Owner: Jack Yan: the Persuader Blog URL:http://jackyan.com/blog/ Join Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:09:08 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: One of the web's pioneers discusses design, branding, marketing, business, leadership and the media. Site statistics:Click here
Imagine if ‘Dear John’ didn’t have a Dear John 2008-03-06 22:15:00 I didn’t do as much witness work for my legal clients during 2005–6 and I was interested to see from a former client a letter from a large New Zealand law firm’s partner. I won’t reveal any specific information, of course, but let’s say it’s from a firm I did have some dealings against in the 1990s and I considered their statement of defence pretty amateur. I have considered their marketing to be very amateur, too—all style and no substance. Or perhaps their brand or marketing consultant actually did a perfect job—they expressed the firm honestly and accurately. The letter, with all the Our refs and jargon, lacks a salutation. There is no Dear or even an Attention: it launches straight in to the correspondence. Th Read more:Imagine
Motoring writer Jeff Daniels passes away 2008-03-03 19:57:00 [Cross-posted] Sad news for car nuts: automotive and technical writer Jeff Daniels
has passed away, according to Keith Adams’ Austin Rover Online website. There’s a longer piece at Just-auto.com. There probably isn’t anyone of my generation who doesn’t recall the greats like L. J. K. Setright, Jeff Daniels, George Bishop, Phil Hill and Paul Frère. Jeff wrote a column called ‘Danspeak’ in Autocar for many years, and it is probably his style, more than anyone else’s, that informed me when I started my columns. I found him one of the more knowledgeable car writers out there and it is sad that much of this old style of journalism has given way to the Jeremy Clarksons of this world. Just as in television presenting, where the William Woollards Read more:Motoring
Angelina Jolie writes eyewitness account from Iraq 2008-03-03 19:49:00 [Cross-posted] Late last week, AngelinaJolie
, UNHCR ambassadrice and actress, wrote an open letter published in The Washington Post, reporting her observations in Iraq
. I am always keen to hear first-hand reports rather than things filtered through some editorial agenda. This publication is no exception: I make it no secret that we support environmental causes—and have done so long before they were trendy. (We probably made them trendy, or played a part in that, which was my stated aim when UN Radio asked me why Lucire would help them promote the environmental movement in the early 2000s.) I also make it no secret that we support animal welfare and humanistic business practices. When Michael Yon telephoned me a while back I wanted to hear directly f Read more:Angelina Jolie
Yes we can: Barack Obama stays on message 2008-02-22 23:54:00 Sen. BarackObama
is doing well in his bid for the US Democratic nomination because he has a consistent brand. You didn’t need me to tell you that. He has consistent visuals and a message that hasn’t wavered much. He hasn’t needed to go into depth, as his nearest opponent is saying, because it’s not part of the Obama brand. And he’s not about to change his tune, showing Americans that his visions can be depended upon. I see the word Change consistently at Obama rallies, not just spoken by him but plastered on banners and other material. It’s consistently in the same typeface. In fact, his campaign has been clever enough not even to show his name prominently, which might look a little foreign—Change is what appears in bigger letters, Obama taking a back seat. In Te Read more:stays
, Barack Obama
The Vista Group comes to order 2008-02-22 22:46:00 I had a great lunch (to which I was on time) with Wellington bloggers Jim Donovan and Mark Di Somma at Vista
, which now seems to be a monthly gig, discussing business and branding. Funnily enough, the Trelise Cooper brand did come up (just blogged about it, guys), but we also talked about the theory of the Nod: that two consumers of the same niche product would recognize each other as belonging to an exclusive club, whether that club existed in fact or not. Two Harley–Davidson riders might nod at each other, knowing they have some form of brotherhood. I wonder if this is a male phenomenon. Would two women with a Hermès Kelly bag do the same, or would they believe the other to be a rival, sparking a conversation and underlining the importance of the brand? W Read more:Group
, comes
Treliske v. Trelise wouldn’t be easily won 2008-02-22 22:17:00 If you read between the lines, you probably could detect I wasn’t terribly thrilled about the Trelise Cooper Ltd. v. Cooper and other case from 2005 to 2007. It was brand-damaging for Trelise Cooper, probably stressful for Tamsin Cooper, and at the end of the day, I had my doubts on whether the burden of proof could have been discharged. We the public might never know. That damage to Trelise’s brand has had some rub their hands in glee over a new complaint over her registered trade mark, namely her first name being used for a brand extension. Karma’s a bitch, they say, sneeringly. But it still seems unnecessary. The complainant’s trade mark is Treliske, registered in 1993 by a partnership called Treliske Wools. It’s not happy that the Trade Marks’
