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Shark Tank pitch, pitch, pitch

The most entertaining place to unveil the business pitch world for me is SHARK TANK television show. People have good ideas, they believe in their products with all their hearts, they are willing to be recorded, expose themselves and go through harsh questions and disinterested listeners: For that reason, I’M OUT! After all, this is the quote they hear the most!

However, despite the lack of luck/capacity/enthusiasm of some entrepreneurs, we can still map all the qualities that make me believe someone delivered a good pitch: passion, excitement, knowledge about the product, confidence, conciseness, dedication and also willingness to listen. And those are qualities most related to the speaker than to the product. Therefore, only the product is not enough. The SHARK needs to believe in the entrepreneurs and their capacity to turn the idea into a million business. And I love to see when pitchers nail it and all sharks start fighting for them!

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Network Effect: Morton’s Twitter

Sizing an opportunity in order to make clients talk positively about your company can create a network effect with huge consequences for a brand. Morton’s Steakhouse in Chicago was quick reading a customer’s tweet and sized this opportunity to impress him (and consequently be a trend topic in the internet!). Just imagine if this happened to you: you are hungry at the airport, tweet for your friends that you want a Morton’s Steakhouse, spend 3 hours in a flight and when you arrive at your destination a guy in a tuxedo is waiting for you with your delivery! Consequence for you: surprise, joy and gratefulness. For the brand: thousands of retweets and positive comments.

See the post...

...then Morton's response...

...and finally client's reactions:

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Fake fake fake market threat

I need to confess that I'm a Burberry fan. It's aspirational for me. I wish I have the trench coat, the scarf, rain boots, bag and the trendy monogram poncho. I love the check pattern and I associate the brand with classic, chick, stylish, British and Ema Watson (ain, love it!). However, being an aspirational brand sometimes is not easy. I see people using Burberry products and I’m sure those are fake! And I question myself why people do it? Using a luxury brand is not only about wearing it, but it is living a life style that matches with what you are wearing. And this is the boarder line that people generally don't have and that the brand tries to avoid.

Below I will show Burberry Key Strategies and how customers #fail trying to execute it:

Inspire with the brand #fail

Realize product potential #fail

Unlock market opportunity #fail

Pursue Operational Excelence #fail

Build our culture #fail

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Havaianas: from "poor brand" to "fashion icon"

“perceptions of a brand can and do change dramatically over time and from one social or cultural setting to another”

 When I first read this quote, Havaianas popped up in my mind – a Brazilian brand that reinvented itself!

 Havaianas emerged in Brazil in 1962. The inspiration came from the traditional Japanese sandal called “Zori”, one made with strips of cloth soles and rice straw. Instead of straw soles, Havaianas used rubber (with a special formula that does not deform or loose strips and does not smell). And this name name was thought in Hawaii - designed by Hollywood as the place of dreams '60s. Thus, the traditional rubber sandals (with white sock and colored strips&soles) were released and millions of pairs were sold in three decades. However, success reached its limit in 1994. With no large investments in marketing and branding, Havaianas were associated with the lower classes and their sales have plummeted.

Picture of first Havaiavas model:

"Until 1994, we had a single product. With the stagnation of the brand, we decided to change: the transformation of "flip flops for poor people” for the “brand that everyone uses". To change consumer perception, they stop producing only one product and start creating added value to the brand by creating Havaianas Top: monochrome, more comfortable and with the name engraved on the strip. After that success, they added fashion prints and started following trends worldwide. Also the brand has partnered with top designers and invested heavily in mass media. It started the revolution! As one director involved in this re-branding project mentioned “Havaianas has ceased to be a brand with poor certificate to become a fashion accessory". Havaianas had massive investments: new prints with different colors, strips and shapes. Today there are more than 400 models in a product which basically remains the same.

 New model, Havaianas Top:

Prices also started to vary. Havaianas has affordable options from R$ 13.90 to pieces signed by designers and customized with Swarovski crystals which cost R$ 400. Also, Havaianas soon gained the feet of foreigners and more space in stores and boutiques in countries like the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. In 2003, a pair of Havaianas had cost equivalent to R$ 500 in London, England.

Celebrities using Havaianas:

Partnership Havaianas & Missoni:

Havaianas store:

source: http://exame.abril.com.br/negocios/noticias/a-formula-da-havaianas-para-deixar-o-mundo-aos-seus-pes#2

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Concha y Toro looking forward

Both “Judgment of Paris” and “Berlin Tasting” shows that quality attributes of wines are opaque to most consumers. There is an aura of refinement and sophistication in this market, and most of times people choose wines based on their assumptions about product quality – sometimes this assumption is based on their country of origin image perception.

It’s clear that Chilean wines are great, sometimes with taste better than “old-world” wines. However, taste is not all that matters in this business. Consumer behavior towards wine depends on subjective factors and Concha y Toro needs to overcome the fact that Chile is not as a prestige country for wine as France, for example. Based on that, I see the “top-down” strategy as a way to enhance the image of Concha y Toro in the “top” market and create an aspirational demand in the “down market”.

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Now on PC Screen: Scent of a Kitchen. Hot or Not?

