Google does it again! The internet and computer software giant has long been regarded as a brilliant innovator in online advertising technology, starting with its AdWords and AdSense programs, and it shows us once again why they are hard to beat: they have recently launched a new marketing experiment with a year-old application called Google Goggles which shows definite promise.
What is Google Goggles? For those who haven't heard about it yet, it is a mobile application which allows users to search online for information regarding practically anything under the sun by taking a picture. Think about it - how often do you jot down a particular product, brand, restaurant name, etc as an SMS or note in your mobile phone for future information search once you get home and have access to the internet? How many times have you taken a picture of an interesting print ad or outdoor sign, with the intent of looking it up online later on? I'll be the first to admit that I've done it countless times and I'm sure all of you are guilty of the same thing. Google has managed to recognize this trend and has sought to provide a better solution: real-time information search as and when you see something and take a picture! Bloody brilliant, isn't it?
With the Google Goggles marketing experiment, Google has extended the Goggles' functionality for branded marketing initiatives. All an advertiser has to do is to "Goggles-enable" their offline images (e.g., print ads, movie posters). When users take pictures of these Goggles-enabled images, the application recognizes them and directs the users to predetermined mobile site destinations. To date, they have conducted the marketing experiment with five leading companies: T-Mobile, Disney, Diageo, Buick and Delta Airlines.
Now this is what I call a perfect convergence of marketing and technology!
Last 28 October, we attended a social mixer session at Harry’s Bar organized by the NUS MBA Marketing Club. The session was with Guy Charusadhirakul who is the senior manager at eBay for Marketplace Development. I hadn’t been to a social mixer at NUS before, but I can definitely say that it surpassed my expectations. I came out learning a lot from the session and it was also a good chance to network with an industry professional and seniors.
During the session, Guy openly shared his work experience at eBay as well as the opportunities that he benefited most from while at business school. He talked about his interest in the technology sector and how he was able to realize his passion by taking up an internship in the same industry during b-school. He encouraged us to get involved in consulting projects with companies through the management practicum, especially for career-switchers.
Although Guy worked as a General Manager, he is currently in-charge of the cross-borders business at eBay. One of the challenges faced by a business such as eBay is that sellers are not very prompt about shipping out orders and hence lose customers. In addition, package tracking and delivery are perennial challenges. Moreover, international currency rates are constantly changing, hence it's become increasingly difficult for a buyer who is, for example, based in China to purchase from a seller based overseas (e.g., in America) using the online marketplace. Besides, many buyers are not even aware that e-Bay offers access to direct small business sellers and not only casual sellers. One of the advantages of selling through eBay for a small business is that it saves the initial setup costs.
Overall we had a good interaction with Guy and the seniors; all with good food and great wine!
At August 26th Robin Speculand paid NUS a visit to talk about the role of leadership in strategy implementation. Not only was I curious about the event because it was (co)organized by the Marketing Club, but due to my own experience in undergoing some project implementations in my previous job, I wanted to know what an expert would say regarding this subject.
Robin Speculand turned out to be a very enthusiastic speaker, which was very welcome after a long day of classes! His presentation was highly interactive, and full of practical examples and tips.
He spoke about the successes and failures of campaigns previously run and how they could have been improved or prevented (e.g., the introduction of the new terminal at London Heathrow, which was unfortunately remembered for being a big fiasco!).
He explained his principles by using a compass to guide a company through the process of implementation by using the elements of: People, Biz Case, Communicate, Measure, Culture, Process, Reinforce and Review. He emphasized the importance of detail at the review part, since it is usually ‘squeezed’ in at the end of the process, or even left out completely.
When leadership kicks in, Speculand mentions the following as key take-aways:
It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense, but just because it’s common sense doesn’t mean it’s common practice.
Leaders have been living the strategy; staff members are hearing it for the first time.
Leaders are responsible for translating the strategy into specific actions.
So, make sure the leaders in the organization translate the new process down to their managers and they translate it down to their people. The most important part is that the entire company is “breathing” the new strategy.
He elaborated on how NOT to implement and gave tips on how to try to make strategy implementation work. All in all it was one big déjà vu. I will be sure to drop my previous manager an e-mail with a copy of Robin’s slides…
The much awaited Marketing Club Welcome Tea was finally held on 1 September 2010, at the very home of the NUS Business cohort, Mochtar Riady Building. What could be better, the event was teamed with an internship sharing session! MBA students who had landed internships at coveted companies were invited to speak and interact with the new batch of MBA Club Members.
Much to the delight of the participants, the interns represented mainstream corporates as well as start-up companies. Lokesh Malik from Dell and Melody Lee from Johnson & Johnson spoke at length regarding their first hand experiences in the corporate world of Singapore. Luke Donnelly, who started his career at a start up venture named iTwin, opened the possibilities of experiencing work life in a different field. Moreover, there was ample opportunity for the newly recruited Marketing Club members to mingle with the interns and gain tips of the trade!
Events such as this provide a platform for members to mingle with each other to share events, stories and experiences pertaining to their common passion – Marketing! Moreover, they also get an opportunity to rub shoulders with seniors in the job field and thereby cement the bond between the Club Members and the Marketing community.
The NUS MBA Marketing Club and NUS MBA Consulting Club jointly present Execution Leadership: The Role of Leadership in Strategy Implementation, a talk by Robin Speculand on 26 August 2010 (Thursday) at 6pm. The event will be held at Seminar Room 3-5 of BIZ1, Mochtar Riady Building, 15 Kent Ridge Drive at the National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge Campus.