Can the Ford Falcon stay relevant? 2008-02-20 00:16:00 Now that mid-sized cars are as big as full-sized cars, something has to change. The Chevrolet Malibu, scooping all the awards in the US, has a longer wheelbase than the Chevrolet Impala. It’s probably more roomy all round. The Toyota Aurion and Camry in Australia are basically the same size in terms of dimensions. And the newly launched E241 Ford Falcon
and the CD345 Ford Mondeo are roughly the same size, too. I don’t have the dimensions of the new 2008½ Falcon that was announced on Monday but I’m pretty sure they are not far off those of the supposedly mid-sized Mondeo. Ford Australia said months ago that when the new Falcon is launched, we’ll realize just how the two fit together. Here are two cars tha
The Da May code 2008-02-18 07:46:00 [Cross-posted] I have been a regular reader of Autocar since 1980 (and the rival Motor since the 1970s) but did not know about this hidden message in the 1992 Road Test Yearbook, which I bought 15 years ago. James May, of Top Gear fame, was one of the team that put the Yearbook together (he was features’ editor then). He was fired over an incident where he put in a hidden message, using the initial caps of each road test summary in the Yearbook. It took Wikipedia to tell me—so it is good for something after all. (However, Wikipedia is incorrect at the time of writing in that it does not give the full quotation.) The message is, with punctuation, ‘Road Test Yearbook. So you think it’s really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up. It’s a real pain
Facebook book out on Amazon 2008-02-18 07:40:00 [Cross-posted] Although I have finally tired of Facebook
, my friend Jason Alba has co-authored a book on the service, called I’m on Facebook—Now What?, to which I contributed briefly. I would recommend this as a how-to guide for those unfamiliar with social networks. The authors employ a lot of the tricks I use for the service. Do get it if you are new to Facebook, or even if you are not so new to it. Print edition retail is under US$20; subtract US$8 for the ebook. For those a bit more advanced on marketing, I’ll be recommending some more books shortly, once I get through a few more chapters. Read more:Amazon
Chinese domain name scammers 2008-02-01 23:15:00 [Cross-posted] Since November, I have received scam emails from a company called China Net Technology Ltd. A page about the scam can be found in the comments here. The MO: a company finds a dot com and sends them a letter, saying that another company plans to register the same name, but for various Chinese
territories (with the cn, tw and hk suffixes, among others). Your expected reaction: you panic and decide to negotiate with the company, because it claims it is a registry service for domain
names. Their response: they send you a form for the domain names, at outrageous (thousands of dollars) prices. Initially, I was so naïve I started talking to these people. They did highlight a few domains our company planned on getting, so
Ten murders so far in 2008remember when we had three a year? 2008-02-01 16:01:00 [Cross-posted] We’ve ended January 2008 here in New Zealand with 10 murders. The government is saying this is an anomaly, but is it? Crime has been rising in New Zealand steadily since I have been observing the numbers and for older New Zealanders, the latest figures are a disgust. I am not overly surprised, given the rising gap between rich and poor, suggesting a mismanagement of the economy and an absence of jobs, while values and education have suffered at the same time. Those older New Zealanders who can remember back to the 1950s remember a country with roughly half the population and 18 convictions for murder between 1951 and 1957. I realize actual murders and successful convictions are different, but assuming that there were a
Ian Callum reveals truth about Jaguar X-type 2008-01-29 15:47:00 I have been pretty good at predicting things relating to most car brands, including Jaguar
, especially when people were still slamming the British marque and I forecast a sales’ recovery. But here’s one I didn’t get, though when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. As we know, the X-type has been a relative flop for Jaguar and its design director Ian Callum finally reveals more of the background in the Financial Times:Offering a rare insight into events at the British luxury carmaker following its purchase by Ford for $1.4bn in 1989, Mr Callum indicated that there had frequently been tensions in the relationship. He disclosed that, in spite of Jaguar management denials at the time, the X-Type small Jaguar—sales of which have fallen far bel
