The Carphone Warehouse in London has released a new mobile phone which they claim to be the UK’s cheapest pay as you go mobile phone, the phone is brand new and is made by Samsung - B130 Black, and at less than a fiver they are saying you cant go wrong with the product. 

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Posted by admin on November 14th, 2008 :: Filed under Power Brands
Tags :: Credit Crunch, Mobile Phones

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Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss, Ray Maguire, has admitted that Sony needs to improve the marketing of PS3-PSP functionality, improving the ways in which they explain cross-platform features to the consumer. A recent interview by gamesindustry.biz made Maguire admit that his team needs to work harder to promote the message of how the Play station 3 and the PSP consoles can be used together.

The play station boss said “When we first started, because all the functionality on the PS3 was radical we talked about that functionality, at the same time though, because we have been out for a couple of years now, people are starting to understand and discover the functionality of things like PlayTV and that has created the desire for people to upgrade to larger hard disk sizes, I just recently put a 320GB drive in mine”

And in a display of being very honest he also admitted that people know very little about the relationship between the PS3 and PSP and the Remote Play functionality – “Those are the things we need to work a little harder on, the GPS functionality, the camera functionality, all those elements which give us content to sit on the PS3.”

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Posted by admin on November 11th, 2008 :: Filed under Power Brands
Tags :: Computers, Marketing, Playstation, PS3, PSP

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Cutting the luxuries in business depends on your interpretation of a luxury.  In the credit crunch more and more essentials are getting misinterpreted for luxuries and are being removed from what is in essence an important survival strategy. Training and Marketing are prime examples of essentials.  These budgets are often one of the first to be cut during hard times, but are actually key to ensuring a steady pipeline of business leads.  Business cannot rely on existing customers alone.

So many businesses cut their marketing budget along with their Duchy Originals biscuits at meetings, committing potential brand suicide in an economic slowdown.  History has shown that those brands who commit to pushing through recession with clear and consistent marketing campaigns emerge as the strongest survivors.

Tim Lindsay, Chief executive of advertising giant TBWA says, “There’s tons of evidence from the last 2 recessions showing that brands which continue to invest in marketing communications during a recession prosper mightily afterwards.  The tea market is often cited as an example: PG continued to invest last time round and grew its share.  Tetley and Typhoo didn’t, and are much diminished as a consequence.”

Robert Hall, founder of Loft Interiors, which supplies furnishings to buy-to-let landlords says, “It is companies that maintain a strong brand throughout a recession that emerge on the other end far stronger as a consequence.  As their competitors melt into the background, businesses that have maintained visibility and credibility can steal market share once that market becomes buoyant again.”

Pepsi and Coke are another example of where handling a recession in the right way can make a huge impact.  During the last recession, Pepsi massively increased its marketing during the downturn while Coke decreased its spending on advertising.  As a result, Pepsi managed to increase its market share, and has held onto it.

Companies need to get creative. PR can be a cheap way of keeping your company profile high.  Networking and online marketing come into their own, as outlay is minimal.  With a sprinkling of creativity, the impact can be huge.

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Posted by workhouse on November 10th, 2008 :: Filed under Power Brands
Tags :: Advertising, Brands, Recession

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Jerry Yang, Yahoo! SEO has stated that a partnership with Microsoft may be coming up as Google knocked them back in an advertising deal. The reason the Yahoo! Google partnership didn’t happen is because it received notice from the US Department of Justice stating they would be filing an antitrust lawsuit if they went any further.

This is because they account for number 1 and 2 in their market so merging together would result in them holding over 90% of the market share making it almost impossible for any competition to rise and prevent any from starting up.

Based on that, Jerry Yang stated that he would be happy selling the company to Microsoft if they were interested. He refused the bid from Microsoft about a year ago as they wanted to buy the company last May so this may have an effect on the current deal.

Microsoft offered $31 per share last year which has been dramatically reduced to $13.92 per share. Yahoo! stated that they still believe in the benefits of the agreement and is disappointed in Google for refusing it opposed to trying to defend it in court.

They did try to negotiate with the US Department of Justice by reducing the minimum length from 10 years to 2 years and by having it possible for Google advertisers to opt out from appearing in Yahoo! if they wished. They also suggested a cap of 25% of revenue that could be accumulated from Google.

David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president stated that they were disappointed that this deal will not go any further but they feel it’s better to opt out than have what could be a lengthy legal battle which could take the focus off of their own plans.

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Posted by admin on November 6th, 2008 :: Filed under Advertising, Marketing, Power Brands
Tags :: google, Yahoo!

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The recent credit crunch has forced Marks & Spencer’s to review their marketing budget for next year as they are taking a plunge in their profit levels.  It has been said that their £144 million marketing budget will be slashed by up to 20% in the year 2009 to account for the loss of profits.  This budget reduction could mean that the top models currently in their campaigns such as Erin O’Connor and Twiggy could be dropped.

 

The Daily Telegraph reported that the profits levels have fallen by a huge 44% taking them to £307.8 million per year for the high street chain.  It has not been finalised that the drop in marketing costs will result in high profile models being dropped first, Steven Sharp, the executive director of marketing stated that they have a lot of options which need consideration.

