How the Brazilian government and private financial sectors are preparing for the 2014 World Cup

      Good news hit the Brazilian shores, as according to a spokes person from the International Finance Corporation - IFC, the World Bank affiliate is looking to invest close to $2 billion in Brazilian private sector companies.  Targeted sectors are financial, energy, low-income housing, business hotels, agriculture and water.   By doing so the IFC will improve Brazil’s competitiveness, support job creation, infrastructure development and access to financial services.

       Although foreign direct investment is growing in Brazil, the local government is also investing in growing the country’s innovation industries, which can be leveraged before, during and after the 2014 global event. A good example is the government subsidized Recife’s Porto Digital, one of the largest tech parks in the country, with technology firms focusing on areas such as urban mobility, neural networks, artificial intelligence for finance & banking, as well as security and outsourcing.  Recife’s Porto Digital has been a success, and is now home to 150 IT firms, which generated about US$488M in 2012.  

     As we approach the kickoff moment of the 2014 World Cup, another industry that is seeing significant investments is the security industry, as FIFA and foreign nations are pressuring Brazil to be prepared to counter possible terrorist threats during the 2014 event.

      As a result Brazilian security forces recently awarded a US$7.2M contract to Boston-based iRobot Corp. to have American drones and robots keep an eye on the areas around the soccer stadiums during the games and inspect suspicious packages and diffuse potential chemical and explosive devices.  

In addition, according to Brazil’s Defense Ministry, Brazil has put in place a massive military operation to secure its porous 10,440-mile frontier, to crack down on drug trafficking and smuggling of arms and illegal migrants.

     With heavy investments in infrastructure, innovation and security the nation hopes to leverage its passion for soccer, to lift the country out of its developing economic stage and into a brighter and sustainable future. 

Growth in Internet usage drives e-commerce growth in Brazil

Despite the slowdown in Brazil’s economy, many economists remain optimistic about the growth of e-commerce in the country.  A growing middle class coupled with a growing Internet penetration allows for the opportunity for e-commerce expansion. 

      As we approach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the local B2C e-commerce industry may see double-digit increase in 2014.  E-Marketer predicts that retail e-commerce sales would lead this double-digit growing industry throughout 2014.

Another factor that will contribute to the e-commerce expansion are the new governmental regulations focusing on online privacy, which will increase the comfort level of Brazilian Internet shoppers.

        On-line tourism sales have also played an important role in the growth of Brazilian e-commerce.  According to e-Marketer, this segment represented close to 1/3 of the country’s total e-commerce sales in 2012.

        Although, the expanding middle class plays a big role in the growth of the Brazilian e-commerce industry, the majority of the sales will continue to be generated by the upper class segment as they have more disposable income and are more Internet savvy.  

       Nevertheless, the current market still offers several opportunities for proven foreign e-commerce models to be replicated in Brazil and leverage the love Brazilians have for shopping on-line.   

Start-Ups in Brazil Remain Optimistic

      Numerous young companies have struggled to show sustainable profitability despite early rapid growth.  Some blame the business environment and the costs of doing business such as legal costs, taxes, employment costs and a lack of logistics infrastructure, which combined make operations more difficult.  The fact that GDP growth slowed last year to 0.9%, compared with 2.7% in 2011 has not helped entrepreneurs either.

     Initially, most investments made by foreign venture capital firms consisted of Brazilian Internet or technology companies looking to replicate existing web business models that proved to be successful in the United States or Europe.  Investors wrongly assumed that the Brazilian market was large enough to support multiple successful companies. Consequently, the market was flooded with excessive competition for limited market share.  However, other investors point to inefficiencies on the execution and operations of companies as the main reason for their poor performance.

     Despite the difficult environment, Brazilian start-ups still have foreign supporters.  Even Silicon Valley investors who have seen ideas fail are still willing to make large bets, believing that the short term will be difficult, but the long-term projections remain highly favorable, as the market grows and consumer purchasing power increases. 