Now, there’s a Lucire in Thailand 2008-01-26 22:22:00 I’ve had to keep this under wraps till today, but since we’re about three weeks from launch, I now have permission to let you all know of this nice development at Lucire: the launch of a new magazine, Twinpalms Lucire, for a specialist market in Thailand
. It’s been such a smooth process working with Miguel, who has done a huge load of work on the new print magazine. And I take my hat off to Twinpalms Phuket, which has been very accommodating of our own wishes. The Twinpalms brand appears first for various historical and contractual reasons. Richard Machado’s first shoot for Lucire, ‘Papillon’, re-appears on the cover. If you look inside the magazine, Miguel is very much a proponent of the Swiss grid and Helvetica is the main type
Levi’s Project 501 competition launches today on Lucire site 2008-01-24 06:32:00 Online Lucire readers will notice the Levi’s 501 Design Challenge graphic on its home page today, which is tied to the Project
Runway competition
on TV. The challenge: to create iconic looks based on pairs of Levi’s 501 jeans and the trucker jacket. But now, you can join in the fun. On the Design Challenge page at the Levi’s US site, you can now create your own designs. Use the 501 jeans and the trucker jacket as raw materials, you can design your own masterpiece, with the important criterion being to capture the originality and spirit of Levi’s. Your deadline is February 6, 2008. You’ll need to register first, and the online Project 501 community will vote. You can even sign up as a judge. After the voting, if your design has been
Newspaper exaggerates Sarkozys spending, minimizes Ségos 2008-01-19 07:07:00 [Cross-posted] The Daily Telegraph reported on the campaign spending (specifically on make-up and grooming) by Nicolas Sarkozy
and his rival Ségolène Royal during the French presidential election. Despite being thought of as a conservative newspaper, it painted a rosier picture of Mlle Royal than M. Sarkozy. First up, Sarkozy’s (over-)spending was the lead-in to the story, even though Royal’s was much higher. Mlle Royal’s spending was left to the third paragraph. Secondly, the standards used to round off are biased in favour of Ségolène Royal. Here are the figures I uncovered, compared with the rounding that the Telegraph did.• Nicolas Sarkozy, spent €34,445—rounded in The Daily Telegraph as €35,000 (I would have rounded it to €34,000 Read more:Newspaper
Citroën pokes fun at genocidal dictator, apologizes to protect itself 2008-01-19 05:02:00 The above advertisement for the Citroën C4 was withdrawn in Spain after complaints from some Chinese that it was insulting to the entire nation. Somehow, I think that’s an exaggeration. Sure, some folks in the Politburo might be annoyed. But there will be a lot of Chinese who think that Mao Tse-tung is fair game when it comes to advertising humour. Americans are quite happy to dress up an actor as Lincoln and make a few jokes, and Elizabeth I appeared in Blackadder. At least neither Abe Lincoln nor QEI was responsible for the deaths of 70 million of their own subjects, managing to butcher more than their enemies were able to. While it’s true I might get annoyed at the same treatment being given to Confucius, surely a more uni
Wellington brand bloggers unite 2008-01-17 03:09:00 I had an excellent meeting, to which I was late, with fellow bloggers
Jim Donovan and Mark Di Somma. I discovered Jim via the blogosphere, while Mark and I know each other from the branding world. As those who have surfed Jim’s blog before, he’s no slouch when it comes to branding and we wound up discussing our respective views on it. We also discussed various WWI and WWII battlefields and theatres. I think we should make these casual meetings monthly, so I propose mid-February for the next one. I remarked to both gentlemen that for me, blogging hadn’t been financially rewarding given the hours invested in it, but some of the experiences, such as this one, have been well worth the time. The fact that we were able to meet up and discover Read more:Wellington
, unite
Are US Jaguar dealers objections to Tata founded on skin colour? 2008-01-17 03:06:00 This is not a popular view but here goes. In the United States, some Jaguar
dealers are upset that the Ford-owned unit will go to an Indian company. Never mind that Tata is solvent and can afford greater investments on the cars. Never mind that Tata owns Corus—British Steel to us oldies. Never mind that Tata has promised to keep UK manufacturing jobs for both brands. No, these dealers are upset probably because Indians are not white. Not part of the old world or the new world, but, oh my goodness, they have different skin colour. European dealers are reportedly more relaxed as the most important element is not where the parent company is based. No one in American retail ever seems upset that Donna Karan is part of French conglomerate LVMH o
