The Delta Perspective

May 2008

“If this business were split

up, I would give you the land
and bricks and mortar, and I
would take the brands and
trade marks, and I would
fare better than you.”
— John Stuart,
Chairman of Quaker
(c.a. 1900)
 Brands came into existence as early as trade when herd owners
used hot irons to mark and identify their cattle. This mark later
developed with the industrial revolution where factories used
certain elements to distinguish their products from others. As
people moved into cities and were no longer exposed to the
manufacturing source of the products available, their purchasing
decision became influenced by the brands that they knew. Brands
have come a long way since, and have become representative of a
significant value of their parent companies.

2
of origin.” If the above is applicable in

a developed market like the UK, the

impact of a trusted brand would deliver

much higher value in high-growth

markets where corporations are less

customer oriented.

Already from the early start-up stage,

setting up a telecom operator is

becoming increasingly standardized; the

investors choose one of three or four

main companies to setup their network,

recruit the same regional telecom

experts from existing operators, and

most likely use the same company to

develop their SIM cards and packaging.

Then, as the market becomes mature,

the main differentiator to attract

customers becomes the brand (look &

feel, communication, and experience)

Operators in a monopolistic situation
typically focus on slowly adding incremental
functionality in order to make customers
spend more money, therefore increasing
revenue. Monopolies would regard neither
price nor brand as priorities because
customers have no other alternatives or
benchmark in the market
As the second player enters the market,
price will increasingly become a competitive
priority. Improved customer service and some
degree of customized products and services
will push the functionality axis slightly higher.
Branding in this case is usually regarded as a
mere visual differentiation between operators
As the more operators enter the market,
pricing will not be a sustainable lever to play
in the long term. In order to differentiate,
operators will need to look to their brand’s
emotional appeal. Since there are caps
in the functional axis (limited to network
capabilities) and financial axis (restricted
by profitability and business sense), a
brand’s emotional appeal is always limitless
and only capped by the operator and its
communication agency’s creativity

3
 The process of building a
global telecom brand
“In the deregulated The process of building a global The role of a project management office

markets of today’s brand can be divided into five key (PMO) is crucial in a global or regional

telecom industry, having a
distinguishing brand may
be more important than
ever as telecom providers
seek to define their places
in a complex web of
supply options. Given the
myriad of choices, a brand
must be substantial,
offering more than just a
logo and a tag line. The
brand must define and
deliver differentiators
stages, from deciding on the branding
approach to sustaining the brand in the
long run.
• Deciding on the branding
approach
• Developing a governance model
• Defining the corporate identity
• Deploying the new brand
• Sustaining the brand
Exhibit 2: The best of breed brand examples which show how to create a
sustainable difference
(re)branding project to hold the different
elements together and ensure timeliness
and consistency of the different
steps across all the functions of the
operation. Single operator (re)branding
efforts can be managed through
individual functions, provided a specific
department is assigned to manage the
initiative across the organization.

that represent a
If we take a look at the main pillars of a telecom value proposition, we notice
value proposition to
that it is almost impossible to create sustainable differentiation in any of the
customers.” elements. This is because there exists an upper limit (or best of breed) for
- “The Value of Branding distribution models, products and services, tariffs, handsets, customer service,
in Telecom Today” by Tyco and coverage; whereas a brand is not limited by any such ceiling. Below are
Telecom USA some examples of brand activities that go beyond all foreseeable benchmarks:
• Emirates Airlines signs the biggest club sponsorship deal in English
football history with Arsenal FC worth approximately GBP 100 million
and gained naming rights to Arsenal’s football arena “Emirates
Stadium”
• 52.9% of companies surveyed by the Economist engage in corporate
social responsibility activities to have a better brand / reputation
• Nakeel, the Dubai based real estate developer has committed AED 500
million to fund research and development activity, and promote active
engagement with international experts on the issues of sustainable
development, construction, management and governance of coastal
communities around the world.
– Nakheel has developed three palm islands in addition to a set of
islands representing the world map, off the coast of Dubai
• AT&T killed off the Cingular brand (worth USD 6.6 billion) in order to
strengthen its own name and empower it with a mobile offering

