Brandville

Strategic Communication revisited, by Stelios Kalaitzakis

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Cretan Tsikoudia “35N”: The dream of a lifetime becomes reality and a case study for branding and marketing strategy

Is there anyone in our community, who has visited Crete and villages in the foothills of Psiloritis mountain and missed the chance for a tsikoudia treat? I hope not. And is anyone there who tried tsikoudia and didn’t like the taste and felt more like a Cretan? I hope again not. But these are tastes and differ.

Behind the scenes Three old friends came into the field to show us how you can become a creator at the age of sixty and inspire with their product packaging and marketing strategy the whole marketing and Pr community. Whatsmore, the whole storytelling behind the name of the brand and the rationale is more than inspirational and remarkable. But let’s take everything in the right order and start from scratch. 35N is the name of the Tsikoudia, Cretan distillate, and a new product launched by three classmates and friends of a lifetime. Ilias Melissourgos, George Markoulakis, and Pantelis Fanourgakis loved to drink tsikoudia with their food and friendly gatherings and were dreaming of creating a product to inspire and create feelings of tradition and pride combining grade taste and a solid marketing plan for successful sales. After spending thousands of hours trying to find a product name, trying to put inside “Crete”, “Raki” and many other words, they delete all their thoughts and innovate in terms of successful Branding and PR.

The name The number 35N refers to a tiny area on our planet’s 35N parallel that is home to a 5,000-year-old island whose inhabitants have always lived and behaved with heart and soul. It’s the island of Crete. Tsikoudia is the name of the spirit and the name of the product is 35N.

The rationale The Tsikoudia 35N was inspired by the idea of true friendship from the beginning. It is the result of a close relationship that has lasted more than 30 years. George Markoulakis and Pantelis Fanourgakis made the decision to contribute to Ilias Melissourgos's dream. The goal was to create the finest Tsikoudia, 35N, an honor with the new product launch to the traditions and origins of Crete. A Tsikoudia that they would be proud to serve and consume as well.

The motto “Always drink it in a company, never alone”. And with no doubt, we all agree with it. It is a motto capturing exactly the moment the Cretans offer to friends, visitors, and tourists tsikoudia and wish them health and happiness by drinking and enjoying it.

The packaging 35Ν was launched in the markets with fabulous and innovative packaging design. On the cork there is the signature of Ilias, who dreamed of the product for years and spend millions of hours sacrificing his personal life, experimenting with grapes and testing varieties. The bottles are available in 4 colors, blue, red, gold, and orange, depending on the product and the variety of the distillate. The font on the bottles is carefully selected reflecting to a traditional product for unique and special moments of daily life.

The Social Media George Markoulakis is the man behind the 35N social media campaign strategy. George loves traveling and capturing moments by photo shooting. He is also responsible for the sales of 35N in the HORECA field and has successfully managed important deals and boosted sales for the Cretan distillate. Where ever George goes he has in his travel bag a 35N bottle. As a result, he has captured 35N almost in every Cretan mountain and beach, lake, and plain, creating a social media campaign with strong traditional elements and moments of spontaneous moments.

The example These three friends are my personal example of never stopping dreaming and creating even when you think you became old enough to inspire change. They did everything alone, with motivation, imagination, inspiration, and their strong friendship as the foundation stone. 35N is not only a case study of a successful Pr and Branding campaign but a case study of co-creating and innovation.

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Papastratos: Announcing a new investment of 200 million and setting strong foundations for a non-cigarette future

“We are our actions” was the motto of Papastratos back in 2017 when announced the ambitious investment plan of 300 million and transformed into a dedicated tobacco heated rod production facility for Philip Morris International’s first innovative tobacco heating product, IQOS.

That investment marked the beginning of the radical transformation of Papastratos from a tobacco industry to a technology company focusing on creating technology products and chemicals and a clear vision of the end of the cigarettes. Six years later the company announces a new investment 200 million plan by creating 300 job positions with 4 new production lines for IQOS and enhancing exports and sales across Europe and Middle East. As a reward for the perfect implementation of the business plan, Greece becomes a “Country Leader” of a cluster of 8 regions in Balkans and Europe and Christos Charpantidis the man behind the transformation of the tobacco industry takes over as the President and Managing Director of Philip Morris for Europe and Middle East. The commitment of the company, “MaziProsToKalytero”, has become from words into actions. Papastratos has been voted for the third consecutive year as the best workplace in Greece with equal opportunities. Furthermore, almost 50% of the Board of Directors of the company are women. For the year 2021 -2022 company devoted 93,000 hours of training in new technologies for the employees for continuous development and personal growth. Last but not least, the company has established a sponsoring program for Culture, Arts, Sports and Environment actions, supporting the local communities and creating value for the next generation, for a non cigarette future.

Imagine wow better would the business landscape be with similar #MaziProsToKalytero initiatives!

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Nokia redesign its logo and starts a new era

We all remember the phrase “Connecting people” that guided us every time the Nokia name was appearing somewhere. Since then have gone many years and despite the various tactics the Finish Company tried to implement couldn’t make clear to the market that Nokia isn’t selling smartphones and mobile phones anymore.

Really have you been aware of the transformation of the core business of the company? Since 2014 the sector of mobile phones has been sold to Microsoft. Nokia is now focusing on a new business model accelerating digital transformation and selling technical equipment and patents to industries and manufacturing. Moreover, the Finish company has ambitious plans to boost its sales of 5G equipment in Europe and the Middle East which is a leading company.

The word Nokia is made up of 5 distinct shapes in the new logo. Depending on the use, a variety of colors have taken the place of the old logo’s distinctive “Yale Blue” tone. With the unveiling of the new logo, Nokia plans an offensive strategy tactic and sets up a new try to reestablish itself to the world as a technology company focusing on innovation and accelerating digital transformation.

“We are redesigning our brand to better represent who we are today — a leader in B2B technology innovation — to signal this ambition”, said the Chief Executive Officer, Pekka Lundmark.

Nokia isn’t more about “connecting people”, but accelerating the digital transformation of industry and infrastructure with innovative and promising technologies and patents. And the logo redesign is marking a new era for the Finish company.