PUDD FILE: BRANDED “THE WORLD’S RICHEST MAN”

This month Forbes released their updated rich list, naming the world’s wealthiest ladies and gentlemen. The top 10 list includes the kinds of business moguls that we all aspire to be (well, at least we would aspire to have their bank balances). Link: Forbes Rich List This elite gathering of millionaires is led by Carlos Slim Helu who (whilst many others have spent the last 12 months dusting themselves off from some tough financial times) has actually managed to widen the gap between himself and Number 2, Bill Gates, with an additional $20.5 billion.

So, what does $74 billion buy you these days? Surely Slim dresses only in Armani. Brushes his teeth with gold-laced paste. Lives amongst a frenzy of x-rated incidents. Is a shocking Casanova and a shameless purveyor of luxury. Well, the truth is that the 70-year old Slim remains frugal. His successful business operations include international brands Telmex, America Movil, Grupo Carso and he has holdings in Saks and the New York Times. Yet still, he does not own a yacht nor a plane and he drives a Chevrolet Suburban (source: Daily Telegraph AU. In general, he keeps a low profile, preferring notoriety only via his business acumen.

Which means that we are left with one unanswered question; what does the entrepreneur branded as "THE WORLD’S RICHEST MAN" credit for his success? “An ability to discover investment opportunities" states Slim (Wall Street Journal, 2007).  And success he has definitely achieved – even if he spent $1,150 a minute for the next 100 years he would still struggle to run out of money.

We’re not exactly sure how you would go about finding one of these “abilities”, but us at Pudding Creative are certainly going to put some effort into looking…

Visit our facebook page and click “like” to receive Pudding Creative updates. When we do discover that ability that we were just talking about, you’ll be the first to know! www.facebook.com/puddingcreative

"How to find ‘friends’ and influence them" : ONLINE PROPERTY BRANDING

According to a new study, the Number One reason that ‘wealthy’ or ‘affluent’ consumers connect with a new brand is because they are following the lead of their ‘online’ friends. It stands to reason that if a friend indicates their loyalty to a brand by ‘liking’ a branded page or participating in a contest or promotion, then that user's friend will also notice this and may follow suit as they have similar likes or dislikes; creating a series of similar but unique links which develop into a purchasing pattern. Quite naturally, people are prone to be influenced by their friends whom they trust, (virtual or otherwise) more than they will be by any form of manufactured advertising or commercial communication.  So how can we find friends and influence them?

(Text source : Unity Marketing “Affluent Consumers and How They Use the Internet, Social Media, and Mobile Devices” 2010)

As investments become harder to source and pre-sales are more important to project funding than ever before,  a brand endorsement or an endorsement by a significant voice, are becoming crucial to build product credibility. As a result, digital marketplaces are developing into the ideal launch pads for the branded property industry. For property sales and investment,  online marketing with a brand will increase the credibility and recognition needed to be heard within the swirling sea of superlatives and ever increasing number of facts. Some individual tweeters for example, can alone command a following greater than a small country which reiterates the fact that a brand endorsement of any type via this platform is undeniably powerful and has an infinite result (good or bad).

Q1. So how do you find your new online ‘friends’ and then gain their endorsement? 

A. Audi held a ground-breaking online contest during the super bowl which led to hundreds of thousands of social media mentions of #AUDI through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. A second example is Canadian Club Whisky, which almost doubled its Facebook fan population from 16,000 to 30,000 following an online campaign. Or in lieu of actually being popular or writing creatively  to legitimately attract friends or followers, Twitter in now 'selling' groups of followers by the 500, so you can just buy your friends! Which leads of course to the next question: 

Q2. from a business point of view,  is having these ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ actually going to make you money or is it just a lot of noise?

A. Twitter themselves use a great example of how their of their site can be utilized for business: Best Buy who developed @twelpforce had provided over 19,500 answers to customer inquiries by 2009,  the time and cost of otherwise providing such a response would be inconceivable – an undeniable account of intuitive business thinking. But the clearest example that uses a powerful combination of online marketing and  property branding comes from Donald Trump. He, himself, an international Brand,  now has an international branded property development company which exceeds all others:

Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai luxury apartments:

OVER 62% OF PRE-SALES started from 

AN ONLINE SEARCH 

resulting in sales figures which overtook the then current record by 15% which was held by commercially branded property - Armani Residences in Burj Dubai, to record prices of 12,000 dirhams (approx US$3,260) per sq.metre

‘Digital’ friends can be both an asset and a liability. Within a chaotic forum where brands from all corners of the industry are rushing to achieve a presence on multiple channels, it is quite common for progress to be made without a strategic plan and consequently this results in no time or know-how to maintain the initial online content and network of 'friends'. This is far worse than never having had a presence at all, as it leads to a habit of no-response which ultimately loses creditability – the very thing that the branded properties set out to achieve.  So 'befriend' with gusto but be sure to remember that :-

‘Sharing is caring, caring leads to loyalty, but boredom encourages infidelity’.

PROPERTY BRANDING SPECIALIST AND MARKETING CONSULTANTS : Building Irresistible Brands   www.puddingcreative.com  

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PUDD FILE : LOCAL business to International BRAND

AND BACK AGAIN...
Turning your local business into an international brand was the biggest goal that any new enterprise can dream of,  and remained the ambition of many national companies.Until the rise of the www. age,  trying to grow your business outside of your own environment into the realms of an international trading was an expensive and often crippling move for even well established companies,  due to the massive level of investment required to present, market and network on a global scale. 


