Rebranding Greece

Greece is in shambles. Greeks are lazy and crooked people.

That's the reputation of the country and it's people for many foreigners. To break this negative spiral, Greece needs a change.

Branding expert Peter Economides blaims it on a lack of storytelling. Although there is plenty of holiday promotion, there is no branding, a real narrative that combines Greece's past, present and future.

An interesting view on how some of Greece's experts are on trying to get out of this mess.

An expensive form of affiliate marketing

I do not make fun of a lot of things on this blog. But recently I crossed paths with a movie called The Joneses. I had to say something about it!

The movie describes an approach they call stealth marketing, which works as follows.

There is a new family in town. They live in an ultra-rich gated community. Mother, father, son and daughter are all beautiful, popular and equipped with the latest gadgets. The idea is to show off as much gear as possible to influence their neighbours to buy the same.

After explaining this concept, the movie takes the love story angle which we will ignore.

Let's see how effective this marketing approach is.

The costs, assuming the family gets all the products on a free loan bases. 

• Five expensive Audi's
• Rental of a luxury house
• All expenses to live a lifestyle like that
• Big salary for the four family members
• Money for document forgeries
• The whole company behind it

Then I ask myself: how many golf clubs, cell phones, new sweaters or even Audi R8's do you need to sell to cover that?

For those that want to laugh for themselves, or just see Demi Moore, check out the trailer.

The Giant Is No Longer Asleep

Since I've been back in Belgium, I haven't mentioned Brazil that much. Not because nothing is happening there though.

Johnnie Walker is a very strong brand in Brazil. It has acquired noun status. "Not a tissue but a Kleenex" type of thing. Ordering a red-label means whiskey.

I feel the brand wants to connect to the growth of Brazil, tap into the patriotic feelings. With the large international events coming up, that might not be a bad place to be in. The ad fortifies that connection by connecting it to one of the hallmarks of Brazil: the Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.

At the end it says: the giant is no longer asleep.

I guess it is not.

The Invisible Work

A part of Linchpin I thought was well fitting for today.

You could do Richard Branson's job.
Most of the time anyway. 

Except for what he does for about five minutes a day. In those five minutes, he creates billions of dollars' worth of value every few years, and neither you nor I would have a prayer of doing what he does. Branson's real job is seeing new opportunities, making decisions that work, and understanding the connection between his audience, his brand, and his ventures.

Excerpt from Linchpin by Seth Godin.

What the User Really Cares About - Copywriting at Apple

Once again the Apple hype machine has come to a stop with the release of an updated iPhone.

A video detailing the new phone uses much of the Apple talk we are used to: it is ground breaking, extraordinary, amazing, revolutionary, etc.

While some of their copy sounds pretty pompous for a small update, other parts of the video have some very good showing versus telling copywriting!

Benefits over features

Let's take a look how they transform hardware into something the average consumer really cares about.

One of the biggest enhancements on the iPhone 4S is in it's performance. It uses the same powerful dual-core A5 chip that's in iPad 2. With two processors handling the workload, it really makes a big difference. Apps will launch and run faster, graphics can render up to seven times quicker, making gameplay a lot better. And in Safari, webpages will load up to twice as fast.

They go inside out. What processor is it? The A5 dual-core that's also in to iPad. What does it do? It spreads the workload over two processors. Why should I care? It makes apps and web-browsing faster and games smoother.

Iphone 4S also has an all new eight megapixel camera. Which dramatically increases the amount of detail in your photos. But the quality of a photograph isn't just about megapixels. The optics of the camera are just as crucial. And we've made significant improvements here. We increased the size of the aperture to let more light in. We added a fifth lens, which gives you a sharper image overall. And the new sensor is designed to capture more light within each pixel. So you get far sharper photos with more detail and more accurate color. 

The same again. What are the specs? An eight megapixel camera and special lenses. Why should I care? They will make my photos sharper and more detailed. 

We also know people love to shoot video on their iPhone. So we made some big advancements here too. Iphone 4S recors 1080p HD video at 30 frames per second. Plus, the gyro, along with the incredible new software, will stabilize your video as you shoot it. this will make your videos look a lot smoother.

1080p and gyro make your videos look smooth!

###

Think the whole video was a piece of mambo jambo? Or want to share something else? Please do share in the comments!