     According to the Brazilian consulting firm E-bit, overall e-commerce grew by 20% in 2012 and mobile represented only 2.5% of transactions, making mobile e-commerce the next big opportunity for growth.  Other sectors in Brazil that remain overlooked and underfinanced but are starting to see more investments are health care, education and innovation. 

We also note the growing interest of Chinese Internet companies looking to duplicate in Brazil the same success that they’ve had in China.

     Overall, as move closer to the World Cup and Olympics, the country show signs of above average GDP growth and the mood for foreign investors still remains positive and more FDI is expected the next 3-5 years to further empower the growth of the Brazilian economy.

 

 

How To SellIn LinkedIn

As LinkedIn’s profile states on its own company page – “LinkedIn takes your professional network online.” With 135M+ users and 11k new members every 90min, Linkedin has dominated the professional social media space as we all know it.

Aside from connecting with past lunch buddies from previous jobs, one might ask “what can a sales person do on LinkedIn?” As I always tell my students, LinkedIn allows you to do the most important business task ever - SELL!

So then, how should one sell via LinkedIn? If I may add another MBA framework, to a world that doesn’t need another self-proclaiming framework, I would like for you to consider “The 5Cs” of How to SellIn LinkedIn:

CONNECT-->CREATE-->COLD-TWEET-->COLLABORATE-->CLOSE

Let me explain…

CONNECT: Just as a sales person needs to leave the office to meet new prospects, he or she also needs to connect with new prospects on-line.

CREATE: In the era where “Content is King,” a sales professional also needs to be a source of knowledge and information. A well-crafted editorial agenda comprised of engaging & “non-salesy” content can position you and your sales team as a credible resource in your industry.

COLD-TWEET: Rule #1 is to never ever cold call on LinkedIn, aka send a request to someone you don’t know, trust me it looks horrible! However, finding a prospect’s Twitter handle, aka username, following them and eventually replying to one of their clever tweets can be a very classy way to start developing a relationship.

COLLABORATE: Get your sales team to cooperate and collaborate on LinkedIn. Develop discussion groups for teammates to exchange contacts, information and insights. Use the team’s collective LinkedIn connections to generate more leads and don’t forget to recommend one another.

CLOSE: Considering that any given prospect has a never-ending number of options at their fingertips, focus on being an expert and educating the prospects before they have a need for a solution. If you manage the process correctly, the prospects will be closing on you instead of the other way around!

So my dear sales friends, I hope this helps you leverage your sales on LinkedIn, and remember, as Aristotle once said, “A friend to all is a friend to none.” With that in mind, go out there and focus on making ONLY relevant LinkedIn connection, sharing your knowledge and the sales will follow!

Don't Stain Your Brand with Greenwash

As I see brands claiming to have won the “Green” award, I would like to share with you a few principles to keep in mind in order to protect your brand from taking home the “Greenwashing” trophy.

• Proof = Truth – All claims should have scientific proof.
• Don’t Hide and Emphasize – Don’t try to hide some facts and emphasize other information. Your audience will notice and the truth behind your message will come to light. Tell the whole story!

• If you are not different, it doesn’t make a difference – If you are claiming something every other company is doing you are not special.
• The Label Matter – Get a neutral and respectable third party organization to endorse your claim/stamp/label.
• Educate your Audience – If you use a term, i.e. Fair Trade, provide a definition on your label for that or any other term and or claim.

As this blog post is dedicated to my UCLA Green Marketing Strategy students, I would like to share and informative video I found on YouTube made by grenkblog.com. Please watch the video and let me know how you would avoid the “Greenwash” trophy.

Can a Chinese Brand make it in America?

I think it can! A great example is Lenovo, who acquired the former IBM PC Company Division for approximately $1.75 billion, and is currently the largest seller of PCs in China with 28.6% market share. The Chinese PC maker was ranked sixth with a 5.6 percent market share in the U.S. market in 2010, with sales outpacing all competitors in the US.

I believe Chinese brands have to do the following to compete in the US Market:

#1- Upgrade quality standards.

#2- Communicate NEW quality standards through better advertisement and promotional efforts.

