“Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 2010, understand profitability.  If I could offer you only one tip for the future profitability would be it”…..but more from Baz Luhrmann later…….

As a marketing lecturer, the second most common question I get asked (next to, “what is coming up on the exam”?) is “How am I ever going to get a job in marketing?”. Worse than this, in the students where the glass seems perpetually half empty, the statement “I am never going to get a job in marketing” reverberates every year as the academic term is coming to a close.  Now, what is interesting is that this sentiment appears to transcend gender, age and academic achievements, and was heard as loudly during the “Celtic Tiger” era as it is now in our economic recession.  Essentially, no marketing student seems to think they are going to get a job in marketing.  For a marketing lecturer who has spent years working with these students this is a disheartening sentiment to constantly hear, but more than that, it is a frustrating one.  Why is it that these bright, intelligent, articulate students, these Generation Y students who are constantly being told that they are the chosen ones, the future, the ones who are connected; why is it that these students think they won’t get a job in marketing?

How can this disconnect exist? How can these students not realise that they are “it”.  They are the future marketers.  They are the wired generation, the avid consumers, they understand brands, they are constantly ‘plugged in’ and they know more about social media usage in Ireland than most Irish companies do.  In fact, recent research has shown that there is a significant gap between Irish consumers and Irish enterprises in terms of social media usage, with companies struggling to catch up with consumers.  The research identified that this gap exists more so due to a lack of knowledge on the part of the companies rather than a lack of desire to use digital media. These marketing students have that knowledge that companies need; they just don’t seem to realize this.  Perhaps it is our fault, perhaps as lecturers, we are too concerned with theory delivery and ensuring that our students get good results, rather than focusing on the practical knowledge and skills they require to make the transition from student to marketer.  Perhaps we need to move away from the old guard of Kotler and company and instead teach marketing from the perspective of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.  And while there might be merit in this argument, I am not so convinced that this alone is the answer. I believe the students have the skills and the knowledge to make the transition from student to marketer; they just need to leverage and improve on those skills to find their way in a constantly changing global landscape. We need to merge the old with the new.

So just how do we do that?  How is marketing changing and what do students need to know and have to do to “get that job” in marketing.  Well marketing now exists in a network era, where all the rules have changed and all the company stakeholders are talking to each other and to the company in ways unimaginable only a few years ago.  We have moved from a time of monologue to constant dialogue.  We are moving into a new world where there is increased recognition of marketing’s role and position at the boardroom table. Marketing intelligence must be gathered continuously through ongoing data collection and research activities to provide insights for company decision making.   The rapid pace of change in globalization, computerization, management hierarchies, corporate responsibility etc.  have created a situation where high-quality marketing intelligence is essential for long and short term decision making.   Such market knowledge gives an organization the opportunity to lead the direction of industry development and compete for market position and market share.

Marketing therefore is no longer only about 4P strategies, communications programmes and action plans; it is no longer a silo activity but rather it is becoming the core of the company that is brand and innovation driven.  Marketing should focus not only on “what is” the existing solution(s) to customers’ problems, but also on “what isn’t” – those new ideas, products, processes and methods which provide innovative breakthroughs to satisfy needs.  These conditions require our marketers to have finely tuned creative and conceptual skills as well as the ability to process information and make informed judgments.  Innovation succeeds in so far as customers’ needs are satisfied, and who understands and is closest to the customer better than the marketer?  Where once we taught students to identify customers’ needs so as to develop marketing strategies, we now need to show students how understanding those customers’ needs and gaining such customer insight drives innovation in a company.  That innovation drives business growth and profitability, positioning marketing firmly at the board room table. Students have the skills required to identify and understand customers’ needs, they now need to leverage that ability to take those customer insights and turn them into the drivers of business growth and profitability.  Students need to be confident about the future of marketing.  They need to develop a vision about the organization’s markets and the possible future direction of change.  They need to understand how they can “get that job” by thinking about marketing in a “visionary” way, by leveraging their technology skills and becoming better communicators.

A recent Oftcom report (18^th August 2010) found that adults aged between 16 and 24 spend six hours and 35 minutes a day on the phone, laptop, radio or television. But by multitasking – effectively using two or more devices at once – the survey found that young adults were able to squeeze the equivalent of nine hours 32 minutes worth of consumption into that time.  Students – you may not realize it, but all that time spent “plugged in” is doing more for you than increasing your online profile; it is equipping you with the technology and communication skills that many companies so badly need.  Your proliferation in collaborative writing, web logs, video content sharing, consumer opinion platforms and podcasting might be just what that company needs to link with customers.  While some companies are only getting to grips with Web 2.0 you are probably already speculating about what ‘Web 3.0’ and beyond holds for internet users.  This begs the question of how these new applications will affect those that are currently in vogue, and ultimately how it will shape and reshape online media.  The dynamism of web innovation is perhaps beyond prediction; however, it continues to be driven by social interaction between networks of individuals of which you are an important player.

So back to Baz Luhrmann, and while he might have been advocating for sunscreen, I am advocating for profitability.  Understand profitability.  Marketing student groans are loudly heard in the classroom when anything remotely related to figures and profitability comes up; it is almost as if figures are solely for the accountants and not for the marketers.  Big mistake. As a marketer you will only succeed if you understand what drives profitability, if you understand how marketing drives business growth and if you understand the business impact of your marketing decisions.  For marketing to be the core of the company, marketing must drive the company, it must have the ideas to grow the company and it must remain competitive in a world of hyper competition.  Students, you need to view customers as assets that impact on shareholder value and you need to line internal systems up with customer value imperatives.  You must move beyond looking at customers as needs to be satisfied and move to regarding them as central to company success and profitability.  You must consider the impact of every decision that you make in the knowledge that the company is driven by those decisions.

So yes, “Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, but trust me on the profitabililty”.

Written by Rose Leahy, Marketing lecturer at Cork Institute of Technology  and a collaborator with ThinkTank – a Strategic Marketing, Branding and Innovation Consultancy based in Cork, Ireland www.think-tank.ie

Hello. My name is Anna and I am a Millennial. I am part of the largest generation yet to exist. We populate Facebook and YouTube. We are social and always connected. We are armed with laptops, iPods and smart phones. We are Generation Y, or indeed Generation Y Not.

The Millennials are the “wired” generation and we don’t know how to be any other way. We’re a new breed of consumers and unfortunately most businesses are not prepared for us.  Businesses need to get to know the Millennials if they want to be relevant and successful in the future. Our global annual spending power exceeds $250 billion and we also influence another $50 million in purchases. Our generation has bigger potential purchasing power than the Baby Boomers and is set to supplant them as the most powerful economic force on planet earth.

So let me introduce you to the Millennials..

