WIN World - Global Markets - Behind the Logo. Simplicity for global logos as the only one solution as global economic market moves towards far-reaching globalization.
1. Miguel’s column
Behind the Logo
Since the beginning of times that mankind uses icons, symbols and signs as vehicles
to communicate. Logos are, in a way, an evolution of this phenomenon – their goal is
to communicate the values of an organization or brand. Being so, the effort put in by
today’s designers has become more challenging and inspirational than ever before.
As the international economic market moves towards far-reaching globalization,
consumers can truly sense the idea behind the logo itself. When it comes to
interpreting a particular logo, the onlooker doesn’t have the time to go through the
details of a complex image. Moreover, designers are now confronted with an
increasingly large multitude of cultures present in any product’s final target. As such,
the challenge of a designer who aspires to represent the product through a logo, so
that the particular brand can have global success, is to keep it simple. The strength
of the logo should not only reveal the brand’s positioning in the market, but should
also have a unique value proposition that can clearly state the essence of its purpose
people, product and process.
In face of all these requirements, there is only one solution for global logos:
simplicity.
Miguel Garvão
Head of Art & Design
Issue 05 | Year 02 | April | 2014
JIM STENGEL
“START BIG OR START SMALL, BUT START NOW.
IT’S TIME.”
He is the former Global Marketing Officer of one of
the most admired brand building companies in the
world – Procter & Gamble.
Jim Stengel will be in Portugal on the 4th of June, at
Global Corporations Conference 2014. WIN World got
curious and asked some questions to one of the
world’s greatest marketing and branding experts.
full interview at page 04
In conversation with Jim Stengel
2. 02page
Post of the monthBook of the month
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Inspiring thought
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
GROW
Author: Jim Stengel
WORKPLACE | HAPPINESS AT THE WORKPLACE
In Scandinavia, there is a word for "Hapiness at
work": Arbejdsglaede.
Make your registration now at www.globalcorporationsconference.com
CINEMA SÃO JORGE | LISBON | JUNE 4th 2014 | 14H00
+5 CEOS OF SUCCESSFUL GLOBAL CORPORATIONS
NENAD PACEK
5 EMERGING MARKETS IN 30 MINUTES
JIM STENGEL
WHAT MAKES A GLOBAL BRAND
PERSPECTIVES, KNOWLEDGE, EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS, DEBATES, NETWORKING.
A CONFERENCE FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO INTERNATIONALIZE SUCCESSFULLY.
3. Upcoming conferences
03page
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Global Corporations Conference - June 4th, 2014
Inspiring People for the World
With: Nenad Pacek and Jim Stengel
Cinema São Jorge, Lisbon
THE PATH FOR HIGH AND SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE
When the ashes clear from an economic Armageddon, the only organizations left standing will be those
that actually stand for something. Without a Purpose that improves people's lives and contributes to the
greater good, organizations will struggle.
A dynamic and interactive workshop, with an international renown master on conscious capitalism. An
approximately 6 hours in length workshop should be populated by up to 30 participants representing a
cross-section of high-performing, highly-engaged leaders throughout the organization.
4. 04page
In conversation with Jim Stengel
In your opinion, what are the key factors to build a
global brand?
To me there are three mandatory things that have to happen.
The first one is that the brand has to be anchored or based in a big
idea that meets some universal need of people. If you have that,
the brand can transfer across cultures. I call this the higher ideal
(some people call it a mission or a purpose). If that is clearly
understood, clearly articulated, clearly imbedded in people’s hearts
and minds, you can have a global brand.
One example that I admire very much is Dove, the personal care
brand from Unilever. It was a competitor of P&G when I was there
and I admired it then. Dove grew over 10% last year. It’s a
sixty-year-old brand and they really want to stand for women’s
self-esteem; that’s their universal ideal. And the way they keep
innovating, to me, is very remarkable and they’re being rewarded
for that. I think Nike is also a brand that has stayed relevant, interesting and innovative for their
entire existence - which is now almost 40 years. And it’s all about helping everyone be a better
athlete – in whatever way they choose and are capable of. They’re moving now into electronics to
help you measure your exercise, your movement and your activity, then enter it into a database and
share it around the world. It’s remarkable. They’re just not limited to the products they’re currently
selling. So these are two great examples of brands that meet sort of a higher purpose or universal
need.
The second – and this is really important for a global brand – is that you need very strong
leadership. You need someone at the top, or a team at the top, that truly does understand the
universal need, the purpose and keeps everyone focused on it. And usually, in business, most
leaders are more comfortable with details, with day-to-day operations - they are trained and
schooled on that. They‘re not often schooled on how to lead a brand with a higher mission, which
takes different activities, different rewards, and different behavior. So leadership at the top is
extremely important. LVMH understands this very well. Every one of their brands has what they call
an artist or designer and a business operator at the top. And that is how they can lead these brands
effectively around the world.
The third part is that you need to have in the company, across the world, a culture of collaboration,
sharing and customer-centrality. Because global brands cannot just be led in one city or in 100
cities. There has to be a blend. You have to have a culture where everyone wants to share what
they’re doing, where one sees something interesting and wants put it into the market.
So, to sum up, I think these are the three key factors - a higher ideal, a strong leader at the top,
and a very strong culture of collaboration, sharing and customer focus within the company.
There are many other details but if you don’t have these three, it won’t work.
5. 05page
Can you mention an example of a global brand that has inspired you
throughout your career?
