Branding Lessons from Ice Cream Flavours

Whenever we go to Baskin-Robbins, my wife would get Pistachio Almond.  To me, it’s the oddest looking ice cream.  It’s bright green with what looks like wood shavings mixed in.  I gave a little try once, but didn’t like it.

My wife always orders the same thing though: one regular scoop of Pistachio Almond.  So, finally, I gave it another try, this time while consciously holding myself back from cringing.  For some reason, that time, it actually tasted quite alright.

So now, whenever we go to Baskin-Robbins, my wife would get the extra size scoop of Pistachio Almond, just anticipate the Ghani-nibble-factor.

***

The number one selling ice cream flavor in the world is vanilla.  Everyone likes vanilla.  But who loves vanilla?  I’m sure there are some vanilla lovers out there, but to most people vanilla is totally likeable, but not very lovable.

Vanilla is just so damned vanilla.

So, why are brands tripping over themselves to be liked by everyone?  All competitors are cutting prices, we should too! All competitors are using this rising young celebrity as its endorser, we should too!  All competitors are not using celebrity endorsers anymore, we shouldn’t either!

I remember Burger King in the US used to follow a me-too strategy against the vanilla (McDonald’s) and BK floundered.  Burger King in Indonesia just went and be Burger King without really competing with McDonald’s, and it’s doing just fine.

Why try to out-vanilla the vanilla?

***

To get a more business-specific look at this topic, go to http://mobileyouth.asia

Branding Lessons from Everyday Life

My wife still wears loose fitting clothes, even now, almost 14 months after the birth of our child. She wears these types of clothes because she thinks she’s fat. While she may have gained a few pounds, they’re barely noticable, and (at least, in my eyes) she’s still as svelte as ever. But, the choice of clothes enticed strangers to ask her, “How far along is the pregnancy?”

She used to take offence at that, but now she’s enjoying it. Always a seat on the bus. Extra help from everyone. Hey, all the benefits of pregnancy without having to do the work again. It’s a pregnancy pension program.

Walking along this woman who’s seemingly in her 1st trimester, is me, decked out in sports gear. The Sporty Spice look is something new to me, but I kinda like it too.

People ask me, “just getting back from the gym?” even though it’s in the middle of the day. It is as if I’m one of those people who are so financially comfortable in their lives that they can just go to the gym whenever they liked.

Those who ask don’t realize that the reason I’m wearing these loose fitting running pants is because none of my old pants fit anymore.

Yup, I too have amassed a significant amount of heft in the past year (ie. I got fat).

…

There’s a clear branding lesson here, but I want to hear what you think that lesson is.

Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

When the Wife is Away

… the husband plays.

6 am Wife leaves for a business trip
7 am Gym
8 am Played w/ my kid. Work prep.
9 am Work day starts
8 pm Work day ends
9 pm Pasta at Marzano + JCool Yoghurt + bought discount comics
11pm Got home. Read comics while eating yoghurt. Pass out from carbohydrate poisoning.

…

Professionalism aside, I’m starting to strongly suspect that if not for his woman, a man is often just a boy.

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Why We Pray That Way: Learning From My Daughter Part 3

I pray with the front of my neck stretched out, my face looking up at the sky.  Many of you pray this way too, I’m sure.  Both of my hands would be open, and with palms facing up, my arms are stretched up and out.

I used to wonder why I and many others prayed this way.  In a previous post, I thought it was like searching for God way out there, and I didn’t like to think of God that way.  Is it because when we pray, we ask for things?  The upward-facing palm position surely likened us to those beggars on the streets… and I didn’t like to think of my relationship with God in that way either.

–

Where is the seat of the soul?

How about the mind?

But where is our mind located?

I’m one of those people who believe that the mind is not something that’s confined in the tight spaces of our skull.  The mind is more than the combination of patterns of firing synapses.  We think with our whole body.  The state of our psyche affects the state of our physiology and the state of our physiology affects the state of our psyche.

I know, I’m inappropriately mixing up psyche, soul, and mind here, but bear with me.

