“And like that… he was gone” Kevin Spacey. The Usual Suspects (1995). Probably talking about the first quarter of 2005 (!)
Hopefully the year of the Rooster has been lucky for you so far. While the rest of us consider ourselves lucky if we find a few coins down the back of the sofa, Bernie Ebbers, my old employer, hasn’t been so lucky. Found guilty on all counts of hiding $13 billion from Wall St. I can’t even imagine a sofa that big…
This month we interviewed Michel Le Quellec and David Padgham, the two directors who have bought one of Mobile Visions’ clients, the Wall Street Institute (WSI), to Bangkok and made it a phenomenal success.
DP: “ WSI was an unknown brand in Thailand when we arrived so the first objective was brand awareness followed by lead generation. We used print media and the Skytrains.”. They firmly believed in sticking to one message whatever vehicle they used.
“From day 1 our purpose has been to drive students into our school. Therefore we pick prime locations and make each branch a marketing vehicle in it’s own right”
ML: “ We have always tracked all our marketing very closely and measure everything we do in ‘cost per contract’. We have spent a lot of money on marketing but by measuring the results of each campaign and marketing methods we use we waste very little.
DP: “As we became more established our strategies changed. We focused on offering incentives to our existing clients such as refer-a-friend. We also built up our web and mobile strategy (SMS & WAP pages) inline with a growing technical awareness amongst our core demographic.”
ML: "Our biggest challenge now is coming up with new creatives every single month. We have tried very hard to involve our students in this. Not only does it give us instant and free market research it also gives many of them some real world experience with the processes you need to follow."
Michels modesty is because ‘we don’t want to tell our competitors everything’ but watch this space later in the year to see how they are going raise their brand awareness to a whole new level…
If we are ever meeting new people then at some point someone is going to ask us: ‘What do you do’
Are you aware of the effect your answer has on people? Some people almost apologise for their job roles whilst others launch into a sales pitch monologue. One of the interesting threads in the Networking for Success club this month was members testing out and evaluating their opening statements. What does yours say about you?
You can find out more about Networking for Success and join it here or here
A recent ‘Which’ study found that the effects of cartoon ‘celebrity’ endorsements were proving more effective then most people thought. The comments from a parents focus groups were very interesting: 'disgusting', 'sick', 'outrageous' and 'despicable' were a few of the words used about cartoon endorsements. "The kids don't care what the cereal is, it's who's on the cover."
And while most parents believed they had responsibility for their children’s eating they thought they were ‘powerless’ against being manipulated by marketing practices (!).
Easy scapegoat or has marketing to kids really become so omnipotent? I asked Ian Stewart, CEO of the youth marketing company Filter Group here in Asia.
"marketing to children using characters to endorse the brand has been around
for decades - think Tony the Tiger - but with Hollywood wanting to deliver
their animated film stars via as many channels as possible, it is inevitable
that supermarkets today look like one huge sponsorship circus"
MobyElite is a new business that recently started here in Thailand helping clients manage their customer relations and exceeding their customers expectations. They will be running a free seminar next month. Click here if you would like to attend
Have a great couple of months,
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