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Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category
Client Spotlight: Universal Circulation
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
Apple tops the list of the most valuable brand with an estimated brand value of 153 Billion dollars
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011The value of a strong brand is indisputable and often accounts for at least 50 percent of the total market valuation
While being remembered is essential, it is becoming harder every day. A strong brand stands out in a densely crowded marketplace. Translating the brand into action has become an employee mantra. There is substantial evidence that companies whose employees understand and embrace the brand are more successful. What began as corporate culture under the auspices of human resources is fast becoming branding, and the marketing department runs the show.
Click Here To See Interesting Commentary From Cristiana Pearson at Millward Brown
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER – and a Great Way to Differentiate Your Business
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011www.desantisbreindel.com/whitepapers/content-the-new-creative-desantis-breindel.pdf
Give them a visit at www.desantisbreindel.com and follow them on Twitter
Advertising Meets Venture Capital
Thursday, April 7th, 2011With a front row seat to view the emergence of some of today’s best ideas, ad agencies are capitalizing on ground floor opportunities by launching internal funds to invest in emerging brands. Entrepreneurs with great ideas, but little knowledge of reaching their market, are finding this as a valuable way to engage the expertise of the agencies while making them stakeholders rather than merely vendors. AdAge has their finger on the pulse of this emerging trend. Please take the time to view their recent article — we loved it!
Invest your money where R&D in new corporate management techniques are being developed
Thursday, August 26th, 2010Re-Tooling the Corporate Structure of Management
Market forces are at work as the traditional corporate structure of management is being reviewed and re tooled in an ever changing environment. Over the last few years many corporate management structures have been compared to the U.S. Government – a large bureaucratic mess that is not in touch with reality.
Today with the increasing size of most large corporations it’s become more difficult for them to evolve and take risk when it comes to incorporating new technologies and ideas into their corporate management structure. No one wants to rock the boat. Change can be scary, cost money, and might not work. On the flip side change can still be scary, save a company lots of money, and can open doors that lead to new products or services.
We encourage companies to set aside a portion of money to be invested in small businesses in all kinds of sectors. The amount of money invested in each business can be as little as $20,000. We consider it R&D for management. Just one breakthrough from a company you invested in links you to a new solution to make your corporate management structure more efficient and profitable. Additionally, being on the ground floor provides a first mover advantage as you take this new concept out to market.
Kompani Group believes companies must be flexible by allowing new ideas and solutions that are not the norm to be introduced into the corporate structure. It can be uncomfortable at times but when you’re too comfortable with status quo you’re probably not growing and someone else is going to sneak up behind you and then leave you in the dust.
Myths about trademarks and the top 5 reasons to register your brand name and logo.
Monday, June 7th, 2010
Myth no. 1 – Once you register a trademark you own it forever and for everything
Myth no. 2 – Registering a domain name offers all sorts of legal protection
Myth no. 3 – You can save money if you conduct the search yourselves.
Trademark Tip – Top 5 Reasons to Register Your Brand Name or Logo.
There a myriad reasons to protect your trademark, brand name, logo or slogan through federal trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Here are just a few of the top reasons why you should seek federal protection for your mark:
1. Trademarks are a part of your company’s intellectual property portfolio. It could very well be one of your most valuable business assets, albeit an intangible one. Trademarks can be accorded a value separate and distinct from other assets in your company. To illustrate, the Coca-Cola® trademark alone is purportedly valued at $70 billion. This doesn’t include other assets such as trucks, manufacturing and bottling facilities, etc., just the Coke® brand. The value of a registered trademark may be listed as a line item asset for companies seeking to attract potential investors or obtain financing.
2. A federally registered trademark grants you nationwide priority claim of ownership to the mark. A registered trademark provides constructive notice to prospective users and potential infringers of your claim of ownership to the mark. In the event of a dispute concerning rights to use a particular mark, the registered trademark owner will have the benefit of the doubt vis-à-vis a non-registered user of the same mark for similar or related products.
3. In the event of any unauthorized use or potential infringement of a registered trademark, the trademark owner is entitled to seek redress in federal court. The registered trademark owner can bring suit in federal court for trademark infringement and prohibit the alleged infringing mark from being used in commerce in a manner that causes confusion with the registered trademark. Moreover, trademark owners may seek three times their actual damages suffered as a result of the infringement (triple damages).
