Discovering business opportunities

Marco Bevolo is Director at Philips Design. He joined Philips Design in 1999, assuming responsibility for the cultural trend research program. He was instrumental in the creation of CultureScan, an ongoing trend forecasting research project investigating cultures and aesthetics at regional and global level.

Mr. Bevolo’s work has been published in ‘The Art of Advertising’ and ‘Nuova Enciclopedia della Comunicazione’, the Design Management Review of Boston. His opinions on cultural futures, trends and branding have also appeared in Axis, Repubblica, ViewPoint, Der Spiegel, AdMap, Contagious and WGSN. He has lectured at the Domus Academy of Milan, Temasek Polytechnic of Singapore, the Pasadena Art Center College of Design, and was module coordinator of the Master of Arts in Design Management at INHOLLAND in Rotterdam.

As part of representing Philips Design he is regularly invited as speaker and chairman by various event and conference organizations worldwide.

In 2006 he was nominated for ‘Best Conference Paper’  of ESOMAR, New York.

He is Advisory board member of:  Authentic Luxury Foundation (London);  Eventica Global Luxury Forum (2008); Caramundo (Amsterdam / Rio de Janeiro); Platform 21, the international center for design, fashion and creation (Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Design Management Institute (USA); Association of Professional Futurists - APF (USA); ESOMAR (The Netherlands).

Dear Marco, thank you very much for sharing your point of view! 

1. The consumers (their habits, buying behavior, aspirations, preferences and attitude) have changed nowadays. Upon you how the luxury consumers’ profile is evolving? What are the major trends for the future?

For the purpose of our editorial research in the context of the Wharton School Publishing book “Premium by Design”, Howard Moskowitz, Alex Gofman and myself created a quali-quantitative framework to capture the future dynamics of this market, from thought leaders vision to actual common people’s statistic response. The outcome of this comprehensive study is multifaceted: after all, luxury is part of culture, and we are facing times of macro-cultural change both at regional and global level. These could be some among the key trends we identified:

- sustainability: as the work of Prof. Jem Bendell for WWF’s “Deeper Luxury” shows, there is a deep need for a sustainable “revolution” in the ways luxury brands operate. This is not purely a corporate strategy agenda item: this is a rising demand from worldwide audiences;

- design leadership: we expect a transfer of multidisciplinary processes and insights from mature design operations, those working at strategic level on brands and in companies, to the craftsmanship-driven galaxy of luxury design masters: the relatively recent appointment of innovation directors at classic luxury brands like Hermes or Moet Hennessy is a clear step in such direction;

- residual value: in the age of discount outlet retail, the ability of a luxury artifact to retain value over time, possibly becoming a vintage item or even a collector’s object, will make the difference between who’s in luxury, and who’s not. This is a dynamic that companies should definitely study and eventually stimulate in their own design and marketing strategies - difficult as alchemy, however feasible and definitely more and more crucial.

(Read the article)

Tags: brand, brand image, concept, design, high-end, loyalty, luxury, marketing, mix, perception, premium goods, prestige, self-esteem, simplicity, strategy, sustainability
Posted in Luxury marketing

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Zahid Adil, Strategic Marketing & Brand Consultant at Thinkmor™ . He is one of the top 10 MarketingProfs experts, recognised by its strategic marketing knowledge and professionalism. The company he works for - Thinkmor (London, UK) has 45 years of combined experience, most from well known brands or corporate backgrounds, working together to help B2B & B2C companies in Services, Retail, NPD, Fashion, IT to deliver higher profits, streamline costs and secure future growth.
 

Thank you Zahid, for sharing your opinion!

How the habits of the luxury consumers are changing and how the luxury brands adapt to these changes?

Before addressing the habits of Luxury Consumers it’s important to briefly summarize the Luxury Brand perception over the last 50 years.
Traditionally Luxury Brands/Items were mainly bought by the Rich, Aristocratic and Royalty. Luxury was all about status and separation from the masses. Luxury used to be defined by brands such as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Yves St Laurent, Dior, Chanel, and even travel in the 1960-1970’s was seen as a Luxury. Luxury brands used to be rare and only accessible within controlled channels.

(Read the article)

Tags: brand, consulting, consumers, luxury, marketing, P&L, segment, strategic, value
Posted in Luxury marketing

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  Mr. Joffrey Chartier is a top professional with more than seven years of experience in the strategic management of premium and luxury brands. He set-up successfully new business directions and he managed to maximize the results on highly mature market of the premium cosmetics on the North America.

Thank you, Joffrey, for sharing your knowledge!

