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The importance of being visible
Brett M. Decker
Individuals need strong brands too
Success in business is often based on philosophical nuances. For example, there is a fine but essential difference between vanity and a desire for high visibility. Vanity, according to one raggedy old dictionary, is excessive pride in qualities or appearances that lack genuine value. The hunt for high visibility, on the other hand, is often part of an effort to add value to individuals, organizations or operations that already have legitimate worth but would benefit by calling greater attention to their positive traits. The highly revised third edition of High Visibility: Transforming Your Personal and Professional Brand (McGraw-Hill, $27.95), by Michael Alan Hamlin, Philip Kotler, Irving Rein and Martin Stoller, takes a hard look at why being seen can be as important as having vision.
The book’s first nuggets of classical business wisdom center on the fundamental need to establish a brand identity. Essentially, this boils down to crafting, controlling and communicating an individual and recognizable image. As the authors write, the goal is to “deeply imprint the product in the minds of some target audience so that it is well understood, recognizable, desirable--and recalled when buying decisions are contemplated.” In this way, branding is one of the fundamental tactics to successful business strategy.
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Posted
7/31/2008 4:56:34 AM |
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President Arroyo's failure
Brett M. Decker
Gloria could have cleaned things up, but didn't
I penned the article below six and a half years ago. Reading it with a mere two years left in President Arroyo’s stay in Malacanang, one cannot escape the uncomfortable fact that good governance has taken several steps backwards during her presidency. I suppose that the old adage is indeed true: The more things change, the more they stay the same. If anything substantial has changed in the way business is done in Manila, I am afraid it’s that one still has to pay to play, but the cost of playing now is much higher. The article's original headline asks a simple question: Can Gloria tackle graft? The simple answer is that she could have if she wanted to do so, but the president chose a different path. Sometimes a country needs only one strong, committed and courageous leader to clean things up. Does that one leader exist in the Philippines today? And if so, who is it?
Can Gloria Tackle Graft?
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Posted
7/30/2008 11:39:50 PM |
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Pardoning the mutineers
Brett M. Decker
How President Arroyo outwits her opposition
May 21, 2008
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's pardon last week of the soldiers who plotted her 2003 overthrow at first blush does not seem prudent. The ringleaders used 300 soldiers to seize control of a hotel and shopping center in Manila's upscale Makati business district. Many in the military's ranks still seek the President's removal from office. On closer examination, however, this pardon offers a handy case study to understand how Ms. Arroyo governs.
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Posted
7/30/2008 10:50:03 PM |
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comScore’s “State of the Internet” in Asia
Michael Alan Hamlin
Don’t forget the Philippines
According to comScore, which provides information on consumer behavior on the Internet, the world’s Internet population has shifted dramatically in the past decade or so. In 1996, the United States accounted for two thirds of Internet usage. Twelve years on, it accounts for just 20 percent. In less than two years, the global Internet population will increase to more than one billion, and Asia Pacific will account for more than 40 percent of all users 15 years of age and above who access the Internet at home or work.
(You can download the comScore presentation and the news release.)
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Posted
7/30/2008 2:54:02 PM |
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Just do it!
Michael Alan Hamlin
Nike celebrates two decades of tagline resonance
Nike’s theme and tagline, “Just Do It”, has been resonating among consumer athletes and would-be athletes for 20 years. Last week the company launched a commemorative anniversary campaign for the tagline online that quickly expanded to television in some markets. The video campaign goes full bore August 8th to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics and includes 25 simultaneous in-person events post-Olympics.
Dubbed “Courage ”, the campaign demonstrates two important principles of effective brand marketing: 1) the benefits of consistency in brand strategy; and, 2) the benefits of non-traditional communication channels; in this case, the web and in-person event branding. The campaign also shows that while television advertising continues to dominate brand communication in terms of investment, its share of media is declining to developing as well as developed markets.
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Posted
7/25/2008 6:14:30 PM |
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Joe Ledesma and his bold, unpopular decisions
Michael Alan Hamlin
The transition from institutional mediocrity to world-class innovator
Almost 28 years ago, a young hospital administrator who had been fired from his first big job turning around a provincial hospital, took over a much bigger one: St. Luke’s Hospital. Considered one of the worst hospitals in Manila at the time, in 1980 St. Luke’s had revenues of just P18 million, which produced a meager profit of P100,000. The new administrator, Jose F.G. Ledesma, knew he faced a sizable challenge.
Hospitals are complex organizations to manage. According to Ledesma, “you have to deal with doctors who do not want to be under non-physician professionals; many of these physicians are gifted, highly competent prima donnas imposing their will on management. You deal with a constant threat of malpractice cases. You face a growing population which can hardly afford the rapidly increasing cost of medical care.
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Posted
7/14/2008 12:39:00 PM |
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CSR is everyone's business
Michael Alan Hamlin
Becoming strategically relevant
Two weeks from today the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) will launch its 2008 annual conference. The theme of this year’s conference is “CSR Is Everyone’s Business,” suggesting that the practice of corporate social responsibility is more than a public relations exercise for multinationals. Instead, “every company must take CSR seriously if it wants to survive in these times of intense competition and unpredictable challenges,” according to LCF president Pacita U. Juan.
Juan - or Chit as everyone I know calls her - is the highly-respected CEO of Figaro Coffee Company, Inc. Named Entrepreneur of the Year for 2004, Juan founded Figaro with seven friends who shared a passion for coffee in 1993. A decade later, the chain boasted 30 stores, including one in China. Today the upscale Figaro chain numbers more than 60 thriving retail outlets.
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Posted
7/2/2008 12:40:29 PM |
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