4. If you are interested in obtaining international trademark protection for your brand, you will need to first have a registered or pending application filed with the USPTO. A federally registered trademark is the basis for U.S. trademark owners to seek international trademark registration. Upon filing your application, the USPTO assigns your mark a serial number (or a registration number, once registered). This number is used to submit an international trademark application under the Madrid Protocol System for International Trademark Registration.
5. Registered trademarks may be filed with the U.S. Customs Service to prohibit the importation of infringing foreign goods that may bear your mark or something similar (“knock-offs”). Many illegal imports attempt to trade off the established brand value of famous or well-known marks. Trademark registrations may be placed on record with the Customs Service so infringing products entering the country may be flagged, seized and possibly destroyed.
So there you have it, the Top Five reasons to protect your brand name or logo through federal trademark registration. There are other reasons, of course, including protecting your brand value and hard earned marketing dollars. For more information concerning trademark law, the trademark registration process, or for questions concerning your particular mark or brand, please contact one of our FlatFee Trademark attorneys at 1.800.769.7790 or [email protected] .
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The BlackBand viral marketing campaign
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
Case study: Blackband project
Owner: Camacho Cigars, Authors: Dylan Austin, Gianni D’Alerta
Background/Introduction:
Before we started this project we planned and built the following two sites for Camacho cigars – www.camachocigars.com and www.socialcigar.com (at first we did not reveal that Camacho was behind this site). Through the two sites we built a subscriber list of 4,500 people in less than one year. Since then we have also built www.room101cigars.com, and we are currently working on a new revolutionary social networking platform and corporate site for Camacho Cigars/Davidorff.
Kickoff of the BlackBand project:
To start off, here is an excerpt from the press release, post project:
“The campaign objectives for Camacho included the creation of an engaging, opt-in viral marketing campaign, a successful permission-marketing opportunity as an outlet to sample yet to be released products. A four-part web-series was created without mention of Camacho until the final “reveal” episode. The viewers followed the satirical Independent Cigar Review Bureau, a fictional agency, whose sole purpose was to educate the world about cigar selection, as they used humorous, guerilla-style tactics to enlighten three characters that represented the most common cigar misconceptions”
Process:
- We launched the site with this page: http://www.blackbandproject.com/home-temp/
- We blasted Camacho’s mailing list of 1000 and the social network we created while I was at Propeller of 3500 people, not as Camacho but as the fictional company. The amazing thing was that the idea was so interesting that we had a very low spam report. We also ran rich media banner ads that actually played a trailer of the project on the websites the banners resided.
- Once the person signed up they would get one episode a week that would build upon the myths and misconceptions of cigar smoking. The Buzz just keep mounting… people passing the links to their friends… it was huge… in the online cigar world.
- After they registered they immediately received their first “mission” http://www.blackbandproject.com/d57s-1/
- A week after that http://www.blackbandproject.com/6ku6-2/
- A week later http://www.blackbandproject.com/hr4s-3/
- And then the conclusion http://www.blackbandproject.com/b7x3-conclusion/
Results:
- We gained 15,500 new subscribers! With that permission to market to them anything in the future. They are already expecting more from Camacho, and we won’t disappoint them.
- Every cigar website was buzzing about the project, we even got more hits on our Black Band Project site in one month that Cigar Aficionado.
- After the last video was sent… a month later people got 3 cigars in the mail. So for a whole month, every week… the conversations where about the black band project. Then when the cigars shipped, another huge buzz.
Another Excerpt:
“From day one, the campaign captivated the cigar industry and generated sweeping buzz across the country, with thousands of cigar enthusiasts discussing who was behind “The Black Band Project” on social media outlets, including Twitter, Facebook, and cigar-industry message boards and blogs.
End results:
- 15,000 leads
- 4,000 people got the cigars (people who watched all the videos)
- 15% overall sales increase after the launch of the new product.
