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Most
people can only define cool as, “I know it when I see it.”
It is an extremely finicky concept. It’s often ambiguous
and always subjective—it lies in the beholder of the
cool-hunting beholder. At this point, you may be asking
yourself—“Is cool even attainable?” Cool is indefinable
and can’t be chased. It is primarily in the hands of the
consumers, is reliant on word of mouth, is difficult to
maintain and requires constant renewal. It is extremely
tough to achieve, but achievable. So if the limitations
of cool haven’t scared you off yet, and you’re willing to
do the hard work, let’s take a look at how you might
achieve this elusive goal.
Funtastic
International Inc., exclusive distributor of Cool Kids
brand of bags, toys, plush items and accessories, excels
at leveraging values that make a company enduring. This
breeds credibility in an ever most skeptical, antihype
marketplace.
Coco and
Kimmy, the only Filipino character-based brand cutting
across all children’s categories, follow a set of
convictions and a distinct sensibility to create an
experience they feel personally about—save planet Earth
from environmental degradation.
Together
with World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF),
Funtastic International Inc. president Rex Daryanani hopes
to establish clear messages to help raise awareness on
environmental issues. Part of the strategy of the company
to teach children are a series of children’s books on the
adventures of Coco and Kimmy with the help of their Cool
friends.
Part of
the energy that makes “cool” is from the novelty of
newness, the fuel of creativity as people discover it,
interact and add to it. But somewhere at the root of the
movement is need.
Daryanani
readily responded to the WWF’s call for support and
private-sector involvement in environmental concerns
through donations from sales made by the company on its
Cool Kids brand of products.
“The Cool
Kids book characters are ambassadors of nature
preservation working with princesses, fairies, robots and
other magical friends on a mission to preserve planet
Earth by teaching humans to reuse, recycle and reduce
wasteful consumption,” he tells this columnist.
The real
insight as to what drives a successful, orchestrated cool
brand is this: These brands take advantage of a
significant cultural opportunity. The turnaround was
guided by a more substantial understanding of a larger
cultural phenomenon. Funtastic International recognizes a
major cultural divide in fashion and branding: A growing
number of young adults were tired of being walking
billboards for mainstream brands. They wanted to stand out
and make personal choices at a time when fashion lines
were all but differentiated by logos.
Cool Kids
became so much more than a provocative play of words. It
did not become just another hyped slogan or T-shirt line;
it became the company’s new identity. Established in 2000,
Funtastic International carries more than the Cool Kids
brand of products. It has a wide assortment of gift items
and other products for children, many of which have an
educational value.
“Other
branded characters rely on magic or in the make-believe
world and aspirations for their stories to tell their
potential market. Not so with Cool Kids,” Daryanani
stresses.
The
company seized the opportunity to make that personal
statement with its brand of choice. Aside from Coco and
Kimmy, Daryanani introduced the Cool kids key characters
as Whizzies (Fairies Pixie, Wanda and Giggles, who
advocate reforestation); Her Royal Highness Princesses
(who advocate beauty and cleanliness); Dazzling Princess
(whose advocacy is to teach kids to avoid wastage); Girls
Club (advocates recycling, reusing and reducing waste);
Space Voyagers (fight alien beings who want to exploit
Mother Earth’s natural resources); Robotron (fights those
who wastefully exploit electricity and other forms of
energy); Megabot (saves mankind from the greed of humanity
aiming to profit at the expense of the environment);
Speedy (the car that advocates against smoke belching and
is for clean air); and Fluffy Friends (animals of land and
sea who join Coco and Kimmy in some of their journeys to
help save Mother Earth).
Daryanani
expressed full confidence that WWF and Funtastic will go a
long way in their tieup to disseminate in creative and
wholesome ways vital information about the environment
that will develop environmental consciousness among
children and promote a heart that cares for Mother Earth.
Today’s
marketer has a tough new job that needs to be well
defined. However, it most certainly does not involve
philosophizing about topics such as, “If blue is the next
black, what is the next blue?” And it should never involve
shelling out millions of pesos to cool hunters to predict,
for example, that short haircuts will be the next fad.
Cool chasing is definitely not in the next marketer’s job
description.
Mansmith scores perfect 7 in YMMA
This
columnist has said and written that the kind of creative
ingenuity heretofore lavished on mass advertising is now
needed for the creation of trailblazing marketing
strategies.
This is
not as easy a concept to grasp as might appear. One does
not think of a strategy as being a piece of creative work
in the sense as a TV commercial. Yet what can be more
creative than a daring leap of imagination leading to a
whole new way of looking at a problem and how it might be
solved?