Car ownership rates say less about our affluence 2008-01-12 18:40:00 [Cross-posted] At high school, one teacher told us that he was proud of the fact that New Zealand, when he was younger, had the highest car ownership rate in the world, due to our world-beating standard of living in the 1950s. In the 1980s, we were still in the top five, but behind the US and Japan. It’s still high today, but it’s hardly anything to be proud of. As the mood of our society has changed toward one that is more environmentally conscious, car ownership is not as cool as it once was—in fact, car ownership may be said to be warming things up. Still, the love affair with the car has not abated, and with India now getting excited over the Tata Nano, we may see a slight change in ownership rates there. Here are the 2004 ownership rates from Earth
Sir Edmund Hillary, paradigm-shifter: who is next? 2008-01-10 20:47:00 [Cross-posted] Fellow Voxer Bridget’s post on Sir EdmundHillary
’s passing expresses what many New Zealanders are feeling today. Not only has a great man left us, but the idea of a living hero has died with him. Our role models are far and few between, she argues, and she is right. I cheekily suggested that the only person who comes close to being a patriot is Peter Jackson, the filmmaker, for his resistance to relocate to Hollywood and his insistence on making his movies here. He is deserving of the title of a role model, though because of the time-frame of his success, he might not be regarded in quite the same heights as Sir Edmund—yet. Jackson is a paradigm-shifter in so far as he proved that New Zealand is capable of multiple
Tata Nano—the Rs. 1 lakh car revealed 2008-01-10 04:03:00 [Cross-posted] I would say that the new Tata Nano, the Rs. 1 lakh ($2,500) car revealed by Tata Motors at the New Delhi Auto Expo a few hours ago, exceeds the expectations of those who were predicting something that looked more motorcycle than automobile. As we led up to today’s unveiling of the revolutionary small car—aimed to get families out from motorcyles and in to a safer automobile—I had heard all manner of predictions, many of them negative, about the vehicle. Yet Tata has come up with a “people’s car” designed to mobilize the masses in India in the same vein as the Volkswagen, Fiat nuova 500 and the BMC Mini. It possesses a certain chic with a contemporary one-box design that could have come from an Italian design house. While the Na
Best quote on the new Xerox logo 2008-01-09 02:50:00 By now most people in the branding profession have seen the new Xerox
logo. Without a real vision change, a brand-spanking logo is not the way to go. Xerox says it will spend more on interactive, so the old logo, which says ‘copiers’ according to the company, has to go. Well, with it goes a heck of a lot of heritage, the days of Xerox PARC and even the memory that the old logo was originally tasked with doing the same thing: tell people that Xerox meant more than copiers. The best judgement comes from my Medinge Group colleague Paulina Borsook: ‘[the rebranding] mostly consisted of throwing things into all lower case and adding a beach ball’.
Signs that GM appreciates branding 2008-01-07 06:24:00 New Year, new blog—at least over at General Motors, which launched its GMnext site and blog last week. Since Bob Lutz’s arrival, GM does seem more invigorated. GM FastLane, which has become a very popular corporate blog, paved the way. While that blog will continue, GMnext is about engaging consumers in a dialogue about the future of motoring and greater industry issues. And it really seems like GM is beginning to understand branding. Ten years ago, it thought branding was selling cars as though they were supermarket products. Now it is beginning to understand that engaging consumers and creating experiences are part of its task. Christopher Garber, Director, GM Global Communications Technology, wrote in the launch post, ‘If you haven’t been able
Whole Foods Market puts customers first, gives away $4,000 of groceries 2008-01-06 20:49:00 Good stories come during a blogging strike! Former Medinge Group Brands with a Conscience winner WholeFoodsMarket
has done something which we think is excellent thinking. During a computer outage, a West Hartford, Conn. branch decided to not charge its customers
. It estimates that it gave away $4,000 of groceries
, and had no repercussions from its top management. ‘It was clearly a snafu on our end, and it didn’t seem right [to make the customers wait],’ said manager Kimberly Hall. The call was made by assistant manager Ted Donoghue, so it seems this customer-first focus isn’t just lip service from Whole Foods
—something we were conscious of when the company won its Brands with a Conscience award at this time last year. The go
