luminou on iphone : monetizing a product communication

An exemple of an intelligent way to monetize a product communication : Luminou offers a choice of 10 adorable plush toys that glow in the dark, and shuts down gradually depending on the length of your choice. Sevices + usefulness = money.

The way to monetize the brand communication on Smartphones

Luminou ("In the Dark, you can see me") is a soft toys produced by Jemini, an european leader of soft toys (official licensee of Disney, Hello Kitty, Crazy Rabbits...). Luminou is a successful glowing product, with 300.000 sales by year in european market.

Jemini have produced the app Luminou, certainly the most soporific application in the AppleStore! Designed for little ones (and tallest!) who are afraid on the dark,  Luminou will go gently  with your child in his sleep.

Luminou offers a choice of 10 adorable plush toys that glow in the dark, and shuts down gradually depending on the length of your choice.

The user can also choose from 10 musical themes composed by Rondinara group, recognized expert in music for babies. The group Rondinara combines the use of acoustic instruments blended with nature sounds or our daily environment, to create sweet melodies, harmonious and smooth to create a subtle and soothing musical environment.

The luminou will be sold at 1,99 USD.

Content, services : that's how it works, as in real life. If you offer a real content, a real service to consummers, they will be ready to give you money for this.

Luninous on iPhone website

BRAND, MARKETING, NOODLES: What about vanity ?

BRAND, MARKETING, NOODLES: What about vanity ?

What about vanity ?

vanity
[van-i-tee] adjective –noun
1. excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.; character or quality of being vain; conceit: Failure to be elected was a great blow to his vanity.
2. an instance or display of this quality or feeling.
3. something about which one is vain.
4. lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness: the vanity of a selfish life.

From The Brand Generator, some brands created about talking about vanity :


VANITISH

VANIT'Z

VANITEEN

VANITIVE

VANITOUS

VANITBE ( BE VANITY ?)

VANITENS

VANITING

VANITINE

VANITON

VANITÉ (the french translation of Vanity)

VANITUM

VANITISS

VANITESS


Those names can be added to an other word.
VANITESS CARS, THE SHOP OF VANITÉ,.....

More on The Brand Generator :
http://www.thebrandgenerator.com

Jan Miense Molenaer (c 1610-1668), Allegory of Vanity, 1633, Dutch. Oil on canvas. 102.2 x 149.8 cm. Courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio (http://www.toledomuseum.org)

Brands : the ultimate How to Do Synthesis

 The purists will howl, but for those who don't have time to read the Marketing Bible, a little explanation, short and simple to understand, about key concepts to built a brand.

1- DEFINITIONS

What is a brand ?
A brand is the combination of 3 elements : the product or the service (design & quality), the positionning (consummer target and style), the expresion of the positioning (communication, shop, VI…).

How to build a brand ?
A brand have to have a captain, a person who decide where we want to go, this person have to have the vision of the brand. The vision is the the focus point where we want to go. This focus point should never change, but the location of the focus point will change, at the same time of the evolution of the environement and of the evolution of the brand itself.
Define and describe the vision and the positionning is the strategic plan.

What is values (brand values) ?
Values are what that define the brand, what is his psychology, his philosophy. As for a human person, values come from the soul, the education, the experience.

What is design (especially communication design like brand design, retail, packaging, website…)?
Design is "to dress" the brand according with the strategy and value.

2- THE VISION
Now, you know where you are, you know where you want to go.
Where you are : a brand without vision, just a brand among others.
Where you want to go (the vision): to be a xxxxx oriented brand, with xxxxxx level positionning, with xxxxxx spirit.

In order to reach the vision, you have to build a brand with a specific soul, in order to be « alive ». Alive means that the consummer can feel the personnality of the brand, as for an human person, regarding his way to talk, the accent, the body moving, the meaning of the word he uses, …etc

For exemple, your values are : know-how (we like to work well, because we prefer well finished products),  respect (for ourself and for others, we take care of others as we take care of us),  elegance (that means natural comportment oriented to nice and good taste things and products) complicity (that means proximity, sharing experiences and knowledges), pleasure (for me and myself, that means taking time for life, taking time to appreciate quality and intelligence).
All those values are the soul of the brand, wich is synthesized by the concept. The concept is a pure idea, wich is the result and the begining of the strategy. In french we call this the « fond  de marque » (it can be translated in english as the foundation, but in french the sense is more deeper).

