Sales Ninja Killer Newsletter

Invited to Global Brand Forum Malaysia on Dec 4 & 5 2008. Here are some notes for your marketing inspiration, they are all in point forms and I won’t be translating them into articles, find the gems. Also Happy New Year, and may the sales warriors arise in the tough year ahead – cheers!

S Karthik, Chairman, Global Brand Forum

> There are lots of big companies with small brands.
> Either become a brand or a commodity.
> Asia companies love to copy, copy cheaper and make lots of it.
> Must have the ability to think of the intangibles.
> Every luxury is from the west.
> Inventor or copier? Innovation or imitation?
> Asians need to raise their standard, shift their paradigms.

Speaker 01, Jim Stengel – former global marketing chief officer that handles a $8 Billion advertising budget for P&G

> Brand & good ideas can stand turbulent times.
> Brand = collective intention of the people.
> Brand must be motivated by employees first.
> Why not brand building? Business is now a short term game. It’s more complex. CEOs need to make money, brands need money to build. CMOs focus on ‘promotions’ because it generate sales.
> Brand ideals is like a mission/purpose/philosophy eg. Making peoples’ life better

> Inclusive marketing = including staffs through training & Culture.
> When ever I meet corporate leaders I always ask them, what can P&G learn from you? Eg: Ask Nike CMO, Tesco CEO.
> Buys book and give to staffs for development. Leaders are readers.
> Pampers, from napkin to helping mothers help develop their children.
> Buy pampers – save a life > cause marketing strategy.

> Highest ROI of any marketing is word-of-mouth. Involves digital efforts + PR.
> Companies will survive because of focusing on the right thing & long term. Profitability in the short term will kill your profits in the long term.

> P&G biggest success is getting the executives out of office & engages the customers like doing shopping with them or goes to their home and watches them do their chores.

> Founder of the brand always have an Ideal behind it. Normally executives mess it up.
> Must have superior product experience for brand building.
> Switching staffs is good, eg. Google staffs come to P&G and vice versa.
> If you are a challenger brand against market leader, ask yourself, where are you different and where are you the same?
> For service companies, people are the brands.
> Always start inside before shouting to the public. Meaning, always train the staffs  about  a set of behaviors that is aligned with the brand before launching any marketing campaigns.

Next issue — Dato Seri Tony Fernandez, CEO AirAsia & Joanne Ooi, Creative Director Shanghai Tang

Until then, to more sales… with less effort!

UNCONVENTIONALLY,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster

// Special Report from Global Brand Forum 01
// By Hanzo Ng, Sales Ninja Grandmaster

Hanzo Ng has been called the ‘most influential sales trainer’ by his participants and is highly demanded for his unconventional Sales Ninja training programmes. He is also the author of Secrets of the Sales Ninja, available in major bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore.

© 2009 All Rights Reserved – Reproducing this document or its contents without written permission from The Sales Ninja Group is strictly prohibited. But feel free to forward this or email it to all of your friends and associates. To Subscribe to this newsletter, please visit http://www.SalesNinja.com/blog and enter your name and email at the top right corner.

Need great content for your website, media or blog? Bloggers, editors, publishers, medias, marketers, authors may syndicate or republish any articles you see in Sales Ninja Killer’s Newsletter for free as long as you include the author and copyright paragraph as above intact and infull. Feel free to drop us an line when you do so too.

Last week, we covered marketing gems from Jim Stengel, the former global marketing chief officer that handles a $8 Billion advertising budget for P&G and S Karthik, the Chairman of Global Brand Forum. This week, I’ll disclose the secrets of Dato Seri Tony Fernandez, CEO of AirAsia & Joanne Ooi, Creative Director of Shanghai Tang.

Here are the notes for your marketing inspiration, they are all in point forms and I won’t be translating them into articles, find the gems. Enjoy…

Dato Dri Tony Fernandez, CEO, AirAsia
AirAsia is Asia’s largest low fare, no frills airline.

> Be a local champion.
> Then be an Asian brand… then global.
> You know you are successful when others imitate you.
> Branding won’t immediately affect your P&L.
> Airasia increased advertising X3 during SARS while others stop advertising.
> Always dream and make it a reality.
> Better to take risk than not try at all.

