FMCG or fast moving consumer goods sprang out of the mass industrialisation. Brands sprang up originally as a guarantee of quality. Later on as these brands needed to be promoted, we saw the foundation of the what we think of as modern marketing and advertising.
Today media and entertainment takes up an increasing amount of the household spend, as does housing, but FMCGs are a crucial part of their essential and disposable income spend.
They have nostalgia wrapped up in them, distinctive aromas, taste and packaging designs. From the smell of my Granny using so much Pledge on the TV that I was surprised it didn’t burst into flame to the taste of Cidona and texture of Boland’s Fig Roll biscuits in my mouth.
The sound of their advertising jingles was the soundtrack of my childhood. Digital advertising is largely rationale, it lacks the fluent devices that provide the centre to advertising and made FMCG advertising iconic. Fluent devices like the Peperami ‘Animal’, the M&M characters or the Cadbury Smash robots were embedded in deep marketing research. FMCG brands still sponsor the best research in marketing science.
I had the good fortune to work inhouse at Unilever and agency-side for their brands. I also managed to work on Coca-Cola and Colgate during my time in Hong Kong.
Democracy and auditing | China Accounting Blog – given that auditing big four are under pressure in China, this might have been an effort to curry favour. But the auditing firms have screwed themselves over in Hong Kong and other countries with this move in China. I could imagine that in the years to come, the lack of transparent auditing will hurt Chinese companies listing on other stock exchanges.
Umeng have put together a great presentation on consumer behaviour and mobile in China’s tier 3 cities. Most of what you read focuses on tier one and tier two cities in China. Umeng provides insight into large yet untapped markets just below the biggest most-developed cities in China. The tier three cities that Umeng covers are the cities were China does much of its manufacturing now as places like Shenzhen and Shanghai have become too expensive
Fukushima Happy
This beautifully shot version of Pharrell Williams Happy done by the people of Fukushima prefecture showing everyday Japanese life and shot by Fuji TV.
I particularly like the lucho libre masks and the winking Shibu shot. There is also a great outtakes / making of video
Red Fuse x Colgate-Palmolive Myanmar
Red Fuse Hong Kong’s work with Colgate-Palmolive in Myanmar to educate children about oral health (and sell more toothpaste) was a Cannes Lion winner and an inspired way of rethinking how packaging was used. The mobile toll-free number was particularly interesting given how nascent mobile phone usage is in Myanmar. There isn’t much of an online component as internet penetration is low and concentrated in richer urban areas of the country.
Richard Feynman – The Character of Physical Law – 5 –
The Distinction of Past and Future lecturing at Cornell University. Feynman was a great physicist but he was greater at making physics accessible to a wider range of people through his lectures and writing. Take a lunch time to enjoy this video
Guardians of the Galaxy
Yet another new trailer for the Guardians of The Galaxy, we get to see Rocket‘s character slightly more developed in this version and he seems brilliant in a Spaghetti Western anti-hero kind of way, if Eli Wallach (God rest his soul) had been a wise-cracking raccoon bandit.
Hospital Spies on Your Purchases to Spot Bad Habits – Bloomberg – hospital spies presents an interesting privacy dilemma and they aren’t even using social data yet. We need to start thinking defensively about content and other aspects of our lives in terms of operational security. Hospital spies are likely to be the least of our worries in the future.
Bioischanged – handy for keeping track of influencers
Media
Android TV hands-on: Google makes a new play for the living room | The Verge – if at first you don’t succeed try, try again. What hasn’t been shown so far is a use case beyond an Apple TV type service – a remade version of the DVD player. If companies can come up with a killer app in lean back media then things may change
WPP CEO Sorrell Says Regional Offices Can Be ‘Inhibitors’ | Advertising Age– interesting tension happening here; part of the reason for the inhibitors that there isn’t a power to yes is because the power structures aren’t designed right. A second inhibitor issue is also that the centre is all asking for the wrong things. Often HQ has the power to say no; not the power to say yes where they haven’t come up with the idea. All of these inhibitors means that agency side pan-regional roles will be under threat. More related content here.
Financial Times Testing Time-Spent Ads – Business Insider – interesting move. Will engagement on a page mean that one is more likely to click on ads below the fold or will content just be ignored, would need more detail on click through rates or even conversion rates if possible
Nokia ‘paid millions to software blackmailers six years ago’ | Reuters – Finnish telecoms equipment company Nokia paid several million euros to criminals who threatened to reveal the source code for part of an operating system used in its smartphones some six years ago – did this make the move away from Symbian even more attractive?
Nokia ‘paid millions to software blackmailers six years ago’ | Reuters – Finnish telecoms equipment company Nokia paid several million euros to criminals who threatened to reveal the source code for part of an operating system used in its smartphones some six years ago – did this make the move away from Symbian even more attractive?
B52 receives first tech upgrade since 1961: Now with color screens and wireless networking – this is a credit to the engineers that designed and manufactured to the B52. The longevity there was something dieselpunkish about mixed analogue and digital controls that appeals to me though. The B52 was originally designed as a nuclear bomber, but has only been used in action with conventional weapons. The B52 served in Vietnam, the first Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq. The B52 may serve for close on to a century in the US Air Force
Kakao And Daum To Merge, Creating One Of South Korea’s Largest Internet Companies | TechCrunch – this is a really big deal in South Korea. Daum is big in areas such as mobile search and social networks, KakaoTalk has gained ubiquity amongst Korean phone users and made a profitable business from games and stickers. I wonder what Tencent’s share will be in the combined company?
U.S. Companies Hacked by Chinese Didn’t Tell Investors – Bloomberg – which is pretty shocking. They would have at least been at a disadvantage trading with Chinese state-owned companies and the disclosures may have impacted goodwill as partners would be concerned about what information was disclosed. I would have thought all of this would have been meaningful to the share price?
Microsoft’s golden era in China coming to an end | WantChinaTimes – Microsoft will not only lose government purchase orders, but will also lose the central enterprise purchases and OEM market–the three major revenue sources for Microsoft in China – according to a Chinese newspaper, if true then this clobbers Microsoft in China
Web of no web
Watch Skype translate a video conversation in real time | Quartz – you know that time when you first saw the internet and it was a thing of wonder, rather than where you go to work? That’s how I felt when I saw this, mixed up with feeling dirty realising that Skype is actually Microsoft
Am I Crazy For Wanting A 4-Inch iPhone 6? | BusinessInsider – good points in terms of usability. It does beg the question do consumers actually want a phone anymore? I suspect some of them do, but handset manufacturers tend to disagree if one where to believe the big screen trend