Generation Y or the Millennials is a name used to describe a generation born between 1977-1994. We are a demographic tsunami that is redefining the social, cultural and the business worlds. Internationally there are 78 million of us and at least 800,000 in Ireland. The largest and most prominent members of this group were born in the late 80’s and early 90’s.The Gen Y’s that are just over 20 years old are the ones to watch out for. They are starting to enter the workforce and will inherit the spending power of the Baby Boomers who are getting ready for retirement.

Gartner has referred to Gen Ys as “digital natives” because technology is part of our identity and most of us learned how to use computers at about the same time that we learned to read. The Millennials are social, peer-oriented, confident and empowered. We are “plugged in” 24/7, can source all the necessary information about your product in a matter of seconds and we will make sure to share it with our friends via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, texting, blogging or instant messaging. Our generation is very good at multitasking so don’t be surprised if we use the above-mentioned media all at the same time. We expect instant gratification, instant access and for us being put “on hold” when it comes to interacting with your business is just not cool. The trick with the Millennials is that we can either “make or break” your product socially in less than 48 hours. We care about authentic brands and products and instantly know when we are being “sold to”. Just how prepared and willing is your business to interact with us?  When will you start adapting your business strategy to embrace the Millennials? Why not wait and see what your competitors will be doing? The answer is simple: First Mover Advantage. In such a small and economically challenged consumer market as the Irish one, you can’t afford to waste such an opportunity. You can’t afford not to market to the largest and potentially most influential segment of the market. Gen Y has a growing purchasing power and they love to spend, but only on cool, stylish and authentic products. Think of the iPod and the entire family of the Apple products. Apple doesn’t even need to invest in advertising, instead they concentrate on “keeping it real” with the Gen Y’s and constantly deliver innovative and slick products. The Gen Y’s create a viral buzz around them through texting, commenting, updating, sharing and blogging. If you think about it, any company of any size can avail of such a loyal following of Gen Y’s.

All you need to do is listen and interact with them in an honest and open way and they will show you their gratitude through spreading the word about you among their networks. Curiously, the influence of the Millennial generation extends beyond their cohort. Networking and Web 2.0 were driven by this group which in turn influenced other generations to adopt them too.

So why aren’t the old marketing tricks working for us? We are not better and not worse than the other generations, we are just Different. We come digitally enhanced. Peer recommendation and word-of-mouth are more important to this generation than the other traditional factors such as brand and corporate reputation. Every successful business needs to learn how to infiltrate into the ranks and speak the language of the Gen Y’s. 90% of them trust peer recommendations and only 14% trust advertisements. Here is another shocking statistic: If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world; 96% of the Millennials has joined a social network. Doesn’t this sound like a marketing gold mine? Shockingly most Irish businesses don’t see it that way. According to a Pan-European study conducted for Xerox a few years ago 40% of Irish companies have no plans to allow customers to purchase products or services online, 59% of firms said that they have no plans to provide online forums for customers to discuss their products and 52% said that they were not planning to monitor customer conversations on other websites.

In reality you can’t afford not to pay attention to the Millennials. Based on a bit of research and talking amongst other Millennials I’ve outlined a couple of key pointers to help you understand what makes us tick. They’ll help you create  loyal and long-lasting relationship with the Gen Y consumers.

1. Speak our language – In order to be able to connect with the Millennials you need to learn how to speak our language and discover what defines our lives. There is only one way to get a real insight into our community and that is to mix with us and actually talk to us. The only thing you will be spending is your time but I can guarantee that you will be surprised by how much inspiration and information you can gather from such a simple exercise.

2. Start engaging- The Gen Y’s are a new breed of consumers that can only be redefined as “producers”. We love to be constantly engaged with our favorite brands. We love to create, share, reinvent and rate so why not let us be your business “consultants”.  Challenge us to come up with a creative name for your new product or to take interesting and cool photos involving your products. Offer a prize for the winner and the Millennials will start engaging with your business.

3. Pay attention to branding – Most Millennials are very brand conscious. Not surprising for a generation that has grown up in the age of branding and has been the target of marketing messages since birth. Millennials love cool and authentic products and designs. Nobody likes a boring product, especially us. Invent a story and wrap it around your product and brand. Help us emotionally connect with your brand by telling a story that is genuine and is based on your reality and your passion.

4. Social animals – Gen Y’s are social and peer-oriented. We don’t listen to what the media has to say, we listen to our friends. I can’t stress enough how important it is for your business to have a Social Media presence. Let your business become a resident in the world populated by Gen Y’s. There are already more than 1.2 million Irish Facebook users and the numbers are growing. More people use FB than read most Irish dailies. It doesn’t cost anything to create a custom FB Fan Page for your business. Of course it will take time and effort to master this media but I can promise you that the Millennials like nothing more than being “friends” with their favorite brand on Facebook. It gives you limitless possibilities to get to know your customers and acquire new ones and receive up to date feedback on your product.

5. Make it personal – Two words worth remembering when dealing with the Millennials are: Customisation & Personalisation. We love having a choice when it comes to the design of the product. It can be as simple as choosing whether to receive updates via SMS or e-mail. Look at the example of how Lily O’Brien got creative with her chocolates. On their website they offer to frame your special photo on a box of selected chocolates. For me that’s one delicious offer!

6. Go green – As Millennials we love environmentally friendly products and companies. We are Green and we want you to be Green as well. According to recent research conducted by Maritz, 46% of the Gen Y’s interviewed said that they would pay more for environmentally friendly services and products.

7. Create experiences – Gen Y is an “experience” culture. We don’t want to be told how great your product is, we want to experience it. We love contests, prizes, give-aways, street promotions, social events and the more the better. Such experiences will give them us motive to create a buzz around your product and spread the word to our friends.

Businesses will have to fundamentally change their strategies in order to be embrace and attract the Millennials. This process can be both daunting and challenging for many businesses but as all optimistic Millennials – we like to view it from a different perspective. This is your chance to be creative and fresh. It’s an opportunity to build a loyal following of Millennials and grow together with them.

Written by Anna Sablovscaia – University College Cork Commerce Student and Marketing Intern at ThinkTank

FACT: One in five Irish Enterprises fail according to the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association. In many instances they fail due to a lack of understanding of their customers and market place.

Post-recession shoppers are a completely different breed when compared to what has gone before. They’ve been profoundly impacted by a feeling of deprivation the recession caused and the way in which they’ve coped with it. Now they are more demanding than ever and their expectations are increasingly high. We all know shoppers are fickle and the days of being completely loyal to one brand or company are gone. Shoppers have been conditioned to search out the best price and value during these recessionary times yet they can be swayed at the point of purchase to make very different decisions. Other factors like emotions also come into play, hence the contradiction in terms, when you hear that more than one in two customers claim to be cutting down on treats but sales of premium products such as ice cream and chocolates are on the rise. How can that be?