4
 Deciding on the branding
approach
Leveraging on a Monolithic brands are necessary for
multinational pan-regional operators to develop global brand
brand
equity from all communication activities in
individual markets

An early assessment on the convenience • Can I leverage my footprint to

to move towards a monolithic or multi- have positive spillover in terms of

brand approach needs to be conducted media, products and services, and

prior to commencing any new brand advertising ideas?

identity development exercise. In order • How big is my existing local brand

to do this, several key questions need to equity in each market?

be thoroughly discussed and answered: • Do I have an experienced group

• Can I have the same strategy branding function capable of

across all operations, or are there succeeding in the endeavor?

significant differences?

Exhibit 3: Brand architecture components

Strategic options
Brand ►► Monolithic
Brand
hierarchy ►► Endorsed
architecture model ►► Multiple

Business
►► Product/service divisions
divisions
Business divisions

►► Customer usage-driven divisions

Service naming

approach
Product lines
approach
Brand hierarchy model

►► Payment method (prepaid,

Product postpaid)
lines ►► Usage/user type (premium,
youth)
►► Iconic
Service ►► Descriptive names
naming ►► Technology names
►► Suggestive names

►► Color coding
Classification
Classification ►► Icons and stylization
►► Service images

Source: Delta Partners analysis

5
 Developing the brand architecture local markets. Every time a company

Operators should define a clear purchases a new operator it is faced

brand architecture for customers with the daunting question: to rebrand

and employees to understand the or not to rebrand. Below are some

way in which the brands within a pros and cons of rebranding.

company’s portfolio are referred to

and differentiated from one another Pros: Maintaining several brands can

in terms of both market offering be very expensive for telecom holding

and management structure. Brand companies. It denies them economies

architecture includes the brand hierarchy of scale benefits, as they neither have

model, business division approach, the advantage of developing one

product line definitions, service names, regional brand campaign targeting

and a classification method. all OpCos, nor local campaigns

with spill over to other regional

Different brand hierarchy models operations which would result in

Due to the vast wave of mergers and higher brand equity. Having multiple

acquisitions in the MENA region, sub-brands would also result in brand

telecom operators have inherited a fragmentation losing the focus that

multitude of brands (see Exhibit 4). can be achieved through strategic

This has resulted in fragmented investments in maintaining a

identities for holding companies, single identity.

and the loss of global leverage in

Exhibit 4: Example of multiple branding - Orascom Telecom brand hierarchy (May 2008)

6
 In order to tackle the above situation, transition efforts a company will lose

the concept of a monolithic brand is some of its customer loyalty. The only

gaining popularity among telecom way to minimize the loss is through

operators in the MENA region. A extensive research and testing,

monolithic brand is a single brand used starting from customer satisfaction, to

in all markets and across all product expectations, perception, and adoption.

lines. This approach was followed by

MTC who has developed the new Another issue to be considered is

Zain brand and is applying it across all the re-branding history of certain

existing and new operations. In the operators, because changing brands

same spirit Vodafone decided to drop frequently would result in a perception

the “live” and “3G” logos from all of desperation and low credibility. In

their ads to avoid having sub-brands many cases a single operator would

that dilute the overall Vodafone have had several different identities

brand image. within the period of a few years which

makes it very difficult for customers

Cons: Re-branding can be a daunting to relate to the brand and virtually

task especially in cases where existing impossible for the operator to build

brands have high equity. Brand equity brand equity. An example of such an

transfer is never comprehensive, operator is currently known as MTN

and changing a brand has deep Syria, having changed its identity six

repercussions on company perception times over a period of seven years (see

across all stakeholders. Despite all Exhibit 5).