3- HOW TO CONTROL ?
The problem is to check if what you do is ok with your brand when you design visual identity, shops, products (or services), website, communication,....
The idea is not to put the concept  on the design, but to check if that what you have designed is OK with the values and the positioning of the brand.
There is no guide book, or recipe for this. The marketing team have to judge if they are on the target, with the more possible objectivity  (that’s not so easy to be objective!).
That's why the commun way is to use consumer group, with consumers on our target. And to ask them their feeling about the designs (without any explanation about the project).


Stephane Bertoux

A tribute to Violet Blue

Violet Blue is today in Paris for the conference LeWeb09, where all people of the global web have to be (Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Chad Hurley of YouTube, Marissa Meyer of Google ...) :  I want to make a special creation for her.
What, you do not know who is Violet Blue? She is the author of numerous guides on sexuality and of the famous podcast Open Source Sex. Actually, I did not heard about Violet Blue until her "voyage" in Paris, but we must say that I am French.
So, in tribute to Violet Blue, a special creation of names, not to put in everyone's hands (or ears!).
Name your Dick!
the Japanese style: DICKKIO
ADDICK for an addiction,
DICKENTZ, for a German,
Dickon, for an Englishman,
DICKOF, for a Russian,
DICKEZO, for an Italian
DICKKY,  if it's lovely,
DICKEEN for an environmentalist,
DICKOUS ... you can imagine ...
Dickon, if a President,
DICKUTE because you love it!

From TheBrandGenerator

Today, nothing, nothing, nada, nichts, 蔑, NIST, ништа, ekkert ... No idea, no inspiration. I give you few names created with The Brand generator, just for the pleasure of seeing nice names. This will make howl the marketing purists: "What! A brand names without platform positioning, what an heresy! ". But sometimes, heresies are good...
ECOLOVIA              VALEGO                 ADDIN
                                            WINEO                 TOCANI 
                           INODERM               EXAASE                 ADDES
                                            ONCOM                MARKEO         
                                                         'YUMMUY
             

Is Twitter Make Us Deaf ?

In his famous article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Nicholas Carr questioned the results produced by internet on the construction of our thought, which googlelized increasingly, due to a deluge of information, improperly hierarchical, fragmented and not necessarily relevant.
A global debate, justified, and which continues today, especially for younger generations who have not known printed encyclopedias, the research in a library... We will see what will happen to the world, future still open...

I now swim in the seas of Social Marketing, in the lakes of Web 2.0 and in the rivers of Social Networks, so I come to use Twitter. More exactly trying to use Twitter smartly, ie to find in Twitter something that makes me intelligent. If one wants to believe that intelligence comes from information, and from information contained in 140 characters and no more.
Twitter is based on the issue of instant messages, ultra short, from a multitude of sources : all posts from all blogs in the world (more than 30 millions worldwide) have the little button twitte-me ...
In very little time, Twitter has become a media center that delivers a continuous stream of abstruse messages, which no one pays attention. As the platform is open, unlike other social networks, you will inevitably try to "follow" (to contact) the maximum number of people, with the hope that themselves will follow you and listen to you ! Like everyone, or almost, look for the same aim on Internet, be heard by the greatest number of people, you will soon have a fabulous network of "friends" that you follow and who follow you (several thousands of contacts in a few days, tens of thousands in a few weeks).
If you follow 1000 or 2000 peoples, you receive a message every 2 or 3 seconds (this is not a statistic, it's lived!). Messages that say: "RT @ rajupp TechPP Mega Christmas Giveaway: SnagIt 9.1 http://bit.ly/6Vukxn 'n or' How to make a pet veterinary website design in photoshop http://bit.ly/4xIFRi, (that can be useful sometimes , who knows?)
Ultimately, the information becomes noise, and you become a little bit deaf!
At this point there is no other option but to disconnect the plug, turn off the noise source. Close the account.
Open a new account, only invite people who really matters to you, and share your moods or your infos, relevant and chosen. Just as with the good-old-time email ... but shorter.