When we’re angry, we clench our fists, and when we clench our fist in an angry manner, it’s easier for us to get angry.

–

So, the body remembers.

And, I think this body remembers this position—head looking high up, arms a bit high up—from when it was still the body of a child.  I look at my daughter and how she has to strain her neck all the time to look at me when she’s walking by my side.  I love her so much, and I know that she knows I love her, and maybe that position will in the future help her remember what it’s like to receive unconditional love.

And maybe, I pray in that position because that position reminds me of how it was to receive unconditional love from my parents.  I pray in that position because it helps my body sense, feel, and realize that I’m loved, accepted, and protected by something greater than myself.

 

Yes, but…

“There are times when he’s a genius. It’s like he’s connected to The Great Truth, and words just poured out of him. He could talk for hours, and there’s just so much inspiration in his words that I wouldn’t stop him no matter what.”

“Yes, but there are also times when he
believes he’s a genius, regardless of contradicting facts, and I can’t stop him from talking, no matter what.”

Why I Love Sales

The chase of a solid, measurable target; the rush of closing the deal; and of course, the money: all are parts of the allure of sales, but those are not the main reasons as to why I love sales.

It’s a funny thing, love is.  You feel it, and whatever it is that you love becomes so much a part of you that you don’t even consciously think about it anymore.  After a while it’s like a limb: there’s no way you want to part from it.

Today, I was asked this question, and so I dug deep to try to uncover the answer.  Why do I love sales?

Here are 5 reasons:

1.       Meeting new people

There’s something about networking that just turns some people off.  It just feels a bit icky.  I’d feel that way to if I was networking to push a product.  However, if I have something I believe in that has real value, I can’t stop myself from meeting new people.  I just have to tell others about it.   I like being the guy who has the answer for the important questions that you didn’t even realize you needed to ask.

2.       Solving puzzles

Developing rapport, asking the right questions, reading back the feedback from body language, intonation, and content of the response: all those things make me feel like a detective in those Hitchcock novels I used to read as a kid.  Making a sale is about solving the puzzle of figuring out what it is that your prospect needs, and how to make him/her realize that s/he needs it.

3.       The preparation

As a child, my favorite part of action movies like Rambo or Bloodsport—I know, should a child really watch those movies?—was not when things were blowing up.  The part that I kept rewinding on the VCR—I know, What? VCR? At least it wasn’t Betamax—was when Stallone was putting on his red bandana, or Van Damme was practicing by kicking a tree.  Jackie Chan in Drunken Master? The part when he was being drilled by his sifu.

The preparation and anticipation before a sale feels like that to me.  I’d try to anticipate my prospect’s needs and any hurdles from closing the sale, way before stepping the first step into his office.

4.       The rush of pitching

There’s an attention-hungry child in me that’s screaming “Look at me! Look at me!”  He has always been there.  The best outlet for this child is pitching and public speaking.  When I’m pitching or presenting, I feel like a kid again: free and without care in the world.

5.       What’s your reason?

I’ve stated mine.  I wonder, what are yours?  I find a lot of people in Indonesia (and maybe in Asia?) try to avoid a career in sales.  Maybe if we can list enough compelling reasons, more people would give it a serious try.

The world doesn’t need just another salesperson; it is in need of high quality ones.

God Is Not Out There

In the past months, I’ve had the luxury to travel Jakarta’s roads after the molasses-like traffic had cleared away.  Night time had always been the perfect backdrop to listen to ourselves.  I’m sure many people share this sentiment.  There’s why there’s the tahajud prayer.  That’s why some people seek inspiration by finding a secluded spot where city lights have faded, and just stare at the stars.  We tilt our heads up—sometimes with our hands lifted in a prayer—looking for God, searching for far away answers, only to find it deep within ourselves.

I used to love driving in the early AM, right after a snowstorm.  The streets of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada would be covered in powder white snow. My senses would be overloaded as I slid the car around town.

Maybe that’s another way to listen to our little voices.  Either find a really quite spot, or distract our senses enough that they don’t interfere.