Earth Hour

From a hill just next to my house is the best view that you can get of Stockholm. Quite a few people gathered there to watch the effect of Earth Hour tonight. When we looked towards the city, not much changed as the clock struck 8.30 pm. All the streetlights were still on. When we looked in the other direction - towards Djurgården - it was quite different. Almost all the lights were turned off. Fascinating.

As I looked at the houses I was actually surprised that quite a few windows were still lit up by electric lights. Why? Did people forget about this or did they not care? Had they missed out on the information about this worldwide manifestation? Who knows. Still, most windows were dark or lit up by candles.

When the world can gather around a common cause like this, anything should be possible.



Photo: WWF

Secondary gains

Imagine that you are a smoker. Being a smoker may help you to fit into a certain personal image.
If you want to stop smoking for health or other reasons, you may still want to keep certain benefits in your personal image. This means that you need to find alternative ways of keeping or developing this image.

If some of your behaviors seem to be negative at first sight, there may be secondary gains that are positive. Find out what they are and find an alternative way of reaching them. Then it will be easier for you to stop your negative behaviors without loosing out on something.

Strengthening combinations

Co-branding can be very effective. When the fashioncompany H&M - which has quite a budgetimage - works with upgraded brands of guestdesigners like Madonna and Victor & Rolf, interesting things happen. As long as both brands are strong, they can handle this and take advantage of it. H&M is wellknown almost worldwide. The company has a large and attractive targetgroup which may be a bit off to the side for Madonna and Victor&Rolf under normal conditions. By cooperating with H&M they can get in touch with this targetgroup and still hold on to their upgraded image.

The trick is to know when co-branding works and when it does more harm. Common values may be a guideline, but it isn´t always the answer.




Bild: H&M

Invisible food

Effective branding does often apply to many of our senses. We get visual, auditive, olfactory and taste impulses. The more impulses we get, the more we are influenced by the brand. If we like the impulses we may like the brand. If we don´t we may not.

There is a restaurant which serves food that you can´t see. Imagine that. Your visual sense will be met by darkness, nothing else. Your other senses will need to do the whole job in order to give you the proper information. The brandmanager will need to stimulate your other senses more than usual in order to convince you.

If you would like to experience this, visit Svartkrogen at Almåsa, just outside of Stockholm. Notice that the restaurant is actually named after the sense that is missing. It is branded by the not existing value.

Svartkrogen



Photo: Svartkrogen

Employer - to - do

When we build our employer brand, we can save time and effort by working in a systematic way. There are some actions that are especially effective ways of moving forward:

* Implement the vision of your company in your employees. Live as you learn. Make them proud ambassadors of your company.
* Find out why your employees are loyal and stay in the company and what it is that attracts new employees.
* Review your recruitment communication. What does your offer look like? What is your message and who do you turn to?
* Communicate the things that make you different from other employers, especially your competitors.
* Make sure that the recruitment follows and is a part of the marketingstrategy of your company.