Bad Communications

When communications go sour, a lot of bad things happen.

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Man’s Traces

(Please click image to enlarge it)

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Global Brand Recognition and Google

In only ten years Google is a global brand recognized by billions of people.

Companies like Coca Cola and IBM spend millions of dollars advertising their brands. It’s the only way their products and services will be easily recognized by their clients. Once a brand is inside a consumer’s brain, the bond is almost for life. I’ve known a three-generation-family buying Ford automobiles. They would not even think about buying another brand.

Wikipedia Encyclopedia has this to say about brands:

“A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service. A brand serves to create associations and expectations among products made by a producer. A brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols and sound which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality. The key objective is to create a relationship of trust.”

In a recent study made by Interbrand, the world’s biggest brand consultancy, Google was included in the list of the top ten best global brands. In a time frame of only ten years, Google is one of the best known brands in the world. That is a great marketing victory.

Below are the top ten best global brands according to Interbrand:

1. Coca Cola – United States – Beverages
2. IBM – United States – Computer Services
3. Microsoft - United States – Computer Software
4. General Electric – United States – Diversified
5. Nokia - Findland – Consumer Electronics
6. Toyota – Japan – Automotive
7. Intel – United States – Computer Hardware
8. MacDonald’s – United States – Restaurants
9. Disney - United States – Media
10. Google – United States – Internet Services

It’s interesting to see that 80 percent of the top ten best global brands correspond to products and or services made by U.S. companies. The other two countries are Japan and Finland. This explains the significant cultural influence of the United States around the globe.

Another fact that I would like to highlight, is that fifty percent of the top global brands represent the technology domain. Brick and mortar companies have slowly faded away into the sunset.

Jez Frampton, Interbrand’s Global CEO, reckons this year’s list reflects the turmoil of the current global economy. “The current credit crisis in the US, the growth of emerging markets and the increased emphasis on sustainability are all key trends that resulted in brands rising or failing on the list,” he postulated.

A company’s brand is something to be protected “and a far less volatile asset than others during a time of economic uncertainty,” he said.

In terms of tech companies, Apple, Amazon, Nintendo, SAP, Cisco and Oracle saw significant percentage increases in brand value over 10 per cent, all helping move the companies up the rankings.

I’m curious to see how much will Google escalate on the list, when Interbrand announces its 2009 rankings. So long!

Source: Best Global Brands – 2008 Rankings

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Two Unique Partners in a Lucrative Manufacturing Enterprise

As you have probably noticed, this post is based on a typical English figure of speech known as puns. A pun is defined as an expression that achieves emphasis or humor by contriving an ambiguity; two distinct meanings being suggested either by the same word (see polysemy) or by two similar‐sounding words (see homophone). This is the case of this funny story. The play with words are: tailor and Taylor, both words have a similar sound. Here we go:

Jesus was wandering around Jerusalem when He decided that He really needed a new robe. After looking around for a while, He saw a sign for Finkelstein, the Tailor. So, He went in and made the necessary arrangements to have Finkelstein prepare a new robe for Him. A few days later, when the robe was finished, Jesus tried it on—and it was a perfect fit!

He asked how much He owed. Finkelstein brushed him off: “No , no, no, for the Son of God there’s no charge! However, may I ask for a small favor. Whenever you give a sermon, perhaps you could just mention that your nice new robe was made by Finkelstein, the Tailor?”

Jesus readily agreed and as promised, extolled the virtues of his Finkelstein robe whenever He spoke to the masses.

A few months later, while Jesus was again walking through Jerusalem, He happened to walk past Finkelstein’s shop and noted a huge line of people waiting for Finkelstein’s robes.

He pushed his way through the crowd to speak to him and as soon as Finkelstein spotted him he said: “Jesus, Jesus, look what you’ve done for my business! Would you consider a partnership?”

“Certainly”, replied Jesus. “Jesus & Finkelstein it is”.

“Oh, no, no,” said Finkelstein. “Finkelstein & Jesus. After all, I am the craftsman.” The two of them debated this for some time.

Their discussion was long and spirited, but ultimately fruitful—and they finally came up with a mutually acceptable compromise. A few days later, the new sign went up over Finkelstein’s shop: Lord & Taylor.

Source: Bits & Pieces

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Humor, English, Puns, Jesus, Manufacturing, Business

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