"Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." ~Hedy LamarrAbout a month ago I read that Barbie turned fifty this year. In my opinion, she still looks pretty good for her age. A little nip and tuck along the chin line and some exercise to keep the muscle tone hasn't hurt any. She never seems to put on an ounce of weight, unlike a lot of other dolls, so apparently fame never led her to change her values, or or diet.
Back in the early Sixties my mom used to sew Barbie clothes for my cousins as well as other girls in the 'hood. For the purpose of fitting the clothes she sewed she had a couple Barbies we dressed for success, for the beach or for the ball at my mother's whim. Because it seemed unseemly to her, she eventually bought a Ken doll to keep her boys from playing with Barbie.
Barbie eventually became the unrivalled brand champion in the international toy category.
One of the hallmarks of capitalism is the manner in which companies battle for marketshare and top-of-mind awareness in consumers. In marketing, companies seek not only to define their brand, its name and assets, but also to place it in the center of the consumer's mind.
Branding is a way in which a company differentiates itself from the competition. You can see this in the variety of flavors in which rock and roll came to America in what is known as "the British Invasion." The Animals, Beau Brummels, Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix were groups which crossed the seas to win the hearts of young Americans, with varying degrees of success. (Hendrix himself was from Portland, but his group originated across the big pond.)Over time, with the onslaught of fame and the music scene tabloids, the individuals within these groups became brands in and of themselves, again with varying degrees of success. Each of the Beatles went this route, Eric Burdon of the Animals, Jimi Hendrix, Clapton. If you said Jagger, everyone would know what you meant. He was clearly defined -- the androgynous guy with big lips and hip walk -- and even became a caricature of himself. Keith Richards represented everything you didn't want your daughter to associate with. The Beatles played up their innocence and charm, though eventually their various personas emerged.
Brand images are not always a positive. The Standard Oil Company spent a great deal of money trying to come up with a unique company name that had no liabilities in any language. They came up with the word Exxon. Unfortunately for Exxon, the image that pops immediately to mind when much of the environmentally conscious public hears the word is Exxon Valdez. The 1989 oil spill off Alaska's Prince William Sound continues to rankle.
The top five global brands of 2008 were Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, General Electric and Nokia, in that order. Number six on the list was Toyota, the highest ranked automobile company. In 2001, Ford was the world's top automotive brand, listed eighth, one slot behind Disney. But today, slotted at 49, Ford exemplifies the U.S. auto industry which has slipped badly.When we say beer, Anheuser-Busch wants you to think of Budweiser, the King of beers. Ranked #33 in the 2008 list of Best Global Brands, Budweiser is now being challenged by a Chinese beer of all things.
Actually, Budweiser's number one seller is Bud Lite, which proves the company made a good move back in the Seventies when they saw the lite beer trend coming and fought hard to establish their cred in that arena. But SABMiller claims it sells more of its branded product Snow and has now become the world's best selling beer.
Well, back to Barbie, who in 2001 was ranked 84 in the list of Best Global Brands. Times have changed. In the current top one hundred, Barbie failed to make the cut. That's why she's recently been spotted in several Manhattan taverns crying in her beer. And rumor has it she's also been cited for drunk driving on Long Island. Twice. Fortunately, by keeping it out of the tabloids it hasn't done too much damage to her brand image... unlike some other ditzy blondes in the news, for better or worse, though in that celebrity culture, sometimes even bad news is good, as long as they're still talking about you.
PHOTO: While in Sedona we noticed that MacDonald's, home of the Golden Arches and the world's eighth-ranked global brand, was sporting Green arches, a very chic, New Age attire.
10 comments:
In economics, a market formed by companies that search for brand recognition, diversification, and occupation of niches is called monopolistic competition. It's a competitive market, but companies try to create their own "niche monopolies" by creatively diversifying their products and services. Exactly like rock bands do.
Monopolistic competition is one of the main reasons for the high quality of life in advanced economies. It not only promotes low prices and productivity, it also promotes diversification, quality, originality and creativity, just to cite a few benefits.
One of the main reasons for the failure of socialism is the lack of diversity and creativity that it engenders.
>>>>>>>One of the main reasons for the failure of socialism is the lack of diversity and creativity that it engenders.
I remember when there were a lot of family-owned hardware stores and small lumber companies in the Duluth area, including two or three in Hermantown, one at Pike Lake, and one at Twig.
Now you've got Home Depot plus Menards. Are there still maybe one or two family-owned hardware stores still hanging on? I remember when Daugherty Hardware closed about a year ago.
There are family-owned hardware stores all over, here. I bought an electric saw last week, and checked and bargained the prices at 4 or 5 shops before buying. One shop offered a better price on the saw, but a higher price on the blade. I worked one shop against the other, and got the best price on both the saw and the blade.
The lack of diversity and stifling of creativity is here, not in the United States. (?)
Well, I found out years ago that there's no use in arguing with blind, faith-based dogma, and that's what I'm arguing with here.
Keep on believing that you're living in the world's freest and most competitive country, and maybe it'll become true.
I just read this. Another one bites the dust, apparently:
"Ma and Pops 4th Street Market in the Central Hillside neighborhood closed this week.
.................
Claudie Washington, a member of the Hillside Business Association who lived near the store, heard speculation about its closure this week, but didn’t know it was certain.