Exhibit 5: Evolution of MTN Syria’s brand identity (2000-2007)

2000 Q1 2001 Q2 2001 Q4 2004 Q3 2005 Q3 2007

7
 Developing a governance model
Brands should be sponsored by the CEO (the ultimate brand champion) to
ensure a consistent and powerful image across geographies
In order to get the necessary attention,
the (re)branding project needs to be
sponsored by the CEO; not by being
involved in every decision, but through
acting as an endorser and reference
point to push the process forward in
deadlock situations and managing
high-level subjective differences. Their
endorsement should be conveyed
through company-wide events
highlighting the benefits to be gained
from (re)branding and its implications
on all areas of the organization. There
needs to be an internal structure in place
(usually set by the Chief Commercial
Officer or Marketing Director) to
manage the branding process.
Since branding directly or indirectly
impacts all areas across an organization,
it requires synchronized efforts from each
function within the company. A steering
committee comprised of empowered
decision makers from each function
should be set up to coordinate project
plans and ensure complete internal
alignment and progress on all matters.
This structure should be replicated at
each operating company / country
and coordinated by a global project
management office reporting to the
group CEO and CCO in the case of a
multinational operator.
8
According to a study by Harvard
Business Review(4), the responsibility for
global brand leadership can follow four
possible configurations:
• Business management
teams: Whereby each product
category is run by a global
category team who work in R&D,
manufacturing and marketing
within their respective regions.
This team defines the identity
and positioning of brands in their
categories throughout the world
(i.e. Proctor and Gamble)
• Brand champions: Senior
executives with other
responsibilities, possibly CEOs
serve as the brand’s primary
advocates and nurturers
(i.e. Sony)
• Global brand managers:
Branding experts for the company
who lie just below the top
line management, but usually
don’t have sign-off authority on
marketing programs (i.e. IBM)
• Global brand teams: Teams
responsible for managing the
global brand consisting of brand
representatives from different
parts of the world, different
stages of brand development,
and different competitive
contexts (i.e. Lycra)
 Defining the corporate
identity
Brand positioning Brand positioning should be specific and
should come meaningful with achievable objectives reflecting
from within
the ideology of the operator as a whole

Because a brand represents the image above, the operator should establish

and reputation of a telecom operator, clear guidelines and foundations for

it should truly reflect its ideals. It positioning the new brand, which

is therefore necessary to carry out needs to be translated across all the

research and internal assessments activities and be reflected in the culture

prior to brand development. Internal of the organization.

and external research should be done

to define the conceptual target and For example, Vodafone considers

positioning, while incorporating local, mobility at the heart of its business

regional, and global company strategy and reflects that through highlighting

in addition to competitive landscape. the “now” indicating the power of

Other research should be done through mobility and allowing customers to

workshops to select the brand name aspire to it; whereas Orange, France

and derive the brand values. This Telecom’s single brand for internet,

requires final Board approval, which is television and mobile services

best achieved by involving the Board highlights the power of being “open”

at early stages. It is also important to with no restrictions to wires.

check that the name defined does not

have negative connotations in any In mature markets where customers

language and not directly related to expect coverage, voice, roaming, and

another branded product (poignant customer service quality by default,

check-points include the availability brands should have a positioning

of an online domain name and ease that goes beyond those basic needs.

of pronunciation) Finally, qualitative There have been mistakes by telecom

research should validate conceptual companies on both sides of the

target and brand values, and to spectrum either by being too narrow

profile the segments. By doing the focusing on connecting people

9
 (which is the minimum requirement) can get instant access to whatever

or too broad about enjoying life and you like anytime, no matter where

the future (which ends up being an you are or what you are doing. Their

oversell or over promise). A particularly effectiveness is a result of the promise

effective promise has been developed being aspirational yet achievable,

focusing on the key benefit of while related to the industry and

mobility, the “now” whereby you the offering.