"Consumers use all of their senses to experience a brand. The sense of smell emotionally effects humans up to 75% more than any other sense" - MARTIN LINDSTROM, BRAND SENSE

 When I first read about the idea of iSmell I thought it was totally crazy. For me, it was simply unnecessary to have smells within my computer – despite having other senses like images and sounds. It can be a curious feature, but as a consumer I would not be willing to pay for that! Besides that, we are not used to this new concept, so if we are not educated to that we cannot see the purpose of having such scents.

 When reading the case, I start thinking that this was a huge and aggressive step going from nothing to everything – from “no idea what is the value of having scents” to “I want every one of them in your own personal device”. Can we influence the market to go this fast? For me it’s a Not.

 However, companies recently started seen the value of scents: I see a movement within companies to start creating brand awareness through smells, something unique that will make you remember the brand every time you smell. This is a whole new part of consumer experience, and for me it’s really interesting. Why not having the scent of your favorite store/place in your own house? (e.g: Abercrombie, Le Lis Blanc and Delano hotel). I also see a lot of new companies that aims to create unique scents to business. Scents have a powerful capacity to bring emotions and new connections, and for sure companies can take advantage of that.

 So, was iScent a bad business or was only bad timing (some years, decades maybe) in launching?

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Corona vs. Heineken

What was the most amazing think about reading this case? To realize that besides the fact that I have never tried a Corona or a Heineken beer before, I do have a strong point of view about the brands – besides my lack of knowledge about the real product! This only showed me how powerful marketing could be in creating people’s brand perception!

 My amateur (and truthful, genuine, without filters) view about both brands:

Corona – Freshness, beach, sun, bikinis, summer weather, vacations, relax. But why people drink it with limes? I have never understood it, but it seems like “are they trying to be different?”, “If it’s a good think, why only this brand works well this way?”, “Is it really a beer?”. When I was thinking about that after reading the case I decided to ask my husband if he has already drunk Corona with lime before and why he did it, and for my surprise I heard: “certain time ago, Corona had a non-standardized flavor, so I drank it with lime to break the gusto”. What? Hahahaha. I was not expecting that!

Heineken – First thing in my heard: “Job interview” advertisement video (I literally cried when I saw it for the first time few years ago!). Based on this ad, the words that came into my head are: emotion, passion, entrepreneur, funny, energy, courage, out of the box. This video really related to me, and the final scene when the boy see himself in the big stadium screen was really touching, I could feel how happy he was feeling. 3 years later I’m still commenting this one ad! Besides that, I also relate Heineken with Sunday soccer games, Brazilian barbecues and high-income men friends drinking together while chatting.  

 *As an international student, all perceptions that I shared are based on my home country experience: Brazil. I’m not sure if in the USA those feelings are replicated.

 I could say that both brands are strong in their own way, however, I see them being consumed in different occasions and, for that reason, they don’t directly compete. In Brazil, for example, Heineken is a stronger brand than Corona: I see most of people drinking it. The main reason I can think of it is that Brazil is already a “fun, sun, beach” place, so in this daily regular consumption opportunities Brazilians prefer to drink our good national brands than imported ones. However, Heineken is more associated with nightclubs, bars and restaurants, where people are experiencing a special and different moment with friends.

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Black & Decker: Brand perception

B&D is the world’s largest producer of power tools and #7 brand-strength in the United States, among valuable brands such as Coca-Cola and Disney. However, because it has different product lines marketed to different segments, it is facing brand perception problems in the fast-growing segment of Professional-Tradesmen (B&D has only 9% market share in this segment compered to 45% in Consumer segment and 20% in Professional-Industrial segment). The main reason for this problem is that high penetration in the Consumer segment is damaging its brand in the Professional-Tradesmen segment, as reinforced by one tradesman “…Clack & Decker makes a good popcorn popper, and my wife just loves her Dustbuster, but I’m out here trying to make a living…”.

There are specific actions used by B&D that hinder its professional segment: 1) Marketing focus: B&D had a “from the garage to the house” strategy in 1979, where household products line was heavily supported with media advertising. This showed a focus on consumer products rather than professional ones; 2) Color differentiation: professional and consumer tools have similar color schemes - black as its consumer grade color and charcoal grey for its professional grades. Competing brands have differentiated colors, such as teal for Makita and red for Milwaukee; 3) Price point: Milwaukee and Makita priced at premiums over B&D, which reinforced the “more quality” perception of tradesmen.

In order to revert this poor brand perception situation I suggest Joseph Galli to 1) drop the Black & Decker name from Professional-Tradesmen segment and adopt its own “DeWalt” brand instead. Building a new brand from scratch takes time and there is a 3-year expectation to double B&D’s Professional-Tradesmen share. DeWalt already has a high brand recognition and good reputation among professional segment, and customers showed high purchase interest in the brand specially when associated with B&D; 2) change its color grade to yellow. Changing the color grade to a singular one (such as Yellow) will differentiate even more current products to its customer segment; and 3) increase price point: DeWalt can be priced higher as a premium product to reinforce its superiority/quality. It will also make nonprofessional customers feel that they have cost savings buying the traditional B&D brand. Both suggested actions will help B&D to reposition its Professional-Tradesmen products and increase its brand perception, and consequently challenge Makita for leadership in this segment.