> Sell your brand to your people first.
> Employees are the ones designing their uniforms because they are going to spend half their lives in it.
> When people say flying to Macau was a bad idea, we went with it, today, we are flying there 12 times a day.
> Staffs get trained in AirAsia academy. Make sure you put together a great training program.
> Tying up with global brands help you leverage on your brand. Eg: Airasia and Manchester United.
> Website is very important because it’s access to the global market.

> Just launched AirAsia blog to get interaction with customers. Make sure they are uncensored, so even bad remarks are shown.
> Use all your assets to showcase brands. We use our planes.
> Do your best to be the First in everything you do.  Eg: First in the world to launch No Fuel Surcharge. First to launch ‘on time guarantee’ or else you get $200 gift vouchers. First to have female pilots. First in the world to have Ms Thailand as stewardess, etc..
> Always innovate new products or services to serve your customers better. Eg: Self check in/mobile booking.
> Always deliver. Bali bombing, AirAsia still flies and did not cut flights.
> CEO must be on the grounds. CEO have to carry bags, do check-ins. You get to talk to customers and see what’s going on instead of hiding in the corporate office.

> Recognize talents. People now who carry bags can one day become a pilot.
> Have a culture of openness.
> Never jeopardize brand. AirAsia is low cost. Therefore no big seats.
> Expand into weird markets.
> Priority should be happy staffs. Because happy staffs make customers happy.
> Good leaders know when to leave. Don’t stay there too long. You need fresh ideas.
> PR strategies really work. When you have no money, come out with controversial activities. Media will give you the attention.
> Favourite quote: Dream the impossible. Dare to dream. Believe the unbelievable and never take no for an answer.

Joanne Ooi, Creative Director, Shanghai Tang
Shanghai Tang is the only Chinese luxury brand in the world.

> Superb brands = great products + great marketing.
> Building brands take short term sacrifice in sales for long term profitability.
> It’s ok if your brand does not please everyone. Create niche markets.
> For luxury brands, customers want to worship the brand.
> Cross promotions also help build brands. Make sure they serve the same kind of customers.
> Allocate 7-12% marketing budget from revenue.

 Branding mistakes
> Not having empathy with customers.
> Too self centered.
> Too much activities. Eg: Steve Jobs cut projects from 200 to 5.
> Discounting, very hard to recover and sell at high price again.
> Didn’t act fast enough on guts and people. Didn’t get rid of people fast enough.
> A brand is never big enough. Consistently make it bigger.

Next issue — Steward Butterfield, co-founder flickr.com. Oliver Stone, Filmmaker. Martin Lindstrom, branding guru.

Until then, to more sales… with less effort!

Unconventionally,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster

// Special Report from Global Brand Forum II
// By Hanzo Ng, Sales Ninja Grandmaster

Hanzo Ng has been called the ‘most influential sales trainer’ by his participants and is highly demanded for his unconventional Sales Ninja training programmes. He is also the author of Secrets of the Sales Ninja, available in major bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore.

© 2009 All Rights Reserved – Reproducing this document or its contents without written permission from The Sales Ninja Group is strictly prohibited. But feel free to forward this or email it to all of your friends and associates. To Subscribe to this newsletter, please visit http://www.SalesNinja.com/blog and enter your name and email at the top right corner.

Need great content for your website, media or blog? Bloggers, editors, publishers, medias, marketers, authors may syndicate or republish any articles you see in Sales Ninja Killer’s Newsletter for free as long as you include the author and copyright paragraph as above intact and infull. Feel free to drop us an line when you do so too.

Last two weeks, we covered marketing gems from Jim Stengel, the former global marketing chief officer that handles a $8 Billion advertising budget for P&G and S Karthik, the Chairman of Global Brand Forum, Dato Sri Tony Fernandez, CEO of Asia’s largest low fare airline AirAsia & Joanne Ooi, Creative Director of Shanghai Tang, the only Chinese luxury brand.

This week, I’ll share with you the secrets of Steward Butterfield, co-founder flickr.com. Oliver Stone, renowned Filmmaker and Martin Lindstrom, branding guru.

Here are the notes for your marketing inspiration, they are all in point forms and I won’t be translating them into articles, find the gems. Enjoy…

Steward Butterfield, co-founder flickr.com
Flickr.com is one of the largest websites in the world.
Steward was listed in Businessweek’s Top 50 Leaders in 2005 and TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2006.