Road America has signed a 12 month strategy, technology and marketing activations contract with Kompani Group
Sunday, March 21st, 2010Road America
Road America is uniquely qualified to provide outstanding service to our clients and their valued customers. This confidence is based upon the tremendous value we place on our relationship with clients, our comprehensive, specialized and rated service provider network, our long-standing and unparalleled experience providing 24-hour roadside assistance services, and our quality approach to servicing our clients and exceeding their business needs.
Corporate Strength
Road America is a wholly owned United States subsidiary of the MAPFRE Group (MAPFRE) the largest insurance group in Spain. MAPFRE had revenues of over US $17.4 Billion in worldwide operations in 2006. MAPFRE operates an extensive international assistance network through a specialized subsidiary, MAPFRE Asistencia, which is the direct parent company of Road America.
MAPFRE Asistencia is a leading international insurance conglomerate providing emergency roadside assistance, insurance, reinsurance and general assistance services worldwide throughout 52 countries and over 1000 corporate clients, including Renault, Infinity, Ford, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Toyota, Peugeot, and Volvo. MAPFRE services 120 million beneficiaries worldwide, providing assistance on more than 2.5 million occasions and is rated A+ (superior) by the North American rating agency AM Best.
International Expertise and Experience
Our confidence is also based upon the significant experience and strength of our parent company, MAPFRE, within the assistance services industry. In the field of emergency roadside assistance, MAPFRE has developed and operates an extensive direct provider network in 39 countries.
MAPFRE has developed proprietary software, procedures and know-how in the field of roadside assistance, and it has comprehensive experience in developing worldwide provider networks and call centers to service international roadside assistance programs for insurance companies, automobile manufacturers, financial service companies and other international corporations.
Flexibility and Responsiveness
Road America’s programs have been and are marketed successfully through a variety of marketing channels in the following industries: motorcycle OEM, automotive, associations, telecommunications (wireless and wireline), financial services, insurance, original manufacturers, motor club and utilities. This diversity in experience has allowed Road America to perfect and enhance our service offerings and capabilities.
Road America’s strengths include the size and flexibility to customize our service offerings and the responsiveness to meet or surpass each client’s exact or unique marketing, service needs and culture.
Comprehensive Service Offerings & Capabilities
In addition to a complete array of benefits, including automotive, travel, security, and medical related services, Road America can provide a full range of support services including marketing and promotional support, fulfillment services, inbound sales and enrollment, membership tracking and renewals, and program administration. Road America’s extensive list of services, innovative approach, and commitment to complete client satisfaction makes our service offering the most meaningful and comprehensive in the industry.
Ethical Business Practices
The nature of the MAPFRE Group demands enforcing a policy of ethical treatment of employees, clients, business partners and customers; social responsibility; respect of the legal framework; and a culture of sound business and accounting practices. The MAPFRE Group requires the same strong ethical business practices from all of its subsidiaries within the MAPFRE Group.
Tested. Proven. Trusted®:
With more than 120 North American corporate clients and more than seven motorcycle OEM clients, Road America has proven sales and service results.
Road America’s 24-hour roadside and membership programs have been proven to:
- Increase Brand Loyalty
- Increase Customer Service Ratings
- Increase Customer Referrals
- Increase Customer Retention
- Increase Customer Awareness
- Increase Overall Client Profitability
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Launching a Driver sub-brand
Saturday, February 20th, 2010The economic strains are causing your end-users to trade down, resulting in that the mid-tier and premium brands are losing share to low-price rivals. You face a classic strategic conundrum: Do you tackle the threat head-on by reducing prices, knowing that will destroy profits in the short term and brand equity in the long term? Or do you hold the line, hope for better times to return, and in the meantime lose customers who might never come back? Given how unpalatable both of those alternatives are, you now must make a decision of how to combat manufacturers and distributors of lower priced and inferior products, to avoid losing additional market share and eroding margins.
There are four ways to battle your competition. 1) Launching a true fighter brand, 2) Launching an endorsed sub-brand, 3) Launching a co-driver sub-brand or, 4) Launching a driver sub-brand
Driver sub-brand
Definition:
- The parent brand retains its primary influence as a driver, and the sub-brand can act as a descriptor-a word or phrase that tells end-users that the company is offering a slight variation on the same product or service they have come to know.