Business consultancy Deloitte released an interesting research report just this week in New York where they talked about a ‘paradigm shift’ in consumer purchasing habits in the US. It found that a whopping 84% of households were examining their spending in every category to try and save money while 79% believed they were ‘smarter’ shoppers than they were two years ago. But it also found that 75% believed that the financial crisis had caused them to realise ‘which brands I really care about and which ones are less important to me’ and that there were only two or three brands which they ‘could not live without’.

So how does all of this impact on business and brand owners moving forward? It means that now more than ever businesses no matter how large or small need to work smarter and harder to retain and win new customers. They need to understand their customers inside and out as well as having a good gauge on what competitors are doing. Essentially they need to understand the tangible and intangible factors that drive their customers to their product and business and how the customer journey and buying process actually works.

If you look at high street retailing as an example: before a businesses competition was very often the guy down the street, now he’s the guy on Amazon, Twitter or Facebook. Did people running book stores in the US ever think they would be competing with eReaders? With the advent of the iPhone we now have apps where people can scan a bar code on any product and within a few seconds compare prices of that item across multiple online stores!

And how do you get at or communicate to your market and customers nowadays with so much clutter in the media? Gone are the days when all communication was through the traditional channels of TV, press and radio, now brands and companies are active across all elements of social media, Is social media on your radar or does your business have a social media plan? If you don’t control your product and businesses reputation online then chances are somebody else will. Are your competitors in that space? If they are what are they doing and saying? Now more than ever consumers want to be part of the conversation and they want to engage with brands and businesses, they no longer want to be dictated to.

So how much do you know about your customers and the marketplace you operate in?

Too often businesses know ‘what’ customers buy from them but not ‘why’ they buy from them. Understanding the why piece is at the very core of marketing and market research and is key to success – successful businesses understand clearly what is happening trend wise in their marketplace and what motivates customers to buy their products or services. This understanding and insight enables them to differentiate themselves from competitors and ensures they spend their time, money and resources talking to customers about what is really important to them when it comes to their product and service. There’s no point in spending your hard pressed marketing and promotional budgets telling people the same thing as everybody else. So what’s unique or different about your product or service? Now that’s more interesting and engaging isn’t it?

Peter Jones, serial entrepreneur and infamous Dragon recently said, ‘The biggest cause of business failure at the moment isn’t that they’re struggling for cash and working capital, it’s a lack of research.’ With this in mind the research unit at ThinkTank sat down to map out 5 key points that could help local businesses navigate the new post recessionary landscape.

1. Do a State of the Nation Analysis

Research 101, a SWOT analysis – what better way to start then understanding your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. As somebody once said ‘If you don’t know where you’re going any bus will take you there!’

2. Do some Market & Trend Analysis

Understand the macro view and what is happening within your market currently. What are the trends that are dictating what is happening out there? Are these new to your business or had you already been aware of them? What are you going to do to acknowledge them and what if anything are you going to do now to address them? Where’s the headroom for growth within the marketplace and where are the opportunities to drive revenue growth in the future?

3. Do some Customer Analysis

Who are your customers? How many of them are out there? If you’re targeting a specific age group – are they in growth or decline within the population at large? What’s important to them? How do they engage with your brand and business currently? If you’ve a database of customers when did you last look at it to see if it had changed? If you’ve lost customers have you asked them why they’ve left – was it better service, more competitive prices or what? Have you ever walked in your customer’s shoes? If you own a store have you actually shopped it? If you were to what do you think you’d find, would you come back? If not, why not?

4. Investigate your Competitors

Who are your competitors and where are they promoting and marketing themselves – are you there too? What are they talking about and what USPs (unique selling propositions) are they trying to sell? What could yours be or how do yours compare – better or worse?

If you ‘Googled’ your product or business right now what products or businesses would come up – are you there? Who else is there? Why aren’t you there? Do you know how people search for your product or service currently – what key words do they use and have you those on your web site and related links? Are who you think are your competitors the same people that your customers think are your competitors?

If I’d a penny for every time I’ve asked retail clients in particular whether they had visited their competition to suss them out I’d be very rich by now. I’ve always been intrigued by how they think they can possibly try to compete if they don’t know what they’re competing against? Mystery shopping your competition is vital for service providers too even if it’s just making one or two calls to get a feel for the service that is being provided and what’s on offer etc.

5. Internal Company Analysis

This stage is all about understanding what is unique about the business that gives it a sustainable advantage versus other businesses in the marketplace and also understanding what it is that the business stands for. It’s about copper fastening what business the business is actually in and what markets it operates in. It’s also about examining employee views of the business and where it is going with that of the management team so everybody is working off the same hymn sheet and everybody is clear about where the business is going and what activities it needs to prioritise and give focus to in order to get so there is a clear vision for the business moving forward.

Finally, post recessionary times will be very different, but keeping things simple and keeping the customer at the forefront will mean that smart companies will be best positioned to ride out the recession and capture market share gains when the economy gets back on track.

Researched and written by Colette Quinn, Director of Real Insights and Associate Partner at ThinkTank.

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.

The reality is that there are a lot more bad names out there than good ones. Business to business companies – especially high tech IT businesses – seem to be the biggest culprits – coming up with names that are a lot more like vanilla than banoffee pie!

Every client always says that they want a name that’s unusual. But when it comes right down to it fear is always the greatest obstacle. However a name should never be too safe or neutral. If you have a name that makes everybody happy then chances are it’s bland & boring. Sadly, no one names a car Mustang, Thunderbird or Diablo anymore. Instead, you’ve got Avensis, Ce’ed and Zafira- all thoroughly researched committee decisions, all emotionally bereft- so by the time they’ve all been laundered, pressed and packaged, there is really nothing left.

Most companies tend to get trapped in a web of pre-conceptions when it comes to naming a company. Maybe because they think it’s easier than it really is. Invariably someone suggests the proverbial ‘brain storming’ session – which tends to be dominated by extroverts who have a need to be heard and the whole thing gets gridlocked in ‘Group Think.’ Companies also tend to go down a dead end street -trying to turn nouns into verbs, co-joining and contorting words that simply don’t belong together, looking at maps for geographical inspiration, making up names that don’t exist, delving into the Latin or Greek – all of which only serves to distance, daze and confuse customers.

If one looks out over the Irish brandscape, you can see that several names come either from the name of the family [Barry’s Tea, Brennan’s Bread, Guinness] or are named after geographic places [Munster Rugby, Blarney Woollen Mills, Cork Dry Gin]

However in today’s competitive environment customers are bombarded with thousands of messages every day – so it’s never been more important that your company name stands out in the crowd.