 

Over the last 6 month period the overall local sales actually rose by 0.8% and rose 23.9% for international sales although other areas of their trade took a massive plummet.  On a like for like basis general merchandise and food sales fell 6.2% and 5.3% respectively.

 

Marks & Spencer’s chief executive, Stuart Rose said that the current economic situation is making retailer’s face the hardest time they’ve seen since the early 1990’s.  He also stated that he has no concerns for the long term growth of M&S as they have a number of ideas in development, including the improvement of international sales.

 

In related news is what reported that the retailer Primark has been on a constant rise since the credit crunch and have stated a profit rise of 17% taking it to £223 million per year.  This is probably due to the fact people are beginning to be weary of their spend and are choosing the cheaper brands to save money.

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Posted by admin on November 5th, 2008 :: Filed under Marketing, Media, Power Brands
Tags :: Profit Loss

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eBay has introduced a new fee structure to help sellers offer a wider range of goods, but which threatens the position of small traders. The re-jig effects fixed price goods, which will benefit from a 25-50% cut in listings charges, but will incur higher charges for a successful sale. The system has been designed to attract more entrepreneurs to eBay, and offer greater buyer protection.

However, the moves have been criticised for muscling out small and sole traders, and giving larger retailers greater opportunities. eBay aim to phase out cash and cheque payments, making credit card, PayPal, and ProPay the only acceptable methods of transaction. Changes to search, shipping and seller standards are also expected. Sellers will have to comply with stricter minimum standards to reduce buyer dissatisfaction rates: eBay intend to lower exposure levels of sellers with poor customer feedback ratings. While sellers with better ratings, will be more favourably exposed in listings.

Small traders, and sole proprietorships who were doing well, do not expect their prior success to continue. The new challenge they face against the advantage of bigger retailers is that they are not well-branded. To compete, many small traders feel additional interactive advertising will probably be needed, however, they do not have the resources available to bridge this gap. Attracting traffic is said be the main problem. Critics say small business web presence will be diminished under the shadow of larger companies, and in the current economy, small traders will have to generate sales by developing into a niche, or by cutting prices. This situation is further compounded by 88% of all internet searches comprising of branded keywords (data from Experian).

The new system implementation follows a series of adjustments to eBay’s fee structure, search results, and feedback system. All of which have been introduced to improve the buyers shopping experience with better value from “trusted sellers”. Claire Gilmartin, director of marketplaces for eBay in the UK said: “There’s no doubt this year has seen some very, very bold changes - necessarily so and entirely reflective of what our buyers and sellers want.”

Lorrie Norrington, eBay’s president of marketplace operations, admits the changes may be disconcerting, but maintains that the company have not imposed changes without the backing of solid research that revealed the need for change. According to eBay, sellers favour the structure because it lowers the financial cost of not selling a listed item. This means eBay’s success will now be defined by the success of it’s sellers.

eBay sales are worth over £30bn a year, and hooks the attention of two out of every three internet UK shoppers. Despite these impressive figures, eBay has not achieved notable growth, with previous quarter figures showing a rise of only 1.4%.

The new fee system will be operational on 16th September.

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Posted by admin on September 24th, 2008 :: Filed under Power Brands
Tags :: ebay

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Coca-Cola ranks the most successful Beijing Olympic sponsor, beating three of China’s top brands – Yili (dairy products), Lenovo (computer manufacturer) and China Mobile. Results are based on how well the company performed pre-Olympics. CSM Media Research, TNS’ Bejing-based partner conducted the research. It polled 1500 consumers in 10 Chinese cities, analysing three key areas: creative treatments of Olympic advertising; media spend; and China’s TV Olympic audience. During the life of the research (which began in 2006), Coca-Cola has only once come second to Yili in 2007. Since then the Coca-Cola brand has performed consistently.

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Posted by admin on September 23rd, 2008 :: Filed under Power Brands
Tags :: coca cola

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Alliance Data Systems Corporation’s Epsilon business has secured a turnkey direct marketing solution contract with Missouri-based Commerce Bank, N.A. Commerce Bank. The Data Systems Corporation is a leader in providing marketing solutions in new customer acquisitions. Their success is built on devising loyalty and marketing models derived from transaction-rich data.

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Posted by admin on September 18th, 2008 :: Filed under Marketing, Power Brands
Tags :: alliance data systems corporation, commerce bank

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The Search Works has been appointed the contract to manage Mothercare and Early Learning Centre’s search engine marketing campaign. The digital marketing company will be responsible for creating marketing content that will boost both brands’ profile. The campaign aims to implement strategies that will improve their search rankings, heighten their visibility, and build on their reputation as niche leaders.

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Posted by admin on August 21st, 2008 :: Filed under Marketing, Power Brands, Web Marketing
Tags :: Mothercare, Search Engine Marketing, SEO, The Search Works

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ITV has development plans that have started with the acquisition of a minority stake in American US digital studio, Electric Farm Entertainment. The opening 10% equity stake is expected to increase to a controlling share of the content studio by the end of 2008. The investment comes after the global success of TV show Afterworld.

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Posted by admin on August 19th, 2008 :: Filed under Latest News, Power Brands
Tags :: Electric Farm Entertainment, ITV

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