The new MasterCard brand image is the result of decades of evolution. See what it looked liked and how it developed from 1966, through five design changes.
Via [Advertising/Design Goodness].
Add comment July 10th, 2006
Adbuster's logo-spangled American flag has become an icon in its own right for the anti-brand movement. This July Adbuster is reminding Americans again: This July 4th I pledge to do my duty and take my country back. www.unbrandamerica.org.
More on Adbusters on 360east.com, here and here
Add comment July 3rd, 2006
Brands: they have evolved from simple labels stuck on commodities to elaborate expressions of corporate culture, and, some would even argue, an expression of societal culture as well. Global brands are also an expression of the strength of their countries of origin in the global market.
Japan is Sony. Korea is Hyundai. Germany is Mercedes, America is Microsoft. France is Peugeot. Sweden is Saab. Italy is Vespa. China is Huawei or Haier. Taiwan is Acer. I could go on.
So what is an Arab brand of global significance. Hmm. Is there any?
Al Jazeera often comes to mind when this issue is discussed. And with the imminent launch of Al Jazeera International (how imminent nobody seems to know) Al Jazeera’s international brand will be strengthened further. But there is a problem with this brand. It loses money (or break even as its manager would like to say). It has risen to prominence on the back of crises in the Arab world and Afghanistan (just like CNN rose to prominence on the back of the first Gulf War).
So for now, Al Jazeera is not a money maker and is actually having trouble signing up advertisers as well as cable and satellite distribution in the US. One could argue that the BBC is not advertising based and is government funded too. That’s a valid argument. The BBC is definitely a strong global brand. So it remains to be seen whether Al Jazeera can make the jump from ‘controversial’ to ‘accepted’ in the coming years.
So what else does the Arab world have in the field of global brands? Not much.
Watching the world cup games in Germany gives you a good overview of the global brand map. From the top of my mind I can remember Toshiba, Yahoo, Coca Cola, Budweiser, Avaya (what the heck does Avaya do?) and the lone ranger from the lands (or shall I say skies) of Arabia: Emirates Airlines.
Here is a brand strong enough and rich enough to play with the big boys on the world cup pitch. Emirates is the expression of the rise of Dubai. It has achieved global recognition by delivering high standard services and strong marketing efforts.
One could say that Qatar Airways is also trying to be there on the global stage. But in my assessment, the more mature Emirates is far ahead of it.
Sadly, the Arab’s global brand, Emirates, is also a reflection of the fact that Arab nations have no significance when it comes to brands that are based on technical innovation. Emirates’ planes, computer systems and even a good part of their staff are imported ‘resources’. Whereas brands like Microsoft or Apple are not based not just on great service and marketing, but on R&D and invention.
Future Arab candidates for global brand prominence? Emaar (again from Dubai). Orascom (mobile operator from Egypt, although it’s a business to business brand that consumers are not aware of), Aramex (originally from Jordan).
If you have any candidates let us know.
5 comments June 28th, 2006
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Well, they’re both Pepsi celebrity-endorsers, and in this age of globalization anyone can meet… right?
So, Pepsi decided to create an advertisement featuring them both, and we’re calling it “When Henry Met Haifa”.
Note that it’s an Arabic-language ad; Haifa Wahbe introduces herself in Arabic and charms Thierry Henry.
The commercial is brand new, and was aired for the first time on 13 June, as part of the World Cup 2006 frenzy that’s taken over the world this month.
Watch it now, then think about the branding widsom behind it ….. if there is any!
Let the debate begin.
54 comments June 15th, 2006
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In spite of competition from Ronaldinho as the new footballing icon, and the fact that Becks is now a few years away from wrapping up his footballing career, the product endorsement bandwagon continues.
Motorola has announced that David Beckham, England captain and Real Madrid midfielder, will be a Motorola global brand ambassador for the next three years. The announcement is well-timed, amidst the hysteria of a World Cup.
As you would expect, the deal includes major promotional activities, including ‘exclusive Beckham content’ such as screen savers and video clips of the star in action — in Motorola handsets.
It should be interesting to figure out how this deal impacts the Real Madrid alliance with Siemens/BenQ, whose logo will be on Beckham’s club shirt next season as part of a deal that extends till 2010. Read more at Real Madrid’s site.
Apparently, Motorola isn’t bothered by that. Or maybe, nowadays, there’s a clear distinction between Beckham the footballer- in club or country kit- and Beckham the fashin icon- as you can see above.
No wonder Becks is considred a marketing phenomena, and some universities in England have added his story to their marketing communications programs!
Read more about the Motorola deal at Strategiy.com.
1 comment June 14th, 2006
Watching the world cup over the past few days I noticed something weird. The Coca Cola logo is appearing in all sorts of colors, besides the usual red. I noticed the usage of blue, yellow and green already! Has anyone out there noticed this?
It’s really strange. I looked around the web to find any info or picture but could find any. Will we soon see blue Coke cans? (can you even imagine that!).
UPDATE: The mystery is apparently solved. And I feel a bit, what shall I say, “absent minded”. It the colors of the teams shirts for each particular game! Thanks go to Eddie for pointing this out!
9 comments June 13th, 2006
Ogilvy have announced the results of an ‘evaluation’ of the Dove Campaign For Real Beauty in the Middle East.
Everyone, by now, is familiar with this international campaign which features “images of plus-size natural looking women with curves and unconventional hair texture and colour”. The idea is to challenge the standard of supermodel imagery and show that normal women are beautiful too.
In Europe, the US and the Far East images of these women in underwear were used. Obviously, there’s been a different approach in the Middle East, but it seems to have generated the desired response.
A multi-media ad campaign ran in the region starting in February 2006, inviting women from across the region to take part in the dialogue on real beauty, which resulted in more than 18,000 votes on the dedicated regional website.
The website was supported by a regional SMS text campaign and through extensive mall tours and in-store promotions in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE.
Visitors to the site answered a a series of questions accompanied by an image of a women, by ticking a box.
For example, an image of 33 year old, plus-sized Lebanese mother, Jouhayna Boudiwan, offered the visiot the choice to tick ‘beautiful’ or ‘big’. In this case, the result has been that 64% said ‘beautiful’. And so on, with a variety of images and themes.
The Campaign For Real Beauty was founded following the results of a worldwide study among 3,300 women which showed that only 2% of women were comfortable describing themselves as beautiful.
You can visit the regional site here .
2 comments June 4th, 2006
IDC Middle East & Africa | Senior Research Analyst - Telecommunications - Middle East & Africa
Al Tayer Group | Marketing Operations Manager
MBR Recruitment | Communication Manager
MBR Recruitment | Client Service Director
Confidential Company | Communications Manager
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