In Cork, there is a new breed of businesses that are starting to make their names heard and in so doing are adding a touch of colour and creativity to our City. These include: Cafe Gusto, Puddleducks, Curious Wines, Cafe Paradiso, The Everyman Palace, LouderVoice.com, mMMAD, On the Pig’s Back, Catch of the Day, Go Safari, Cinnamon Cottage, Fishy Fishy, Farmgate, Sober Lane, The Zip Yard – to name but a few.

So, if you have that gnawing sense that choosing a name for your new business is vitally important, you’re right. And it’s probably a good idea to make sure it’s done right from the get go.  Although naming is our game, we obviously don’t always get the opportunity to develop names for every new company out there. So based on our experience, we thought we’d share 10 ideas that could re-calibrate how you think about the naming process:

1. Find focus – Chose a name that reflects who you are, what the company stands for and where you are going. What’s the concept or ‘Big Idea’ behind your business. Before selecting a name, decide on what you really believe in and how it needs to be communicated to customers and staff. Focus on the Why instead of the How and the What. In general the best names communicate one ‘Big Idea’ really well instead of trying to be all things to all people. If you can connect purpose with profit you’re onto a winner!

2. When everyone else zigs, zag – The worst crime in marketing is not getting noticed. Even worse is putting people to sleep. So dare to be different – chose a name with electricity and emotion. Evocative names are often more powerful than explicit ones. Good names connect with people on an emotional level, and emotions typically don’t play by the rules. Stay away from ‘cute & trendy’ and go for something with ‘mystery & sex appeal.’ Having said this don’t go over the top and stay away from names that have negative connotations or associations.

3. Get a personality – We operate on the principle that brands are like people. So we try to give brands the same kind of personality and attitude that people have. So if your brand walked through the door how would you describe its personality?  It’s important to map this out and then try and implant the positioning idea or difference into the name itself so that you can create and amplify a powerful story across different messaging platforms.

4. Fortune favours the brave – These days the fear of failure is so great that no one would ever risk calling a new airline Virgin. Rather than to stay cautiously within our close-to-home comfort zone, it’s important to look for opportunities and ideas beyond your own personal frame of reference. It’s also good to leave your own ego at the door because what’s good for you may not be best for the business.

5. Understand your context – Ideally you want to find a name that taps into associations that people have on both a conscious and sub conscious level – using words from popular culture that already have equity in their meaning or connotations. Brand names don’t exist in isolation – so you really need to know who you are up against in the competitive space. What is it that your customers want, that your competitors can’t offer, which you could? Too many companies fall into a ‘me-too’ follower positioning where they don’t succeed in differentiating themselves at all. If you’re a challenger brand then your name may need to be challenging, if you’re a market leader then it may need to convey strength & stability.

6. Can – ‘does what it says on the tin’ – If there has ever been an overused expression in marketing circles then it’s this one. Don’t get pigeonholed with a name that says what you do. It’s time to flip that on it’s head and to move away from the functional [which everyone else is doing] to something that is more distinctive and different. If you’re facing a whole lot of competition – you need a name that breaks from the pack. Look at what others in your field are doing, then do the opposite!

7. Kill committees – If there is anything that will give a new name the kiss of death it’s a committee. You have to fight the organisational urge to get everyone involved in the process. Consensus leads to sub-optimal decision making and is a sure-fire way to sanitize and kill off the coolest and most creative ideas on the table. Coming up with a good name is only half the battle. The other half is getting other people in the company to actually buy into the new name and your raison d’être.

8. Check your trademark – Don’t fall in love with a name you cannot have. Once the choices are narrowed, the names need to checked for potential trademark conflicts or infringements. The best money you will ever spend is on going a thorough trademark search before embarking on any branding journey. That’s because registering a company does not give you complete legal protection in terms of securing use of that name. A trademark objection could stop your new business in its tracks and also cost you an arm and a leg. In time your trademark may have significant economic value so it’s important to protect it. The Irish Patents Office in Kilkenny – www.patentsoffice.ie – has a great web site that explains the trademark process and how it works. It also has a Register of Trade Mark Agents who can professionally manage the process on your behalf.

9. Secure your domain name – Searching for a domain name match for your new business can be a brain haemorrhaging exercise. Do not despair if you can’t find a brilliant name with an available URL – Unique Resource Locator. Unfortunately at this stage, most of the best domains have either been taken or hijacked by an army of domain squatters. However there are plenty of successful companies who don’t have their exact name as their URL. To check and register a URL or to arrange hosting for your web site and e mail addresses– visit either www.blacknight.com or www.letshost.ie who provide a professional service. A .com or .ie is obviously first prize but you can also get flexible and creative with URL extensions. In most cases you don’t have to do business in a country to use their extensions and you can create some pretty interesting domains e.g. Elbows (elbo.ws) in Samoa and Good (good.is) in Iceland.

10. Hire a branding company – As Warren Buffett says, “If somebody can do a job better than I can, I will have them do it for me. I didn’t deliver my own three children, I called an obstetrician. I do not want to have some member of my family fill my teeth or try to do it myself. So I go to a dentist. I’m a big believer in outsourcing.” Coming up with a game-changing name is not a quick fix – but requires robust research and creative thinking. So if you have looking for a captivating name for your company or product – maybe it’s time to bring in some professional help. Look for people who know what they’re doing and have a proven track record in the naming department. Be sure to take a quiet look at the name on their door and see if it inspires confidence and has a certain ‘je ne sais quoi.’

Photograph courtesy of Fishy Fishy restaurant in Kinsale, Cork, Ireland www.fishyfishy.ie

Demanding inclusion in the boys’ club is a long and arduous path. Nowadays, smart women are building their own instead……

Get your sunglasses, grab your beach towel and imagine the following scene of children playing in the sand:

Seven boys, ages five to eight, are engineering an intricate series of dams and rivers by the water’s edge. They even build a small hot tub and are enjoying their time in this mini spa when along come the girls – first one, then two. As the third attempts to find a seat in the tub, two boys protest. “No girls allowed.” The girls argue but eventually move along. Minutes later the mothers arrive and demand equal rights for the girls. The boys protest, but the mothers stand guard as the girls are begrudgingly allowed in the tub.

Clearly everyone is having less fun. As soon as the guards leave, the chanting begins anew, “No girls allowed.” The scene repeats several times. Eventually, the mothers become distracted and the girls grow tired of trying. Then one lone girl starts to dig a short distance from the boys. She is far enough to maintain respect for the rule of separation but close enough for the engineers and construction workers to see her. Other girls join in. They build elaborate scenes creatively using beach flora, fauna and debris to make bridges, houses, trees and people.

A curious boy inches his digging project closer to the girls’ scene. Within minutes he connects his trench to their landscape. Other boys take note and edge closer. They build connecting roads as well. Soon the groups’ combined engineering and creative talents result in a complex and ingenious landscape filled with people, cars, pets, trenches, dams and a bigger coed hot tub!