It is astonishing therefore to see that within a whirlwind 20 year period*, there has been a complete turn around and today, any new business can afford to target an international marketplace almost as easily as it can a local one.


*The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of modern human life. As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth's population used the services of the Internet. SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet


Like heating up a group of particles or molecules,  online information can invoke  Internet users to become active, excited and begin hitting together, passing on their kinetic energy and allowing the Internet to carry the messages on the World Wide Web to greater and greater extents of the population. In fact, many businesses today have reduced or are removing much of their traditional marketing techniques in favour of online marketing campaigns because the breadth of audience (or number of 'impressions') is just incomparable. 


To describe this phenomenal swing in monetary terms, figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that UK brands invested £4.1bn in Internet advertising in 2010, with online marketing accounting for £1 in every £4 spent.


This growth has been largely attributed to greater investments being made in video formats, social media and mobile channels; with social-media advertising alone surging by 200% year on year. Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB said: "Social media has certainly had its biggest year in 2010. In the early days advertisers were a bit weary about spending in social media and now they see it as an opportunity to engage and get their advertising shared. Although it has small ad formats, if it is done cleverly is an important part of an integrated campaign."SOURCE: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/bulletin/dailynews/article/1062417/?DCMP=EMC-BreakingnewsfromMarketing by Sarah Shearman, 29 March 2011, 8:15am

So here we are, with the almighty power of the social media networks emerging as the figurehead of this present phase in our www. age, we have come full circle in terms of marketing. Because it is the international brands which need to be seen as  'local' businesses today relying on the support of known 'friends' and 'followers' which they have built up to generate and multiply their brand awareness for them. The beauty of this type of 'word of mouth' marketing is that product and service are key to good business, albeit this time around it is on a global scale, but nonetheless demonstrating the return to consumer power. How refreshing.


Understanding the power of presentation locally, nationally & internationally.  For you, your business or for your project  www.professionalpowerpointpresentations.com
www.puddingcreative.com

Q: How important are fonts for brand identity?

Answer: The correct font is VERY important 

for the success of your branding strategy!

Typography is a science that is often overlooked in today’s fast-paced world of branding and marketing.

We spend a lot of time strategising an effective PR campaign or discussing the pros and cons of Facebook over Twitter
or searching image galleries for the right light and shade effect.

Yet, sat bang in the middle of every marketing campaign for the rest of eternity there could be some god-awful spider squat of a font and the designer will shy away from changing this fundamental element.
We at Pudding Creative understand this reticence. The art of THE FONT is a talent that should be revered. Its effect on a presentation is quite insightful – potentially transforming a brochure from being approachable and friendly to conventional or distant. And whilst the immediate visual affect may be overt, the lingering impression that the font leaves with potential clients can be totally subconscious.

Some typical emotional connections which a selection of the most commonly used fonts will evoke about you and your company:

Times :                       classical, trustworthy, reliable
Courier:                  artistic, retro, contemporary 
ARIAL :               modern traditional, reaction-less
Tahoma:              fresh, modern alternative to Arial
VERDANA (bold) :        confident and cosmopolitan

Any cynics of the power of the font should recall Ikea’s foray when they chose to adapt their company identity to bring it in-line with the fonts available in HTML. As Ikea’s website used the web-safe font Verdana, the executive boffins thought it best to adapt all print materials to match. This apparently small act of corporate standardisation caused a “fontroversy” that spread through the newspapers, radios and social media networks with such heart-felt horror that urged the New York Times to write “perhaps the biggest controversy to ever come out of Sweden”.

There was a time when small children learnt calligraphy at school. I was awarded a special italic fountain pen when I’d reached the heady heights of neat handwriting. But today, we are an IT-led generation and typing accuracy is more useful than arty letters. However, whilst most of our font choices from the toolbar of Microsoft Office is purely functional, we do still find ourselves becoming quite opinionated about whether it is too small (nobody likes to squint) or in CAPITALS (nobody likes to be shouted at) or just a very odd colour (there is a time and place for individuality and the office minutes is not one of them).

One of the most overwhelming examples of the effect that fonts have on corporate branding was when the London Underground rolled out their network of signs in “Johnston”. When Gerard Meynell was asked the meagre task of producing a few posters for the transport service in 1915 he had some rather ambitious plans to brand the whole of London. His choice of a “straightforward and manly” font was originally quashed by the powers that be but has since triumphed and it is now immediately recognisable worldwide.

And just in case anyone still thinks that the study of fonts gets you nowhere, let’s take a little inspiration from someone who has done quite well from humble beginnings in a calligraphy class;

“I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating”
 
Steve Jobs, Business magnate, designer of the first Macintosh computer, CEO of Apple, Co-founder of Pixar animation


Source: Just My Type, Simon Garfield

Lose excess weight without excess effort

Lucy Gabzdyl is holding a talk at the Sherainae Spa, Hotel Sultan in Marbella on Friday March 4^th to inspire some healthy weight loss before Summer.

Lucy approaches weight loss using EFT (a holistic therapy that deals with the emotional and subconscious triggers that sabotage traditional weight loss plans). Lucy is very proud of the great results that her therapy has achieved from both an internal and external perspective. “I’ve dropped almost 4 dress sizes! I’m not following any kind of diet, I have just reduced my levels of anxiety”, says one happy client.

The EFT programme for weight loss begins later this month with groups in Marbella and Benalmadena. The treatment commences with a one day workshop and then 90 minute follow-up sessions over 3 months.

EFT weight loss meeting, Friday 4^th March: FREE 

EFT 1 day workshop plus ten 90 minute sessions, over 3 months: 300€

www.GetEnergised.com