#3- Develop a customer relationship management system with “the customer is always right” mentality.

#4- Reevaluate their pricing strategy, as we all know it, in America cheap = low quality.

In addition, the Chinese American community represents the largest group of Asian Americans, accounting for 22.4% of the Asian American population in the US. Therefore, utilizing the following Chinese symbols in product development to communicate Chinese heritage can be a competitive advantage in the American market:

Red: For the Chinese, the color red symbolizes good luck and happiness.

Chinese Dragons: A symbol of authority, might and power. Chinese people consider themselves to be descendants of the dragon and proudly communicate that in several forms.

Chinese Characters: There are over 80,000 Chinese characters that illustrate the Chinese culture.

Given that this blog post is dedicated to my dear Global Marketing Strategy students at UCLA, I am interested in knowing what you think a Chinese Brand ought to do to make it in America?

7 MARKETING POWERS

After reading countless BBBs – business boring books - I feel that everything has already been said by someone somewhere. However, if everyone has already heard all the pearls of success, why aren’t we all successful? 

If all those BBBs make total sense, why aren’t we implementing the strategies and tactics to make ourselves or our brand popular or should I say profitable?

As a summary of my marketing studies, I have identified the 7 powers any wannabe marketer, brand manager, CMO, CEO or facebook junkie should develop to break through the noise of media in the 21^st century and create a brand or name for themselves. 

I call them 7 MARKETING POWERS:

POWER #1 – LISTENING

– The power of listening to your clients, company and competitors.

POWER #2 – BRANDING

– The power of creating an iconic brand.

POWER #3 – PERSUASION

– The power of influencing people and storytelling.

POWER #4 – LEADERSHIP

– The power of motivating others.

POWER #5 – STRATEGY

– The power of mapping your way to success.

POWER #6 – EFFICIENCY

– The power of doing.

POWER #7 – NETWORKING

– The power of others.

Understanding and mastering these 7 MARKETING POWERS can be more efficient than an MBA degree, and this is coming from someone who chose that diploma on the wall over a Ferrari in the garage. Trust me, I still dream about cruising in that red convertible.

World Cup Marketing War

In a world where a sense of national pride is suppressed by globalization, the World Cup is the last frontier for a fair global battlefield! After watching every game, including the disappointing Brazil vs. Holland match, I have decided to express my digital point of view about the most simultaneously shared human experience on the planet, the South African World Cup 2010.

Estimates are that 700 Million people watched the final match between “La Furia Roja” and the not so “Clockwork Orange.” Such a massive viewing might explain why we now see national heros and football (soccer) personalities making silly fashion statements – i.e., Maradona’s 2 Hublot watches and players like Davi Villa with more hair gel than Vanila Ice - all in search of mass audience popularity and following.

Speaking of the search for popularity, two power-house brands faced off in a head to head battle, on Facebook, for the “World Followers Cup.” Adidas, the main event sponsor since 1970, set a campaign focused on fan-based match predictions, while Nike created a 10 min advertising viral video showcasing elite international players. 

After the whistle was blown in Johannesburg, the Facebook scoreboard showed Adidas 1,349,560 fans vs. Nike 1,340,220 fans. 

In the battle for fans, Adidas created so much buzz around the official ball, the Jabulani, made by Adidas, that nobody stopped to note that the only players complaining were the Nike sponsored athletes.

So in a billion dollar industry, how could a brand win at the World Cup? According to the social network numbers, Adidas not only picked the winning team, but also the ball and took the entire event.

With that in mind, should we bet your hard-earned money on the teams sponsored by the brand that spends the largest amount of money? I hope that, for the sake of Brazilians, Nike decides to spend all its American dollars in 2014…

PS: Despite the billions of dollars spent on the World Cup Marketing War, in my opinion the video below was the best example of the World Cup spirit. Enjoy!

Facebook = Social Heaven OR Career Suicide

After seeing one of the most successful young executives in my network inform the world via a FB wall update that he was parting ways with current (now ex) employer, I decided to help my other friends avoid a similar potential social networking/career suicide.

