I am Bandring away

[sharonhodor]

Just Google 'Sharon Hodor Schwarzkopf'

A 2 second Google search for myself under 'Sharon Schwarzkopf Hodor' brought up my Facebook picture, My Instagram picture, my brother,  my sister in law and the Hodor character from Game of Thrones (??!??).

Imagine my Facebook profile picture would be me on a vacation on a beach in a bikini. Would I really want that to be the first image that might come up when a recruiter googles my name before an interview? (and they do). I am also unsure I would appreciate my interviewer to know I am a mother, a wife, and that I love to travel that can be reflected in most profile images these days. Why? I just am not sure that such personal information is beneficial as a 'first impression' data input.

"The Internet is the primary reason that taking a proactive personal branding approach is so important. When you apply for a job, you can rest assured that the prospective employer will “Google”, “Bing” or otherwise conduct a web search of your name. Your online presence is likely to have been fully vetted before the employer calls you for an interview, and that’s assuming an interview is still desired after your web persona (i.e., personal brand) has been thoroughly evaluated."

(from : Why personal branding matters? http://www.metrochicagojobs.com/a/t-why-personal-branding-matters-in-your-job-search-what-you-must-know-au-dumas,-michelle-articles-a7454.html)

The social internet trend can be fun and addicting at the same time. But unfortunately we tend to forget two very important things:

EVERYONE can see it

It is there for EVER and EVER

There is already a struggle on separating the personal from the professional and with the use of the internet the challenge increases even further.

[sharonhodor]

Our team is investigating how best to target and advertise beer for women and we would love for your input. We need your help with a 2min quick survey, link to survey: https://survey.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0j4IaNNHmLC8j6R Thanks!

[sharonhodor]

BE CLEAR NOT CLEVER

Patagonia advertisement: get people talking about your brand but be clear, people don’t respond to clever anymore - #WornWear, #BetterThanNew, #AntiBlackFriday

***http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2013-09-24/why-patagonia-tells-customers-its-coats-are-toxic***

Consumers are not looking for a tagline or a pretty ad, they are looking for a connection. They seek a clever and transparent conversation because they are looking to connect on a personal level to a brand.

This past thanksgiving Patagonia came out with a risky or confusing campaign but certainly an effective one: “

Patagonia “Anti” Black Friday Campaign Urges Customers to Repair Worn Clothing”

“

Around Thanksgiving 2011, Patagonia started its green marketing push with a full-page ad in the New York Times that read “Don’t buy this jacket.” Annual sales in the following two years grew almost 40 percent. Not surprisingly, Patagonia’s message this Thanksgiving is unchanged: Whatever you do this week, don’t pine for a shiny new parka. Don’t go into its stores to check out the new movie. And don’t buy any of the really cool clothes the ruggedly handsome folks are wearing in our film.

Just relax. Crack one of Patagonia’s new (hard to find) beers and sew up the holes in your long johns. Just don’t forget to tweet all about it (#WornWear, #BetterThanNew, #AntiBlackFriday).”

(from: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-25/patagonias-confusing-and-effective-campaign-to-grudgingly-sell-stuff)

[sharonhodor]

Intel literally inside of Apple!

Intel celebrated its 60th year anniversary with dancing bunny-men in the flagship Apple store in NYC.

It seemed like a fun way to advertise the fact that Apple was using Intel chips. Since Apple was a strong brand in itself around 2006 when it started using Intel chips the Intel Inside campaign started becoming less affective since the Apple was such a strong brand, its consumers were no longer as interested in the chip that it was using. It essentially was "trusting" apple in making the best decision in what chip company to use.

I remember that when I was younger and someone got a new computer the first question you would ask was "is it the 486? the Pentium?" way before you would ask what computer brand it actually was. Back them Intel educated us on the importance of the chip and demanding our computer manufacturers to incorporate the latest and greatest chip in its PC. Today I feel we no longer are concerned as much with the chip and "trust" our computer manufacturer in the decision making.

[sharonhodor]

LV is the #1 most valuable luxury brand of 2013 by BrandZ

(http://luxurysociety.com/articles/2013/05/what-the-2013-brandztm-top-100-means-for-luxury)

What is the 'red line' a brand doesn't want to cross when determining what is too much exposure for the brand. We might think the above examples are just a brand going crazy and by that hurting its luxury status. However, LV is the strongest luxury brand for several years now and so it seems abusing the brand hasn't hurt its status but even maybe helped it.