On Monday (05 April), the NUS MBA Marketing Club welcomed Martin Roll, a business and brand strategist, for a presentation about "Business & Brand Leadership" in their beautiful, new Mochtar Riady Building. Martin (INSEAD MBA alumnus) is a thought-leader on value creation through brand equity and the author of the book Asian Brand Strategy which was named "Best Business Books 2006” by Strategy+Business magazine.
In an inspiring and interactive session, Martin started his talk by asking the participants to name leading Asian brands. After several minutes of discussion, the about 45 strong group of full-time MBA students, faculty members and guests from the corporate world agreed that there are only a few leading global Asian brands - if we exclude Japanese brands as well as some brands from South Korea such as Samsung and LG.
Importantly, the most profitable Asian companies focus on intangibles such as human capital, exploiting network effects and creating synergies based on brands, rather than investing in tangible assets according to a McKinsey study. However, many Asian companies are challenged to follow this approach due to their path dependency with less focus on innovation, dominance of large diversified conglomerates, excess capacity and Asian specifics regarding IP and trademarks. Thus, the challenge for Asian companies is to build brand equity in order to capture a larger portion of the value creation in the value chain and in order to catch up with Western icons such as P&G, Apple, McKinsey or Goldman Sachs.
Martin enthusiastically shared with the group his opinion about the weaknesses of the Marketing function such as a lack of marketing representation in the boardroom through a Chief Marketing Officer. He outlined that functional attributes, points of difference, emotional values and a strong brand are needed in order to create a real connection and a strong global iconic brand. Having discussed the basics, the group learned from successes such as Banyan Tree, Amazing Thailand campaign, Jim Thompson, SK-II what is needed to develop a strong brand. HSBC, Lenovo, Hero Honda, Laneíge, Huawei, Uniqlo were further examples to illustrate parts of strong brand leadership of Asian companies.
For the students of Asia's global business school NUS, the example of excellent brand leadership at Singapore Airlines helped to deepen their learning about self-motivated creativity (success & outperformance) within an organization which is mainly instilled by organizational alignment in a three step process: building awareness, generating acceptance and sustaining commitment through performance management, feedback as well as intensive training.
At the end of the presentation, Martin successfully inspired the participants to take an active role in shaping a bright future for Asia and for Asian companies through mastering Marketing and leading Asian brands to great regional and global recognition. Thereby, they would follow many Asian leaders who return from overseas back to Asia in order to leverage their global mindset and experience creating arising global brands and building highly-profitable businesses through brand equity.
The NUS MBA Marketing Club is pleased to present world-renowned thought leader Martin Roll in a talk on Business and Brand Leadership: A New Approach to Success for Asian Business.
Business & Brand Leadership: A New Approach to Success for Asian Business - What's it about?
The face of business in Asia is changing faster than one can blink one’s eyes. Asian companies that used to be back-end workhorses, manufacturing consumer goods cheaply for Western companies, are slowly realizing the benefits of brands and innovation. A rapid changing landscape will emerge in Asia over the next 5-10 years, where the opportunities for Asian companies and therefore Asia will benefit from better and stronger competitive positions than ever before.
The primary objective of boardrooms is to build and sustain shareholder value, and deliver competitive returns to shareholders. At the same time, branding is a very effective catalyst for better leadership and helps the boardroom to drive a shared vision throughout the organization.
The boardroom must manage by metrics, and balance short- and long-term perspectives and performance. The growing emphasis on brand strategy to drive shareholder value and competitiveness will move up the boardroom agenda and become one of the most prominent value drivers in Asia in this century.
The most important factor for building strong Asian brands is the mindset of the Asian CEO and boardroom. Branding is a boardroom discipline and successful brands can be built only when the boardroom, led by the chairman and the CEO, understands, appreciates and commits to treating branding as a strategic discipline and devotes the resources at the company’s disposal to support the brands in a continuous manner.
The same is true for any government trying to build a strong and sustainable competitive position through a strong nation brand.
Martin Roll will provide case stories on Asian brands, and illustrate how the Asian company can employ branding as successful catalysts for leadership and long-term performance to grow new markets.
Offering insights, knowledge and perspectives on branding as a strategic tool for the Asian businesses, Martin Roll will define The 10 Leadership Principles that will drive breakout success, sustain profitability and financial impact for Asia in this century.
Who is Martin Roll?
Martin Roll is a world-renowned thought-leader on value creation through brand equity driven by tremendous global experience and insights. He facilitates business leaders and organizations to think bold for future strategies. By focusing on building and managing successful businesses through iconic brands, Martin Roll helps boardrooms to enhance shareholder value and create sustainable competitive advantage.
Martin Roll delivers the combined value of an experienced international business strategist and senior advisor to corporate boards and marketing executives of the world’s largest companies including many corporations in Asia. He brings more than 20 years of management experience. Martin Roll holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Martin Roll is not only a highly accomplished speaker and presenter but as well a talented and well trained moderator of panel discussions and roundtables. He is a valuable contributor to any senior management discussion on the subject of leadership, innovation, growth, organizational excellence and brand equity, its close link to management and how it drives outstanding performance through shareholder value.
He strides the industry-academia continuum and delivers superior value to his global audiences. Every year, he travels 500.000 miles on all continents and speaks at more than 100 global top-level conferences. He is also a frequent guest lecturer at INSEAD, Nanyang Business School, CEIBS and several other global business schools.
Martin Roll is the author of the global bestseller Asian Brand Strategy, a very compelling book of frameworks for Asian branding and the winning formula for any boardroom. Asian Brand Strategy was named “Best Global Business Book” by Strategy+Business magazine.
.jpg)
