London’s most annoying resident or a blue eyed peasant? Most likely neither one. Running a high-end monthly magazine that in a pitch would have made many investors to turn on their heels, is said to enjoy a nice circulation.
But the Monocle is not only a monthly piece of a fancy paper with ink stains forming some beautiful photographs and a fresh layout. A simple-to-use online approach to provide the video and podcast content is remarkable compared to many other traditional magazines, suffering the loss of a natural dialogue between offline and online content. Despite a step towards better online content, Mr. Brûlé forgot two essentials. First, make it free - the Wired magazine as itself should be a good lesson for everyone in the publishing industry. Second, make the readers participate. As the readers are expected to address higher classes, the expectation for the level of conversation would be high.
But the paper - it has the feeling. The feeling of doing something different, and something for sale. Lessons learned from the Wallpaper times, after growing Monocle slightly larger, the case would be fresh and interesting purchase enough for some global publishing groups. So far the paper and the photos maintain the feeling of doing the magazine for its desired audience. But as professor John A. Quelch at Harward Business School says, maturing the company for the masses ends up asking a premium price for the product that is no longer premium.
So please Mr. Brûlé, let us enjoy the beautiful package of premium toiletry reading also in the future.
Small and large countries play different game. A giant might dictate the rules of trading and war, but the small ones might bright by the imagination. But countries’ success is not only about politics and economy. It’s also branding - whether you and your country are desirable enough.
Today, the world is one market. Simon Anholt writes in the Monocle that the advance of globalisation means that every country, city and region, rich or poor, competes for its share of the world’s consumers, tourists, investors, students, entrepreneurs, sporting and cultural events, and for the attention and respect of the international media, of other governments and of people in other countries.
According to Paula Scher the USA is suffering from very poor image and low approval overall the world. Elsewhere Africa suffers from “continent brand effect” as the little knowledge on individual nations allows the continental picture dominate. But what the Switzerland holds? An image of mountainous and safe, thou expensive tax paradise?
Branding the nations is not fancy advertisements or PR speeches. Branding a nation is acting and actually changing the country. The perceived image might stay short while, but the experienced one lasts forever. If your river water is not clean enough to drink, your country is polluted. A beautiful poster won’t change the reality.
A good image seduces investments and tourists. Unfortunately politicians seem to be bad branding people. And bad decision makers as well. Otherwise all the countries would enjoy the status of Switzerland. Wouldn’t they?
Water is running low. Whether it derives from the climate change or something else, about one-sixth of the world’s population lack access to safe drinking water. Moreover, the scarcity of freshwater is no longer a problem restricted to poor countries.
The Wired Magazine wrote recently that about 50 percent of the world’s freshwater lies in a half-dozen lucky countries. People are thirsty - and the soda won’t make it easier. Bottled water is an old story, but its future might be enormous. Currently Wikipedia recognises 78 different water brands, the real world might hide hundreds of more bottled water brands. As with all products, some of them represent cheap and everyday, some exclusive and top quality brands. Water might be a supplement, where the brand matters most: HO2 is same in every bottle.
But what happens, when the shortage makes today’s wealthy countries thirsty? Water is expensive to transport, even without mentioning all-time-rising oil price. Despite Wired stating that economically advanced regions face unavoidable pressures on their industrial output, the agriculture spends the most. So thirsty and hungry with decreasing industries.
As the industrial trend has shifted from the local outsourcing to “made in Asia”, the agricultural and industrial future might shift back to the north in long term. Agricultural and industrial society - here we come. With a punch of Bottled Water Brands.
Nowadays price matters less. Internet is full of free services, product prices and features can be compared fast and easy, and second hand consumer-to-consumer market places have strenghten earlier often forgotten life cycle stages of goods.
More often marketers clashes a situation where income does not reflect wheather consumer buys cheap or expensive. Small income furniture freak might eat Lidl just to get her vintage Arne Jacobsen’s. At the same time when branded products are produced more and more in China, also generic China products are facing their second upswing. Generic brands provide often consumers physically same good, but without the label. Would you really care buying Uncle Ben’s instead of a white label one, assuming the source is same, but price just the half. So China is good. At least at the glance.
Besides often carrying a brand name that reflects several expectations and experiences of perceived image, product itself is an experience. World carries thousands of examples where a product has become self-feeding cult (Starbucks, Google, Diesel, Apple, PlayStation, etc), some of them being advertised, but all of them with “build-in-marketing mechnanism”. As Paul Isakson said or recycled “make the product so great, people can’t help talk about it”.
But is a product an experience also without the brand name? For sure you can enjoy nameless cola drink as much as the Coca Cola or Pepsi if you are thirsty. For sure you could drive non-branded car, if it would go smoothly as Rolls Royce. But would it still be the same? Besides boosting the ego or setting the social norms, brand has a promise and at the stage of consuming the good, it turns to a satisfaction. Marketing is not dead, its living better than never before. Greating huge stories like Coca Cola Happiness Factory or expensive co-branding like Coke + Faithless would not make sense in rational world where consumer would buy the cheapest soda. Our world is not a brainwash, it’s all emotion.
So maybe a product can’t be an experience without label and a generic China experience is not realism. And the price matters, after all. Whether being a brand or not, my pocket experience tolds the truth. “Designed in California, Assembled in China.”
Photo: Apple.com
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