LOCAL BUSINESS NEWS

1. Sanral CEO Nazir Alli resigns

NAZIR Alli, CEO of the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), has resigned, the agency said on Tuesday.

2. SA ‘losing’ to emerging rivals in bid for investors

The global competitiveness of South Africa’s manufacturing sector has been eroded by rising production and raw material costs, taxation and the skills shortage that threaten the country’s ability to effectively compete with other emerging economies for foreign direct investment, Deloitte said on Monday.

3. First-quarter unemployment rate quickens to 25,2%

SOUTH Africa’s official jobless rate quickened to 25,2% of the labour force in the first quarter of 2012 from 23,9% in the fourth quarter, a survey showed on Tuesday.

LOCAL MARKETING & MEDIA NEWS

4. Marketing Indaba secures Google SA and international speaker

Google SA has confirmed that Brett St Clair, Head of New Products for Sub-Sahara Africa, will be speaking at the Marketing Indaba Conference. St Clair, who was a popular speaker at last year's conference, will return on the 10th of May and will be talking on putting the plus (+1) behind Google and how social media is changing online marketing.

5. Romans Pizza hopes to hit charity target in May

Roman's Pizza has launched a new campaign where it plans to sell a million pizzas during May 2012, donating R1 from each pizza to Matla a Bana, an organisation involved in the development of child-friendly crime reporting facilities and the training of specialised counsellors to assist in cases of child rape, among others.

6. Standard, FNB sent back to ad drawing board

Tit-for-tat complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have come back to bite Standard Bank and First National Bank (FNB), after they were both accused last week of misleading customers.

7. Google to test first self-driven cars

Google's self-driven cars will soon appear on Nevada roads after the state's Department of Motor Vehicles approved the nation's first autonomous vehicle licence.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

8. European stocks fall as fears grow of austerity backlash

Stocks and the euro fell in Europe on Tuesday, and Wall Street appeared headed for a weak opening, after the leading party in the Greek Parliament was unable to form a government, adding to fears that a backlash against austerity measures is leading the Continent back into turmoil.

9. Amazon leaps into high end of the fashion pool

Amazon is so serious about its next big thing that it hired three women to do nothing but try on size 8 shoes for its Web reviews. Full time.

10. Steering Murdoch in scandal, Klein put school goals aside

Last week, after a British parliamentary report declared that Rupert Murdoch was “not a fit person” to lead a major corporation, several senior News Corporation executives huddled intense discussion on the eighth floor of the company’s New York headquarters.

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING & MEDIA NEWS

11. Master card unveils PayPass digital wallet

MasterCard is to launch a new digital wallet service, which it claims will offer consumers and merchants a "faster and easier" payment system.

12. Nectar introduces gift horse brand character to promote online discounts

Loyalty scheme Nectar is introducing a brand character called 'Gift Horse', as part of an integrated campaign to promote its eShops online discounts portal.

13. Amex rolls out first sms-interactive billboard

American Express is launching what it claims is the first SMS-driven interactive billboard, offering consumers "insider tips" about activities in London.

BRAND NEWS

14. How personal branding benefits your Company brand

Businesses today have it tough. As soon as you develop something new, a competitive premise or a product/service that will set you apart from your competitors, your rivals all copy you and that competitive advantage is quickly lost.

15. Welsh rugby stars soften up with Dove Men + Care partnership

Unilever's Dove Men+Care grooming brand has signed a title sponsorship deal with the Welsh Rugby Union, in a move that will rename this autumn's test matches, the Dove Men Series.

16. 5 brand-damaging social media behaviours to avoid

Social media can make or break your business and personal brand. Here’s what social media mistakes to avoid.

SURVEYS, TRENDS & OPINIONS

17. SA must tap into the surging current of youth

The broad goals of the national Development Plan (NDP) are that by 2030 SA should be prosperous and equal. To achieve this, SA needs to grow its economy by 5.4 percent per annum over the next twenty years and create about 11 million new jobs.

18. What is Mobile Malware?

You probably know something about the viruses that can attack your computer, but what about the viruses aimed at your mobile devices? You may be surprised to learn that malicious software aimed at mobile devices, otherwise known as mobile malware, is on the rise, yet two thirds of smartphone owners do not even realize their device can be infected.

18. In procurement era, agencies must offer more than top work

No sooner had the industry heard the news that MEC had lost its long-standing Specsavers account to Manning Gottlieb OMD, than there were proclamations that MEC was on a downward spiral. Having lost other chunky clients in Gocompare.com and Wickes at the turn of the year, this, some observers said, surely serves as confirmation that MEC is losing its grip.

