“Heineken is called ‘The Chairman’ in Nigeria. So, we give that flexibility to Nigeria to call it ‘The Chairman’, but we do not need to create a global campaign saying the ‘Chairman’ from Amsterdam. . . . We give that flexibility. That's how we operate. Have a central idea, but give local flexibility to the markets.” As a global beer brand, Heineken promotes a spirit of open-mindedness, framing its drinkers as global citizens who respect other cultures while still reveling in the comforts of...

“We often categorize our worlds as B2B or B2C. To cut to the center, we should say that all the work we’re doing is really B2H–business to human. If you put the human being in the center, suddenly you have an organizing principle to say, ‘How do I create a connection with the human on the other side of this? How do I surprise and delight, and even build community?’” – Jim Misener As technology becomes increasingly ‘invisible’ and internal within products, brands create the contours that allow...

“Technology is the great equalizer, but Poetry (the intangible benefits of creativity) is what really makes a difference.” McDonald's Global CCO @ DDB, Luis Miguel Messianu, named Legend Honoree by ADCOLOR and part of CMC’s Advertising Hall of Fame, is the one who oversees the creative output of the McDonald’s brand across all of its 46 markets. And, as part of his role, he’s now building a unique internal infrastructure for sharing creative ideas globally throughout the DDB network. In our...

“Strong brands are not made by accident. They are made by design.” – Kris Michiels Listen to Unilever’s brand, marketing, and communication director, Kris Michiels, on how strong brands are created. He argues that the essence of our job as brand leaders and marketeers is strengthening brands from the core – and he suggests how you can start, diving into:  Kantar’s Brand Power modelUnilever’s new marketing philosophyThe best approach to data The correlation between purpose, brand power, and...

“If you have fuzzy definitions, you can’t measure them. And therefore, you can’t say if you’re right or not.” World-renowned research professor Jenni Romaniuk of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science underlines why growth doesn’t always match the plan and what areas to focus on when following brand growth: the customer base, non-buyers, availability, category entry points, and more: Why physical availability is more than just distribution;Light buyers, non-buyers, and...

“Some of the values of these companies are also something that speaks to a lot of people.” Digge Zetterberg, Frontify’s head of communications, talks about what makes Scandinavian brands so successful – from the relationship between brands and societal values to democratizing products, and everything in between: Scandinavian values and egalitarianism;Democratic design and cross-team collaboration;Sociocultural differences inside and between countries;Examples from IKEA, H&M, and...

“How could your business build a strategy, a plan, or even a product to help you prepare for how those consumer needs might be met in that distant future?” Mars Wrigley’s Joanna Lepore peeks into the future through foresight – a careful combination of creativity and science, that mixes strategy, marketing, and insights – to imagine relevant and objective outlooks for her organization: What foresight is and how it complements other inside functions;How foresight looks at business...

“You have to stay in business – and you not only have to stay in business, but you have to be profitable. Otherwise, you lose your capacity to help.” The famous David Aaker, Vice-Chairman of Prophet and Prof. Emeritus of Marketing Strategy at the Berkeley-Haas School of Business, reflects on disruptive innovation and the imperative of building brand credibility. From the evolved equity model to brand stories – an insightful guide for modern brand building: How loyalty changed the game and...

Google’s chief measurement strategist, Neil Hoyne, brings clarity to how data and marketing come together; what and how to measure; moving beyond a single transaction; embracing human nature; and more. “Are we growing the value of that relationship? Yes! Then both branding and performance are tools. Their order [in terms of time sequence] matters much less here,” he explains, bringing concrete examples and spot-on metaphors that outline a solid course of action for marketers...

“Why aren’t they eating our products every day?” – Ingeborg Blaauw, Aviko’s intl. marketing manager, explains how the brand surpassed $1Billion by adding more value to the most generic of products – the potato. A case study on over a decade of outstanding marketing work: Bringing the potato higher on the decision-making tree;The role of the potato and ‘the cooking week’;Emotional sameness and universal concepts;Patterning, segmentation, and behavioral design;and more “Bananas and apples are...

“Absolutely fundamentally, the clear implication from this knowledge – which is supported by billions of data points – is: if you want to grow, don’t focus on loyalty.” – Prof. Rachel Kennedy, Founder & Associate Director @ Ehrenberg-Bass Institute Prof. Rachel Kennedy, founder and director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science – the world's largest centre for research into marketing – explains evidence-based marketing; why advertising matters; how brands really grow;...

“My definition of marketing is just ‘a way of running a business with putting the consumer and the consumer’s needs first’.” – Theo van Uffelen, European Marketing Manager @ Yakult Theo van Uffelen, seasoned marketer (Unilever, Coca-Cola) and European marketing manager at Yakult, talks about purpose; the role of marketing and branding in organizational cultures; how marketing and marketers have changed over the years; and how to build a high-performance (marketing) culture. Listen to get...

Dr. Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO of Vivaldi and award-winning author, explains why the creation of value has shifted towards the consumer side and how digital business models can help brands transition to an interactional relationship with consumers, all with eye-opening examples: Platform ecosystems model – Peloton;Interaction field model – John Deere;The case of ANT Group;and more See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“We found that differentiation matters, and it matters more if you’re a relatively smaller brand or if you’re in an emerging market.” Prof. dr. Koen Pauwels also explains that brand equity is really how consumers on the market react differently to your product because it has the brand.  Martin Schiere, Principal and Consumer Goods Strategy Lead at Glocalities (our podcast host) and his guest, Distinguished Prof. of Marketing at Northeastern University, talk about how mature and emerging...