Note: Of the three types of relationships, a driver brand with a descriptor sub-brand is the most risky. The parent brand is vulnerable to cannibalization because very little distinguishes one brand from the other. The risk of cannibalization is greatest when a descriptor signifies merely a lower-quality offering. The risk is minimized when the descriptor signals a different application.
Examples:
- Mercedes provides a good illustration of a driver brand that has successfully accessed a downscale market with a descriptor sub-brand. In the early 1980s, Mercedes introduced that is now it’s C Class, a small car to compete with the BMW 3 series, as well as with Acura and Lexus.
- Now priced around $30,000, the line sells nearly 30,000 cars annually in the United States (around one-third of all Mercedes sales in the United States).
- How could a brand that has historically been identified with prestige and that offers a car selling for more than $100,000 pull off this kind of downscale move?
- First, Mercedes delivered a quality product.
- Second, the C Class introduction was accompanied by an intensive effort to reposition the core brand’s message from prestige to performance.
- Third, marketing for the C class aggressively targeted young buyers. The C Class name creates a distinction that allows the sub-brand to attract a slightly different consumer, but it does not drive that consumer’s decision to buy the car. The Mercedes brand retains that power.
Celeron – B to B (Intel) 1997
- To combat AMD’s $260.00 K6 processor chip, and to avoid having to lower prices on its Pentium processor, Intel launched a sub-brand dubbed Celeron.
- Despite a couple of early pricing mistakes and mishaps in expectations management, Intel succeed in combating and keeping AMD from creating a strong foothold in the low-end market. With a share of 80% of the overall processor market and their ability to roll out new processors frequently, Intel proved to be a testament to both the power of fighter brands to open up lower-tier market opportunities and their unequaled ability to keep competitors at bay.
- Note: The EU have recently been successful in winning a ruling against Intel regarding antitrust issues and pricing manipulation resulting in a fine of $1.5 billion dollars. We wonder whether the costs of the now 5 year old lawsuit brought by AMD, the fine and the distractions for Intel’s senior management team, would justify the launch of another Celeron value sub-brand when you already have more than 80 percent of the total market share.
Launching a Co-driver sub brand
Sunday, February 14th, 2010The economic strains are causing your end-users to trade down, resulting in that the mid-tier and premium brands are losing share to low-price rivals. You face a classic strategic conundrum: Do you tackle the threat head-on by reducing prices, knowing that will destroy profits in the short term and brand equity in the long term? Or do you hold the line, hope for better times to return, and in the meantime lose customers who might never come back? Given how unpalatable both of those alternatives are, you now must make a decision of how to combat manufacturers and distributors of lower priced and inferior products, to avoid losing additional market share and eroding margins.
There are four ways to battle your competition. 1) Launching a true fighter brand, 2) Launching an endorsed sub-brand, 3) Launching a co-driver sub-brand or, 4) Launching a driver sub-brand
Co-driver
Definition:
- The parent brand and the sub-brand act as co-drivers with roughly equal influence on consumers.
Examples:
United Express (United Airlines)
The United Airlines brand provides United Express, a commuter line, with the convenience of connections to United flights and a reputation for safety. There is no cannibalization because the flights do not compete. United Express is differentiated from its parent brand by its lower level of on-board service, its use of smaller planes, and its less formal personality.
Good News (Gillette)
Gillette Good News also illustrates a successful co-driver relationship. Gillette Good News disposable razors are a definite cut below ‘the best a man can get” that is the Gillette legacy in shaving. But disposable razors are qualitatively different from the upscale razors such as Sensor and Atra with which Gillette has long held a technological edge. Gillette could provide a rationale for a disposable brand by being the best in the disposable category. But the Good News user’s personality – younger and more carefree than the traditionally masculine and sophisticated Gillette persona – plays a key role in distinguishing the disposable brand from the rest of the line. Both brand names – Gillette and Good News – influence the customer’s decision to buy the product.
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05:15:2012: Client Spotlight: Universal Circulation
Kompani Group is growing, and we welcome partners and associates who are high achievers and have inquiring minds.
We specialize in optimizing existing small businesses. Contact us today to schedule
a free consultation.