Aside from my own personal views on privacy let’s get down to some cold hard facts:

1. Under human-rights legislation, employees DO NOT have the right to confidential use the Internet and e-mail facilities at work. So unless you want the geek in the IT department knowing about your weekend escapades don’t FB at work.
2. Given Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Twitter and other caches, there is a 99.9% danger that anything you put online will never truly die... so don’t post something today that you might regret tomorrow.
3. One of Facebook’s competitive advantages is its OPEN source code, which in plain English means OPEN doors for applications and developers to get access to personal data, user profiles and other personal information that can now be searchable through Google and Bing. Consequently, your private information is not that private anymore.

Now, I bet you are all scared and questions regarding your privacy at work are overloading your brain’s hard drive. Thus, I went ahead and researched more facts about your relationship with your employer regarding your social network privacy. 


Here is a little Q&A for you:

Can my boss stop me from using Facebook or discipline me for using social networking sites during work time? The answer is YES.

Can my boss tell me to close my personal Facebook account? If you are behaving in a way that might be detrimental to the company’s brand image – (s)he surely can.

Can my employer monitor what I’m writing on Facebook while I’m at work? Absolutely (see fact #1 above)!

Can an employer refuse to hire me because of my Facebook profile? Legally no…but how you are going to prove that (s)he is or is not basing the decision upon information they sourced from your profile?

How should my employer approach issues of personal conduct on social networks? Improper posting/ language can count as gross misconduct, and even justify dismissal.

Should I accept a Facebook friend request from my boss? This is a $1 Million Dollar question that I will let you decide based on your relationship.

So how does this tie into personal branding strategy online?

I love FB - I think is a great tool to connect with friends- but I want you to open your mind to the fact that YOU have a professional BRAND and you should treat Facebook and any other social network tools as if they were the front page of The New York Times. Now ask yourself; if you were Coca-Cola, what kind of information would you post on the front page of a newspaper?

P.S.- After scaring you away from posting last weekend’s party pics… check this funny video below…hope you enjoy it…LOL

How to turn SPAM into Positive ROI

Some call it newsletters, e-mail marketing, direct online marketing, but we all know it as SPAM, the necessary evil for every wannabe 21^st century marketer. So for those of us wanting to get clients to read mass emails, here are 10 tips to transform that SPAM into a positive ROI marketing tool:

1- DON’T TRY to mass communicate via your personal email client (outlook, hotmail, gmail, etc.), not even if you are sending to a small list. For technical (IT) reasons this just won’t work! Instead, hire an E-mail marketing firm (ConstantContact, iContact, MailChimp, etc.), which is the only way your emails will hit inboxes.

2- Grow your list organically! Ask for emails at every brand touch-point. Collect emails by adding a “join our mailing” button on every page of your website and on your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages, plus guest books on physical touch-points also help.

3- Focus on repeat customers! Focus your attention on building a premium list of high frequency customers. People who bought from you are more likely to buy again and read your spam!

4- Include an UNSUBSCRIBE button on every communication. You don’t want irrelevant names on your list that will drive up your cost of conversion; the name of the game here is "Less is More!"

5- Add a “JOIN OUR LIST” and a “FORWARD TO A FRIEND” buttons on all your on-line communications, including your corporate emails.

6- Create a SING-UP page or widget, make the process as simple as possible – request only necessary information. Most relevant data-mining and segmentation can be done with name, age, sex, zip code. Don’t forget to set up a nice auto-response welcome letter. I strongly suggest you attach a discount coupon to the welcome letter if you are in the retail/service industry.

7- Several email clients and Smartphones restrict images (blocked content). Therefore, aside from having a plain text version of your email make sure to include in the e-mail’s html code a brief description of the art/image you are attaching in your communication, i.e. product name & price.

8- What is the best time to send mass e-mail? According to several Internet researches, the best open rates can be achieved if communication is send mid-week (Tuesday-Thursday) around lunchtime. Given the different US time zones, try 10am-3pm.