PAOLO GONZALES, product
manager of Del Monte; Raymond Magdaluyo, CEO of Red Crab
Group of Restaurants; Cristina Apostol, team publisher of
Summit Media; Beverly Valenzuela, marketing manager of HBC;
Alan Supnet, vice president of Globe Telecom; Toby
Claudio, vice president of Toby’s; Donald Lim, president
of Yehey; (back row) Chiqui Escareal-Go, president and CEO
of Mansmith and Fielders Inc. and YMMA cofounder; Josiah
Go, chairman of Mansmith and YMMA cofounder; Dr. Ned
Roberto, vice chairman and chief insight adviser of
Mansmith; and Cecilio Pedro, president of Lamoiyan and
YMMA judge
When we
put the yardstick of keys to business success, it scores a
perfect 7. What you see is a startling glimpse into the
future of building brands. The Young Market Masters Awards
(YMMA), an advocacy project of Mansmith and Fielders Inc.,
recently honored seven of the best Filipino marketers and
entrepreneurs who are 35 years old and below. This year
has proven to be more challenging since the panel of
judges was in search of individuals who are not only
successful but can also inspire the youth to become
innovative entrepreneurs and outstanding brand builders.
“YMMA is
all about young men and women making their mark early in
their careers. It is about promise becoming reality; with
actual successes coming from talent in seeing
possibilities and making them come true, in
differentiating their brands, thus creating value through
innovation,” says Chiqui Escareal-Go, president of
Mansmith & Fielders and cofounder of the YMMA. “We are
proud to present this year’s awardees who are not only
trailblazers in their field, but who will surely make a
difference in the future.”
Among the
seven awardees, two are female: Cristina Apostol (awardee
for Brand Management), team publisher, Summit Media; and
Beverly Valenzuela (awardee for Category Management),
marketing manager of HBC.
The YMMA
recognized Apostol for “being the driver of vision and
passion behind Preview magazine, the country’s
best-selling fashion magazine.” She was able to handle the
magazine as a brand since it’s not “just a magazine but a
product that has an emotional connection with its
audience.” Now, Preview owns 63 percent of newsstand
sales in the fashion category, and it earned the biggest
advertising sales growth rate among young women’s
magazines from 2006 to 2007.
This kind
of turnaround was also implemented with the leadership of
Valenzuela in SanSan Cosmetics, a line of makeup on the
shelves of HBC stores. She was able to relaunch SanSan
Cosmetics in April 2005 with an integrated communication
campaign. And what a “makeover” it was. Now, SanSan has
been raking double-digit growths each year. With her
success, she was promoted to head the entire marketing
separtment of HBC.
Paolo
Gonzales (awardee for New Product Marketing) got the right
formula for success in marketing Del Monte Fit ’n Right,
now a much sought-after drink for all ages who are into
“fitness.” Being the product manager of Del Monte Fit ’n
Right, Gonzales was able to mix the right product with the
appropriate marketing campaigns.
Also
aligned in the field of fitness is Roberto “Toby” Claudio
Jr., (awardee for Business Development), vice president of
Toby’s Sports. The largest network of sports stores in the
country, Toby’s Sports has continued to attract new
customers and retain market leadership. Thus, Toby’s Arena
was born—the country’s first interactive sports store.
Toby was more proud of the fact that it inspires people,
especially the youth, to imbibe its advocacy, “Live Life,
Play Sports!”
Donald
Patrick Lim (awardee for Online Marketing), the president
and CEO of Yehey Corp., is responsible for boosting the
market value and profitability of Yehey. Raymund
Magdaluyo (awardee for Entrepreneurial Marketing),
managing partner of Red Crab Group of Restaurants), was
able to create a niche—the “casual crab and seafood
dining”—and was successful in creating diverse restaurant
brands and concepts. As for reaching out and highlighting
the need of overseas Filipinos to constantly communicate
with their loved ones here, Alan Supnet (awardee for
Marketing Management), segment business head for OFC of
Globe Telecom, spearheaded together with his team “Globe
Kababayan,” a subbrand envisioned to identify
opportunities in the overseas Filipino segment.
It is an
astonishing gain in a category where a shift of shares
point is big news in the marketing business. We know that,
in the end, each marketer must arrive at a unique strategy
to reflect the unique situation in which the company
operates. But there is much any marketer can learn from
these YMMA awardees’ experience. The next part of their
stories may prove even more surprising than their awards
success.
Fleishman-Hillard promotion
COSETTE ROMERO, senior vice
president, Fleishman-Hillard Manila
Dave Senay,
CEO of Fleishman-Hillard International Communications,
recently announced the promotion of Cosette Romero, vice
president and general manager of the Manila office, to
senior vice president. Romero joined Fleishman in 2002 and
is the first Filipino and female GM of the Manila office.
Since she assumed management, Romero has expanded the PR
consultancy’s specialties to cover corporate/finance,
pharma, health care, consumer marketing,
aviation/tourism/travel and, most recently, digital PR.
Romero is also the immediate past president of the
Philippine chapter of the International Association of
Business Communicators. Fleishman-Hillard, an Omnicom
company, is a leading global public-relations consultancy
operating in over 80 cities in 24 countries. | 
