26 September 2011
Marketing journalist Siobhán O’Connell, wrote an interesting article in the Irish Times Media & Marketing section recently where she posed the question “Does Musgrave’s takeover afford the opportunity to reinvent or kill the Superquinn brand?” ThinkTank was kindly asked to comment and our thoughts together with the diverse views of other branding and marketing experts can be viewed here in the Irish Times article.
Superquinn’s excellence in the past was due to the extraordinary vision of Fergal Quinn. He understood brand innately and knew that every world beating brand is underpinned by a strong customer value proposition. He set about identifying the important problems that needed to be solved for Irish grocery shoppers, exceeding their expectations constantly through a culture of innovation, relentlessly placing the customer at the core of the organisation and in so doing building a hugely successful brand.
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Tags: Brand Positioning, Branding, Fergal Quinn, Irish Times, Management Consulting, Market positioning, Marketing, Musgrave, Retailing, Strategy, Supermarkets, Superquinn, USP, Value Proposition
24 July 2010
Insights & Tips on Company & Product Naming
Naming a business is a lot like laying the cornerstone of a new building. Once it’s in place, the entire foundation and structure is aligned to that original stone. If it’s off, even in the slightest, the misalignment becomes amplified.
The tougher it gets out there, the more important it is to put your marketing money where it will do the most good. Coming up with the right name for a company or a product can make a huge difference in building a brand and even in determining it’s future success. Too often companies jump straight into designing a logo and then spend the rest of the marketing budget trying to explain to people what they actually do and what their difference is.
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Tags: 10 tips on company naming, @ThinkTank_, Advertising, Big Idea, Brand Positioning, Brand Strategy, Branding, Company Naming, Cork, differentiation, Fishy Fishy, Innovation, Ireland, Irish Patents Office, Jonathan Amm, Kinsale, Logo Design, Marketing, Product Development, Product Naming, Start-ups, Strategy, Trade Mark Agents, Trademarks, Twitter
8 June 2010
For a business to be viable, it has to do something as well as its competitors; to win in a competitive market, it has to do something better than its competitors.
Recent research by global marketing firm, Young & Rubicam highlights the fact that 80% of new businesses and brands fail. Lack of differentiation is cited as the major reason for business failure.
In order to ensure that your product is preferred over those of your competitors, you must consider the complete brand experience and how that experience will contribute to consumer perception. Your brand isn’t what you think it is – it’s what your customer think it is. Your brand isn’t your logo, web site design or tag line – it’s a research informed strategic premise that is designed to deliver competitive advantage and grow market share.
As a bit of a brand refresher and value add to customers, ThinkTank decided to take a peek into what really goes on inside the mind of your customer.
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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Advertising, Brand Positioning, Branding, differentiation, Emotional Branding, Jonathan Amm, Marketing, Twitter, USP, www.think-tank.ie
29 April 2010
You don’t go on holiday without finding out about your destination.
You don’t accept a new job without checking the stability of the employer.
You don’t invest in a new car without checking it’s right for your needs.
You don’t develop your business without trying to discover your market size, value, potential and competitiveness… do you?
An essential element of any business strategy should be early stage secondary market research.
In order to analyse your market and make decisions on growing and developing your business, you must understand the business context you’re operating in:
Comments (0) | | Digg This | Save to Del.icio.us | Posted by: Lisa
Tags: Branding, Entrepreneurs, Marketing, Research, Roisin Markham, Start-ups, Strategy, ThinkTank, Twitter
24 April 2010
In tough times we need ideas more than ever before. New ideas are the rocket fuel that can propel growth, ignite economic opportunities and improve our quality of life.
INSEAD’s Global Innovation Index 2009-2010, currently ranks Ireland as the 19th most innovative country in the world. Ireland Inc is basing its recovery on forging a new smart economy built around innovation. Crowd-sourced competitions like Your Country Your Call have recently been launched to encourage citizens to generate new ideas and proposals that could transform Ireland by creating new jobs, new opportunities and a new way of thinking.
The IDA (Industrial Development Authority) have also invested €2m launching a global campaign with the positioning ‘Ireland – Innovation comes naturally’. It is designed to attract greater direct foreign investment and stimulate economic growth. To highlight this focus, the ‘I’ word has even found its way into our political lexicon. Minister Batt O’Keeffe is now fondly known as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Innovation.
So what can we do locally to become more of an Innovation Nation? As part of a new series, we’ll take a closer look at innovation and how we can apply it to our businesses and our lives.
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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Cork, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Ireland, Jonathan Amm, Lateral thinking, Management, Marketing, Strategy, ThinkTank, Twitter
14 April 2010
New opportunities or good-paying jobs won’t come from bailouts like NAMA. They come from start-ups. And where do start-ups come from? They come from smart, creative, inspired people who are willing to take risks and not handouts.
So if you’re considering starting your own business – or looking for ways to expand an existing one – here are three time-tested strategies you can implement to fast track growth and gain a competitive edge.
1. Discover an untapped niche that’s ‘hot’
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Comments (2) | | Digg This | Save to Del.icio.us | Posted by: Jon
Tags: @ThinkTank_, business models, Cork, Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Ireland, Jonathan Amm, Marketing, Strategic Competitive Advantage, Strategy, ThinkTank
23 March 2010
In celebrating St Patrick’s Day last week, advertising agency Leo Burnett developed a great tactical outdoor campaign for McDonalds in Chicago.
This execution was placed on the banks of the Chicago River, which is dyed green each year in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. A perfect way to generate brand awareness and promote McDonald’s seasonal ‘Shamrock Shake’ in a fun and creative way.
This got us thinking as to why local Irish advertising agencies do very little to tap into celebrating our National Day. After all it’s a perfect opportunity to get your brand noticed and generate great buzz on social networks and other media.
Have we just become too blase about St Paddies Day? Are clients too risk averse or are our local advertising agencies starting to lose their creative edge?
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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Advertising, Advertsing, Branding, Cork, Ireland, Jonathan Amm, McDonalds, St Patrick's day, ThinkTank, Twitter
14 December 2009
Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up. With tough times we need a different way of thinking and the energy to turn things around. International marketing guru Seth Godin, author of bestseller Purple Cow & Tribes, has recently released his latest ebook What Matters Now – which is available as a FREE download right here.
It’s jam packed with terrific ideas from ‘70 BIG THINKERS’ each sharing their ‘one powerful idea’ with you to think about as we head into the new year. This exciting ebook also contains groundbreaking ideas from some top business gurus like Tom Peters and best selling author Elizabeth Gilbert.
Share it with your staff, share it with your colleagues – it contains some inspiring ideas that could change the way you think, change the way you work and maybe even change the world!
Ebook Download – WhatMattersNow.pdf
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