By Janice Spark, Partner at Idea Engineers

2011 was the year of rebellions and revolutions, from the Arab Spring to the abstract destruction of the London riots through to the Occupy Wall Street movement. But the structure of nation states was only one half of a tumultuous equation equally influenced by a buckling Eurozone economy.

It is no understatement to say that the political events of 2011 were made possible by new generation communication channels and tools. Equally, digital communication continues to impact profoundly on the world of business and the daily lives and experiences of consumers.

Looking forward, we can expect a ratcheting up of existing trends throughout 2012. Whether you're a politician, an executive or a consumer the odds are strong you're going to need to hang firmly onto your hat.

Crowd sourcing

In 2011 the momentum behind crowd sourcing really picked up thanks to rapidly advancing digital communication tools. Whether it's NASA's initiative to measure crater sizes, Proctor and Gamble's attempt to thread crowd sourcing into its approach to innovation or an ongoing quest to leverage public power to decode whale linguistics, harnessing collective intelligence is now open to all.

In 2012, expect a snowballing of new crowd sourcing initiatives. But remember, sometimes the reality is a little more prosaic than the hype would have us believe. Standard reality TV fare, including staples such as Idols, also illustrates the crowd sourcing concept in action.

Cloud Computing

The hype is that cloud computing will transform the way that businesses utilise ICT services within the next two years, as uncapped ADSL products finally come within a reasonable price range.

South Africa still faces the challenge of expensive telecommunications costs, and as long as the status quo remains, the cloud could stay tantalisingly out of reach in the wider economy. New trans-Africa fibre optic cables are set to come online in 2012, which could change the cost calculation involved quite fast. But potential savings still need to be passed on to consumers before the cloud has genuine impact.

An often ignored reality is that most corporations are already utilising the cloud extensively, via the informal use by staff of services such as Facebook and Twitter. Few have experienced major security breakdowns as a result, which tells you all you need to know about whether cloud-based services are viable or not.

Viva Britania

2011's London Riots threw an unprecedented spanner into Brand Britain's master plan, impacting significantly on London's ability to take full advantage of the forthcoming 2012 Olympics. Nonetheless, the city has moved swiftly on and appears to taking all the necessary steps to deliver on their vision of the most open and accessible games yet.

The ongoing economic blight that is the Eurozone could well dampen the general vigour of the event. It's also possible, however, that London 2012 will provide urgently required positive vibrations within the UK. Whichever way it pans out, there's no doubt that the year will have a distinctly British tinge to it.

Local is lekker

Globalisation, powered by digital communication tools, is forging a homogeneous global identity. But it's also important to remember that the reverse holds strangely true. Ordinary citizens are using communications tools to connect and interact locally, and are loving the results.

Facebook is particularly effective for members of a community looking interact on practical, local levels. The popularity of emerging portals such as Foursquare testify to the fact that localisation matters more and more in our globalised context, across real world and virtual spaces. Thinking and acting with a local focus will gain increasing traction in the year ahead.

Conscious consumerism

The 'occupy' movements that have proliferated in 2011 demonstrate quite clearly that global consumers are unhappy with the capitalist status quo. As a result, corporations are being forced into levels of transparency and disclosure that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

The rise and rise of the vigorously conscious consumer means that brands able to clearly demonstrate their triple bottom line credentials will be operating on the strategic front foot. Brands now simply have to be aware of the community in which they are operating, and also how their operations are impacting on that community. Rolling out the standard community focused verbiage isn't going to cut it for much longer. Visible, verifiable community action is required.

Austerity backlash

Expect a subtle evolution in the broad European austerity narrative as a deeper reality takes shape. Austerity on its own, without the increased productivity levels required to boost GDP growth over the long term, will not solve the Eurozone slump. Europe needs to stop spending too much in some areas, but it also needs to make sure that it doesn't kill off all prospects of growth in the process. This paradigm is likely to influence governments, brands and consumers alike as they attempt to balance the complex requirement to cut expenses while still spending.

High touch – online and offline

Mobile internet access is booming via smartphones and tablets, and new real world 'connecting technologies' are emerging at pace, all of which means the distinction between offline and online is blurring by the day.

Consumers are scanning QR codes while in the shop to read reviews, access discounts and compare products and costs. Research also shows that increasing numbers of consumers research products online before purchasing in-store. Brands are now using the check-in features on social media platforms such as Facebook to promote their offerings and products, while Geo marketing and augmented reality are new marketing buzzwords that describe the ongoing integration of offline and online experiences.

