Egypt Travel - attractive and differentiated 'heritage' positioning

After a long, fun and interesting day at the Market Research Day in Stockholm on Thursday, and a six o'clock rise the day after I was rather tired, with slighlty cloudy thoughts travelling home from work yesterday afternoon. Despite my slightly hazed thoughs I couldn't avoid the impact of the new Egypt Travel ads on the tube. For years I've seen Egypt Travel, as well as all other countries with the slightest bit of sunshine and kilometres of beach, trying to position themselves as 'the amazing beachspot with crystal clear waters and glorious sand'. The ads have all showed off a beach and some very happy and tanned, fantastic looking people... Wow, that's some serious differentiation and uniqueness!!! I've been bored by this obvious and endless tirade of 'sameness'...

But Egypt Travel has changed! Their new campaign emphasises something totally different and it does so in a manner that I find well executed and highly attractive.

The new 'where it all begins' positioning emphasises Egyps cultural heritage and unique experiences via historical spots and the imagery they use is incredibly tantalising. This tells me that Egypt Travel has done a bit of homework and that they've, for matters unknown to me but perhaps linked to lack of differentiation, changed their positioning and target group. Hopefully this new positioning is also linked to strong insights with regards to travellers needs and a sizing of the new 'heritage' opportunity. Alltogether it's a bold move and it's a move that I like. I hope it works!

Arla Communication - clever use of packaging

It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting around by my kitchen table enjoying a lazy breakfast... Suddenly I realise that I'm not just sitting around enjoying my brekkie. I'm also being communicated to... In a few minutes time while I believe that my eyes have rested on the Arla milk carton I've also learnt about their latest Arla Kelda launch - a Tuscan tomatosoup. That's powerful! I'm being communicated too in my own home by the kitchen table in an engaging and non intrusive manner. I like! And Arla is also keeping it personal and interesting - via little stories and ideas of how I can make my life easier.
I'm impressed with the way that Arla communicates on their packaging. And I'm impressed that their marketing people have made the whole organisation - and particularly production and purchasing who have to deal with an increased degree of flexibility - understand the power of this kind of communication. It sure works!

Cloetta Good - great chocolate, right identity?

I came across a newly launched fair trade chocolate yesterday. It is Swedish Cloetta who have embarked on the fair trade journey with the launch of Cloetta Good, a two product range launch based on the simple motto of ‘feel good/better when you eat good tasting chocolate’.
The good thing about the Cloetta Good milk chocolate that I bought and tried is that it does taste awesome. Far better than average bulk milk chocolate. Cloetta has understood the importance of laddering up their benefits and ensuring that the emotional benefit of ‘feel good about your chocolate eating’ is supported by a strong and equally powerful functional benefit of ‘superb chocolate taste’. So, I certainly give the product benefits a thumbs up!
What’s even more important though is a well-executed differentiated positioning and consumer relevant identity visible via packaging, design and communication. Could the Cloetta Good perhaps have benefited from a more bare, classy and stylish positioning and identity rather than the more mid-range look and feel that they’ve embarked on. That’s the question that I’m left with as I munch on my last piece of milk chocolate…

Are these the worst food trends of the noughties?

Came across this list when I checked around for trends... It's an article by Simon Majumdar on The Guardians website.

He has summarised his worst 10 food trends of the last 10 years. The list includes:

10. Slates, smears, commas and skidmarks
9. Small plate dining and international tapas
8. Cheap cuts at cut-throat prices
7. Underground pop-up restaurants
6. MasterChef
5. Molecular gastronomy
4. Gastropubs
3. Seasonal and local
2. Bloggers
1. Chef as brand extension

Well written and a good list too. The funny thing is that a lot of these so called 'trends' are just emerging trends in Sweden...

ICA To go - for time-starved city Swedes

Are city Swedes ready for ready-meals? ICA, the largest food retailer in Sweden appears to think so with the launch of ICA To go – a new convenience food retail concept for time poor city dwellers. The new concept will be focused on providing fresh food, ‘fast to cook’ food and ready-meal solutions for time-poor, and (most likely) fairly cash rich city folks. The first shop will open on busy Kungsgatan sometime later this spring. The move also follows the success of Gooh, the innovative ready-meals initiative by Lantmännen. After five years in the Stockholm region where Gooh is moving from strength to strength. The Gooh movement is now moving over the Swedish west-coast with 18 so called ‘shop-in-shop’ retail spots opening across Gothenburg during February 2010. From its launch until this day Gooh hasn’t really faced any serious competition. Tthe ICA move is a sure sign that this privileged situation won’t last forever. The interesting thing will be to see what kinds of food ICA have dec ided to offer time-starved city folks and professionals. Gooh’s offer is hard to beat with their offer of high quality, premium ready-meals based on their co-operation with Swedish maestro chef Stefano Catenacci.

