Business is Marketing

How much would you pay for a pair of shoes? $3,400? Don’t gasp. For that’s the amount a lot of people cough up for a pair of “Manolo Blahniks”. His clientele is devoted, addicted and madly in love with his creation. Kim Kassel, a former New York fashion publicist owns more than 100 pairs and finds it difficult to buy any other brand. When Ikea, the world famous Swedish furniture retail store giant, opened its first store in Atlanta (USA), you could feel the passion, the excitement people felt. One guy went to the insane extent of pitching his tent seven days before the opening so that he could win the $4,000 gift card. Before the doors opened, there already was a long line of 2,000 customers behind him. Harley Davidson has the most dedicated customers who also belong to its 8,86,000 strong Harley Owners Group. They meet annually and discuss and enjoy their Harleys. When Krispy Kreme opens its new store anywhere, some camp outside it overnight, others line up for hours for the first bit...

If you thought that your humble cell phone was just that, perish the thought. It is the global lifeline for cultural, economic and social change. From social change to social networking, everything is happening on the quintessential mobile phone “A man, a young surfer, receives a call on his cell phone. A woman’s voice on the other side tells him that she has been kidnapped and her husband and son, along with her would be killed. She has no clue where she is. He is her only lifeline. The cell phone battery might go dead soon, so would her chances of survival.” That’s a snippet from the very engrossing thriller movie Cellular. You need to watch it to know what finally happened to Jessica Martin (the woman who called) and whether the young man could rescue her by using his mobile and nothing else. But today mobiles are doing much stranger and fantastic things than just rescuing kidnapped women. Changed economics Ozwald Boateng is the famous British designer who is credited with introduci...

Unless you’ve hooked the eyeballs of potential consumers, simply having a ‘winning’ product in your portfolio is never enough. Effective (and not necessarily expensive) advertising can package the product in the sexiest way possible, creating and fuelling demand for your offering... David Ogilvy, the guru of advertising once said, “It has taken more than a hundred scientists two years to find out how to make the product in question; I have been given thirty days to create its personality and plan its launching. If I do my job well, I shall contribute as much as the hundred scientists to the success of this product.” In short, he wanted to tell, good advertising is very powerful. It is like the fairy godmother, who with a wave of her magic wand turned an ordinary pumpkin into a shining coach and the simple, dowdy Cinderella into a beautiful elegant girl. Indeed, advertising does have the power to transform a product. It has the power to turn your product into a desirable brand. A good p...