Consumers don’t just want to shop...they want to experience. They want to touch, feel and be entertained. In an age where so much of our lives is high tech and impersonal, the ability to deliver high touch has become a serious differentiator. And high touch will increasingly be delivered seamlessly, across real world and virtual spaces.

Cashless society?

Near Field Communication (NFC) looks set to influence one of the fundamentals of commerce – the check out. NFC allows for simple and secure short range communication between devices. A maximum range of 20 centimetres, in combination with a normal pin and password process, assures high levels of security.

Consumers can pay for purchases via NFC devices by simply touching their mobile phone to pay points. NFC can also be used for coupon and loyalty systems. Companies such as Molo Rewards are already implementing systems that allow users to download electronic coupons onto their phones, and then use these at pay points, via NFC.

NFC is expected to become a dominant force in the USA soon thanks to its ability to circumvent the traditional failures of technologies such as Bluetooth, which are notoriously taxing on battery life. MasterCard and Visa are already part of the NFC Forum, while the latest BlackBerry® smartphones are NFC enabled. Samsung’s Galaxy S II will ship with NFC, as will the Samsung Wave. Most Android 2.3 phones will include NFC and Nokia has said its smartphones will ship with NFC. iPhone NFC rumours are also bubbling under.

ENDS

By Shauneen Procter, Partner at Idea Engineers

Doing great work in boom times is one thing, but it's the downswing that really tests a brand's mettle. 2011 featured a range of notable brand performances, and a predictably lengthy list of failures. The basic rule of brand success remained in place throughout the year, however – those who kept the hype to a minimum and focused on delivering a quality experience, inevitably came out on top.

Brand Winners 2011

Coca Cola

125 years on and the Coke brand is still rock solid. In May 2011 Coca-Cola South Africa invited employees, customers and business partners to share in 125 years of making a meaningful difference in communities. The brand funded community grants totalling R1.25-million for initiatives that align with its Live for A Difference sustainability priorities: water stewardship, recycling, entrepreneurship, HIV/AIDs and nutrition and well being. Coke remains the definitive global power brand, and the evidence of its success is, as usual, found in a powerful local presence.

FNB

FNB have excelled in their communication throughout 2011. From their radio ads through to the banking functionality they offer customers through to their nimble social media presence, they appear at all times to be on top and in charge. The FNB message was clear and delivered very well, through word and deed. FNB say that they improve the banking experience. There aren't too many people arguing with them at this stage.

SARS

SARS have added a new word to the South African tax lexicon. Yes, a whiskey brand may have played with eish first, but it's SARS who have really made it stick. Tax payers have been delighted to find out that they can take the “eish” out of tax-eish-ion. This nifty piece of communication reinforces SARS' long term drive to eliminate the frustration tax payers experience when filing their annual income tax returns.

MTN Golden Lions

Last year the Golden Lions were no hopers who couldn't get 5000 people into Ellis Park. In 2011 they packed the stadium as they won the Absa Currie Currie Cup final for their first home final win in 61 years. They could teach a few other South African sporting brands a thing or two.

Santam – The real McCoy

Santam has found a simple and clever way to demystify insurance with a clear message: insurance brands can look like the real thing, but that might not be enough. The big reveal has left consumers feeling strangely satisfied and rewarded. As long as they don't force Ben Kingsley onto local screens for too long, Santam should be congratulated for achieving where many other insurance brands have failed.

Brand Losers 2011

Brand Malema

Julius Malema has become one of most notorious political figures of our time. Newspapers, websites and TV stations display his face daily, and while he generates a great deal of buzz and frequently emerges with sound bite classics – like his desire to retire and take up cattle farming - the lack of substance in his approach to policy and his tendency toward hand-grenade politics have seen him come out on the losing side. His youth league empire is crumbling, and 2012 could be a long year for a man facing multiple investigations on multiple fronts.

City of Joburg

The City of Joburg is reported to be deeply in debt, and it comes as no surprise that most residents are perennially up in arms. The 2011 billing crisis was a complete and definitive catastrophe. With so many operational and fiscal issues at hand, the City of Joburg has a long way to go before it can even think about improving its reputation.

EasyPay

EasyPay's massive fraud scandal seriously damaged the brand's credibility. Does anyone believe this is secure and easy way to pay any more? A lot of catch up work is required.

Durex

Posting sexist / misogynist tweets is one thing, but following them up with shockingly constructed apologies was the real death knell for Durex. The brand clearly needs to go back to Social Media 101 classes. Possibly they should begin with the Never Leave the Intern In Charge module.