When we focus on the Burberry check design we sometimes feel it is resulting in too much exposure and might be harmful. So did Angela Ahrendts when she became Burberry’s CEO in July 2006. One of the first things she did was hire a global design director. She called Christopher Bailey the “brand czar”. Anything that a consumer sees anywhere in the world was directed to go through his office with no exceptions.

I find it interesting The Czar still decided to keep the $650 bear amongst its products.

(http://hbr.org/2013/01/burberrys-ceo-on-turning-an-aging-british-icon-into-a-global-luxury-brand/ar/1)

[sharonhodor]

Carter's & OshKosh B'gosh

Both companies produce children's wear and are similar in price.

For me personally, I don't see a difference in style so much but the brand association is very strong. Both brands are under the Carter's roof since Carter's acquired Oshkosh back in 2005.

I enjoy purchasing at Carter's since it makes me feel like great value for my money and in the same time I like the bright and childish colors and prints. On the other hand, I will generalize and say that the Oshkosh brand is more popular with my European friends. As one friend from Holland recently told me that when she needs to send presents from the US she would prefer to send OshKosh Vs Carter's.

'Kids cloths as tough as our name" - that's the slogan Oshkosh has used in its 1988 campaign:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lla-VJX54g0

Oshkosh was started as a small-town manufacturer of adult work clothing, it has become best known for its children's clothing, especially overalls and remains a strong brand that indicates durability and the 'tough' quality. It might be the reason that the OshKosh brand is more suitable for a present to send overseas.

[sharonhodor]

There are endless blogs, posts and opinions about who and how provides great service. Maybe there isn’t a right answer and it vetoes greatly by country.

It reminds me of a recent discussion I had with French friends that argued that the American customer service is the worst they have seen while many people praise the American service. They didn’t appreciate the hovering in restaurants and the niceness service providers have. For them it wasn’t good service, it truly even annoyed them so the effect was opposite. For others the hovering means they care and are attentive… I guest no one can be Great for everyone and must choose.

[sharonhodor]

The wine you love, delivered. Drync lets you buy wine the moment you taste it. Scan a wine label, tap buy, and the wine arrives at your doorstep.

Asking myself if Concha y Toro should focus on its premium vs low end wines in its re-branding strategy makes me think of the consumer needs and wants.

Lets take myself as the average wine drinker:

I enjoy drinking wine.

Following an introduction to a wine I liked I will look at the bottle, and try to remember the specifics.

Several times I even noted the brand on my mobile phone if I liked it. I even tried the Drync mobile app that takes a snap shot of the wine label and finds you a retailer that could ship the wine to you. I didn’t end up ordering since I am a very price sensitive consumer.

But I never never remember the brand long-term. I don’t know why.

Maybe I just don’t care enough. Or maybe too often I like the wine and so there is no real need for me to get to know the brand.

[sharonhodor]

The iSmell #24 in The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time

"Few products literally stink, but this one did--or at least it would have, had it progressed beyond the prototype stage." (PC World)

The iSmell is a new-to-the-world product today as it was in 2001. In 13 years we are still not at a point where we can identify where this market progressed to or whether it was an issue of timing or needs.

Yes, it is a cool concept and theoretically I could see a use case or industries where such an innovation would be attractive. For example, the gaming industry.

So what went wrong? it was basically a good idea but it might have been too mature for where the internet was 13 years ago. It was just not useful back then, people still did not 'need' the add on of smelling their emails or messages. However, briefly googling the subject resurfaces the topic even in today's headlines as an idea still worth having!

For example:"Adrian Cheok, professor of pervasive computing at City University London and director of the Mixed Reality Lab at the National University of Singapore, is on a mission to transform cyberspace into a multi-sensory world. He wants to tear through the audiovisual paradigm of the internet by developing devices able to transmit smells, tastes, and tactile sensations over the web." (MotherBoard, http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-multi-sensory-internet-brings-smell-taste-and-touch-to-the-web)

Adrian is currently developing a device that would connects to your smartphone and transfer smells and tastes.Adrian believes that maybe the internet Sex industry might be the first to adopt such a technology, but was yet to be contacted by anybody from the sector.

Maybe today, we as a connected generation that communicates much more heavily online than users 13 years ago would better embrace such an innovation. Hard to predict.

[sharonhodor]

After the marketing war of the early 90’s it seems that two decades later Corona and Heineken find themselves in the same category and price again…

[sharonhodor]

First Branding class of my last Sloan semester #sloanbranding #mitsloanbranding