When confronting Google, such a multinational conglomerate, many companies probably would not consider they have a chance to win and gain more market shares. Kobo, a small Canadian ebook and e-reading company, however, succeeded on fighting off the e-commerce giant, Google.

Expecting to have a finger in the pie of the rapidly growing e-book market, Google designed a program with indie bookstores that allowed them to sell Google e-books. Only operated for two years, however, the program came to a premature end in the past January. Even Google failed to penetrate the e-book market; many would think it must be hardly profitable to rush into the business, but KOBO didn’t see it in the same way as the other and operated the same program after Google’s failure. Surprisingly, in the first month of operation, Kobo sold books more than twice of those sold by Google in two years. Google, being one of the most well-known companies in the world, got defeated so easily. How is this possible? It is possible when you have an improper strategy. The key factor that led to Kobo’s success is the devices. Since the majority does not have the habit of reading e-books, selling such products would be extraordinarily difficult if the complement good, in this case the e-reader, is not available in the very same store. Having a firm grasp on this concept, Kobo gave stores the opportunity to sell Kobo’s line of e-readers and tablets, which made it easier to sell its e-books.

Until now, Kobo already has 460 indie bookstores signed up for this program, and the number is expected to grow to 1000 at the end of this year. It proves that small firms can excel, but only with a proper strategy.

Celebrity endorsement is now increasingly prevailing in brand building. Using a well-known face, and the well-known character behind it, can be a great way to jump start or reinvigorate a brand and the associations you want consumers to have with it. During the search for the right candidate, however, a lot of companies only focus on the current performance of the celebrities in their certain fields, neglecting the other important attributes. Such criteria, associating with a celebrity only based on his or her ability to rise to the top of the leader board, is extremely risky to their businesses.

Performance, especially current performance, is only one of the criteria for those in search of a successful celebrity brand match. Even though being the winner is necessary, we cannot afford to disregard other attributes of the celebrity, especially moral attributes. Tiger Woods would be a perfect example for this argument. Woods is unquestionably the top golfer in the world. Lots of companies, such as Gillette, General Motor and Gatorade, plan to advertise their products featuring this world class golfer. What they see is only the perfect performance of this world champion on the golf course, but they forget about the potential risk of associating with Woods- his personal life is later proved to be a total mess. In 2009 and 2010, scandals involving Woods were exposed one after another. More than a dozen women claimed in various media outlets to have had affairs with Woods. The world champion’s public image soon got completely destroyed. Many companies such as Accenture and AT&T, re-evaluated their relationship with Woods and finally ended the contracts with him.

Consumers are forming relationships with brands and, as in any relationship, they want to feel comfortable before opening their hearts. Companies wishing to be successful in their endorsement efforts should ensure that there is a natural relationship between the image of the celebrity and the image of the brand. As being said, performance is not everything.