Well, this sure is an interesting development in Sweden, where we don’t yet have the convenience food retail concepts similar to e.g. Tesco Extra, M&S Food and Sainsbury’s Local that one can spot on any high-street in the UK. So,soon I’ll be back with my first report after visiting Ica To go. Being one of those time-starved people I hope it will be a positive one!

Is this the stove of the future?

I like to see innovative thinking - this time it comes from Swedish kitchen appliance manufacturer Electrolux. Is this the stove of the future?

What do you think?

Where are the differentiated brand positionings in the world of banking and insurance?

That's a good question. I'm just in the process of transferring my home insurance and it suddenly struck me that I feel no loyalty whatsoever to the company that has been my home insurance provider for years. No, instead I'm sick of being ignored as a customer after having paid more than 5000SEK a year for a number of years. Where are the customer benefits or the perks? Why don't I feel special or valued? I'm moving on. And this time I will change to a provider that will be probably be equally rubbish at making me feel special - but this time for 3500SEK per year.

So, what's the problem - why don't these companies try to differentiate themselves and their brands? Is it simply that they don't feel the need to be different? They somehow inherit their customers (the child goes to the same bank as the parents...), tie them to the bank by creating difficult transfer systems (Anyone out there who's keen to swap retail bank?). In the UK some 10 years ago there were a number of online banks that did a great job of creating differentiated brand positionings. One of those is Egg. I loved the way they communicated their brand as youthful, fun and energetic. I've personally never used them as a bank but I think they've done fairly well for themselves. Apart from Egg - another bank that is different and has made me feel special and valued as a customer is First Direct in the UK. These banks have a clear view of their target group. They understand their banking needs. For First Direct this has resulted in an amazing level of customer service and a matter of fact, simple, personal and non-interfering style.

In Sweden I've got nothing to report on when it comes to different brand propositions in the world of banking. But hopefully new names like e.g. Avanza, might realise the potential of brand when it comes to engaging with and creating long lasting loyalty with consumers. We will see!

Benefit - the fresh thinkers in the world of cosmetics

When I visited New York a few years ago I came across Benefit, the wonderful and very creative cosmetics brand for the first time. Benefit is one of those brands that just stands out as special and different in a premium cosmetics category where most brands appear to go after the same target group with the same products and very similar positionings. Well, Benefit sure is different from those brands. It positions itself as the girlish cute, ultra feminine and tongue in cheek premium cosmetics brand for women who are proud to embrace the positive aspects of 'girly'. And the execution of their positioning is clever too. They've got an amazingly creative product portfolio with products to prove their worth. I bought my first Benefit product recently when travelling through KL airport. It was the Hello Flawless powder and... it's far better than any powder I've tried recently. It's the first Benefit product I've bought - but it certainly won't be the last. Unfortunately though, Benefit still doesn't have a presence in Sweden... So, I have to save my money for now. But I do want to be a Benefit gal!

Saab Spyker Automobiles - what's in a brand name?

This is one of the questions I get back to every time I read a new article discussing the take-over. I think the new Saab Spyker brand name just sits so well on the tongue... 'Saab Spyker' - it sounds different, it sounds bold and it sounds fast!
Will the Saab Spyker cars deliver against those criteria? I don't know... only time will tell. But if they are clever and play their cards right they might have something very powerful there... Think about Apple, think about Orange, think about Innocent or any other truly different brand name that you've come up against that sits really well on the tongue... If those names represent the embodiment of differentiated, challenging, niche positionings that appeal to a specific (and perhaps fairly affluent) target group they stand a fairly good chance of doing well. However, I'm also very aware that I say this purely from a brand perspective. I'm surely not an engineer, and I'm surely not a financier either...

So good luck Saab Spyker! Whilst sorting out your financing and engineering, don't forget your most powerful asset - the brand Saab Spyker. If you play your cards right, the Saab Spyker brand will last and flourish. Who knows, I might just crave the latest edition Saab Spyker one day just like I'm currently craving the Apple Iphone...

Santa Maria shows off new concept called 'A more spicy Africa'

Well, I've been quiet for a while but now I'm back again...

So, what's new? Well, I just spotted this new and 'spicy' spice concept by Santa Maria, an innovative swedish food and spice company. It's called 'A more spicy Africa' and includes four new spice products inspired by the african food and taste culture.

The range includes: Durban Curry, Green Harissa, Chermoula and Piri Piri. All presented with a touch of 'african cool' when it comes to product and range design. To present the range Santa Maria also use the Swedish master chef Markus Samuelsson, internationally famous with his well-known NYC restaurant Aquavit. Nice touch (albeit a bit costly?)!

What do you think? Hit or miss? I personally love the idea. The african food culture is certainly one to watch when it comes to new and trendy food flavours. The one thing I would be worried about when spending money on this launch is how swedes will be educated to use the african style and very new flavours and spices in their cooking. I hope the Santa Maria people have a clever communication plan. And I would personally love to learn more about african spices and cooking myself... so bring it on Santa Maria!