The recent KFC customer assault fiasco has highlighted, among other things, the lack of good service culture, the effects of poorly-implemented CRM initiatives, the pitfalls of low emphasis on brand training, the overwhelming viral impact of negative press, and, for one brand, the opportunity to hit below the belt or punch beyond its weight, depending on your perspective.

Yes, we’re talking about the series of Nando’s advertisement that’s been making the rounds since Kung-Fu Chicken began trending. From reassuring consumers that Nando’s is about “putting a smile on your face, instead of a fist”, to warning us that “Oil is Risky Business” and that it’s best to take doctors’ advice to “Keep Off Fried Chicken”, the brand, which has long been associated with irreverent, sometimes controversial communications, has put in a couple of well-placed jabs; but to what effect?

Has the brand gained fans for (indirectly) flooring a bigger competitor, or alienated consumers for kicking an opponent when he’s (or rather, it’s) down?
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Did it do the right thing by raining down blows when its rival’s flaws were revealed, or would it have made a stronger impact by pulling its punches until the perfect moment presented itself?
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Will it strengthen its standing in the long term by playing dirty, or would chickening out and giving a good, clean fight have worked better?

From the Cola Wars in the 80s to the three-way sports brand bash-up in the 90s and the ongoing PC vs Apple battle, strong brands in the same category have sometimes crossed the line in their struggle for supremacy.

What would you do in a situation like this? Is it in your brand’s nature to take the offensive (sometimes, by being offensive) or does it serve your position better to show restraint, even when your competitor’s guard is down?

Whichever stance you adopt, knock yourself out. Or not.

Valentine’s Day may be over and done with, but there’s always residual love in the air for those who want it to last just that little bit longer.

Cupid’s arsenal has expanded over the years, even more so with the advent of ever-evolving online and mobile technology. Flowers, chocolates and expensive dinners are all well and fine, but every new generation brings with it new ways of expressing that many splendoured thing called love.

If you’re one of those who can’t get enough of that lovey-dovey stuff, then take heart (pun intended), because brands have definitely raised the romance bar this sweet, sugary season.

For example, Heineken has released a new Facebook app called “Serenade” where their fans are able to send funny, romantic and if you so choose, patently ridiculous personalised songs to potential partners to invite them on a date. This app is available in twenty languages, and is an extension of Heineken’s global campaign called “Open Your World’. With over 640 different Serenades to choose from and the ease of creating your melodious masterpiece with only four clicks, give it a go and see if it tickles your loved one’s fancy.

Another less intoxicating but equally popular beverage brand, Starbucks, is using augmented reality to spread the love. With the Cup Magic app, users can use their smart phones to scan limited edition Valentine’s Day themed cups and send a message to their loved ones. Once sent, the cup comes to life and your passion (plus hot beverage) comes to life on screen.

With all this and more, romance will never be the same. So why not get with the times and try out one of these original methods of stealing ones heart? It sure beats the yearly cliché of red roses and blue violets. Plus, with so many to choose from, you won’t have to wait till next Valentine’s to show all that pent-up love.

O.M.G… Guess what made the list of new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary? You’ll never guess, LOL. Let’s see, there’s sexting, which is, well, we’re pretty sure you know what that is, and if you don’t, then look it up in the dictionary because it’s there now! Weiner for the win!

On to darker matters. Cyberbullying reached new lows in 2011, with even more teen suicides caused by this social ill, prompting the creation of countless anti-cyberbullying groups online to combat this growing threat.

And since tweet made it into the list in 2011, it was only a matter of time its repetitious counterpart did as well. So go ahead, beat a hasty retweet.

Then, there’s Woot! You know, the phrase that originated from the Dungeons & Dragons term “Wow, loot!” but has been truncated to denote any expression of excitement? Yes, that one.

And what has all this got to do with your brand? Well, for one, all six words, yes, including OMG and LOL, are linked to the digital or online spheres. They’ve become so ingrained in popular culture and usage that they’ve actually become accepted as a norm. Now think of other words that are so intuitive that you use them as part of your vocabulary, even if they aren’t real words, and you actually didn’t mean to ask exactly for those things.

“Can you get me some Colgate please?”

“I need you to Xerox these.”

“Just put it in the Thermos.”

So, what’s the word on YOUR brand?

In the world of branding, there is nothing more important than connecting with your customers. These days, it isn’t as simple as stating your name, laying down the facts and hoping you get noticed because of your stylish, sophisticated packaging. You’ve got to have pizzazz, an edge, something that’s instantly recognisable, and all that jazz.

One way companies are doing this nowadays is by humanising their brands.

By this we mean, lending human characteristics to their brands, or actually personifying their brands as a particular human (or human-like) character.