BRAND, MARKETING, NOODLES: Creating a Brand: intuition or reason?

BRAND, MARKETING, NOODLES: Creating a Brand: intuition or reason?

Creating a Brand: intuition or reason?

If you look closely the history of brands, those who earn money, those who are in the minds of consumers, there is few "reason" in the brand itself (in its name). I do not think that the name "Apple" is the result of a brand platform developed by a host of high-level consultants. But more the result of an intuition or an inspiration. What is certainly true is that Steve Jobs wanted to build computers for human, and Bill Gates had an engineer vision. The name Apple is not the name Microsoft. One refers to an organic object, the other is the description of a content.

The process of creating a name organized as a list of tasks, is reasonable, certainly, but generally unsuccessful : in this case, reality is opposed to reason. Indeed, the amount of registered trademarks in the world does that created brands based on criteria organized are filed in 90% of cases. The same causes produce the same effects!
It must then appeal to intuition, or intuition of the name designer , and then compare the marks found, able to be registered, with the initial objectives of the brand.
It's the sense of the creation tool TheBrandGenerator name: by itself he cannot do nothing for anyone. It is more a support for enriching the insights, to create a corpus of names that are testable, around an idea, an intuition.

«Intuition is a combination of historical (empirical) data, deep and heightened observation and an ability to cut through the thickness of surface reality. Intuition is like a slow motion machine that captures data instantaneously and hits you like a ton of bricks. Intuition is a knowing, a sensing that is beyond the conscious understanding — a gut feeling. Intuition is not pseudo-science. - Abella Arthur» http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuition_%28knowledge%29

Wich Café are you? New brands for Cafés !

Do you know the MarketingProfs site? This is a site about marketing of course, ranked 11th in marketing category in the U.S. and 11000th worlwide site in all categories (source: Alexa.com). The forum Know-How-Exchange allows users to ask questions wich professionals can answer, in order to promote themselves (and win the contest).
In the category Name Creation, the most frequent requests concern the names of stores, especially for Cafés. That makes sense, a new coffee must create its own market by its originality, its spirit, its concept. But the consumer has to understand at the instant that this store is a Café. So the word Café (or Coffee) has to be part of the name.
Some ideas to coffee names, by TheBrandGenerator:
Classic, the original Italian Café : CAFEZO, CAFUTI, CAFUZI...
More refined, the Parisian Café : CAFANCE, DUCAFE, CAFAGNAC...
One might also think of a more exotic Café, which evokes the origins of coffee (which don't grow either in Italy nor in France!) : CAFIKI, CAFAYA, CAFUMBA, AYCAFE...
The trendy Café for younger customers: EENCAFE, CAFEO!, CAFEZZ...
And finally, low price Café, because that is the crisis: CAFOW, CAFECUT, CAF1...

Brand names created with the help of The Brand Generator.
Link to MarketingProfs : http://www.marketingprofs.com

Action verbs : brands in action!

Today, no created names, but a reflexion and creative ways to design brands.
In previous post, the key words were descriptive or suggestive (and even a proper noun).
We will focus today on one axis still little used: the verbs.
If you want to target a specific category of goods or services, you can take verbs that describe the product or service provided (eg "to sleep" for a line of mattresses). It's very simple, but not very attractive in reality because it lacks a dynamic expression and does not permit to extend the brand to others fields.


For a dynamic brand and with broader spectrum, the base to use is the action verb. This requires taking positive action verbs, of course, (eg avoid "to zap"!). Avoid actions neutral, which don't take the consumer towards a positive action (eg "to file").
Here are the  selection of action verbs that can be appropriate as bases for created brands:

• ADVISE
• CATCH
• CREATE
• CUT (negative, but interesting if it's about price, time...)
• DEAL
• DIVERT
• DO
• FEED
• FEEL
• FOUND
• GAIN
• GET
• GIVE
• GREET
• GROW
• HELP
• HIT
• HOLD
• IMPROVE
• INSPIRE
• INVENT
• JOLT
• JUMP
• LAUNCH
• LEAD
• MAKE
• MANAGE
• MEET
• MOVE
• OFFER
• PERFORM
• PLAY
• PROTECT
• PROVIDE
• RAISE
• RELAX
• RESOLVE
• RESPOND
• RISE
• SAVE
• SEDUCE
• SELECT
• SELL
• SENSE
• SERVE
• SOLVE
• START
• SUPPLY
• TAKE
• TASTE

A definition of Action Verbs
    •    Action verbs are something that a person or thing can do may be used alone as the main verb of a sentence e.g. run, jump, reach, swim, walked, fell etc.
    •    Action verbs can also be actions you can't see such as 'thought' or 'wanted'
    •    Action verbs can be time-telling verbs. They tell when something takes place - in the present, in the future or in the past

A color always in fashion: pink!

Synonym of tenderness and sweetness, virginal femininity, and princesses of fairy tales, the word pink is a good base for many activities: everything related to beauty, fashion (for some segments ), and girls of course.
The color pink is translated into French by the word "rose" : it is the same word for the color and the flower. The word rose has more romantic connotations, more adult than the word pink: we can therefore think of names of restaurants, names more "adults".
Here some brand names created today with TheBrandGenerator, with PINK and ROSE keywords : Here some brand names created today with TheBrandGenerator, with keywords PINK and ROSE.
WIPINK
PINKKI
TOPINK
PINKLY
PINKIO
PINKERM
ALPINK
and
ROSIS, ROSIS, ROSAE....and all latin declinations !
KOROS
SHOROSE
ROSAYA
ROSANCE
...and 1000 more (500 x 2) to find in TheBrandGenerator !
(picture : Copyright Robert Walling http://home.cogeco.ca/~rwalling/)

Meteor Shower Time : back to 50's brands ?

The shower peaks this year on November 17th and 18th, but you can normally see some meteors from November 13th through the 20th. The moon is set to be totally out of the way this year, granting an exceptional viewing experience for the Leonids.
Some words about Meteor used as a brand : even it's look a little bit 50's (the real SciFi age), Metor can be a good basis for a brand wich want to evocate speed action (parcels delivery company, fast food, one minute services...), or something linked with Vintage trend (new style car as Fiat 500, Mini, new Citroen Ds...or fashion and decoration products).
Here are some brands linked with Metor, created today with TheBrandGenerator : 
METEORIV

METEORON

METEORIA

METEOREL

METEOREEN

SYNETEOR

METEOREX

EXETEOR

ORETEOR...

....and 500 more in TheBrandGenerator.

(picture : http://dangthatscool.wordpress.com)

November inspiration : A Poem by Thomas Hood and The November's brands.

 November - by Thomas Hood
No sun--no moon!
No morn--no noon!
No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day--
No sky--no earthly view--
No distance looking blue--

No road--no street--
No "t'other side the way"--
No end to any Row--
No indications where the Crescents go--

No top to any steeple--
No recognitions of familiar people--
No courtesies for showing 'em--
No knowing 'em!

No mail--no post--
No news from any foreign coast--
No park--no ring--no afternoon gentility--
No company--no nobility--

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member--
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
November!

November's brands from TheBrandGenerator
WINOV
SONOV
LYNOV
NOVAE
NOVAC
NOVOVA
NOVEMSI
NOVEMAN
....and 500 more in the TheBrandGenerator.

World Kindness Day : a brand for this special day !

So, wich word can be a very expressive keyword for the World Kindness day ? "Kind" is not a good word to produce a nice brand. "K" and "D" letters are hard letters, and combined, it's sound not very sweet. We have to find an other word.
And to find this word, we have to answer to this simple question : Wich is the most kindness "concept" in the world?
Easy, it's Mum!...and Dad.
So here are the fresh brands about Mum and Dad, from The Brand Generator : Enjoy them!
If we want to have Japan style brand :  MUMOYO, KIOMUM...
Or with a "green" tast : MUMINY, OLOMUM,
Or for fun ! MUMUBA, JEEMUM, MUMEEN...

