Latest Posts

Brand priorities - an increasing dichotomy

Brand priorities. An increasing dichotomy

By Mark Di Somma

This thought-provoking presentation includes some interesting observations on the contrasting effects of brands on the world. On the one hand the Y&R planners point out, brands are responding to consumer expectations that they will drive social change, spending around $18 billion a year on charitable efforts and using their financial clout and influence to affect real change. On the other, some of the biggest brands now know more about us as consumers and individuals than government agencies and we have no real ways of knowing how they will use that information, and to what effect, going forward. Read More

Lessons and opportunities for global FMCG brands

Lessons and opportunities for global FMCG brands

By Mark Di Somma

It wasn’t that long ago that competition took place between products, and the criteria for choice between rivals was customer benefits. Product vs product. Today, for globally scaled brands, the competition is really between the reach and co-ordination of different configurations of value chains, and the criteria for choice for customers is the quality of the experiences delivered as a result. Read More

Why consumer brands are increasingly personal

Why consumer brands are increasingly personal (and what that means for you)

By Mark Di Somma

This is the year of wearables it seems. Morgan Stanley are predicting shipments will top 70 million this year and grow to 248 million by 2017. But the thought that wearables themselves will feature in consumer and business spending across areas ranging from fashion and fitness, healthcare and insurance also points to escalation of another trend. Products and services are now less about what consumers have or get and more about who they are and want to be. Read More

Would your brand pass the Tinder test

Would your brand pass The Tinder Test?

By Mark Di Somma

Nir Eyal, author of Hooked, recently suggested that products are becoming increasingly addictive. Three macro-trends are driving that, he told me, and together they are lifting the addictive potential of all sorts of products and services:

  1. Companies are now able to collect more data about user behaviours;
  2. Interactive technology is more accessible; and
  3. The transfer of data is happening faster than ever before.

Read More

A Short Virtual Coffee with Nir Eyal

Hooked on Brands: A (Short) Virtual Coffee™ with Nir Eyal

By Mark Di Somma

Nir Eyal spent years in the video gaming and advertising industries. I first became aware of his work through his articles (his work can be found in Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic and TechCrunch) and his blog. In the book “Hooked” he promulgates a process that he says successful brands can embed in their products and communication approaches to subtly encourage shifts in customer behaviour. Read More

Brand actions are not the same as brand strategy

Brand actions are not the same as brand strategy

By Mark Di Somma

Actions are not strategies. Great strategies change more than where you are, what you call yourselves, what you offer. That’s Michael Porter’s thought. Great brand strategies re-invent the emotional context within which your brand competes against others in the marketplace. That’s mine. A great brand strategy redefines the relationship that people have with a brand over time. People think about you differently because they feel about you differently. That opportunity often gets missed in the rush to give people internally things to execute. Read More

Planning to expand your brand - 7 things to consider

Planning to expand your brand? 7 things to consider

By Mark Di Somma

As marketing teams finalise plans for the year ahead, the logistics of making growth happen should be strongly influencing the targets you set.

Most of us would agree there are four ways to strategise for growth: increase the share you hold in the markets you are strong in; develop new products for those markets; extend your reach by finding new markets for your current brands; and develop new products that cater to new markets. Read More

Connecting brand and price

Connecting brand and price

By Mark Di Somma

As technology and globalised business models continue to deliver efficiencies and new opportunities, every sector will face disruptive pricing that in effect re-costs what the market would otherwise pay. Many of those movements will naturally be downward; others will lift the entry point. Amazon has effectively reframed the cost of books; Samsung and others are resetting the cost of owning a tablet; Tesla has redefined what an electric car is and also the cost of owning one. Read More