This thought provoking story of boys and girls at play on a summer’s day is an excerpt from an article written by Dr. Anne Perschel which features in the Huffington Post. Anne is the founder and president of Boston based Germane Consulting and is a highly respected leadership and organizational psychologist.

This story while sweet and endearing has a serious underlying message. The girls on the beach quickly turn from the waiting game – waiting for some adult to demand an invitation on their behalf to the boys hot tub – to figuring out that there is a smarter way– and like the girls on the beach, many Irish women today have worked out that demanding inclusion to the boys club is a long and arduous path, so why not create a better, more attractive club? Instead of trying to force issues or crack the glass ceilings (a term which tends to trivialize the issues), many women are taking their assets and creating their own sandboxes. In fact in 2010 nearly 800 women in Ireland every month are constructing their own solution by starting their own businesses and although this is down from a high of 1,050 per month in 2007 (versus 1,650 for men), it’s still an impressive number in a seriously challenging economic climate.

This growth and success of women owned enterprises is one of the most profound changes affecting the global business landscape. International comparisons highlight that the world’s most entrepreneurial economies have a high representation of female entrepreneurs. In the US women are the majority owners in 50% of all privately owned firms in the US, these businesses produce $1.9 trillion in turnover, employ 12.8m employees and grow at twice the rate of all US firms. Women entrepreneurs are expanding into non-traditional businesses like biotech, pharma, construction, manufacturing and transportation. These trends are consistent throughout the world, however, women are the largest under-represented group when it comes to enterprise in Ireland, just 15-18% of entrepreneurs are female, one of the lowest rates in the developed world, this represents an enormous pool of untapped potential.

Government and smart businesses all over Ireland have recognised that from kitchen table entrepreneurs to international CEOs, women wealth creators in Ireland can be an important new engine for Irish economic development over the next decade. A key element of the government’s drive to increase entrepreneurial activity is supporting more women to become involved in business and business start-up to unlock their wealth creating potential, indeed to date through the Enterprise Boards 77,380 women have availed of training and business development programmes and have accessed €33.3m in grant aid.

The biggest challenge for many female entrepreneurs and one that is the focus of a new Government funded initiative called *Going for Growth is to successfully transition female entrepreneurs from early stage entrepreneurs to established entrepreneurs (usually a 3.5 year timeframe) and establish the necessary change in focus from survivalist and sole trader mentality to growth and company building mentality. Women in business need to think about structuring a business with the necessary physical, human, financial and information resources that will enable it to survive and thrive without 100% of their continued time investment. The bottom line is that unless the business is scalable (and ideally saleable) then the cumulative time investment can become difficult to justify. Quite frankly, for all the entrepreneurial effort that goes into launching and growing a successful business versus what you could have earned in employment over the same period with better terms and conditions, the final payoff must be worth it.

Going for Growth’s Paula Fitzsimons believes that “There is a need to move beyond just starting into growing. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report (GEM) tells us that of the 800 women setting up new businesses in Ireland each month, only about 70 have substantial growth aspirations and expect to be employing more than 20 after five years. My mission in Going for Growth is to support women entrepreneurs to achieve their growth ambitions and to get more women entrepreneurs into a growth frame of mind.”

Female entrepreneurs often start a business with different experiences, aspirations and motivations from their male counterparts. Particular issues include the impact on family life, a lack of high profile role models and a lower perception by women that they have the skills to set up in business. These differences need to be appreciated and understood if more women are to be encouraged to start a business and be involved in entrepreneurial roles here. The most recent GEM report states that women are 5 times more likely to set up their own business as a result of meeting other women entrepreneurs. Networking initiatives spearheaded by Cork County and City Enterprise Boards like NEW (Network for Enterprising Women) www.sceb.ie and networking forums like www.networkireland.ie and www.networkcork.com along with events like National Women’s Enterprise Day www.nwed.ie and on-line forums like www.irishwomeninbusiness.ie in addition to a new initiative by the European Commission – The European Network of Female Entrepreneurship ambassadors, of which there are three in Cork, are all extremely beneficial to those starting out.

Cork’s entrepreneurial women come from a variety of backgrounds and are involved in a range of sectors and each has a remarkable story to tell. ThinkTank has met with many of these enterprising women in Cork in the course of doing business. Like one woman we met recently who is in the process of developing the prototype for what is a high potential business idea that could translate into an innovative international company, while at the same time attending MBA classes and rearing four children under ten to boot, phew, it’s exhausting to even think about it but incredibly inspiring for other women and creates an “I can do it” mentality. Like another woman who quit a high finance job to develop a world class gluten free product range. Like so many highly educated women who are returning to Cork having gained international, corporate experience and are now looking at ways to leverage their skills and contribute to the re-generation of the economy – in new and different ways. These enterprising women help develop positive perceptions about entrepreneurship in Cork and inspire and encourage other females to take up the challenge and just “Go for it.”

ThinkTank’s vision is that in the new sandboxes, men and women play well together, honoring each other’s strengths and gifts. Maybe it is time we quit trying to break down the old structures. Instead, let’s create our own jobs and companies to be so attractive that all the most competent people will want to play with us, it could be one of the ways that we can Transform Cork and will be a driving force in accumulating the intellectual capital and diverse perspectives Cork needs to remain competitive in local, national and global markets.

*Invitations are now being issued to women entrepreneurs who would like to be considered for participation in the Going for Growth initiative www.goingforgrowth.com, many Cork based female business owners have participated in the programme and found it to be extremely beneficial.

Soccer’s governing body FIFA recently saw red, but mostly orange – during the Holland Vs Denmark game at the Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Thirty-six blondes, wearing orange mini skirts gate crashed the game at Soccer City in Johannesburg causing a major brouhaha. The offense wasn’t so much a fashion faux pas but a carefully orchestrated ambush marketing attack by Dutch brewer Bavaria, against its bigger rival Budweiser. The spectacle created a frenzy as photographs and video footage went viral as the story was picked up on social media networks and newspapers around the world.

The reaction of FIFA was swift and ruthless. The authorities immediately evicted the women from the stadium and two were arrested on charges of organising “unlawful commercial activities”. Under pressure from FIFA, South Africa passed laws in the run-up to the World Cup that made ambush marketing a criminal offence. The women face charges of contravening the Merchandise Marks Act (unauthorised use of trade mark at a protected event), and some sections of the Special Measures Regulations Act (entry into designated area while in possession of prohibited commercial object).

Anheuser Busch’s Budweiser, as the World Cup’s authorised beer sponsor, paid $50 million for the privilege of exclusive representation during the competition. Despite facing mounting criticism for what many describe as ‘bullying’ and ‘autocratic’ commercial tactics, FIFA remains unfazed, insisting the methods are necessary to protect the marketing rights of its official sponsors.