9- Subject Lines will make or break your campaign! To avoid being picked up by spam filters, don’t use more than 30-40 characters or 5-8 words, NO CAPS, no spelling errors, avoid the words “free” and “guaranteed” at all costs, and never include $, %, !!! or ? signs.

10- Given that is harder to read text on a monitor than off a magazine page, the content of your e-mail marketing communication needs to be on average 50% less than its printed version. Article summaries with a “read more” link can do wonders for your click-through-rates (CTR).


Hope this helps, and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

Berry Vs. Apple

I finally managed to write another blog entry!

Recently, I moved from a Crackberry (a really addictive device) to an Iphone 3GS. Now I am back to a Blackberry Storm 2, a hybrid of a berry and an apple. After reading countless blogs and watching mind numbing Youtube videos comparing the different phones, I decided to contribute with my own perspective as a social network marketer.

As I run several social media marketing programs in my daily routine, I was looking for a phone that would let me Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Youtube simultaneously and on-the-go! I found that for web browsing, there is nothing better than the Iphone. The Iphone’s multi-touch capabilities including “pinch-&-zoom” anything from a webpage to a photo makes a huge difference. Now if your drug of choice is a crackberry, you can enhance your browsing experience by downloading the Opera Mini 5 (beta) mobile browser at www.opera.com.

However, there is more to Social Networking on-the-go than web browsing, there is E-MAILING! Considering that you can store literally thousands of emails on the Blackberry as opposed to only 200 on the Iphone, if you need to find that 2 month old email from your CEO- the RIM technology will save your job.

As for screen definition, the Iphone beats any Blackberry. As for a camera picture quality, the flash feature of the blackberry allows you to take pictures at night and post them to you FB, Flicker, MySpace and alikes.

Given that APPS for all the major social networking sites are available on both platforms, like for like, I prefer my crackberry. Just personal/e-mailing preference! Let me know what you prefer?

PS- If you have the time check out the comparing videos bellow.

5 Simple Twitter Branding Strategies

Here goes not 100, not 10, but 5 simple ways to BEEF-UP your Twitter Branding Strategy.

1- A good way to push your message to friends of friends is to RT (retweet)! Just ask your network of friends to forward your original message in the following form: RT@originalsender: blablabla (original message).

2- Save characters when posting a URL/link. You want to focus your tweet into engaging your network to click on the suggested link rather then wasting the 140 characters with a long URL. Check out http://tinyurl.com to shrink your URLs/links.

3- Check out the insights available at www.tweettercounter.com, benchmark the top tweeters tweeting strategies. Aside from finding many useful APIs, you will notice that Britney Spears disturbingly has more followers than CNN or Obama.

4- Use #HASHTAGS to push your message to audiences interested in a specific subject (keyword). Example: If you believe your new software is better than that of Bill Gates, tweet the following: “This software kills #microsoftoffice.” Now people looking for Microsoft Office related tweets can easily find you and potentially follow you.

5- Search on www.search.twitter.com for tweets with keywords related to your brand (including your brand name) and get involved in the conversation. Also track and say bye-bye to the people who stop following you, with http://useqwitter.com.

Please let me know if you have any other insightful ideas, but keep them between 1-140 characters.

The Parallel World of ComicCon 09

I finally have had the time to write about my eye-opening experience last week at the world famous COMIC-CON in San Diego.

Knowing people that know people, I managed to get a ticket to this "sold-out" 4 days event. Being the Internet geek that I am, I followed updates before the event from the top 3 independent Comic-Con fans on Twitter; ComicCon (3,949 followers), ComicConLive (2,811 followers) and ComicCon09 (1,330 followers).

For those of you who missed the opportunity of mingling with 300lbs Supermen, 62-year-old Wolverines, Trekkies wearing pointy ears and Star Wars aficionados of all ages and sizes, I suggest viewing one of the 10,600 plus related videos tagged "ComicCon 2009" on Youtube.



