SCHMITTblog

Big Think CSR in Korea

I just returned from Seoul where I had been for the last few days to write a business case, together with my friend and Yonsei Prof Dae Ryun Chang, on Yuhan-Kimberly.  The company produces diapers, tissues and napkins under the Huggies, Kleenex and Kotex brand names. But it also has been doing good: its "Keep Korea  Green" campaign has been running for 25 years. Aside from using recyling procedures, they have planted  21 million trees on public land and near schools. When many other companies are  "strategizing" how "green" they should  be, or, better, how to fake green cheap -- they have shown Big  Think corporate social responsibility for many years. For more information, see http://www.yuhan-kimberly.co.kr/renewal/sustn/sustn_01.asp
 

Don't use "my boss is a small thinker" as an excuse

During a talk in Seoul (South Korea) on Big Think Strategy (see pic), a middle manager asks me, "What can I do if I think big but my boss doesn't?"   I first point out that I often hear the same from senior managers -- that is, "I think  big, but my staff doesn't" and I describe that I have written a lot about how leaders can set up organizational structures and hire for Big Think. But the questioner insists: what if the boss is a small thinker?  In that case, you must try to carve out a niche for yourself in the organization;  go for a smaller but significant  project -- one that is not under the radar  screen of your small  thinking boss --  and there, think big!  Also, find allies  in other  departments,  even among senior managers.   Don't use my boss is a small thinker" as an excuse!

Ahn loves Mahler

I met with the President of Sejong, my Korean publisher for “Big Think Strategy,” in Seoul over lunch at the Lotte Hotel. (They had also done “Experiential Marketing” before.) Although there is a language gap, it is quickly bridged with music. Like myself, Mr. Ahn loves Mahler! And he loves it that somebody asks in the strategy development chapter, “What Would Mahler Do?” So, soon we are in the middle of a discussion of the Third, the Fifth and other symphonies. A book like “Big Think Strategy” needs an audience with an open mind and a translator that loves Mahler.

SCHMITT Shanghai Trojan Horse completed

It’s finally done. The artists and craftsmen in Shanghai have completed the wooden horse that I commissioned to provide a physical manifestation for the content of my new book “Big Think Strategy.” Right on time; the global launch date for the book is December 6. And it looks fabulous (below is one of the first shots of the completed work). Now, the Schmitt Shanghai Trojan Horse can fulfill its mission to inspire company employees and stand as a monument to big thinkers everywhere.

Not Your Father’s Singapore

Whoever said Singapore is conservative and boring anymore?  Consider the following three businesses, all located in the same new upscale shopping mall:

Instant Karma sells ultra-cool Tee’s with provocative messages such as “My girlfriend loves pussy.” I bought: “Door Bitch: You are not even on the list.”

Strip, a coed hair removal service (brandline: “the Ministry of Waxing”), has moved way beyond American puritanism in waxing.  There’s your standard Brazilian but also a menu of “boyzilians” for men. The website (http://www.strip.com.sg) features campy pictures of bikini-clad women and hairy orangutans, and the Diary of a Brazilian Strip Virgin (“Having been stuck with the bushy for so long, I decided I couldn't be left behind the other girls any longer…”) When I asked in the store which gender does the waxing for you, I was told, “Your choice.”

Finally, there’s the fabulous “Browhaus” brand (http://www.browhaus.com). No, Browhaus is not a misspelled German brewery but a place to get “plucked, tweezed, threaded and waxed” so your face can enjoy the virtues of eyebrows with shape, volume and panache. Their brow design philosophy is inspired – you guessed it – by Bauhaus, the German design and architecture movement.  Thus: “The Idea Behind The Tweeze: Functionalism + Style.”

Branding in India Symposium

Monday night I was pleased to host an exciting discussion at our "Branding in India" Symposium at Columbia Business School.  Following up on Dean Hubbard's recent trip to India and announcement of an ongoing partnership of with IIM Ahmedabad, we planned the event to examine the challenges and opportunities for local and global brands appealing to India's huge consumer markets; as well as the prospects for Indian companies to move onto the world stage of global branding.  The agenda and speaker bios are posted online.

For those who couldn't make it, we'll post an audio or video podcast of the discussion shortly. 

In the meantime, one of the attendees, Aparna Mukherjee (a former MBA and case researcher at our Center on Global Brand Leadership), forwarded me the following article from last week's Newsweek: "Next Big Spenders" India's Middle Class.  The article focuses on emerging demographic trends, new economic segments that are poised to drive big growth of the Indian middle class, and moves by company's like Tata to capitalize on the opportunities afforded.

-David Rogers

Chinese Brands Going Global

Branding is become a hot topic in mainland China.  Everyone’s asking: How can Chinese companies turn their brands into global brands? What does it take? When will we see the first few global brands coming out of the P.R.C.? And so on. Well, there are already Lenovo and Haier, and if you define a brand a bit more broadly, you can count in the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai, the city, as well.  But surely, the Chinese government and Chinese businesses have larger aspirations. So what’s holding them back? What are the constraints?

These were the issues debated at the inaugural Shanghai branding conference held today at Jiatong University, as part of the Center on Global Brand Leadership network that I have created over the last few years. The consensus: Chinese businesses know all about branding. What’s holding them back is not a lack of know-how, but financial and organizational issues. Plus, a huge local market--over a billion consumers in mainland China--that still offers significant growth without facing the challenges of entering new markets.  By comparison, Taiwan (a much smaller local market) is further along in pursuing global branding.  (Same reason that the Dutch speak better English than the Germans.)

However, as I witnessed at the Shanghai Auto Show (see picture above), certain Chinese industries – like automobiles – are fully geared toward international expansion.  Several Chinese car manufacturers are creating products for overseas markets, and some have already shown their brands at international car shows as well.

(Incidentally, the conference was a wild success, with an array of prominent speakers, some of whom appeared on Shanghai TV's hot Brainstorm show,  and attended by hundreds of invited guests; I’ll post a link soon to our official conference report.)

I Don't Want to Be a Famous Man, I Want To Be Useful

Jerry--multi-talented Chinese taxi driver/interpreter/licensed guide for executives of Bosch, Siemens, and Nokia--explains to me how he markets himself.

Singing the Brand

See the managers of Bank of America sing the praises of the union with MBNA.

Just in case some of you find this ridiculous, you are not alone.  The Wall Street Journal finds that
"to sing a sultry ballad about the union is arguably pushing it."

**SCHMITT theme song “I Wanna Dance, Dance, Dance Till the Sun Goes Down” and strobophonic special effects courtesy of Musical Fantasy Light, made in China.

SCHMITT Wears Zachary Prell

A former student of mine has launched a luxury men's shirts brand, and I just bought three of them.  Watch this video to find out about the new global brand "Zachary Prell."