Sponsorship is big business, both for the brands splashing out and sporting governing bodies cashing in. The World Cup has kicked off to an amazing start and it’s expected that a cumulative global audience of 5 billion people will be watching. This means that there is massive potential exposure for companies that are able to outmanoeuvre competitors and work the system to their advantage. What you’re now starting to see are strategic consultancies being asked by clients to plan and execute stealth ambush marketing campaigns. There are burgeoning industries on either side as organisers and sponsors not wanting to take any chances.

Over time, ambush marketing has crystallised into two forms, the first being by association.  This occurs where the ambush marketer represents to the public that they are the authorised sponsor of an event.

In contrast to the above, ambush marketing by “intrusion” uses the publicity of an event to gain unauthorised exposure for his brand.  Here, the ambush marketer does not suggest an association with the event but uses the captive audience of an event to gain maximum exposure for their product or services.

In both forms of ambush marketing, the marketer aims to use the event to advertise his product, whilst avoiding the financial and other obligations of an official sponsor.

Bavaria’s campaign was a classic example of intrusive ambush marketing – it was meticulously planned and executed down to the finest detail. The mini-dresses, sold by the brewery as part of a gift pack, may only have had a tiny outer label carrying the brand’s name. However prior to the stunt Bavaria had made sure that they would be instantly recognisable in the Netherlands by getting Dutch Wag, Sylvie van der Vaart -wife of Real Madrid’s Rafael van der Vaart – to model it prior to the start of the tournament.

As would be expected, along with gigantic global viewership and increasingly prohibitive sponsorship costs, ambush marketing has developed into an art form. FIFA says such tactics “lack decency and creativity.” Indecent? Possibly. Uncreative? Not at all!

Ambush Marketing in Action

1992 – Nike sponsors news conferences with the US basketball team. Michael Jordan accepts the gold medal for basketball and covers up his Reebok logo

1994 – American Express runs ads claiming Americans do not need “visas” to travel to Norway for the Visa-sponsored Winter Olympics

1996 – On the eve of the 100m final, Linford Christie wears Puma logo contact lenses at the Reebok-sponsored Olympics

1996 – Nike buys up billboard space around venues in the Atlanta Olympics, constructing Nike Village next door to the athletes’ village and distributing flags bearing the company logo – swamping the visibility of Reebok

1996 – Cricket World Cup: Pepsi runs a series of advertisements titled “nothing official about it” targeting the official sponsor Coca Cola

2000 – Sydney Olympics: Qantas Airlines’ slogan “The Spirit of Australia” sounds strikingly similar to the games’ slogan “Share the Spirit’” paralyzing official-sponsor Ansett Air

2002 – Boston Marathon: Nike strikes again. As Adidas-sponsored runners come off the course they are treated to spray-painted ‘swooshes’ honouring the day of the race, but not the race itself.

2006 –World Cup Germany – Dutch fans are forced to watch a match in their underpants because their orange lederhosen were deemed to be advertising Bavaria beer, when Budweiser was once again the official sponsor

2008 – Fashion label Abercrombie & Fitch strategically positions its logo behind Barack Obama at a Democratic primary election rally

2008 Beijing Olympics: former Olympic gymnast Li Ning (owner of China’s largest sports shoe company) lights the torch at the opening ceremony, much to the chagrin of official sponsor Adidas

2010 – In the run up to the World Cup, South African budget airline Kulula, is forced to stop a creative advertising campaign titled “Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What” and to remove all symbols associated with the World Cup including visual imagery of South African flag, vuvuzelas, stadiums, and even the phrase “2010.”

What’s interesting is that you don’t have to be a David to be successful in the guerrilla genre. Goliaths like Nike, with their marketing skill and financial reserves are probably the greatest ambush marketers of all time. Nike has made a strategic decision to eschew event sponsorship and cast itself as the plucky underdog in contrast with the likes of Adidas.

At this year’s World Cup, Nike’s back-door marketing strategy has shown to be a bigger sensation with the fans than the World Cup’s official sponsor, Adidas.

Nike’s multi-million dollar advertising campaign, Write the Future, showcasing players like Wayne Rooney from England and Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal has been viewed more than 16 million times on You Tube. Also nine out of 32 teams are sporting Nike gear, which is only three teams short than the official sponsor, Adidas.

Adidas has spent about US $351 million for sponsorship rights to the World Cup tournaments in 2010 and 2014 while Nike has not paid a single cent to FIFA. Research shows that 17% of people remember Nike as a World Cup Sponsor as compared to the 15% of Adidas. Also, a month before the World Cup, one third of the talk online was focused on Nike – almost twice as much as rival Adidas.

Meanwhile ThinkTank’s South African office reports that the local marketing and advertising agencies are fed up with FIFA’s fiefdom and tight control over every aspect of the World Cup. Several local companies expecting a windfall from the World Cup say that it has simply not materialised. A Cape Town artist has captured the zeitgeist of public sentiment, designing a provocative new range of T shirts with the caption ‘Fick Fufa.’ It’s the latest satirical dig at the world soccer body in a growing flood of impatience with FIFA’s draconian branding rules and its mafia-like control of the country’s public spaces. In the comedic political parody ZA News, (www.zanews.co.za) FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter has been transformed into a caricatured puppet, with SA Soccer Boss Danny Jordaan – peaking out from one of his pockets, as they both wax lyrical about the wonderful World Cup.

As advertising goes more viral we can expect more ambush marketing at the World Cup and other upcoming events like London’s 2012 Olympic Games. Global advertising campaigns, a 24/7 news cycle, interconnected sponsorship and social media platforms, mean that nothing is off limits and it’s open season for savvy marketers who can spot an opportunity. Fortunately the victims of ambush marketing aren’t the consumers. We’re the benefactors, because it’s a lot more fun to watch than the regular stuff.

A recent survey from IBM’s Institute for Business Value shows that business leaders value one leadership competency above all others.

After conducting 1500 in depth face-to-face interviews with CEOs and public service leaders around the world – “creativity” was identified as the single most important leadership competency for the successful business of the future.

The report suggests that creative leaders should “embrace ambiguity,” “take risks that disrupt legacy business models,” and “leapfrog beyond tried-and-true management styles.” Coming through the worst economic downturn in their professional lifetimes, when managerial control and process ruled the day, this indicates a remarkable shift in mindset. It’s a sea change from a rational ‘scientific’ management approach built around efficiency and control to a creative ‘intuitive’ approach – based upon agility, adaptability and emotional intelligence.

With the acceleration of the pace of change – global trends are reshaping the business landscape and are forcing companies to either adapt or die. At ThinkTank, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how companies can become more creatively evolved.