I am inspired by a lot of brands. Certainly, Nike has been an inspiration. I’m an athlete so it’s a good
match for me. It is a company that has inspired me for many years since I was young. When I became
Global Marketing Officer of P&G, one of the first things I did was calling Nike. I said: “Can I come
visit? Can I come and spend a few days with you?” - I ended up shooting a webcast from the
headquarters of Nike back to P&G. We had everyone in the marketing group on their computer while
it was broadcasting. I was walking around, interviewing people, showing them the offices and talking
to Nike about what keeps them special and innovative, how do they continue to grow. This brand is
always changing, always innovating but staying true to their higher mission.
I also admire very much The Discovery Communications Group. I just visited them recently and they
are more successful than ever. They are constantly about satisfying the curiosity - they hire for that,
they reward it, they innovate against it. They’re relentless, they never stop.
I also like what Burberry is doing. They’re thinking about their designs and they have a big
purpose/mission about britishness. They want to bring britishness to people and they think about
their stores as an extension to their website. They started digital and they worked backwards. So if
you go to their latest store in Regent Street, in London, it feels as if you are walking into a computer,
into their website – it’s remarkable. And so they’re a brand I admire just because they’re really
rethinking the shopping experience – and this is very unusual in luxury products. Most people feel it’s
about the retail experience but Burberry is challenging that notion. They’re selling more online,
they’re creating a retail experience that is more like their digital experience.
How can a business make use of social media to build a global brand?
The first thing about social media is that you have to have a strategy. You have to ask yourself: Why
am I doing this? A lot of people just jump into it because it’s fashionable, so I think the first thing is
asking why you are doing it, what are you trying to achieve – that’s what good strategies are about.
Secondly, if you’re going to be on social media - and most companies are choosing to be on social
media - you have to do things that people want to share, because that’s what social media is about.
People are not going into social media to study P&G, right? They are going to find things that
entertain them, educate them, amuse them and that they want to share. You have to understand that.
As a company in today’s context, you need to comprehend this and produce things - content, pictures
and stories - that people want to share. Coca-Cola is doing an amazing job on that.
This implies a change in your mindset: almost every company becomes a content company.
And, if you aspire to be a global brand, you have to be able to do this effectively in many cultures,
many languages - so you have to have centrally led principles but lots of local activation. And, once
again, you need a strong culture of sharing, collaboration, to achieve this.
The last thing I would say about social media is that no one understands everything about it. It moves
too fast. Therefore, it is crucial to approach those who understand the media best and learn from
them. Seek a partnership with them, go to the people who really understand it and move beyond the
traditional transactional relationship.
6. 06page
In which ways can a brand convey trust to consumers?
You have to behave that way. It’s all about authenticity, sincerity and hence it’s more important than
ever that everyone in an organization understands the mission, the ideal and that people are rewarded
to behave according to that mission or ideal. If this exists in your culture, consumers will talk about that
and they will reward you. Behavior therefore has to come first. And then everything else will follow.
Frankly, everyone makes mistakes. And if you make mistakes and you handle them openly, try to fix
them quickly, people will have even more trust in you. Toyota, for instance, just announced a recall of
1.6 million vehicles and they did it before anyone asked them to do it. They have had no accidents.
They think this is just the right thing to do and now, in my mind, I have higher respect for them.
It’s just really all about behavior. And some of the bad trust issues that have happened in the world, on
global brands, have to do with the companies not behaving according to a higher ideal. People see that
very quickly and it’s very tough to recover from that.
From your 25-year-experience at P&G, can you recall a market that was particularly
challenging to enter?
All markets are challenging. But I will give you some characteristics of markets that were especially
challenging for Procter & Gamble.
Actually, Brazil was one of them. It was very challenging for P&G. Obviously, it is a tremendous
economy, with tremendous innovation happening and they’re doing great work now. The reason it was
tough for us was, first of all, that there was a strong competitor already established. Unilever was very
strong in Brazil and we were not as strong as them. Unilever is very strong in South Africa and in India
as well. These were all difficult markets for us because one of our major competitors had a very strong
relationship with consumers and retailers.
Furthermore, if you are a global brand, chances are that you’re importing many things, such as finished
products, and countries with high import taxes and high trade barriers are challenging for global
companies and global brands. And in Brazil, at the time we entered, the country had some very difficult
taxes for us which made prices higher and made it difficult to establish the brand.
Finally, the lack of retail infrastructure was another barrier in many of the markets where P&G went into.
When we first went into Russia, China, and most of Eastern Europe, it was very difficult to get products
to consumers. So we had to take a lot of time and spend a lot of money into establishing a good retail
network that was reliable, honest and transparent.
Which advice would you give to a small or medium enterprise who is now trying to
enter new markets and go global?
First, make sure you have an ideal, your own purpose.
Second, have a differentiator, a special product or service. Because if you’re like everyone else, it’s not
going to work. Something has to be special or different about you.
Thirdly, be sure your talent is right and that you have the right leaders. When we entered Eastern
Europe, many years ago, when the wall came down and the markets opened up, I was one of the first
leaders to go over there. We didn’t think enough about talent and HR early enough. So I think having a
very strong organization, special the local organization, is tremendously important.
Also, tactically, it is better to go in with a premium offering that you can charge for. Because, in this way,
you will have room to spend on marketing and other areas to grow your awareness and invest on trials
of your product or service.