A pretty one is MUMAN : short, graphically interesting, with a combination of female and male gender...it's our choice for Mum !
From "Dad", some brands : KADAD, DADAX, DADON, OODAD, DADECO, CODAD, DADAYA, DADELA....this last one is as OLOMUM : the combining of opposite genders produces a quite interesting result. DADELA is our kindness brand of the day !

A smell of future : Future brand!

New brands created today with The Brand Generator.

As the futur is coming (as everyday !), some brands speaking about NEXT !
NEXTELA
NEXTESS
SOONEXT
ARINEXT
NEXTEO
NEXTUM
DENEXT
BONEXT
NEXTINE
NEXTENS
GONEXT
...and 570 more...
(picture : designer: CWB Staff, Source : Gadgetvice)

New brands from Coke !

Generated from TheBrandGenerator. Taste it !

OKIT    COKYO    COKIS       COKISH    COKMAN   COKOLO    COKLY    COKIVE    COKEO    COKED    COKACY    COKIS    COKAY    COKZEE    COKINE    COKLOW    COKENSE    COKETA    COKINE    COKUM    COKLY
COKIA    COKDA    COKON      COKUP    COKOV    COK4    COKME    COKIN    COKATE    COKOL    COKON    COKAL    COKITY    COKID    COKOOL    COKOMA    COKILL    COKISH    COKUCI    COCAK    COKENDO    COKUTE
WACOK    KICOK    TOCOK    ARMCOCK    BYCOK    VONCOK    ZCOK    OLOCOK    LICOK    OXCOK    LACOK    ICCOK    IOCOK    ZYCOK    O!COK    JEECOK    MACOK    ONECOK    HITCOK    EZOCOK    ÉCOK    EOCOK    ITCOKE

Obama's brand

Generated from TheBrandGenerator. Choose the best one !

OBAMIA    OBAMITO    OBAMUS     OBAMMAC    OBAMSON    OBAMOOZ    OBAMORG    OBAMMY    OBAMOX    OBAMOL    OBAMING    OBAMANCE    OBAMITY    OBAMMIE    OBAMUBA    OBAMEL    OBAMOFF    OBAMIUM    OBAMELLI    OBAMAIN    OBAMEO    OBAMOVE
OBAMEK    KAOBAM    OBAMIF    OBAMENTZ    OBAMBY    OBAMOF    OBAM!    OBAMEEN    OBAMBE    OBAMOÏD    OBAMEA    OBAMMEL    OBAMIS    OBAMENT    OBAMZY    OBAMURF    OBAMETE    OBAMEST    OBAMOLD    OBAMOSI    OBAMET    OBAMUS    OBAMISS
OZOBAM    OBAMOYO    TOOBAM    OPFOBAM    ONOBAM    OVOBAM    WIZOBAM    LIFOBAM    MAOBAM    IMOBAM    INOBAM    HEXOBAM    OPOBAM    INGOBAM    YOOOBAM    YAZOBAM    BOOBAM    VALOBAM    OROBAM    ARIOBAM    DUOBAM    DIOBAM    SOOOBAM

Apple Apps Store Marketing : The Hypermarket, China and Nescafe

The Apple Store - 6 facts about marketing strategy for iPhone Apps.

The App Store (which sells application for iPhone and iTouch) is a great business model for Apple, of course, which holds a global distribution network, integrated, with no storage costs or purchases from suppliers software (Apple surrenders a percentage of amounts paid by buyers).

It is also a great platform for vendors of application: distribution and financial management is done by Apple, and there is many tools to know almost in real time where and how sales happens.
But Apple locks some of the information (how many competing apps sold, the level of overall sales), despite some boastful ads (2 billion downloads in 2 years, 1 500 000 downloads for the best selling apps ...).

There is currently no verified models, each one launched their apps into the market a little groping, by changing its pricing practice and its strategy days after days.

A key question that arises is the use of free application, to attract consumers and then switch to full versions, paid. The other issue is the level of price elasticity with respect to what the consumer is willing to pay.

In response, the analogy of the Hypermarket, the Nescafé and China seems to be the best way to understand how this market works.