Think differently

To look at a company that has brought creativity into the core of its business model we need look no further than Apple. It has single handily revolutionised not one but four different industries -computers, music, retail and now mobile phones.  On the verge of bankruptcy when Steve Jobs resumed leadership in 1997, Apple has transformed itself from the maker of Macintosh personal computers into a consumer electronics trendsetter with the release of the iPod music player in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and most recently the release of the iPad tablet.

Since launching the iPhone three years ago the company’s share price has doubled. With a market capitalisation of $235 billion it has surpassed its old nemesis and rival Microsoft to become the most valuable technology company on the planet. Jobs, the maverick founder of Apple who was once fired from his own company for being ‘too creative’ recently commented:

“When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.

Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem.

The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”

Creative advantage

This quote provides some revealing insights and gives us a peak into Job’s own thinking about creativity inside Apple. It also highlights how habitual patterns, comfort and lack of diversity can disable our creative capabilities and put a limit on what we can achieve.

Some might say that Apple’s meteoric rise should be solely attributed to Steve Jobs. While it’s impossible to imagine Apple without Jobs, the company’s success is more than the product of one individual creative mind. In his role as CEO, Jobs inspires and leads but he is only involved in a fraction of the innovation that permeates Apple’s product suite.

So how has a company that didn’t invent the MP3 player or the mobile phone been able to disrupt and create profit opportunities within so many different industries?  How does the company continue to defy conventional wisdom and most importantly, why is it able to routinely deliver the exceptional?

The fact is most people go to work every day with their emotions in check and their passion switch turned off. Apple has been able to reverse this by attracting and activating the most talented logical and lateral thinkers. By creating meaning and purpose for these teams Apple has become not only one of the most innovative but also one of the most efficient companies in the world. Apple’s knows that beautifully designed, sleek and unexpected products can provoke a visceral reaction in customers—a reaction that may not be easy to quantify but can none the less be monetised. Apple has realised that consumers use both parts of their brains to buy products so maybe it would be a good idea that the company does the same when designing and developing new products.

Values drive performance

Most organizations invariably only tap into a mere fraction of their creative capacity. What’s critical is that they organize in a way that channels their untapped creative reservoir into innovation breakthroughs. Most companies get the horse before the cart – not realizing that it’s the creative horse that actually pulls the innovation cart. The starting point is for managers to actually let go of the hyper-rational, militaristic models that were developed in the last century. Companies need to recognize and value creativity so that it’s not just something that’s done by ‘creative types’ but becomes part of the company’s blood stream. A large part of the Apple success has been its ability to unlock passion and deploy creativity throughout the organisation and across different platforms.  It’s only when other companies get to this realisation point that they’ll be able to fully harness and leverage the power of creativity and design thinking.

However you can’t improve a company’s performance or creativity without understanding its values or emotional eco-system. Apple’s extraordinary success story reflects an unrivaled devotion to a particular set of values that has yielded transformational results. Within the world of inventors, designers and artists, these values aren’t particularly remarkable; but within the corporate world, they are as rare as a politician who does not lie.

Leading management thinker Gary Hamel recently outlined Apple’s values compared with those of conventional companies:

So if the values on the left represent Apple then what are the values of your business? Whatever you think of Apple, you have to acknowledge the fact that it has outmanoeuvred some pretty intimidating competitors. Imagine the kind of world we would live in if Apple’s values were creatively applied to our banks, airlines and even our health care system.

It’s time for companies to realise that they are no longer manufacturing products but creating consumer experiences. Managers need to be able to define and embed a value system that connects their people to their strategy and their strategy to their customers in the most creatively engaging way. So why not start nurturing a new creativity in your company today? The results will certainly delight your customers and may even surprise your accountant!

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.

The product is not the brand

Brands are arguably the key assets that a company possesses and they should therefore be a top-priority for senior management and not seen as something left solely to the marketing department. They represent the embodiment of a company’s differentiation and positioning and are in many ways the public face of your company’s business strategy. Brands are not only for big companies. In fact start-ups and SMEs can use the power of branding to catapult themselves into the market place and B2B businesses can use branding to stand out in industries that are ravaged by sameness. For this reason it’s important at the early stages to invest in understanding what’s going on in your market as well as in the mind of your customer.

Often clients get stuck on the idea that their product, service or technology is their brand. They go through a linear process of developing all the individual components. Product. Tick. Features. Tick. Logo design. Tick. Web site. Tick. Brochure. Tick. In most cases marketing is conducted from the view of the company and not the view of the customer. Bad mistake. Compiling all the elements doesn’t mean you have a brand or that you are creating any kind of meaning with your target audience. You don’t have to create meaning with everyone but you do have to mean enough to enough people – so that you generate a critical mass of the right customers.

In their ground breaking book ‘The Battle for your Mind’ Al Ries and Jack Trout define a brand as “A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect.” In more recent times strategists have defined it as an experience that lives at the intersection of promise and expectation. In a nutshell here’s how it works. A business communicates its brand as a promise through various messages and touch points. The brand promise lives inside the hearts and minds of consumers as an expectation. When brand promise and consumers’ expectations reflect one another, the brand holds tremendous value for both parties. It is through this co-creation (consumer and brand) that true brand value is created.

Cutting through the clutter

If you think about it, the average Irish consumer is bombarded by 1000s of marketing messages every day. From the time we wake up to the time our head hits the pillow we’ve been exposed to an avalanche of advertising.

People’s ability to sit up and take notice has become impaired. Most advertising messages contain way to many elements all competing with one another for our own understanding. In fact today’s competition doesn’t come from our competitors – it comes from the extreme clutter in the market place. With an explosion of choice people have so many options that it’s becoming exponentially difficult to figure them all out.

Effective businesses use brand as a differentiation tool that allows their messaging to cut through the noise of an overcrowded marketplace. Strong brands express their brand’s position through carefully crafted Brand Cues that simplify and clarify what the brands stands for while at the same time conveying meaning. These cues reinforce the position that the brand has taken, persuading consumers to consider, prefer, and ultimately buy their offering.

On a hot day, if you walk into a shop to buy a cool drink your brain is simultaneously and subconsciously translating and evaluating a multitude of Brand Cues: brand name, product shape and size, logo and label design, colours and possibly even nutritional value.  You recognize your favourite drink and open the refrigerator door to reach for the can that can quench your thirst. So using this example brands create a short cut for identification, evaluation and differentiation between different alternatives. Branding also reduces anxiety for customers making decisions and reduces the real cost of ineffective marketing or selling.

Choice and Meaning

Human beings are born to choose. But human beings are also born to create meaning. Choice and meaning are intertwined. People need the symbolic power of brands in their lives because it turns their connection with products into something with cultural meaning.

People don’t buy what you do but why you do it. Some of the strongest brands understand this truth and work from the inside out. They focus first on the Why (purpose, core beliefs, values) then the How (Business Model, Unique Selling Proposition) and finally the What (Products, Features, Benefits) Marketers that get it wrong invariably work back to front, starting with the What and then getting that ‘deer in the headlights look’ by the time they get to the Why. The goal is ultimately not to sell what you have but to sell to people who believe what you believe.