> Create a vision. Flickr.com is the eyes of the world.
> 15 minutes before CNN broadcast the bombing, photos already up. Power of the internet.
> Brands are cult-like. They attract followers.
> People want brands to take a stand. They want to believe that stand.
> Which is more important… the product or the promise?
> Product leads… because it will deliver the promise.
> Distribution is the new advert. People are talking, they are communicating your brand.
> Good or bad depends on your delivery.
> Bloggers are powerful, but they will not replace traditional means.

Oliver Stone, renowned Filmmaker
Won three Academy awards and written, directed and produced many popular masterpieces.

> Brand is a series. Eg: James Bond movies. They want your following.
> True intention of the brand is to make you feel comfortable. Make you feel familiar so you buy.
> Products must be consistent. People will be pissed if your products are not consistent.
> Fear sells. Media sells fear. You can also sell fear. I launch Natural Born Killers movie. Horror movies is all about fear.
> What’s scary is the fear inside of us. We must declare war on this fear so we are no longer manipulated.

> People like to conform. People like to conform to the norm. Be different to stand out
> Throughout history, all great empires fall. Whether it’s Rome or the US.
> Understand something, all great empires are built on blood. It hasn’t changed.
> Terrorism can only be fought by education, not just money or technology.
> In politics, the textbook tactic is to spread fear then make a promise to help them, that gets you a vote.
> Many acts of heroism are unseen. If seen, they are rewarded. Look out for the unseen ones.
> Good stories sell in films or marketing. Content, content, content.

Martin Lindstrom, branding guru.
Author of his new book Buyology, a respected branding expert.

> Human beings do things irrationally. Eg: Touch wood, being superstitious., the number 4., Friday 13th.
> There are many indirect ways to build brands.
> There is a craving spot in our brains called Nucleus accumbens.
> The more we focus on something, we more we want it.
> Not effective, Smoking is bad. If only words are used, the more people will smoke.
> Associating with power brands will help you.

> We are all selling rocks. We are all the same. We need to put a story to it. Eg: Rock from the moon.
> Brands own categories.
> White earphone – ipod. Cowboys = Marlboro. Toblerone chocolate shape.
> You can own shapes, picture, language, name, smell, icons, service, numbers, rituals, navigation, sound.
> Brands are like religion. It builds followers.
> Brands must have a clear vision. Brands must have an enemy. Brands must have a story.
> Brands must have mystery. Brands must have a sense of belonging. Brands must have rituals.
 
That’s the end of the special report on Global Brand Forum. I’ll be in Shanghai till the 27. Will be in the lookout for some great sales tactics that Chinese use and share with you in the next issues. Happy Chinese New Year to all Chinese, wishing all a prosperous new year.

Until then, to more sales… with less effort!

UNCONVENTIONALLY,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster

// Special Report from Global Brand Forum III
// By Hanzo Ng, Sales Ninja Grandmaster

Hanzo Ng has been called the ‘most influential sales trainer’ by his participants and is highly demanded for his unconventional Sales Ninja training programmes. He is also the author of Secrets of the Sales Ninja, available in major bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore.

© 2009 All Rights Reserved – Reproducing this document or its contents without written permission from The Sales Ninja Group is strictly prohibited. But feel free to forward this or email it to all of your friends and associates. To Subscribe to this newsletter, please visit http://www.SalesNinja.com/blog and enter your name and email at the top right corner.

Need great content for your website, media or blog? Bloggers, editors, publishers, medias, marketers, authors may syndicate or republish any articles you see in Sales Ninja Killer’s Newsletter for free as long as you include the author and copyright paragraph as above intact and infull. Feel free to drop us an line when you do so too.

The best marketing idea is low cost, effective, memorable and gets people talking. Getting people talking about your business, product or campaign is tough. Any company can blast a budget and shout all they want, but if it doesn’t translate into actionable behaviors, it’s a failed campaign.

Word of mouth marketing is proven again and again to be the best marketing strategy ever.

Here’s one campaign marketing bloggers are writing about that’s worth noticing…

– What would you do if you are walking down the street and saw the person walking in front of you dropped his wallet? You can either ignore it or shout to the person in front…

If you are a Good Samaritan, you would pick it up and run to the person in front and return it == Surprise… Surprise… That person would reply “Keep it! It’s on the king.”