Eight things that you did not know about me 2008-01-06 20:20:00 About a year ago, I said I really hated these memes being forwarded. But it’s been so long since I’ve been tagged with one that it doesn’t seem to matter as much. So, Dannie Jost, thank you for this—though as you’ve noticed I still don’t believe in tagging others. If you want to do it and you saw it on this blog, please feel free to add your link in the comments. I would like to see K. in Hong Kong give it a shot, ditto Markoos over in Queensland, but no pressure on either of you. Maybe Stefan as well? 1. I am a champagne snob and believe I could, not that I have ever put myself to the test, tell the difference between the French stuff and the local stuff. 2. While I have driven all manner of sports cars, the first time I actually broke the 200 km/ Read more:Eight
, things
Autocade: a new car wiki, in beta 2008-03-11 19:39:00 Some of the best websites have started as hobbies. One that springs most to mind is Austin Rover Online, formerly the Unofficial Austin Rover Resource. It’s now the most comprehensive destination for the history of BMC, BL, Austin Rover and MG cars, and it continues to cover Jaguar and Land Rover, as well as Tata. Another angle to this story: in 1983, the father of a classmate gave me a copy of Classic and Sportscar, which I have kept to this day. Inside was the serialization of Michael C. Sedgwick’s guide to every car sold in Great Britain between 1945 and 1970. Sedgwick died that year but there is no doubt that if he lived beyond his 50s, he would have continued authoring articles and books. What intrigued me were the pithy summar
Is Vogue’s April 2008 cover racist? 2008-03-20 20:12:00 [Cross-posted] Vogue’s April
2008 cover with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and Gisèle Bündchen has been branded by some as being racist. As noted by the Plain Dealer over in Cleveland, Ohio:LeBron shares the April cover of Vogue magazine with supermodel Gisele Bundchen. It’s been noted by some that his open-mouthed screaming face and the way he is cradling a blond woman in his left hand has racial overtones in its resemblance to an old movie poster of King Kong and captive Fay Wray. Vogue says it chose the photo because it’s “expressive, fun and upbeat.” Once I got over the bad typography, I had to wonder if this cover furthers stereotypes. Being a minority, I personally didn’t make the connection that Margaret Bernstein and Sarah Crump reported on above
Vista Group March ’08: welcome Natalie 2008-03-19 23:03:00 The lads of the VistaGroup
got a much-needed dose of sanity from fellow blogger Natalie
Ferguson of Decisive Flow today, but that is only because we have not yet converted her. It was a good lunch this month and we were joined by Mark Di Somma’s son, Harry. Jim Donovan talked about his Ford Anglia and a weasel, Mark wondered if combining a weasel with a horse would result in a worse, and I ate chorizo sausage. The substance, other than discussing the Black Swan theory in regards to Bear Stearns and whether Jim knew anything in advance about it, was dissing banks and poor service. None of us needs to put up with it: banks are under the impression that once they have you, they have you for life. Cobblers: an hour out of your life, and you can be at a new bank. I b Read more:March
Rebranding Britney: it can be done 2008-03-22 20:55:00 [Cross-posted] With all the negative attention that Britney
Spears gets, is it a good time to be marketing her Believe fragrance? It’s what we’ve alluded to in Lucire’s beauty article online today.Britney Spears in happier times, as covered in Lucire in 2002. We hope Ms Spears will get well—and that the paparazzi lay off her a little. Unfortunately, the Britney economy is worth hundreds of millions of dollars per annum, thanks to an appetite out there for negative news on the pop star. There’s a valid argument to say she brought a lot of this on to herself: driving without restraining her child properly in her car, or going out on the town with an absence of underwear. Her family is wise to rein in some of this behaviour: her father, Jamie,
‘So these two hermaphrodites walk into a gym …’ 2008-03-27 23:38:00 I wish that was a joke, but it isn’t. I went to preview a New Dowse exhibition on transsexuality, intersexuality and the transgender community with its communications’ officer Mandy Herrick and coincidentally, was told by a friend last night about a situation at a gym in New Zealand. They had two intersexual (‘hermaphrodite’) clients. Other patrons petitioned the owner to remove them, otherwise they would not pay their fees. Shame on us as New Zealanders. We go around saying how open-minded we are, scoff at other nations, point out how we had the world’s first transsexual MP—but no, when we confront intersexual people in our own neighbourhood, we do exactly what pre-US Civil Rights racists did when they hung out ‘Whites Only
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