Exhibit 6: Telecom brand promises as portrayed through operator selling lines

Company positioning or promises can be mapped across two axes, specific vs. generic and functional vs.

emotional. The general criteria for a company promise is that it needs to be somewhat emotional for customers

to aspire to, yet somewhat specific in order to be relevant to the services provided and have an achievable

objective (as opposed to over promising). Being in the middle generally results in a bland brand that is neutral to

everything. Brands that are very functional usually commoditize their offering and their promise tends to reflect

what the service is as opposed to an inspiring call to action that stakeholders can buy into.

Emotional

►► du
Add life
►► Orange
to life
The future is ►► Vodafone
bright Make the most of now
►► Al Jawal ►► Mobinil ►► T-Mobile
With you Communicate from Stick together
►► Mobily the heart
Generic

Specific

My world, My choice

►► Qtel
Let’s connect
►► O2 ►► Etisalat
See what you can do Reach
►► MTN
Everywhere you go
►► Nokia
Connecting people

Functional

Desirable positioning

Source: Delta Partners analysis

10
 Developing the brand
A brand is more prominent in the feeling customers get after interacting
with a company and is best catered to through managing overall
communication and experience, as opposed to colors and visuals

The target audience of Once the previous steps are developed agency has developed such guidelines

a brand must always the creative part of logo development for the Vodafone brand explaining the

include all stakeholders should commence. This is done through “make the most of now” positioning.

in the company - namely a Corporate Identity (CI) agency. This document clarifies the commercial,

Corporate Identity agencies are usually brand, consumer and communication

employees, shareholders,
involved at very early stages of the insights, while elaborating on how to
and customers. A common
brand development process, in most best communicate or advertise
mistake by many companies
cases starting with the research, the brand.
is not regarding employees
creation of values, positioning, and
and shareholders as target
finally the visual identity. In some cases when the decision is
audience when developing
taken to develop these guidelines, a
and communicating the
Once a visual identity is developed, the tough debate may occur on whether
brand, presuming that they
CI agency would proceed to developing the CI agency, the ad agency, or both
are the responsibility of HR
a comprehensive brand look and should develop them. This is because
and investor relations; such feel guidelines booklet. This includes the CI agency is viewed to be more
behavior generally results advertising templates, instructions focused on design and image as
in a fragmented on logo usage, placement, colors, opposed to advertising oriented - yet
(non-cohesive) brand photography, tone of voice, literature, they are the agency responsible for

stationary, giveaways, etc. the identity under which advertising

falls. It is recommended to have

A typical gap found in the Middle East the advertising agency develop the

and Africa is the lack of advertising advertising guidelines since they are

and communication guidelines. Such the party applying them. It is apparent

guidelines are intended to further that when agencies have ownership

elaborate on the positioning statement, of a brand project they develop better

and the insights behind it in order quality work.

