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HOW OUTSIDE FACTORS CAN AFFECT YOUR BRAND!

by | Aug 6, 2010 | branding, DO A MADONNA!, graphic design, The Brand Surgery

I was listening to the BBC World News this morning, and the news story about the BlackBerry ban in Saudi Arabia sparked an interest.

From the BBC website: A ban on the use of Blackberry phones to send and receive messages is being rolled out in Saudi Arabia, users say. State-owned phone operator Saudi Telecom has blocked text, e-mail, web surfing and instant messenger functions, users in the kingdom have told the BBC.”

Two things ran through my mind …

  1. This news story shows how some circumstances (political and/or reglious reasons) are completely beyond our control and this can affect our brand – for better or worse! In my  book, DO A MADONNA!™, I recommend that all businesses should perform a PEST analysis on their brand as well as their business.How will this ban affect their sales? How will the ban affect the brand image in Saudi Arabia, or across the middle East. The good news is that the PR has promoted the Blackberry brand across the rest of the world. These are important subjects to consider when you go into business. I wonder what would happen if our government banned junk mail. After all, a ban would save on recycling costs, trees and print chemicals. It would be disastrous for many printers and designers who could go out of business if they didn’t have a contingency plan in place.
  2. The name of brands is very interesting. Do you remember the film Crocodile Dundee? When an American reporter goes to the Australian outback to meet an eccentric crocodile poacher and invites him to New York City? Do you remember how Michael J. “Crocodile” Dundee struggled in our modern jungle? Crocodile Dundee was released in 1986, the same year as the internet. However, the internet didn’t become common until at least ten years later. Can you imagine how funny Crocodile Dundee would be if they re-released it now? What would Mr Dundee (Paul Hogan) make of Blackberry, Orange, Apple, Windows, web, O2 and even Twitter? If you said to Mr Dundee: “I’m going to Twitter today using web on my Blackberry, which is hosted by Orange”. What would he be thinking?:Twitter used to be a verb: to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird. to talk lightly and rapidly, esp. of trivial matters; chatter, to titter; giggle. So is twitter a good name for such a powerful form of social media? Social media experts promote Twitter as a phenomenon in business communication and networking. It is amazing that such a powerful brand wasn’t called roar or something loud!With the above said, Twitter has taken off, as have Blackberry, Orange, Apple, Windows, web, O2 and even Twitter!

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