To a large degree the non-rational or emotional parts of our brains drive consumer behaviour. Our limbic system controls all human behaviour but has no capacity for language. That’s why we often talk about our ‘gut feel’ or ‘something doesn’t feel right’ – we can’t use language to translate what we feel – but we still know that we know that we know. Purchase and behavioural change in organizations and is driven by how people feel and not by the presentation of complex facts, figures and features. Brand is often used as a catalyst to drive this change both inside and outside the organization.

Unlike many retailers Ikea has developed an emotional connection with its customers. It’s brand positioning is built around the simple idea of creating a better everyday life for ordinary people. The offering is elevated above the mundane and functional while being competitive on price and selection. The shopping experience is highly customer-centric and personal. Most large retail environments are confusing, noisy and impersonal – yet Ikea has managed to personalise the experience even though their products are mass-produced. The ability to deliver a wide range of well designed functional products through a branded experience has paid off. Ikea’s now has 301 stores in 36 countries worldwide with a turnover of €21.5 billion in 2009

Future Direction

At the end of the day customer perception is more important than product superiority. It’s not so much about being different but being different for the right reasons. If you base your brand positioning on what you believe in everything else will flow.

When brand meaning and relevance are clear, the brand will hold a stronger position in the consumer’s minds and they’ll be more likely to choose it. Once you understand what your brand is all about, it gives the business purpose and clarity of direction. You know what products you’re supposed to make and not make. You know how you’re supposed to answer the telephone, how you’re going to package things and how your people need to deliver on your promise. Get this right and your brand will become a powerful business resource and the central organizing principle around which your whole company is based.

No committee, no budget and no rules; The grassroots movement that’s determined to transform the way people look at Cork city.

A new movement has begun to “transform” Cork city into a better place for its residents and visitors. It’s a movement without a leader. Already, two cafés, two marketing companies, publicans, journalists, start-up businesses and unemployed people have pledged their support. It’s called Transform Cork and it’s open to everyone keen to improve the city. There’s no committee, no budget and nothing but the power of the internet at its service. It’s using Twitter, Facebook, blogs and now the Cork News. It seems to have sprung out of nowhere, committed to changing Cork from the bottom-up – rather than the top-down.

The seed was sown by Paul O’Mahony, who moved to Cork in the autumn of 2005 – just as the City of Culture celebrations were ending. After 30 years in UK, he arrived with the excitement of a returned emigrant and soon developed a vested interest in the future of his new home by the Lee.

“Before I moved to Cork I got a big map of Ireland to see what Cork city looked like overall.” he told the Cork News. “My first impression was that it looked a bit like Paris: an island in the river with plenty of bridges off it, north and south. As soon as I tried to find my way around, I began asking people ‘which side of the island is that?’. It was a bit of a surprise to discover that nobody in Cork thinks of the city as having an island at its heart. That experience was the spark. It got me thinking about the image of Cork city. What’s Cork really like? What are its best and worst features? What is the reputation and potential of Cork city?”

Some would argue that the City Council, the officials and the politicians are responsible for looking after the after the reputation of Cork city. Paul doesn’t agree, “The great and the good in Cork have designed the city to be the way it is. The authorities, politicians and established interest groups have done their job. Recently, I went to a valuable public meeting on what Cork might look like in 2030. I was shocked to see a platform full of men in suits. No women, no young people. I thought, how old-fashioned. What would Cork be without its women and young people?”

Paul is a big fan of social networking tools, but he’s clear that Transform Cork is not a movement limited to those who have easy access to the internet. “Ordinary face-to-face discussion, debate and dialogue is what it’s all about. The most important thing is for people to talk about Cork as if it could be better than it is. I know there are many who want it to be better. There are people outside Cork who also want Cork city improved. We have an opportunity to foster conversation about what people want from the Cork city of the future. The Internet, Twitter, Facebook – these are extra tools to help us connect. Transform Cork is for everyone.”

Irish people all over the world – the diaspora – are curious and keen to keep in touch with what’s going on here. Via Twitter, Transform Cork has had contact with people in Tokyo, Mexico and the USA about how they see Cork. Essentially, the reputation of a city is the core of its brand. “It’s about creating a radical fresh approach to Brand Cork. Re-brand the city – give it a better image. But make change happen in a different, more inclusive way.” Transform Cork is a ‘citizen rebranding’ of Cork. It’s a ‘power-to-the-people’ movement. It invites all citizens to add their influence, to make Cork a much more attractive place for everyone.

“I suppose I’ve become one of the disgruntled,” says Paul, “one of those who doesn’t think Cork city is good enough yet. I really want it to be a place where things tick well, which feels coherent and connected. I don’t want Cork to feel as if it’s a bit of a muddle. I want it to have a strong, positive identity that’s backed up by the experience you get when you come here. The reputation of Cork isn’t under the control of the people of Cork. It’s a result of  conversations that go on all over the world. The reputation of a city depends on its visitors too, what they say to others later. People who’ve never been here have a say in the reputation of the city.”

Transform Cork is an effort to get people talking, to spark some conversation about the city and its future. It’s a new way to think about change, a different way to influence the future of Cork. Here are some of the workable ideas that TransformCork has already heard;

• Give Cork great public transport
• Love Shandon – make it look more attractive
• Follow the example of Dutch cities, use interactive billboards to fight street violence
• Bring new, fun ideas into Cork city from other cities
• Love and develop Spike Island
• Win Cork city a reputation. Let’s be known as “Cork – where people collaborate like mad.”

“The usual way of planning a city is by charging a committee with producing a plan, then holding a public consultation on that plan. Transform Cork has a different approach, “It’s about the heart and soul of the city. It’s about all that makes Cork tick: its people, culture, habits, spirit, economy – everything. Already there are signs people are using the idea of Transform Cork in their face-to-face meetings.”

Want to get involved? It’s as easy as opening your mouth, “You simply talk about Cork to your friends and contacts.” says Paul. “You talk about your ideas on how to improve the city. The more people talk about change the better. The more people who get involved, the better. Outsiders often say Cork is proud of its place, traditions and ways. Certainly, that’s a strong and valuable reputation – a good example to others. But sometimes Cork can seem cocky and over-confident about itself. TransformCork stands for a Cork city that feels the need to become better – for ourselves and our visitors.”

Interested in joining the conversation? Visit Transformcork.posterous.com or find it on Twitter #transformcork.

Thanks to our friend an co-collaborator Paul O’ Mahony from MarketingWriteNow for writing this post. Thanks also to Eoin Mulligan for the great photo of the Cork City Hall. For more of Eoin’s brilliant shots of Cork visit his Flickr stream