to ensure a consistency across the

different messages delivered through The target audience of a brand must

advertising. Vodafone’s communication always include all stakeholders in

11
the company - namely employees,
shareholders, and customers. A common
mistake by many companies is not
regarding employees and shareholders
as target audience when developing and
communicating the brand, presuming
that they are the responsibility of HR
and investor relations. Such behavior
generally results in a fragmented
(non-cohesive) brand.
In order to create a brand experience
that appeals and applies to all of these
audiences, some companies have been
resorting to sensory branding. Sensory
branding is an innovative branding
methodology that allows the brand
to appeal to each of the five senses.
In this pursuit Singapore Airlines have
created a proprietary perfume (Stefan
Floridian Waters) used by all its staff,
Exhibit 7: Some examples of brands who use sensory branding
Coke bottle Singapore Airlines scent
12
on its wet towels, and embedded in
its leather seats. According to Martin
Lindstrom’s book Brand Sense, research
showed that 80% of people recognize
Singapore airlines from its scent alone
without having to see the logo. In
other examples of sensory branding,
Nokia has developed a signature sonic
branding that is being adapted to the
cultures of all the markets it operates
in; Apple has developed the iPod touch
and the iPhone in addition to many
other products that appeal to the sense
of touch; Coca Cola reverted to the
authentic bottle design to preserve a
visual distinction. This approach has
generated very rewarding results across
a range of different industries but has
not been fully exploited by telecom
operators to date.
iPhone touch screen
Google brand building
Google has been ranked as the top
global brand of 2008 according
to the Brandz ranking by Millward
Brown Optimor. Google is a brand
that anyone who uses the internet
has interacted with and most
probably loved. When you take a
closer look however, you notice
that Google has not developed any
traditional advertising campaigns.
The Google brand was built on
customer experience, and through
their philosophy to “push the limits of
existing technology to provide a fast,
accurate and easy-to-use search service
that can be accessed from anywhere.”
Despite not having any traditional ads
and no monolithic brand Google has
managed to build the world’s best
brand by focusing on the customer
and exuding simplicity.
Nokia tune
 Deploying the new brand
Deploying brand strategy is a task that requires intricate understanding of
the company strategy and therefore should be developed by the strategy
department and later handed over to an operator’s MarCom team

Most of the work for developing a for developing all of the brand

brand is done after the development of communication including:

the actual logo. A brand is built with • A strapline (in a few cases this is

every piece of communication, which developed by the CI agency)

includes the company logo. There are • A launch campaign and strategy

many other parties involved in deploying • Corporate stationery

and communicating the brand. • Products and services

communication

After the identity is developed by • Corporate profiles and annual

the CI agency, it is passed on (along reports

with the guidelines) to the operator’s • Any other advertising

advertising agency, which is responsible requirements

Exhibit 8: Parties involved in the deployment and communication of the new brand

►► Values and positioning

CI agency ►► Visual identity
►► Identity application guidelines

New brand

Advertising agency Media agency PR agency Web design agency DM agency Retail design

►► Strapline ►► Media bookings ►► Media ►► Corporate ►► Direct mail ►► Own shops

►► Launch ►► Media presence communications website ►► CRM ►► Dealers
campaign strategy ►► Press releases ►► Micro sites ►► Office
►► Corporate ►► Events ►► Flash animations environments
►► Intranet
stationary
►► P&S campaigns
►► Corporate
profile
►► Annual reports

13
 Even though the advertising agency separately with all internal

is generally regarded as the brand departments, the PR agency,

guardian, there are many additional and the advertising and media

partners and suppliers involved including agencies as needed

media booking, PR, web design, direct

marketing and retail / interior-design This approach usually results in

agencies – all in addition to third party un-integrated campaigns because the

suppliers usually responsible for printing media booking, DM, web content, and

and execution. PR are done independently from the

advertising concept. The management

Operators in the Middle East generally and coordination process becomes

follow an ad hoc communication entangled and hard to follow.

management process, which can be

summarized into the following: A best practice to streamline the process

• MarComs manage each of the would involve:

agencies individually without • The MarCom department having

leveraging on a single integrated more autonomy over the brand

communication approach • The advertising agency being

involving all parties allowed to manage all forms of

• Even though the MarCom advertising by having the authority

department is in charge of to manage all third parties

managing the brand internally • The PR department having a

and with the communication parallel coordination stream with

agencies, they are superseded by CxOs and the PR agency – yet

the marketing department and aligning with MarCom on

C-levels who also occasionally brand-related PR content.

contact the advertising agency

directly or provide direct Brand strategy governance

comments to them in meeting The brand is best initially overlooked

• Each agency is responsible for and managed by either the strategy

directly coordinating with the department or professional services

advertising agency teams directly involved in the overall

• The PR department is treated as operator strategy, and later handed

a separate entity and coordinates over to the operators’ MarCom

14
 teams to manage across different segmentation (developed by the

communication agencies and disciplines. strategy team)