The best example of this is probably the funny, quirky Apple commercials, which portrays the brand itself as a younger, trendier, more laid-back guy, in direct comparison with the personification of the PC, an old, out-of-date, out-of-touch office salaryman-type character. The commercial not only makes the Apple brand cooler, savvier and more relevant, but indirectly provides a benchmark of what its USERS are like. It’s a smart play that’s solidified the game-changing attitude of the brand.

In Australia, a company called Black Squid Designs repackaged cauliflower (which is conventionally boring and bland) by imbuing it with distinct, charming personalities. Using 4 familiar names, they came up with characteristics, likes, dislikes and quirky attributes for the cauliflower itself. However, they also included interesting cooking suggestions for the cauliflower itself, staying clearly within the boundaries of what they wanted to sell, but doing it in a relevant, engaging manner.

Sure, by attempting this strategy, these companies, and many others around the world that have tried the same, need to take some huge risks.

What if that character you’re selling falls flat or just doesn’t appeal to the consumer?
What if the brand’s persona reminds a particular customer about someone they despise?
What if people don’t get what the character is about?

That’s why, just like in every advertising, branding and communications initiative, it’s of paramount importance to KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO.

After that, it’s about finding the humanity in your brand, and taking it to the next level.

Friday, Friday, getting down on Friday…

Love her or hate her, Rebecca Black has annoyed herself into the public consciousness with her infectious hit “Friday”, which has turned into a party anthem of sorts for teens and tweens around the world while simultaneously turning off most of the adult population.

Taking Ms. Black as an example, one would think that being utterly irritating could be an effective way of making an individual, or a brand, memorable.

If you’ve ever watched the webuyanycar.com and gocompare.com, you may understand where we’re going with this. Both these campaigns feature incredibly annoying jingles; a tuneless but sticks-in-your-head-type rap number and an inane faux musical solo performed by “Gio Comparo”, a mustachioed maniac dressed like an opera singer.

But while you may want to go out and run over the next person who chants the jingle from the webuyanycar.com commercial (incidentally voted the most irritating ad of 2011), it is now the most recognised car buyer in the UK.

And no matter how badly panned the advertising was, brand awareness for Go Compare rose 450% as a direct result of the campaign; customer count increased by 20% within the first three months.

If the most important thing for you in terms of your brand is to increase recall, effectively cut through the clutter and stand out, then going down the irritation route may seem like a sound strategy. After all, commercials like these are often talked about and shared, allowing the brand to garner word-of-mouth and enjoy free advertising. And the more people talk about a brand, the more likely it will come to mind the next time they’re looking for a particular product or service.

But if you’re thinking about building an emotional connection with your customers and building up a brand that they will love and rave about, then doing something that elicits irritated responses or negative reactions just to spark off conversation may not be your best option.

It’s only because you CAN actually do something that’s engaging, relevant, entertaining, and yes, memorable, without being ludicrously annoying. Chuck Testa did it with his bizarre low-budget commercial for taxidermy; on the other end of the spectrum, budget-wise, Heineken made waves with its multi-layered The Entrance campaign.

So will you turn your brand into the next Rebecca Black, or move it beyond being a one-hit wonder?

Dear Readers,

First off, we would like to wish everybody a very Happy Chinese New Year. Being the Dragon Year and all, we should be probably looking forward to an eventful one! We wish everybody a safe journey back home and may the spirit of the Dragon Year spread to all friends and family!

While in the realm of the Dragon, and in the spirit of giving, we here at Ganforhire are giving away our very own Dragon Tail Fans this New Year. From us to you.

This is to fan the flames of fortune and prosperity, to help you breeze through the coming year without any difficulty, and to also keep you cool during this crazy hot weather we’ve been having lately…

All you will have to do is write us your Chinese New Year wish on our facebook wall, and just like that, you will be fanning to your heart’s content. So, what YOU wishing for this year?

Visit our Facebook page for more information.

Gong Xi Fa Cai.

It’s safe to say that most brands (including yours, perhaps) are going digital.

Which doesn’t come as a surprise really, as the web is a platform where brands are no longer confined by space, and have the opportunity to create and own a personalised ecosystem that allows for interaction between brand and consumers from pretty much anytime, anywhere.

But like all good things – going digital comes with a price.

You run the risk of having the namesake of your brand being made a bigger public spectacle – especially in matters of quality. They bloody amplify. If your product’s good – the word spreads, which will bring you and your team plenty of reason to celebrate and whoop in cheer.

But if it’s bad, well, it’s time you get your team together and do something about it before matters gets worse.

Take the local big boys, KFC Malaysia, for example. They were faced with what could be crowned the nightmare of all nightmares for fast food chains – an incriminating video of a staff member compromising a piece of chicken with the grimy sole of his shoe, before dumping it into the fryer. Yuck.

With over 200,000 fans wailing in outrage over the video on their Facebook fanpage, and possibly more offline after the media caught wind of it… KFC had to do something, and make it quick.

