S60 Open to new features

I’m very strict what comes to personal things and showing brands. When I select clothes, I really don’t want to be a walking advertisement. If there is huge logo on the skirt, the company should be the one paying to me, not vice versa. I’m customer of Zara. I like the style and there’s never Zara logos visible.

Or is this actually real trend in marketing? I visited Tommy Hilfigers web site, because I never browse their products on the store. Tommy clothes used to be so Tommy advertisements, nothing else. At least products on the site looked decent now.

There was an article about Finnish version of Big Brother in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. It also mentioned clever product placement in the show. We have come to new phase of product placements where the actual logos and product names are not displayed e.g. diary room in the house is painted with famous Finnish chocolate cookie colors.

The truth is, we've always overestimated the power of branding while underestimating consumers' ability to recognize quality. When brands first became important in the US a century ago, it was because particular products - Pillsbury flour or Morton salt - offered far more reliability and quality than no-name goods. Similarly, many (and arguably most) of the important brands in American history - Gillette or Disney - became successful not because of clever marketing, but because they offered something you couldn't get anywhere else. (Gillette made the best razors; Disney made the best animated movies.) Even Nike first became popular because it made superior running shoes. Marketers looked at these companies and said they were succeeding because their brands were strong. In reality, the brands were strong because the companies were succeeding.¹ Nokia is the only European company among 10 most valuable brand list. Without excellent, easy to use, products this would have been impossible.

The world is disappearing beneath of logos. Since 1991, the number of brands on US grocery store shelves has tripled.¹ By the age of seven, the average American child will be seeing 20000 advertisements per year on television.² We could spend $300 M to S60 marketing like Intel did with Centrino launch, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Have you ever seen The Body Shop’s advertisement? Most likely you haven’t, because there isn’t any.

¹ www.wired.com
² Roddick, Anita: Business as unusual, the journey of Anita Roddick and The Body Shop