SA Sport

When the highlight of the sporting year is a quarter final exit from the Rugby World Cup, things are clearly not right. None of our soccer teams can qualify for tournaments, cricket is in the midst of a never ending governance scandal and rugby is making all the right noises, but not going anywhere. Sports fans will be praying 2012 brings better things.

Ends

Idea Engineers' Janice Spark examines three key brand lessons offered by South Africa's tough sporting year...

National sports brands are fundamentally different from commercial brands. Loyalty to the national sports teams is threaded into the national psyche, as is the public backlash when too many failures stack up against each other. Nonetheless, the basic rule of brand management still applies in sport: brands that achieve genuine alignment between the promotional hype and the behind-the-scenes reality prosper.

2011 was a tragi-comic year for South Africa's big three sports brands, and the comedy on offer has, sadly, been of the farcical kind. Yet a close examination reveals that many of the year's disasters have been influenced by the failure of the organisations concerned to deal with the basic tenets of brand management.

Communication

Peter de Villiers' appointment as Springbok coach four years ago offers a stark case in point when it comes to the dangers of bad external communication. His metaphorical ramblings instantly became the source of mirth across the global sporting media, and days after his appointment it was quite clear that his employers had paid scant attention to the communication part of the job description when they hired him.

This was a bad – some would say catastrophic – oversight. It took the better part of two years for SA Rugby to train De Villiers up to a state where his words were perceived as quirky rather than bizarre, and to ensure that he had the support necessary (from players and support staff) to create a balanced media front line for the Springbok brand. These were the two years immediately following the Springbok's 2007 world cup success – a time when the Bok brand should have been at its highest powers.

Bafana Bafana's recent Afcon qualifying farce offers an equally compelling case study in failed internal communication. Technical teams and coaches were in place, well defined plans and structures were followed... and yet the organisation as a whole failed completely to interpret a basic set of tournament rules. These kinds of basic mistakes only happen when communication inside an organisation is not formalised and structured. The result was catastrophic for a brand that had done good work in maintaining the positive momentum of the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

Overnight Bafana Bafana went from being perceived as a re-merging African football power to being laughed at by the continent and derided and mocked by its own fans. In addition to the identity challenge created by the qualification failure, Bafana Bafana now face the challenge of building fan support without competing in major tournaments. SAFA can count themselves exceptionally lucky that the 2013 Afcon event, originally scheduled to be held in Libya, will now be hosted on our shores. As hosts, Bafana Bafana qualifies automatically and will get one more chance to make the country believe again.

The lesson:

While it can seem overly pedantic or unnecessary during quiet times, there are significant rewards on offer for organisations willing to take the time to structure a methodology to guide internal and external communications. Such a methodology should define desired outputs as well as mechanisms to ensure those outputs are met, regardless of who occupies key positions.

Leadership

In the world of sport, the coach and captain combination effectively constitutes the brand leader. Both parties in the combination need to possess a myriad important skills, including man management, public relations, crisis management, corporate governance, politics and, well, all the other stuff to do with the game itself.

The Proteas suffered from a leadership vacuum since Mickey Arthur jumped ship on the back of a deteriorating relationship with captain Graham Smith, who was described by leading cricket commentator Peter Roebuck as someone who seemed “to regard his coaches with the affection Greeks reserve for tax men.” The lack of a full time coach, combined with a clear distance between stand-in coach and captain, has been one of the reasons why the Proteas have seemed – despite the issuing of well rehearsed catch phrases at press conferences – to be slightly on the drift in recent years. The appointment of global celebrity coach Gary Kirsten and the arrival of AB de Villiers as one day captain should make a big difference to the brand over a short period of time. Kirsten has been notable for his willingness to honestly address the Proteas’ notorious choking problem head on, rather than denying its existence. This could be the first crucial step to finally swallowing the pressure and bringing a trophy home.

Bafana Bafana had its biggest leadership crisis when Joel Santana took over from Carlos Alberto Parreira in the run up to the World Cup. The Bafana Bafana unit sagged noticeably under Santana's watch, and lacked any sign of a clear vision and / or intent, off the pitch and on it. As soon as Parreira took the helm again a sense of purpose and vision returned to the squad, and current coach Pitso Mosimane was an integral part of that process. Since the World Cup Mosimane kept the sense of unity and purpose clear within the squad – until the 8th of October that is. Now all that hard work has been undone. A lot of rebuilding will be required for the nation to regain trust in the leadership team.