1. What will be the future of the luxury brands upon you? How they are evolving with the years?
 
I foresee certainly very bright future for the luxury brands for several reasons:
 
There are lots of developing countries that are aspiring to luxury. In countries such as Russia and China there is already a well-defined elite segment. In Russia and China the luxury consumption is a way higher than in the Western European countries or even in the USA. These consumers of premium brands inspire the rest of the population (lower segments),  whose purchasing power is getting gradually stronger with the years. As a consequence- the market segment of potential luxury consumers is growing bigger everyday in these countries and thus, worldwide.
  (Read the article)

Tags: consumer behavior, consumption, differentiation, elite segment, exclusivity, imitations, loyalty, luxury, luxury brands, market, market growth, personalized luxury, status, value
Posted in Luxury marketing

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 Howard R. Moskowitz is president and CEO of  MOSKOWITZ JACOBS INC. . Dr. Moskowitz is both a well-known experimental psychologist in the field of psychophysics (the study of perception and its relation to physical stimuli), and an inventor of world-class market research technology. Among his important contributions to market research is his 1975 introduction of psychophysical scaling and product optimization for consumer product development. Whereas these methods are standard and well accepted today, they required a massive culture change in the 1975 business community. In the 1980’s his contributions in sensory analysis were extended to health and beauty aids. He has also developed and refined procedures which enable research to interrelate products, concepts, consumers, experts and physical test instruments, in order to accomplish product optimization and reverse engineering. Finally, his research and technology developments have led to concept and package optimization (IdeaMap), integrated and accelerated development (DesignLab)), and the globalization and democratization of concept development for small and large companies alike, in an affordable, transaction-oriented approach (IdeaMap Wizard; IdeaMap.Net).
Dr. Moskowitz developed the notion of RDE or research developing experimentation. RDE comprises easy-to-use Internet-enhanced experimental designs (similar to conjoint analysis), coupled with high-level, automatic analyses. RDE reveals what messages synergize to produce exceptionally strong performance, and what messages either work with each other or do not work with each other. RDE further segments people by their mind-sets, using direct responses to messaging, thus making segmentation immediately actionable.

He is autor of the book Selling Blue Elephants, awarded with Best 30 Business Books of 2007 Excellence Award by Executive Book Summaries.

1. How to understand the mind of the consumer?  What are the major tendencies in this area?

The big problem here is the drift of market research towards two areas. The first is tracking studies. These studies don’t tell you much. The second is observational research or ethnography. These are in-depth, but too expensive.

I favor experimental design of ideas, where you mix and match ideas, present these as test concepts to consumers, get ratings, and identify what works. If you do this properly you learn a great deal about the algebra of the mind. I have written books on this (see my website www.SellingBlueElephants.com – go to ‘about the authors’, and see the ‘books’. You have a table of contents. The books and chapters dealing with concepts go into this area of understanding the customer’s mind.

(Read the article)

Tags: brand, concepts, consumers, experimental psychology, experimentally designed products, market research, marketer, package, products, psychologist, research developing experimentation, researcher, respondent, segmentation, stimuli, tracking study, value
Posted in New opportunities

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 Mark Tungate, aged 40, is a Paris-based British journalist specialising in media, advertising and branding. He is the author of the book Branded Male: Marketing to Men, published by Kogan Page this year. He is also the author of the books Adland: A Global History of Advertising and Fashion Brands: Branding Style from Armani to Zara. On the journalistic front he is the Paris correspondent of the advertising journal Campaign and a columnist for French marketing magazine Stratégies, as well as a contributor to the trend forecasting service Worth Global Style Network (WGSN). His articles about advertising and popular culture have appeared in The Times, The Independent, The Guardian and The Telegraph newspapers. He also co-presents a weekly French TV show about advertising. In 2005 he was invited by Renzo Rosso, the founder of cult jeans brand Diesel, to collaborate on a book called FIFTY, the story of Rosso’s life and work.

1. The fashion brands such as Gucci, D&G, Bvlgari, Zara, Nike even though they are so different may be they have something in common?

There are two main components of a fashion brand. The first, and the most important, is that it is always changing. That is the very definition of “fashion”: it must constantly evolve in order to create desire. A brand that remains static is not a fashion brand – it is simply a clothing brand. This is not a fault: many of the brand I personally admire are not “fashionable”, but stylish, classic and relatively unchanging.
The second important component of a fashion brand is that it must have “added value”. This is the part of the brand that is invisible and ephemeral. It must make us daydream in some way; perhaps aspiring to be better looking, richer, sexier, more artistic or more intellectual. Without added value, a sweater is just a sweater, and we will only pay what we feel it is worth as an item of clothing. But when we buy an Armani sweater, we are buying into an imaginary universe and system of values that has been created by marketing. This is the very essence of branding. (Read the article)

Tags: added value, clothing brand, desire, fashion brands, fashion market, fashionnable, image, luxury brands, Luxury marketing, stylish
Posted in Luxury marketing

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Lydia Sugarman, CEO/Founder of Private Label InterActive, seminar speaker, specialised in providing marketing managers with an effective and measurable marketing platform that facilitates intelligent, segmented/interactive outgoing email communications with CRM tools; generate/manage lead generation; identify hot prospects keep the pipeline filled; demonstrate quantifiable ROI; website assessments, database management, online marketing strategy consulting.

1. What is the role of Interactive marketing nowadays? How do you see its future?

Interactive marketing is still in its infancy. Media will be more intimately integrated and, as devices and their users become more sophisticated, transactions will be more immediate. The millennial will have a profound influence on how they are reached, influenced, and how they react. As their disposable income grows, interactive marketing will have to respond.

