To overtake Johnnie Walker as market leader, Chivas Regel simply acted like market leader; putting the price up, and creating ads that didn’t show the pack (because number 1 is always recognisable).
Business & Brands
Citigroup accidentally credited a client account with $81 trillion instead of $280. The system requires employees to manually enter the transaction, but (bizarrely) the amount field comes pre-populated with 15 zeros – which the employee forgot to delete. (Thankfully the error was quickly spotted and rectified, not that Citigroup could afford that payment anyway.)
Clicks aren’t a good proxy for brand results. There is no significant correlation between click-thru rate (CTR) and any brand effect metrics, such as ad recall, brand awareness or purchase intent.
Robert Woodruff, Coca Cola’s leading 20th century figure, understood the importance of distribution; promising to put Coke’s products “within arm’s reach of desire.” And he succeeded: today you can count the places it’s not sold on one hand.
Coca Cola doesn’t really sell soft drinks: it sells licensing to other companies who then manufacture and distribute Coca Cola.
Coca Cola is enjoyed in over 200 countries, and is available in the most remote places. Its presence is so universal that the former Zambian Health Minister complained that his country’s small villages stocked the brand but not lifesaving medicines.
The company did start using Santa in advertising in 1933. But Santa had been portrayed almost exclusively in red from the early 19th century and most of his modern image was put together by cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1870s. In fact White Rock beverages had used Santa to advertise its ginger ale in 1923.
When Concorde was suffering during the 1980s, its owners discovered that the passengers significantly overestimated the ticket price. “So very simply, we said, we’ll charge them what they think they are paying. And so we put the fares up”. Concorde ticket prices were doubled to over $7,000, one way, in today’s prices and it was repositioned to provide a super-elite class for bankers, the rich, and the famous.
Britain’s 35,000 corner shops offer more than cheap booze. Evri, a delivery company, now drops 180m parcels a year into shops, or 22.5% of all its deliveries. Customers of online-only banks, such as Monzo, can deposit cash wherever there is a PayPoint, a British payments company that works with corner shops. About 4 million households are on pre-payment gas and electricity meters, meaning they have to schlep to a shop whenever it runs out.
The self service coffee machines were inspired by photocopiers in American convenience stores: the manufacturer installs the machine free of charge in return for a slice of the profits, and all they have to do is fill the copier with paper and ink cartridges.
At Costco, there are no aisle signs or in store maps to direct shoppers. Plus, Costco frequently rotates its stock and changes the store layout, making it hard to know what is available and where to find it. This is all part of the store’s ‘treasure hunt’ strategy; helping customers find unexpected items and creating a unique shopping experience.
Ella Mills founded the nutrition brand Deliciously Ella after she was incapacitated by PoTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). Several hospital admissions and 25 types of medication failed to alleviate her suffering. It was only when she radically altered her diet, cutting out gluten and refined sugar, that she noticed improvements.
Deliveroo came from an investment banker who wanted better delivery options when he was working late at the office.
Chain restaurants scale by offering a consistent experience, but Dishoom bucks the trend; each restaurant has a unique story behind it, that informs everything from the decor and music to the lighting and bar menu. For example, the King’s Cross design is based on the events and people of the independence movement, with anti-colonial posters from the archives on the walls. This approach requires more time and thinking, but it undoubtedly contributes to the restaurant’s cult following.
It took Netflix 10 years to reach 100 million subscribers. It took Disney Plus just over one, thanks to Disney’s incredibly strong, century long, brand equity. (Though admittedly Netflix has won the streaming wars for the time being – leading the market with 300 million subscribers.)