Brand-building in the Time of Conspicuous Conservation  

Joel the Tailor was in a dilemma. It was approaching the time of the Jewish New Year and his synagogue asked him to take out a half-page ad in their annual magazine. Joel had no problem with this, the synagogue was in a poor area and struggled to make ends meet. The ads from local tradespeople helped. Some ads prominently promoted the advertiser - so his first effort was: "Be a Mensch in a suit by Joel the Tailor". Then the Rabbi advised him that the highest form of charity is when the giver is not known. That was fine, but business was slow and where did charity begin if not at the tailor-shop - after all, no customers, no ads next year. He resolved his dilemma with his ad, which read: "This space is donated by Joel the Best Tailor in the Mile End Road - anonymously". While the story, told by my late father, may well be apocryphal, it resonates with a human truth - we like to be recognised for doing good. On a larger scale, we have...

Now we have more brands of political parties than toothpaste, politicians may wish to take a leaf or two from the Branding 101 handbook.

Here are some suggestions.

Between marketing Jack Daniels and finding issue with the theory of relativity, Ivan told me he was writing a book called “Marketing in a Nutshell”.  A few years later, after a further wrestle with Einstein, I asked Ivan how the book was going.  It’s finished he told me – but no publisher would touch it.  Why?

Because it’s only 14 words long.

Ivan was a big bearded bear of a man with a marvelous mind; one who earnt and lost fortunes; then earnt and lost them again. In grateful memory, for I use his 14 words time and again, here is the slightly amended version of Marketing in a Nutshell  - Offer your prime prospects, a worthwhile experience, that is well distributed and well communicated.

It’s that simple.

For a few years it was giraffes.  Wherever tourists to South Africa paused you would see endless herds of wooden giraffes.  I visualised giraffe making factories in Limpopo, or Mpumalanga, only to discover that they were made by the container-load in Indonesia.

The giraffe-market now seems to be in decline – another victim of the oversupplied world

It is a difficult time for the bipolar capitalist.  In a dog eat dog world, it’s munch or be munched and so you manically munch.  At the same time you see poverty, unemployment, disease & crime – the four apocalyptic horsemen threatening to tear apart the fabric of society – and you want to retreat into your shell.  

Mega-corporates find themselves shedding people to please shareholders, small enterprises battle to stay solvent.  Helping others - in South Africa by way of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment - becomes a department removed from the business - another expense and a hundred more forms to fill.

Brands are more vulnerable than ever.  A few years ago the largest bank in the world was outed by an obscure action group – and Citibank changed its investment criteria based on a few ads plus a lot of passion.

Then the second largest bank in the USA, Bank of America, changed its policies on the threat of being outed.  Rainforest Action Network (RAN) 2  Banks 0.

Because when you tell me my money is invested in wholesale destruction, I will pay attention.  Eradicating rain-forests is a no-no on my agenda.  While providing sustainable employment opportunities in Southern Africa is a great, big yes (so long, of course, as I get a decent return).

If  you want to  relieve the world’s deadliest diseases,  go shopping.  Preferably at Emporio Armani, or Gap, or buy a pair of Converse shoes & use your American Express Card – so long as it’s Red.  

The Portuguese say we can’t call our ports port, the French say we can’t call our champagnes champagne, the Italians say we can’t call our grappas grappa; & now Americans say we can’t call our rooibos, rooibos. It’s brand colonialism.

Yogis brand and copyright their positions and breathing. Monsanto genetically modifies nature to brand staples like soya and maize. The South African government seeks judgment in Switzerland to overturn an American corporation’s right to own and exploit southafrica.com – in the war for the consumer’s mind, enter the battalion of lawyers.