amirki707

[amirki707]

Why fake will never overcome the original

I would suggest that strong luxurious brands are not really conflicted with the problem of having a strong parallel “fake industry”. As discussed in class, imitation is a reality for all brands, with market cap of about $600b.

   In my view, the most important experience people are having with they are buying luxurious brands - watch, shows, car, anything, is with themselves. Buying a luxurious reconfirms your thoughts on your own status. It’s a certification you give yourself if you wish. You don’t care that someone else is wearing a fake Rolex watch (or you might care, but not to the extent you would avoid buying the original). You care that you bought the real thing. 

The experience of owning a luxury brand can be divided into two: The first is providing yourself with the status you feel you deserve. As described, this need is fulfilled only by buying the real thing. The second is basically the way other people see you. A need that could be fulfilled both by the original and the fake. 

[amirki707]

Is Singapore airline targeting the right customers?

I would argue that though the decision to be the number one service airline in the world has served SIA well in the past, it is not, strategically, the right decision going forward. 

I would divide the SIA’s customers into 3 segments: tourists who usually fly economy, frequent flyers who mostly fly for work (and most importantly don’t pay for tickets) - they would usually fly Business or Economy, depends on their level of seniority, and HNWI who would fly first or business and usually pay for their own flight. I would argue that the only group out of those three for who an outstanding service might be a real factor when the choose an airline is HNWI. The tourist mostly cares about price, but service and flight accommodations can influence as a secondary factor. Business frequent flyers mostly care about preserving their elite status and accumulate miles so they would be able to upgrade or buy tickets when they go on vacation. The business class section is pretty standardized among most leading airlines, with very few exceptions in the first-class cabins.   

From a strategic branding standpoint, it seems like the trade-off of being the safest/most secure airline, most affordable, or the airline with the best loyalty program - could have been a better choice. 

[amirki707]

How nudging will millennials to start saving

Many individuals (this especially true with millennials) may not feel they have enough money to contribute to retirement and as a result, do not even bother to investigate their options. This bottleneck origin from people’s understanding that income is what generates savings. When there is no income, there is no savings. 

However, using nudging we might be able to help millennials save and invest money based on their spending (rather than income). Different “saving tax rates” would be

charged to strengthen healthy behavioral patterns and incentive the customer. 

Generation X consider savings before spending, they spend only what is left after theyare done with savings;

 Income - Savings = Expense.

 Millennials, however,  treat savings as leftovers, and they save (if they save) only what is left after they spend;

 Income - Expense = Savings.

connecting savings to spending might help us change the equation. 

[amirki707]

Most people do not choose restaurants based on street sight. Gone are the days when you walked around and looked at menus to find a good deal.  Most people today are using apps like Yelp and Tripadvisor to decide where to dine, some are even cross-checking different rankings at different platforms. This is as gone as far as many bars and restaurants are now placing a sign on their window showing their online digital ranking (usually out of five stars). 

However, in my view, many of the new consumer behaviors that emerged with the new digital era in that area, like anonymity and customized recommendations engine, are not benefiting the consumer or creating any real value. Platforms like Yelp and Tripadvisor are losing popularity to editorial driven discovery platforms like The Infatuation and Eater. The reason, in my view, is that “old” platforms didn’t really get it. They didn’t capture the true nature of a recommendation, where the identity of the person giving the recommendation, together with his credibility, is probably the most important piece of the puzzle.    

[amirki707]

Why sub-branding can save your brand?

One of the most interesting perspectives one can get on brand strengths and weaknesses is to look at how certain brands are doing across different segments. 

An incredible example is Black & Decker, and how they were doing in the early 90s. Back then, B&D was the world’s largest producer of power tools, power tool accessories, electric lawn and garden tools, and residential security hardware. Moreover, B&D was one of the most strong brands in the US in those days, ranking #7 in brand strength out of a list of 6,000 brands in the US. Just to get a sense of how huge is that the other top 9 brands were: Coca-Cola, Campbell’s, Walt Disney, Pepsi-Cola, Kodak, NBC, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, and Hershey. 

 The Portable power tools market in the US could be divided into two segments: professionals who buy products as part of their work and regular consumers who buy them for their personal use, probably at home.  The for-work segment is traditionally divided into two sub-segments: Professional tradesman and the Professional-Industrial segment. While the tradesmen usually included professionals such as electricians, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, and general remodelers working in residential construction, the professional-Industrial segment includes companies rather than the individual users.

B&D was a market leader in the consumer segment (with 45% market share,) kept a leading position in the industrial segment (20% market share), but was struggling back in the tradesmen segment (only 9% market share). So why is that?

When looking deep into the tradesmen market, we can see D&B enjoyed THE leading brand awareness position among all other companies, with an incredible 98% brand awareness rate. However, when asked to fill  “Brand X is one of the Best”, only 44% among the tradesmen responded B&D. Their competitors got much better “approval rates” (80% for Milwaukee, 67% for Makita ). 

Surprisingly, the best way to explain B&D’s failure in the tradesmen market is by looking at their success in the consumer market. We can assume that the 98% brand awareness achievement in the tradesmen market derives from the consumer market, or as one tradesman said: “. . . Black & Decker makes a good popcorn popper, and my wife just loves her Dustbuster,

but I’m out here trying to make a living . . .”. B&D have built their brand and success in the consumer market,  moving “from the garage to the house”.  Every profession, every guild, has its own criteria for defining stratus. For tradesmen, their work gear is a top criteria, if not THE top one. Carrying gear used in most households in the US simply doesn’t help them achieve the professional status they seek to preserve.