The Springboks' challenge in the next four years will be to find the right coach and captain combination. If they get it right, the sky is the limit. If the balance between the two leaders isn't perfect, the team's raw potential may not come to fruition.

The lesson:

You can't take any chances when it comes to your organisation's leadership set up. You also can't leave anything to hope, fate or the winds of chance. Even a temporary slip in the leadership knot that holds a team together can have devastating consequences. Pay attention to every warning sign before you appoint a leader for an organisation, and don't fool yourself into thinking certain things will eventually 'come right' with enough time, or luck. They won't.

Transparency

While Twitter and Facebook feeds are now a regular part of our national sports broadcasts, the governing bodies running the sports concerned have clearly not yet come to terms with the social dynamics driving our communication evolution.

Social media has brought brand and public into direct contact and has ended the communication one way street, whereby the brand controls the nature and terms of the conversation. Now consumers can define the conversation, and they feel empowered to call brands to account for their actions, and to be granted clear information as to exactly what is happening behind the scenes. The ongoing global recession and the bail-outs provided to a banking sector that was profiting off dodgy (to put it kindly) financial products, have reinforced the notion that large corporations and / or organisations simply cannot be trusted.

Within this context, the ongoing boardroom fiasco at Cricket South Africa is highly alarming. Things have got so bad that the sport has failed to find sponsors, SABMiller aside, for the Australian series and the Sri Lankan series. While President Mtutuzeli Nyoka's head has finally rolled, Cricket SA still refuses to release a governance report by auditors, is facing a governmental level inquiry concerning bonus payments and has to address media reports of a convicted fraudster being elected to run the sport in the Eastern Cape. These kinds of failures not only destroy sponsorship opportunities, they also undermine trust between fans and the sport, the foundation on which the national team must operate.

Rugby and soccer have also endured savage boardroom battles over the last decade, and have displayed a similar reluctance to reveal the details of boardroom machinations to media or public.

This murky approach to governance creates an operational context in which vested interests and competing power alliances make it difficult to get anything done. It also means that fans are less trusting and tolerant when the hard times hit. And in the world of sport, where no side can keep winning forever, the hard times define the power of a brand as much as the triumphs.

The lesson:

It has become much harder for executives to carry out traditional boardroom back stabbings without seriously damaging brand equity and the quality of relationships with stakeholders. Executives need to start operating according to a completely transparent mind-set, not due to morality, but because this is the most effective and healthy approach for the brand itself.

Conclusion

South Africa vs. Australia is one of the cricket world's great rivalries, and yet the event has what can only be described as a nominal sponsor presence. Such has been the chaos at Cricket South Africa over the last two years that no brands are willing to risk their reputations sponsoring an epic, high profile clash between international giants. Cricket's current troubles should teach everyone involved in brand management – sporting or otherwise – a lesson: get lazy with the basics, and the elements of your business you've always taken for granted could suddenly disappear completely.

ENDS

If 2010 could be summed up as soccer, vuvuzelas and national pride, 2011 will be all about the hard work of restoring the economy to sustainable growth, paying attention to environmental concerns and mastering the technologies that are changing the world. Here are a few trends to watch in 2011.

Conservatism and caution

A full recovery of the global economy remains elusive, and growth is stagnant or even declining in many major economies. For that reason, many investors and multinationals are looking for growth from Africa, with its underdeveloped infrastructure, young population, high interest rates in some countries, and fast-expanding middle-class.

Despite Africa's political and social challenges, expect massive interest in the continent's economies in the year to come.

The African Internet revolution - time to get naked?

Bandwidth is becoming cheaper and more abundant in South Africa and other parts of the continent, thanks to all the new submarine cables linking Africa to the rest of the world. That will create massive new opportunities for businesses and drive big changes in the way that consumers (the middle-class ones, at any rate) behave.

Video streaming, music downloads and other attractions of the Web 2.0 world will become a South African, and African, reality. Companies will need to look at ways of integrating these more tightly into their branding, marketing and sales strategies.

Multi-level devices

Smartphones, gaming consoles, tablet computers - true technological convergence has become a reality as consumers embrace online devices that allow them to access a multitude of services, applications and entertainment products.

While innovations like 3D TV will capture many imaginations, it's going to get harder and harder to tell the difference between the TV, the computer and the phone. Leveraging these channels to communicate with consumers will be a major challenge for marketers in the year to come.