The strategy teams in the region are • Is constantly updated to respond

more dominant in C-level and executive to detailed penetration figures

management meetings and decisions (which are closely managed by the

than communication agencies and strategy team)

the MarCom teams, which gives them

a clear bird’s eye view of the overall Ideally and to help the above process

business as opposed to operating in work seamlessly a telecom operator

one discipline only. By managing the should try and assign a regional multi

branding process, the strategy team can discipline advertising group to manage

develop a brand strategy that: their brand. Large advertising agencies

• Takes into consideration the are usually part of a holding company

operator’s requirements in the that offers advertising, media booking,

short and long term PR, DM, and online services. Assigning

• Adheres to financial forecasts, one of these companies could help

and global communication ROI integrate all branding and

benchmarks communications across geographies

• Incorporates forecasted service under one roof allowing sister companies

launch schedules to work together on all campaigns and

• Is consistent with market communication initiatives.

Exhibit 9: Simplified process structure to ensure alignment, effectiveness and efficiency

15
 Sustaining the global brand
Sustaining a global brand requires strong alignment between messages
and media channels to ensure optimal communication, distribution
and continuous brand auditing with global consistency
Global brand management requires a maximum effectiveness. This can be
rigid control process involving a single done through:
brand champion from the holding • Brand audits that take place
company to manage the overall brand
regularly for each operation
and approve all applications across the
• Quarterly presentations from each
different markets for consistency, short
operation to the Group Branding
approval times in order not to disrupt
the work flow and increase time to function

market, approval at concept level and • Putting motivational processes

artwork stage to avoid rejecting the in place, incentivizing brand
concept after all the work has been
managers who deliver good results
done, and clear guidelines on image and
• An online brand management
positioning in addition to those of
tool that would help different
logo application.
operations have access to and

The approval process needs to be robust review all the work developed on

and enforced to ensure compliance with the brand across geographies.

CASE Study: Audi “The Art of the Heist”

To launch the Audi A3 in the USA, Audi allowed people to
participate in the communication campaign that went as follows:
A live theft of the first Audi A3 in the USA from the dealership
on Park Avenue in New York. Passers-by would see two people
break the window and steal the car, security guards running after
a suspect, the placement of police tape around the crime area, and
the handout of wanted flyers.
The following day at the New York International Auto Show the
car was replaced with signs indicating that the car was missing,
and the public would not know how the car was stolen.
The event was covered by bloggers around the world, and
supported by newspaper ads, billboards, and TV ads asking people
to help find the car and providing response channels.
The Audi USA website showed that the company contracted a firm
specialized in the retrieval of high end stolen art named Last Resort
Retrieval.
On the Last Resort Retrieval website, there were thousands of
leads including photos, faxes, phone calls, and emails
Last Resort Retrieval was also advertised for months in the
classifieds section of high end magazine (to show that it’s a
legitimate company).
To target video gamers, Audi created a twist whereby a game
developer is trying to find the car, and gives live interviews at E3 the
largest video game expo in the world.
To make sure people were able to follow the story, you could visit
the blog of Todd who was intently following the action from day 1
and posting all the updates and viral films
A few weeks later people would have noticed that the mystery was
solved, and learn why the car was stolen
Campaign results include:
• 45 million PR impressions
• 500,000 story participants
• Over 10,000 leads to dealers
• Over 2 million unique visits to the Audi USA website
Source: Adforum

16
Common pitfalls observed in ME and Africa
In order to reach an internal consensus on brand related matters,
regional operators tend to adopt the safe brand option which results in
killing creativity

In many cases telecom brands are Another regional issue that limits

perceived and treated as personal targeted communication is the limited

belongings of the chairman or CEO availability of data about existing

who is often influenced by revenue customers and their behaviors. Not

generating potential held in the having this data is a lost opportunity

marketing department. Therefore for effective communications,

MarCom, as a pure cost center, have and generally results in inefficient

little decision making power over mass communication that in

the brand. Due to this, MarCom many cases is irrelevant to many

departments usually take a very safe, customers and eventually weakens

risk averse position that does not the customer-brand bond. It is

contribute to strongly differentiating strongly recommended that MarCom

the brand. departments engage in more research

activities for defining target audience

The advertising approach in the region behavior and testing concepts prior to

has two extremes: brand and tactical. going on air.