1- Fact 1. Not seen, not sold. The hypermarket's rules applies to the AppleStore.
The Apple Store (80 000 references) is a large hypermarket. With shelves and products inside. The consumer comes through the door of the App Store, and then visits the various departments: Games, Business, Comics, Books, Education ....
At the entrance of each department, at the head of the shelves, the Best Sellers. In the department, we find first the good sellers. And after, the low sellers. The more sales declines, the more they go to the bottom of the shelves.


2- Fact 2. New market, new products, new consumers : new ways to buy.
An Hypermarket in China. Why in China? There, consuming is very recent. And our Chinese friends are like all of us in the Apple Store.
We are just walking there, we look, we discover, we buy a little. We take our time reading labels in the products. By discovering a whole bunch of stuff that we did not know before. Or things that we knew, but presented differently packaged. And many promotion girls, so pretty, giving us for free to test and to taste new food.

3- Fact 3. Promotion or not promotion, that’s the question !
And Nescafe? Coffee is a new product in China, which is marked by high statut level. I drink coffee, I am modern, as an American. Furthermore it is expensive, I can afford. And coffee is both virile and gives good health, it makes walking neurons more efficiently. Nescafe is experiencing a strong success in China, thanks to a very important advertising investment and a massive presence of facilitators in the stores to promote coffe.

You are therefore in a hypermarket in Shanghai in the aisle which passes the department of coffee. At the department entrance, a nice promotion girl of the Nescafe brand, white shirt, red vest, black skirt : she awaits behind his booth.

4- Fact 4. Promotion can be only brand communication. Are brands so important in the AppStore?
You walk past her, she offers a smile to taste a cup. If you have a bit hungry, time, or you're stingy, you will take the cup and drink. That's all. And you will buy the brand  you want and maybe even ground coffee.

If you are already a consumer of Nescafe (and you're hungry, thirsty ...), you take the cup. You will find it's nice from your brand to give you a small unexpected gift, and to share with others my brand, and this gives you self-value (self-enhancement: "My brand gives gift to everyone, it's really a nice brand, my brand"). Maybe you will think that there is not so much coffee at home and you will buy one. And if it was on the shopping list ... you would have bought anyway.

And if you do not like coffee: zero effect.
You did not even saw the promoter.

5- Fact 5. Viral marketing and on store promotion : when the promotion kills the viral communication.
You are a Chinese countryman which has just arrived in town.
You learn plenty, you've never seen so many things, strange things which you had no idea. Yet it is written in Chinese, yet you do not understand well. You see the girl with her cup, coffee is written. What's the coffee? Something for long-nose, certainly, it must be disgusting, it's complicated, what's the point? So complicated that you dare not even get close to the girl, you're afraid of being thought a fool.

You get back into your construction camp, where 15 of your mates housed during construction. One of your neighbors offers you a of coffee, but before explaining you how to drink it, when, and why it's good, and even it gives status! When you will hit your pay, you will buy it, and bring it back to the village, to show that you are not anymore a peasant.

If by cons you tasted the coffee offered by the demonstrator, because she was pretty, you would immediately spat out: "Bouah, what's that thing wich stinks vomit? Another devilish long-nose thing ! " And returned to barracks you have told your friend: "You drink this yucky stuff you? I tasted, it's not for me!"

Nescafe is relatively expensive for a Chinese, but because it's a good product and well done. There are now Chinese brands, although cheaper, certainly not so good (the consumer thinks as it's cheaper, it's worst). Nestlé can sell much cheaper, but they will have no longer the ressources to do so much communication. And the margin will  decline dramatically (this is not a linear curve).


6- Fact 6. Have an adapted strategy with the apps kinds.
All this applies perfectly to the App Store: to offer a free test is a good strategy, if the apps is a simple and know concept (a racing game), and if there is a strong competitive environment. Communication will help with offering consumers little more (tips, tutorial,...)
For a product more complicate, new for the consumer: it will not work, there is even a risk to kill the product by a negative buzz.

Having a low price is necessary if it is a staple stuff, with great competition. If the apps has some interesting functions or marketing differences, then the consumer will be willing to pay the price.

And the consumer will be a product ambassador, as he has paid a "good" price an application that he will use it, and being it's own demonstrator.