“It would be very devastating to lose one of the only neighborhood grocery stores in the city,” Washington said. “In a low-income neighborhood where people can’t travel to shop, 4th Street Market provided an opportunity to shop for food.”"
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/116862
Well, there are still Cub, Super One, and Super Valu. There are lots of choices, in a "free country". You could open up a grocery store out of your house in a "free country", couldn't you, just like I can here?
LOL.
I know of another mom and pop grocery in town that will eventually close, too. But if the customers aren't going there whose responsibility is it to keep the store open. The owner works 12-13 hours a day, is getting old and trying to find a buyer, but the odds of finding someone who wants to work those kinds of hours are not promising.
I do not know the reason 4th Street Market is closing, but it may be that much of the neighborhood wants more selection and is buying their groceries elsewhere?
I agree that there is a need for local groceries in the city. San Francisco seemed to have them on every intersection in the neighborhood where Micah lived. For some reason we don't have the influx of entrepreneurs in this town? We lived in the Hillside, and picked up our basic staples there...
>>>>>>>>>>For some reason we don't have the influx of entrepreneurs in this town?
That's probably it, Ed. Duluthians just don't like to run their own businesses, and it has nothing to do with stifling regulation of the small guy.
Though THIS entrepreneur ex-fluxed the heck out of there, and will open my business here, instead.
Planning and Zoning wouldn't even allow my friend Keith and I to open a storage garage on my 40 acres in Twig, let alone a store, a bar, or a motel.
You can't even park your car on your own lawn, in Duluth, let alone freely rent your house out.
Funny definition of "freedom" and "economic opportunity", is all I can say.
>>>That's probably it, Ed.<<<
I am am in no way suggesting that there are no entrepreneurs in Duluth. But certain kinds of businesses require a specific set of skills and a time commitment in order to make them run.
When I came to Duluth there was a guy who made a living publishing and editing a small newspaper he founded. He hustled continuously, working 80-100 hours a week. He was trying to sell the paper for a profit as a business, but in order for any entrepreneur to successfully profit from buying this paper they would have to (1) be skilled at writing lots of copy quickly, (2) understand the whole business aspect of running a paper, and (3) be willing to working 80-100 hours a week. The reward for taking on all this risk was... less than 20K a month take home... and maybe less than that.
Theere is a woman from Yugoslavia (before it was divided) who had a dry cleaning business these past 20 years in West Duluth. She wanted to sell the business, but if someone were to buy it, they would have to put in 80-100 hours a week of work AND understand the business. The motivations of most people (in these two instances) go in the direction of working for an employer who lets them go home after they put in their 40 hour day.
In Duluth, as opposed to bigger cities, the pool of people with the skill sets, experience and motivaton is smaller.
Ooops... I said he made less than 20K a month... I MEANT 20K a year ....
Actually, based on what I saw as to how he lived, he maybe was lucky if he ere making 12k a year.... though I never knew for sure. He ran the paper out of his home and had minimal expenses but if someone bought it as a business and had to pay for an office and a staff person (if the owner was not a newspaperman)... it would be run at a loss.
AS FOR the 4th Street Market... yes, it would be a hardship to lose this market downtown. I would guess that it will open again because there is a need. I don't know why the current owners (who have only been there a couple years) couldn't make a go of it.
I had an interesting conversation today with one of the richest businessmen in Thakhek. He owns the bus station, and about 100 acres around the bus station -- including a couple hundred shops who all pay him a small monthly rental fee for the use of his buildings and land.
He also owns a large fleet of brand-new luxury buses (single- and double-deckers) running throughout Southeast Asia. He also owns a private college, a large and growing motel based at the bus station ....... and so on, and so on. He's a millionaire, in US dollars.
He's been kind of pressuring me to work for him, and I've been saying, "No. You look to be too smart of a boss for me to own up to. I'll work for you, but only on my terms."
Today, he was asking me about America.
I told him, "Well, in America, you can't just set up any kind of business you want, even on your own land. You have to go through Planning and Zoning, first, and they're kind of biased towards the Walmarts and Menards of the world, instead of toward the common people like me and you.
For example: St. Louis County Planning and Zoning wouldn't even allow me to set up a storage garage on my own 40-acre property way out in the country, in Twig, Minnesota. I'm not sure if it was their fear of pollution, or fear of too many cars on that road, or fear of too many people on that road, that forced Planning and Zoning to deny me the right to put up a building on my own land. But they DID let me know in no uncertain terms, that I had no right to put up such a building on my own land."
This guy, the millionaire, asked me, "How do they call that 'freedom?' when it's just the opposite?? In Laos, there IS freedom. Anyone who has a lot of money, is free to run a big business on his property. Anyone who has a little money, is free to run a little business on his property. If the United States thinks they're going to export their brand of 'freedom' to the rest of the world by forceful means, I'm afraid they're in for some rebuttal."
Pedro! Pedro! (Or Ed). PLEASE tell me what you can do in Duluth on your own property. Can you even buy a case of Pepsi, hand paint a "P*E*P*S*I" sign, and sell the Pepsi out of your house by the individual can, legally? (Let alone a case of beer?)
If you're not even allowed to buy Pepsi and resell it at a profit out of your own house, how can you call it "freedom"?
Please, PLEASE, give me a straight answer to a straight question, or I'm going to have to stop believing in America as a bastion of freedom for the world. ;>)
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