Branding: Why Steve Rocks

Although I am an avid Apple fan and am slowly becoming a pure Apple user in terms of lifestyle gadget, for me, there has always been one sacred cow that Apple has never been able to penetrate - that of the mobile phone domain. For me I am a Nokia loyalist. Having made the mistake of following a trend and switching to Sony Ericsson, I can now happily say that I am back with Nokia and have never been happier.

Think Different...And Make Customers Happy

So when the iPhone came out I was intrigued but apprehensive and the touchscreen keyboard was a concept that frustrated the hell out of me with constant spelling errors due to the proximity of each key. I was sure that I would be one of the few that would be iPhone-free. 

Brand Talk : Getting Started.

I am currently on the Ask the Expert panel on the tmsme.biz website and the most frequent question I get asked is- How do I brand my company or my product?
Many people think branding is harder than it is and many think it is easier than it really is. What it is, is somewhere in between! Those that think it is hard, often get so stuck in the planning stage and the channels available to them that they never get off the ground. Those that think it is easy, often have a DIY approach which may work well depending on the type of company or product you have. DIY approaches often fail when you are selling anything premium or when your company has reach a certain level of growth that requires the branding to look more organised and sophisticated.

The biggest mistake people often make is thinking that branding is too expensive for them and it is not worth getting a professional to do it.

Ladies and Gentlemen - The Ritz-Carlton Brand

A while ago I wrote an article about 'Living the brand' and one of the examples I chose was the Ritz-Carlton. Their credo of 'Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen' struck a chord in me. I had experienced the brand when dining or attending conferences, never as a guest.

But I made a careful note that I would one day, and my resolve toughened last week.

I was on a business trip to Shanghai, and I dropped in at the Ritz-Carlton for a nice coffee break after visiting the Apple flagship store in Pudong. The coffee was lovely, the service thoughtful and impeccable. Around 6.30pm, one of us said we were hungry – the staff advised us that their ciabatta sandwich would be 50 per cent off at 7pm.

Now get this.

Return on Investment for Training (by Juarez Lowe)

This article by my associate Juarez Lowe of is very timely given that Client's are demanding tangible results and measurements for their training investments.
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Measurement of training is a common issue faced by most HR/Training managers. How much do you get for your training investment? Does your return justify the investment?

Kirkpatrick came up with 4 levels of evaluation.

Levels 1 and 2 are skills and knowledge. That can be measured by a pre and post training evaluation. Normally the pre and post results will almost always show a marked improvement, from around 20-30% in the pre to 80-90% in the post training evaluation.

Level 3 is behavioral change. The person’s behaviour has changed due to the training. The person who is most often tasked with this is the direct supervisor.

The “holy grail” of training is level 4, return on investment training. This has to be done over a long term period, not a 1 or 2 day training session. How has the training impacted the business and resulted in direct returns for the company?

Why Branding should be the heart of every business.

For the past decade in Malaysia, there have been many messages being propagated and proliferated about Branding and this one word has cause much confusion. Some say that it is marketing, others say that it is a logo design; even advertising and communications companies say they are branding.

So what is branding?

I believe that branding is all of the above and so much more.

A brand is the human embodiment of a company. One that has a soul, a creed, a personality and intrinsic values.

“At the root of the crisis are basic failings of management. Too many companies focused on short-term profits at the expense of long-term stewardship. Too many substituted cleverness for genuine innovation. And too many have treated their people as expendable instead of as their most valuable resource.” Why Drucker Now (YouTube)

Brand Audits: Why we should ask ‘why?'

When it comes to branding, the real money lies in tackling an often-neglected question: ‘Why?

Understanding the ‘whys’ is essential if want to listen to your brand and really hear what it is telling you.

Why are people buying your brand and not the other? Why is this brand cooler than the other?  Why are people willing to share and tell others about everyone else’s brand but yours? Why is it that some brands get better quality applicants than yours?

And then we have the the mother of all ‘whys’ – why are people willing to pay three times more for your competitor’s brand when you know your product quality is so much better?