It’s the new marketing campaign of Burger King in Orlando, Florida. (A great spot as its visitor’s traffic is high and when people return to their States, they continue to spread the word)

In the wallet you will find Burger King Dollar of $1 to $100, some Burger King gift certificates, gift cards, a map to all the Burger King stores in Orlando. (Refer images attached for your visual stimulation =)

If you are one of the people who picked up one of the 5000 wallets, you are guaranteed to tell people about it. Bang! Word of mouth in action. Brilliant… Your turn…

Unconventionally,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster

// Brilliant Marketing Idea That Gets People Talking!
// By Hanzo Ng, Sales Ninja Grandmaster

Hanzo Ng has been called the ‘most influential sales trainer’ by his participants and is highly demanded for his unconventional Sales Ninja training programmes. He is also the author of Secrets of the Sales Ninja, available in major bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore.

© 2009 All Rights Reserved – Reproducing this document or its contents without written permission from The Sales Ninja Group is strictly prohibited. But feel free to forward this or email it to all of your friends and associates. To Subscribe to this newsletter, please visit http://www.SalesNinja.com/blog and enter your name and email at the top right corner.

Need great content for your website, media or blog? Bloggers, editors, publishers, medias, marketers, authors may syndicate or republish any articles you see in Sales Ninja Killer’s Newsletter for free as long as you include the author and copyright paragraph as above intact and infull. Feel free to drop us an line when you do so too.

Sunday – 8.36 pm. While waiting for my food, I was browsing through The Star when a full page color ad caught my attention… It’s Giant‘s revenge ad against Tesco. On the top left side of the page – Giant’s logo. Below it lies the headline. It says… AlWAYS CHEAPER THAN MALAYSIA’s MISLEADING (tesco’s lookalike logo with tesco font, colors and a UK flag).

Below it…

Giant’s receipt vs Tesco’s receipt. In this ad Giant lists a few of their products vs Tesco’s and the total price indicating Giant is cheaper. (they always pick their lower priced products vs another’s higher price product). I was thinking, Ah… the hypermarket war has continued! This i believe started few years back when Carrefour attacked both Giant and Tesco with their receipt comparison. Seems like the war continues…

But this is not what *shocked* me… I turned to the next page and saw…

Another full page ad that looks the same with the previous page’s ad. But it’s not a Giant ad. It’s a Cold Storage ad. I said “wooh!”, another bang on Tesco. I turned the page and this time it’s Guardian vs Tesco and i said “Wow!”. A hypermarket (Giant), supermarket (Cold Storage) and even beauty and health store (Guardian) attacking one ‘giant’ hypermarket Tesco. This is interesting…

The funny thing about this is, Carrefour may be laughing, look at the boys, they are fighting each other. My question is, will Carrefour join in the fight soon? Since Giant, Cold Storage and Guardian has ganged up on Tesco, will Tesco and other foreign players gang up too? If two big players are pulling each other’s hair, what’s the best strategy Carrefour can execute right now? Will Tesco make a counter attack? Does all this ‘i am cheaper than X’ marketing plans really drive more sales? Say it does drive  traffc to the stores and the consumers need some help and the helper at the hypermarket doesn’t seem to be helpful, will the consumer choose price over service?

DID YOU KNOW FACTS: In case you’re wondering why the 3 decided to gang up. Because all 3 companies are own by Daily Farm International. I briefly researched this through Daily Farm’s Website. 

Let’s stay tuned to the War of the Hypermarkets, their new marketing and pricing strategies.

Unconventionally,
HANZO NG
Sales Ninja Grandmaster

// The Hypermarket War Between Giant and Tesco!
// By Hanzo Ng, Sales Ninja Grandmaster

Hanzo Ng has been called the ‘most influential sales trainer’ by his participants and is highly demanded for his unconventional Sales Ninja training programmes. He is also the author of Secrets of the Sales Ninja, available in major bookstores in Malaysia and Singapore.

© 2009 All Rights Reserved – Reproducing this document or its contents without written permission from The Sales Ninja Group is strictly prohibited. But feel free to forward this or email it to all of your friends and associates. To Subscribe to this newsletter, please visit http://www.SalesNinja.com/blog and enter your name and email at the top right corner.

Need great content for your website, media or blog? Bloggers, editors, publishers, medias, marketers, authors may syndicate or republish any articles you see in Sales Ninja Killer’s Newsletter for free as long as you include the author and copyright paragraph as above intact and infull. Feel free to drop us an line when you do so too.