To their credit, they did not dismiss the video or claim that it was fake. KFC admitted to the mistake, fired the perpetrator, and issued an apology video from none less than the Director of Operations himself. And with that, came a heck load of respect for the brand.

Then there’s Domino’s Pizza, who discovered that their customers didn’t actually like the taste of their product. To most brands, this means bye-bye to social media marketing (who wants to talk about bad pizza, after all?). But not Domino’s. They took it head-on and launched an examplary turnaround campaign that saw a dramatic change in its business. They actually did something no other brand would – they replaced all of the ingredients in their pizza in an effort to improve it for their customers!

They utilised traditional advertising to spread the news, then pushed it with social media to further prove it and boost credibility. Check out the brilliance at www.PizzaTurnAround.com.

Lesson learned? That hiding your flaws and wanting people to only say great things about your product is a highly unrealistic expectation. Get off your pink ponies and realise that there are always going to be people who won’t like your product, or come to your support. But guess what? There are always those who are on the fence, and those are the ones you can move. You can convince them – by telling the truth. Be honest with your product, listen to them and make the necessary adjustments.

And you’ll find your brand surviving more than just a quality crisis, but also, commanding the respect that it really deserves.

In Greek mythology, Theseus entered the labyrinth of the Minotaur with a ball of string, which he used to find his way out after defeating the bull-headed behemoth.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you know how the tale pans out) for him that maze wasn’t built by the experts at IKEA, or he would STILL be there.

Everyone who’s been into an IKEA store will know what I’m talking about. While far from the gloomy, haunted labyrinth of yore, the purpose of the maze-like, IKEA layout is the same; in the words of Alan Penn, the director of the Virtual Reality Centre for the Built Environment at University College London, “Part of IKEA’s lengthy layout was to baffle the shoppers by their surroundings, so if they saw something they liked, they had to pick it up straightaway due to the fact it would be too hard to retrace your steps and find it later.”

He said this made the Swedish firm supremely successful in getting shoppers to make unplanned purchases, or impulse buys. So successful, in fact, that 60% of purchases from IKEA have been calculated to be from such buying habits. As a customer is lead through “the long natural way”, a phrase associated with IKEA’s unique one-way tour-like experience, it’s easy to be swayed from your original intention and end up with items you didn’t think you needed before you entered the store.

More importantly, as you’re taken through room after room after room of well-designed, brightly-lit, beautifully-arranged settings, you may find yourself inspired to create a similar look with, what else? IKEA products.

Because, really, browsing in an IKEA store, with showcases covering almost every style and theme imaginable, gives you the feeling of walking through and sampling one of IKEA’s catalogues, but in physical form.

After all, what better way is there to experience your dream home than to live in it for a few minutes? To see the perfect kitchen in the flesh (so to speak) before deciding that’s exactly what you want? To wander around your future living room and choose improvements from the endless choices lying nearby to truly bring your vision to life?

This distinct method of showcasing and execution gives customers a sense of choice like never before. So is it any wonder that IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, with sales of over USD23 billion (approx. RM70 billion) in 2010?

A unique brand experience, therefore, is something your customers should want to choose to get lost in, and in doing so, discover what they are truly looking for.

One of the cardinal rules of branding, in our books, at least, is to never make a promise you don’t intend to keep. Or, in the case of the waning days of the year that is about to pass, don’t make resolutions you’re not ready to pour your heart and soul into.

So you could say it’s a bit of risk putting what we want to do for the coming year out in the open like this, to you, faithful reader and all those like-minded individuals who have been receiving the Bullet these past few months.

But it’s one we’re willing to take because these are things we feel passionately about and will, come rain or shine, fire or brimstone, economic recession or political upheaval, continue to pursue without fear or favour.

So here, in no particular order, are our resolutions for the year 2012.

To strive to constantly deliver great content to you every week on the dot, well, because we want to and more importantly, because you deserve it.
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To support and advocate brands that practice what they preach, that favour positive action over mere passive words, and that work to make a difference in the world around them.
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To inspire and empower the brands we work with to create deeper connections with their customers through relevant, engaging, thought-provoking, ground-breaking, life-changing experiences.
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To help brands discover, develop and nurture their unique niches, conversations, personalities and brand languages that resonate emotionally with customers.
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To relentlessly drive brands to uncover, understand and accept the truth about themselves in order to enable them to show up authentically to their audiences.

What do you think?
Are they challenging enough?
Are they measurable?
Should we be doing more?
What else do you think we should be pursuing?
Let us know; we’d be happy to hear from you.

Also, what are YOUR resolutions for your brand in the coming year?
Whatever they may be, here’s to the courage, passion and determination to make 2012 extraordinary for you and those around you.

Have an incredible New Year, and may the light of truth guide you along the path to greatness.

Have an enchanting Christmas and a transformative New Year!