Consumers are demanding - and defining - value

Consumers, shaken by the prolonged economic downturn, are seriously questioning their basic 'reason to buy'. Unlike a few years ago, if a clear reason doesn't exist, the sale may not happen. And where value does exist for the consumer, in 2011 it will be tightly defined.

Brands that clearly 'stand for something' will win over those with vague identities and those just riding on the latest trend wave. Those brands that facilitate personal connections and authentic, human communities are likely to stand out.

Today, consumers aren't just paying attention to word of mouth referrals, they're getting serious about them. That means every connection with a customer could impact a brand's relationship with several people in his or her social network.

Green concerns grow in importance

With growing concerns about South Africa's water and power supplies, there is a distinct possibility 2011 will see environmental sustainability becoming a major talking point for government and the private sector alike.

In this scenario, feel-good 'green washing' brand campaigns could well start to rub up against the reality of environmental decay and degradation, and come off second best.

To operate successfully in this kind of environment, local brands will need to throttle back on the green washing and focus as hard as possible on humble, demonstrably practical and committed community involvement projects.

Think virtual, local and communal

Members of South Africa's Culture Club use the Internet to share information about local events, experiences and happenings around Jozi, and frequently get together as a group for photo opportunity tours, theatre visits and so forth. This is one example of how social media is connecting local communities in the real world.

This is a massive shift for brands that have become very used to one-way, one-size-fits-all mass media communication - one that will require a far more fragmented, nuanced and localised approach to engaging consumers.

Social media - can it possibly get more fashionable?

Both Cell C and Woolworths underestimated the power of social media in 2010. Cell C found a lot of people didn't appreciate being conned by a fake Trevor Noah YouTube post, while Woolworths received a quick social smack for ditching non-profitable Christian magazine titles, creating a tricky consumer context for the brand moving forward.

Combine these case studies with the real BP vs fake BP Twitter account debacle, and you have a South African business sector now taking social media very seriously. As it should, based on the evidence (social networks are already over-taking search engines as the biggest source of web traffic, for example).

In 2011 we can expect more advanced and complex (although not necessarily more illuminating) models to emerge from communications and brand agencies breaking down how and why to engage with consumers via social media. From bar graphs to flash movies and everywhere in-between, social media will be 2011's big brand trend.

Mobile on the move

And then, of course, there's mobile. As with social media, integration and convergence will be the real mobile watch words for brands over the next five years. The bottom line is that it's getting increasingly difficult (and pointless) to differentiate between mobile and Internet, between cellphones and computers, between a social media strategy and a mobile strategy. We're entering the era of ubiquitous connectivity - and that means that mobile is becoming a central part of the marketing mix. Watch this space!

ENDS

Cool is the holy grail of 21st century marketing ... and while most brands chase the cool factor in one way or another, for youth orientated companies cool is quite simply a bottom line imperative.

But what actually makes a brand cool? If most brands and their agencies are perpetually striving for the cool factor, how do some achieve it while others are written off by their target markets as trying too hard?

“Well it starts with the product,” says Shauneen Procter, partner at brand and reputation agency Idea Engineers. “You can market as much as you like, but the product has to meet the functional needs and demands of the consumer as the first point of departure.”

Two of Idea Engineers' clients, BlackBerry® and Gold Reef City Theme Park, recently won key categories in the Sunday Times Generation Next 2011 Brand Survey Awards. BlackBerry® was named Coolest Brand Overall, unseating Coca-Cola for the first time in years, took top honours in the Coolest Cellphone category and emerged as the Coolest High-Tech Gadget. BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) was also named Best Cellphone Application, while the Gold Reef City Theme Park was identified as the Coolest Local Fun Destination. Idea Engineers manages public relations and advertising for both brands.

According to Procter, Generation Y is a tricky market to please because they are mobile, tech-loving, connected consumers who are very vocal about the brands they love or hate. If you end up on the wrong side of this equation, marketing campaigns can unravel, and quickly.

Conversely however, Procter says when you market convincing brands the cool factor can grow exponentially thanks to the viral effect enabled by social networks.

Ultimately, she says the key to establishing and maintaining a cool brand identity lies in taking strategic control over the complex interplay between public relations and advertising. Get the relationship between these two elements right and you have a brand mix able to punch well above its weight.

"It's important not to focus solely on overt promotions,” adds Procter. “The new social media communication context is extremely transparent, which means consumers respond best to the good old fashioned combination of service, product excellence and consistent, reliable communication. Once these are working hand in hand you can start to look at how to innovate in the realm of promotional campaigns and so forth – but this innovation must take place on a very strong product and communication platform if it's going to succeed.”

ENDS