber-strolled over to Gizmodo today after hearing some exciting news about a leaked preview for Apple’s next iPhone.

I’ll admit that it took me a minute to notice that the site looked more-than-a-bit different but I’ll chock that up to my glaring at the drool-worthy new iPhone (which, I think, looks very HTC-esque to me, but let’s leave that for another post!).

After some quick examination, I noticed that Gizmodo’s otherwise dark colour scheme had been consumed by Wind Mobile’s characteristic orange and blue with a number of cute, cuddly clouds and bubbles floating about. Most notably, Gizmodo’s header (seen above) now sported a very well-positioned “sponsored by Wind” tag.

The graphics bordering this post are the same that appeared on Gizmodo’s temporary site redesign. I’ve discussed a similar type of third-party website rebranding/advertising before in my Ugly Betty and Next Level Banner Ads post. But what I love about Wind’s take is that it, like much of what we’ve seen from Wind’s marketing efforts thus far, pushes the boundaries just a hair of what we’ve seen before. Instead of just a banner ad or just a background change, Wind convinced Gizmodo that a complete website design overhaul was the way to go. And, it was.

The changes are temporary. However, the effect is exponential. Wind was smartly strategic with its choice of website, Gizmodo is a high-tech news king with millions of visitors every day. What better way to reach Wind’s youthful, risk-taking target market then to strengthen their brand equity with a little bit of ingenious advertising.

Kudos to Wind for keeping true to their newly born Canadian identity, for strategically playing the online advertising field, and for showing the tech world that they are far removed from Rogers, Bell and those U.S. companies who shall remain unnamed!

Filed Under: Campaigns, Digital Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Intention to Create, Sell And Buy

April 13, 2010 By Simren Deogun Leave a Comment

Intent — the act of doing something with a specific purpose — consolidates the marketer and the consumer. These predetermined roles become transferrable. The marketer leaves work, walks into a mall and is transformed into a consumer. The consumer leaves work, receives some communication or makes a purchase, and becomes a marketer outfitted with the power of voice and opinion.

Intention is action and direction with a desired outcome already perceived. Intent must be possessed by the marketer and created for the consumer.

These are my 3 tiers of intent:

Intent to Create
The organization’s or marketer’s decision to develop something new, something different and/or something revisited.

The intent to create does not need to be solely based in originality. But rather, what is original for the specific circumstance and situation of the organization in question. As simple an idea as a webinar, if never produced by an organization before, is a nugget of the intent to create.

How much easier it always is to say rather than do. But intent must demand action, so that action can demand result. A webinar is just a word, just an idea until someone owns the intent to create.

Intent to Sell
The organization’s or marketer’s decision to sell, for profit or not, a good or service with perceived value for the consumer.

The development, nurture and creation of an idea is not a prerequisite to the intent to sell. On the other hand, the intent to create need not be followed with an intent to sell. That is to say, the creation of a good or service will not always be saleable.

The intent to sell is to move beyond the concept of a single, valuable good or service and generate a ‘product’ equipped with identity, price, promotion, distribution and communication.

Intent to Buy
The consumer’s journey to reach a purchase decision; at this stage, the paths of marketer and consumer have crossed at least once.

The intent to create only indirectly influences the intent to buy, since without creation, purchase is not possible. The intent to sell, however, must exist and be fully and wholly delivered to the consumer in order facilitate a purchase.

All aspects of the intent to sell mentioned above — message, brand, value, etc. — are channelled to the consumer as a complete and influential marketing effort. These many parts will create the consumer’s intent to buy. And subsequently, with the intent to buy, the consumer officially assumes the role of marketer.

Filed Under: Business, Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Trading Google Reader for Twitter

April 11, 2010 By Simren Deogun 1 Comment

It’s contagious. Twitter, that is. Sharing inane details. Commenting with silliness. But I always bring myself back to why I joined Twitter, to experiment with its validity as a forum to share knowledge and to communicate and interact with like-minded smarties (and simultaneously build my personal brand).

In the process of all this, I’ve abandoned Google Reader. A completely flawed act, I know. It was unintentional. But, I realized a few days ago that poor Reader had been sitting alone gathering an unsavoury amount of dust while I relied on my Twitter community to tweet me the best and latest news (marketing and other).

How could I be so cruel and so unaware? Naturally, I blame the instantaneous and ingenious prowess of Twitter for Reader’s demise. But, of course, it is I who am to blame. I thought I could get it all from my Twitter stream — the real-time updates, retweets and commentaries, all packaged beautifully in to one. I was wrong.

Twitter doesn’t serve this purpose. At the very least, it can’t right now. If this can be at all accurate for the current argument, Twitter is, in fact, TOO real-time. Meaning, if I miss @ThisIsSethsBlog tweet his latest post, then its gone, lost in the land of “I’m 52 minutes too late for that tweet”.

I can’t always be available or online for every tweet or retweet, and that’s where this trade-in fails. I am still waiting for that one-stop-shop. I want everything in one place. So, I’ve reinstated Reader regretting my past transgressions. Now, if only I could find my magic wand, with 200+ unread items, I’m going to need it.

Filed Under: Digital, Lessons Learned Tagged With: , , , ,

Quick & Dirty: Character

April 7, 2010 By Simren Deogun Leave a Comment

char·ac·ter  [kar-ik-ter]
–noun

1. the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.
2. one such feature or trait; characteristic.
3. moral or ethical quality
4. qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity
5. reputation

The term, character, speaks for itself. I like to think that in all of my Quick & Dirty segments, the term speaks to you and resonates to something in your life — marketing related or otherwise.

The terms I pick are admittedly personal to me at the exact moment I sit typing on my MacBook in WordPress. Maybe it’s something that occurred in my day, something I learned, something I taught. The words, just like people and all of our actions, have meaning, often more than one, as shown above.

Your character, the way you conduct yourself as a person or organization or department, is determinant of how you are perceived. But you do control that perception. You do hold the power to be aware of it. And, if necessary, to change or enhance it.

Nature. Integrity. Reputation. All beautiful, meaningful words that could be featured in this segment one day. All words that come together to describe character — not an easy thing to pin down. People normally aren’t.

So, make your next strategic, organizational and/or marketing effort one of character. Can you really give me a good enough reason why not to?

Filed Under: Quick & Dirty Tagged With: , , , , ,