Month: March 2011

I just found a really interesting blog post, Mercedes-Benz Makes a Safe Bet on Teens. Mercedes-Benz is now launching teen-driving schools in United States. I really think it is an interesting b rand extension. The blogger said it would not attract the American teen but would be welcomed by parents. However, I think teens will be also interested.

In my opinion, both, parents and teens, will be attracted to the school more than other competitors. First, Mercedes-Benz is already known brand. They have brand association of safety and luxury. These brand association will influence teen-driving schools. Teen-driving schools by Benz will be more aware and gain image of safety and luxury even before they launched the school. Benz’s driving school will be differentiated from other normal driving school. So both teen and parents will trust the school more and will be popular as it was successful in U.K.

The only problem that I had while I was reading was Benz might get brand dilution. If student from Benz’s driving school have an accident or does not drive safely, it can negatively affect consumer’s perception about already existing brand, BENZ!

On the other hand, I think this brand extension can also strengthen Benz’s image ONLY if students from the driving school drive safely and have lower accident rate than from other driving school. However, it is difficult to do it since there will be a lot of teens attending Benz’s driving school.

In the end, I think Mercedes-Benz driving school will be profitable and popular but Benz should be careful not to brand dilute by educating the teens really well.

Here is the Benz’s safety commercial.

I was going over the blogs and find out some interesting post about American Idol, “The One and Only Simon Cowell” I completely agree with what Ofumi said about Simon. I definitely believe Simon is the American Idol’s sustainable competitive advantage. However, I think Simon was more than sustainable competitive advantage.

 For myself, when I was young I also used to watch American Idol but now I don’t even know the judges because they have kept changing and it is just completely out of my interest. So after reading Ofumi’s blogs, I thought of why I stopped watching American Idol and it was because of Simon Cowell. After Simon Cowell left, I stopped watching it. I loved Simon because even though he was giving out very harsh comments to the participants, what he said was right. If Simon was giving awful comment which did not even make sense, people would not have enjoyed or watched American Idol. Even though Simon’s comments are harsh, it was honest, and thoughtful. In my opinion, this differentiated Simon Cowell from others and lead to American Idol different from other competitor’s shows. Therefore, from my perspective, he was more than sustainable competitive advantage because he contributed a lot for American Idol’s image and brand. For example, when people thought of American Idol, they automatically thought of Simon Cowell. It is almost parallel to a brand association. Also, he made so many people loyal to American Idol (with Simon) like me and Ofumi. For me, Simon Cowell was the “brand equity” that added value to American Idol.

Here is Simon giving comments to the participants.

I was wondering around the blogs and saw Claudia’s blog mentioning about Anya Hindmarch launching the “I Am Not a Plastic Bag” line. I have read this article before and when I was reading it I thought Anya’s objective which was to bring the idea of being “eco-friendly” to people/world failed because people are more interested in this limited bag than the idea. As Claudia mentioned, I also thought people are more interested in this simple and plain bag because it was made by Anya Hindmarch.  

She also said that “Consumers do not mind that other people are carrying around the EXACT same bag” because it is a brand-named bag. However, I think of it differently; I think there is more reason why people buy the bag. I think people are buying it because it is exclusive. Anya Hindmarch has been building its image through exclusive distribution. Also, the bag is limited which makes the bag more attractive for people. Therefore, people want to feel that they have bought the SPECIAL bag. So for example, the bag was $15 at first when it came out but later it ranged from $700 to $2,000. People are willing to pay high price for it since they believe it is worth it.

So I think consumers are buying exact same limited bags to get the feeling of exclusiveness which Anya Hindmarch brand name provides.

At last, as I mentioned above people have forgotten the intention of this bag. So I really hope some Anya Hindmarch’s fan or other people actually noticed Anya HIndmarch’s intention of being eco-friendly rather than focusing on LIMITED edition bag.

Here is the picture of I’m Not a Plastic Bag worn by celebrities.

What’s hot news in fashion industry right now is about John Galliano getting fired. Few days ago, he lost his job at Dior for making anti-Semetic and racist remarks. While I was reading over the article, I was thinking if it is worth it to fire him. Yes, morally, indeed, he should get fired. However, in business point of view, I thought it might not worth it because he still has a lot of fans around the world and right now it is not sure that if he actually made an anti-Semetic comment. People love him and follow him because he is “who he is”. For example, Kate Moss, she has been addicted to drugs but people still loved her and she is still in the industry. Then as I scroll down, I see the comment from Sidney Toledano, Dior’s president and chief executive officer saying, “I unequivocally condemn the statements made by John Galliano, which are in total contradiction to the longstanding core values of Christian Dior,”. As soon as I read this one sentence, I totally agreed on Dior’s decision and they needed to fire him for Dior’s future. People buy Dior because of the image and lifestyles of sophisticated woman that Dior provides. The design and quality is higher than other product but people are mostly buying the lifestyle that Dior have built over the years and people are desiring to have self-concept of these elegant women. In the end, what I concluded was that even though, John Galliano can be a social reference group acting as aspirational group, Dior must consider their psychographic segmentation consumers.

Here is picture of John Galliano.