After taking more than 2 hours to circle the 1st floor of this massive event, I came to the conclusion that the Web is increasingly empowering people to escape their daily lives and meet other suburban super heroes, monsters, and fairies in parallel worlds that mimic the 20th Century popularity of comic books.

Examples of this phenomenon are World of War Craft, with 11.5M+ subscribers and Facebook's Vampire Wars, which has 2.7M+ active users.

So, are we going to end up paying mortgage on a house inside Second Life? Will my wizard avatar end up with more friends than myself? Regardless, brands, content developers and publishers have the potential to make real money from these "make-believe" parallel worlds where a computer meets a comic book!

Red Bull's Bull Market

I have to admit that I am a little biased in favor of the twin fighting bulls. Nevertheless, Red Bull is an impressive brand that deserves to be followed by all "wanna-be" marketing gurus.

In 2008, Red Bull GmbH earned more than US$4.6 billion worldwide, experiencing 7.9% growth and eating, or shall I say drinking, 40.8% of the US energy drink market.

With its US$900 million worldwide marketing budget, Red Bull continues to push its core brand identity by sponsoring outdoor, extreme, adventure and motor sports. But the fighting bulls never rest and are now expanding not only into the mainstream NFL, NBA, MLS and NASCAR leagues, but also into new beverage categories such as colas and energy shots.

On the web, Red Bull has never been so popular. Its Facebook page has 1,122,830 fans and features several extreme sport videos, all in line with the brands image and identity. Check this one...

In comparison, Monster Energy drink, which is the runner up in the US market, has a 276,526 Facebook fan base and a page that needs improvement. Rockstar, the bronze medalist, has a comparatively slim 33,185 fan base.

So, should we include social network fan base in Wall Street's next company valuation manual? Should we ask Facebook and Myspace where to invest our next paycheck? One thing is for sure; if you plan to build an 360 degree online presence for your brand ...benchmark RED BULL!

Did M.J.’s death melt the Internet?

In the brave new world of the Internet the breaking news of the death of the “King of POP” can travel faster on Twitter and on Facebook than on news power houses such as CNN, FOX, BBC or MTV.

According to family members Michael Jackson passed away at 1:07 pm PST. According to my research fans of the moon walker pop star started Tweeting about his death as early as 1:25 PST and Facebooking at 2:01 PST. Counter intuitively, The New York Times only confirmed his way to Never Never Land at 3:41 followed by MTV at 4:01 and CNN at 4:31.

In a time frame of less than 3 hours the search on Google “Michael Jackson Dead” resumed more than 33,000 results...WOW.

Is the Internet finally empowering each one of us with “real time” information? Is Ted Turner’s empire slower than Joe the “Twitter geek” from Boise, Idaho?

How does this translates into e-branding?

Well, that makes me think that in the Internet era any corporate mischievous marketing move or insider C-level information can leak faster than you could say “Beep-Beep!”

So for marketers out there I suggest the Youtube test:
If you wouldn’t broadcast your marketing strategy on Youtube then maybe you shouldn't do so at all!
 

WHAT IS E-Branding?

According to wikipedidia.org E-BRANDING =

"No article title matches" or "No page with that title exists"

So I decided that, after an overpriced marketing education and some work experience in the Internet Marketing realm, I should be capable of contributing somehow to the WWW. (world wide wait) knowledge base.

I have also to confess that this serves an answer to all my friends that repetitively ask me: "What does an e-branding consultant does?"

So here it goes:
E-Branding: The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol, design and or consumer experience ONLINE that not only differentiates but also illustrates the product/service's image and identity.
Easier said than done!

A few years ago, e-branding marketing programs revolved around building a brand's website that served as another touch-point for consumers to know more about a specific product/service.

However, with the never ending wave of innovative electronic off-springs such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Technorati, Reddit, Youtube, Yahoo answers, iPhone Applications, etc., etc., the new thing to do is to build a 360 degree approach to your online presence.

So in a nutshell:

If your business can't affort an e-branding strategist make sure that your brand is at least present on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Myspace and collect as many e-mails addresses as possible!