Ads are either too tactical with strong

predominant calls to action along MEA telecom operators usually lack

the lines of “buy now” (to satisfy a strong local flavor in their brand

the marketing teams); or brand ads identity. This is mainly due to the

which are very vague and provide lack of trust in regional corporate

over promising messages (these are identity agencies and resorting to

usually accompanied with expensive TV UK companies for developing local

productions intended to be a show off identities for geographies they are

statement as opposed to getting closer not very familiar with. Another lack

to the customer). of flavor is generally a result of media

17
 utilization, whereby all campaigns across different brand campaigns,

are developed for mass media and product launches, and in different

very little effort is placed on targeting subsidiaries across geographies.

specific audiences that the service is Regional players should put more

developed for. effort in communication consolidation

by developing a central branding

Fragmentation remains a key department, a clear consistent

characteristic of telecom branding and strategy, and local brand guardians in

communications in the Middle East each country.

and Africa. Fragmentation is observed

Key take-aways

• Brands are the only effective and sustainable differentiators for

telecom operators in the long run

• Telecom branding is still in its infancy compared to other

industries

• The benefits of having a monolithic brand outweigh those of

maintaining a multi-brand approach

• It is essential to give autonomy to brand managers, and make

them the final decision makers for all brand related matters

• A CEO should be involved in branding at its early stages to ensure

a smooth roll-out across the organization

• Brand promises should be customer centric, aspirational yet down

to earth, and achievable

• All brand related communication should be consistent and

integrated across as many media as possible

• There should be open channels between MarCom and customers

as opposed to having all messages filtered through customer
service or marketing

• The MarCom function needs to have authority over marketing to

ensure that the brand transcends products, services, and technical
features

18
 Conclusion
Similar to salad dressing, a strong stakeholders minds and create a form

brand penetrates all the conventional of addiction that gets reinforced at

ingredients of a telecom operator and every touch point.

gives it a distinct flavor differentiated

from other operators offering the same A salad dressing is always developed by

products and services. The brand the chef: (in this case MarCom) never

dressing should have a strong prominent the restaurant manager or any other

flavor that becomes prevalent in all staff working at the restaurant.

aspects of an operator from the sign The salad dressing should fit with the

at the door to the customer care salad context, which is why you do not

welcoming statement, HR strategy, find ranch dressing on a Chinese salad;

corporate culture, advertising, products and hence brands and promises need to

and services, and investor relations. be tailored to suit the local market and

Only a bold distinct flavor can the telecom context.

make the brand promise “stick” in

Footnotes

1. Source: MillwardBrown Optimor, the full document is available on http://www.brandz.com/BrandZ_2007_Ranking_

Report.pdf

2. According to Reuters, Preschoolers preferred the taste of burgers and fries when they came in McDonald’s wrappers

over the same food in plain wrapping, U.S. researchers said, suggesting fast-food marketing reaches the very young.

“Overwhelmingly, kids chose the one that they perceived was from McDonald’s,” said obesity prevention expert Dr.

Thomas Robinson of the Stanford University School of Medicine, whose work appears in the Archives of Pediatrics &

Adolescent Medicine. Full article available on: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN06428781

3. The full research by conway.smith.rose is available at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/Oftel/publications/

research/2001/bran1101.pdf

4. From “The Lure of Global Branding” article in Harvard Business Review (November – December 1999) in which
executives from 35 companies in the US, Europe and Japan that have successfully developed strong brands across

countries were interviewed

19
20