(Read the article)

Tags: audience, business-social networks, call to action, focus, interactive marketing, marketing, media, networks, offer, plan, planning, relationships
Posted in New opportunities

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 Reg Nordman is the Managing Partner for Rocket Builders, a sales and marketing consultancy for high growth companies. He works with large and small companies such as: Asentus, Maximizer, Sophos, Microsoft Canada, and Research in Motion. Previously he has worked in direct and channel sales for major firms such as Unisys and Commodore. For his clients, Reg assists them in breaking through various sales and marketing challenges to grow the business. Using RocketBuilders Precision Sales and Marketing process he helps CEOS get more from  Sales and Marketing.  Reg is focused on getting clients “more effective selling time”. Reg has been publishing executive book reviews for his clients since 2002, and a blog since 2004.

Thank you Reg, for sharing your experience!

What are the major tendencies that characterize the new market realities?

No company can prosper and grow without significant and thoughtful investments in marketing. Everything is getting more difficult.
Eg my post Nov 8:  News from the trenches- The sales process starts before you think it does

Describes how the customer is first engaging the sales force about 20% of the way down the sales process. What does this entail? Prospects go online to identify their problem and look for solutions. By the time the customer engages the salesman, they have created a short list of companies to talk to and they believe that this company is one of a few that have the potential solution to their problem. This immediately creates two problems:

1. Most sales people are unable to shift gears to accommodate the needs of these customers. They do not want a demo, a brochure or a proposal. They want you to quickly get up to speed on their business and issues and how your product brings value. How are you different? The results of a poor response is that the opportunity disappears as fast as it appears.

2. Marketing becomes of No.1 importance with the brand promise, materials in the public eye and the ability to drive “qualified leads ” to the sales funnel. The Marcomm dept has to really be on top of things. But you never will never know its not working.
Hidden problem. Are clients looking at your online “story” and dropping you from their shortlist, and thus never engaging you? Guess what? You will never know!

So business is changing yet most sales training is stuck in the 90’s . That is so like , yesterday.   (Read the article)

Tags: brand, customer, different, growth, leads, long term, market, marketer, opportunity, placement, plan, promise, promotion, short term, strategy, tactics, tendencies, value
Posted in Strategic marketing

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Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs (www.marketingprofs.com). She directs all of the content in various forms produced on the MarketingProfs Web site and is the Primary Caregiver of its blog, the MarketingProfs Daily Fix(www.mpdailyfix.com). She also blogs at The Huffington Post. A lifetime ago, she co-founded of ClickZ.com.

1. How the Internet as a media is changing? What are the major trends?

Well, in terms of content on the Internet, there’s a whole lot more of it – and many more voices creating it and extending its reach.

That’s a huge change, obviously, from when only professional writers and editors were creating the content that most of us read and were therefore influenced by. Now, anyone who is armed with a computer and an internet connection has a voice, anyone can create and share content, and everyone can be one of the “who’s who.”

The ease of creating and sharing content has huge implications not only for those of us who make our living via it. But it also has huge implications for marketers. For years, marketers have talked to their customers. Now, they are hearing those customers talking back. (Read the article)

Tags: blog, blogging, business, communication, customer, face-to-face, Internet, marketer, networking, old - school, publishing strategy, relashionship, social media
Posted in Tendencies

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Mr. Paul Chaney is Internet Marketing Director for Bizzuka.com, a web design and development firm based in Lafayette, LA.

Mr. Chaney has been an Internet media consultant for the past four years and is widely known and respected in that field. He understands at a granular level how conversational media tools can be used for marketing purposes and has worked with a number of clients assisting them in deploying online marketing strategies.

Mr. Chaney has served as Technical Editor on a number of For Dummies series books related to blogs and Internet marketing, and was contributing writer on the book Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies, published by Wiley.

Specialties: Business blog consultant, online marketing consulting, conversational media marketing, real estate blogging, blogging

Great thanks, Mr. Chaney for sharing your experience!

1. What is the role of blogs nowadays? How they are changing the Internet?

Blogs were the forerunner that ushered in the social media movement and they still play a vital role. However, that role has changed thanks to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and other social tools. By that I mean you see less “day in the life” blogging and a greater emphasis on what some are calling “value” blogging. Let me explain.

In the early days, bloggers had one place to share their thoughts, ideas and opinions, and that was on their blog. Now, the more spur-of-the-moment, anecdotal posts are finding themselves being placed on micro-blogging tools like Twitter, Pownce and Facebook, leaving the more thoughtful, well-researched posts for the blog. That’s not to suggest bloggers don’t still write impromptu posts. They do. It’s just that other tools are now available allowing for greater choice and flexibility in where to publish. (Read the article)

Tags: blog, buzz, communication, community, consultant, consumer, corporate website, marketer, marketing, medium, online marketing, social media, strategy, targeting an audience, value
Posted in Tendencies

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