Yes, it’s true. Gravity Summit at Harvard on Monday, August 31st, will be streamed LIVE on CNN.com Live. That means there are a number of ways to participate in the event:
1.Register- There are a handful of seats left to be there in person, so register today
2. Watch us on CNN.com/Live, starting at 9AM ET You don’t need to register , just click and watch
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD AP Business Writer BARNHART, Mo. May 25, 2009 (AP)
The Associated Press
A collapse in milk prices has wiped away the profits of dairy farmers, driving many out of business while forcing others to slaughter their herds or dump milk on the ground in protest. But nine months after prices began tumbling on the farm, consumers aren't seeing the full benefits of the crash at the checkout counter.
The average price for a gallon of milk at grocery stores last month is down just 19 percent from its peak of $3.83 in July. Farmers, on the other hand, got $1.04 a gallon in April — 35 percent less than they were paid last fall. This winter, wholesale prices were down as much as 45 percent.
Price disparities are a fact of life both for farmers and anyone who shops at a supermarket, but the nature of milk — how it's stored, priced and sold around the world — makes the gap all the more dramatic. In fact, the price that farmers get has been wildly volatile for years, creating a succession of booms and busts felt from pastures to the grocery store.
With each turn, proposals are floated to end the pricing seesaw, which at one extreme squeezes the profits of farmers and the other squeezes dairy processors. Any fix that boosts the price of milk runs the risk of bumping up how much consumers pay, too.
Today, frustrations are spilling over as the price crash creates widely divergent fortunes within the milk industry, boosting profits for the middlemen like dairy processors while pushing farmers to the edge of bankruptcy.
Darrell Kraus, a dairyman in Barnhart, spends almost as much today on hay and other supplies for his herd of 160 cows as he did a year ago, but he's getting paid less for a gallon of milk than his father in the 1970s. He blames middlemen who buy the milk from the dairies, process it and sell it to grocery stores at higher prices.
"Somebody's getting a cut of this, but it's not the dairy farmer," he said. "It's sad, but they're going to see a lot of dairy farms go out of business."
Here's a good example of what we're discussing tonight in Chapter 10 - Global Products and Distribution
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") announced a reorganization of its corporate structure, as part of its 2006-2010 Medium-Term Plan vision to become a global pharmaceutical company with highly integrated global operations. In order to become more responsive to rapid changes in the global operating environment and to maximize the global market potential of new products and the company's global presence, the company is streamlining executive reporting relationships to Yasuchika Hasegawa, President, by creating corporate-level, center of excellence R&D, commercial and administrative functions. Effective April 1, 2009, Shigenori Ohkawa, Ph.D., will become Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and Alan MacKenzie will become Executive Vice President (EVP) International Operations. Additionally, a Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) role will be established.
"Takeda is making meaningful changes in structure and governance through this reorganization and the creation of the CSO, EVP, International Operations, and CAO roles, which we believe will further strengthen our global operations structure," said Yasuchika Hasegawa, President, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. "Through this new organizational structure, Takeda looks forward to continuing our history of creating and marketing novel pharmaceutical products that meet the needs of patients globally."
Viral marketing campaigns are an amazing way to generate a huge amount of buzz and brand awareness whether they are carried out online or offline.
In this post we have honored the best viral marketing campaigns of all time, both online and offline.
If you know of a campaign that deserves to be on the list why not write about it in the comments.
Ronaldinho: Touch of Gold (Nike)
Without doubt my favourite video on the list is this masterpiece from Nike. Watch as Ronaldinho takes delivery of a new pair of boots and spends over two minutes demonstrating the most amazing football skills the internet has ever seen.
23.5 million people have watched this ad on YouTube. Pure genius.
My Heart Will Go On (Free Macbook Air)
The genius of this video isn’t in the song (that’s just been copied from the Titanic video) it’s in the fact that the user uploaded the video just to promote an affiliate deal.
How many of the 21.9 million users who viewed this clip clicked on the affiliate link I wonder?
Guitar (GuitarMasterPro.net)
This video shows viral marketing in its simplest form. Upload an amazing video clip of a guy playing the guitar, write a quick note saying that he learnt to play the guitar at GuitarMasterPro.net and hope some of the 45 million viewers want to learn to play too.
Dynamite Surfing (Quicksilver)
With a reputed 10 million page views in the first few months of launch this viral advert for Quicksilver took the web by storm and did more to promote the brand than all their other advertising combined.
Of course we know the footage was staged and the surfers were really actors but this didn’t stop the video spreading virally around the web.
Do The Test (Transport for London)
This video has made the list purely because it has seen so many page views in a very short time. In just 3 months over 3.7 million people have viewed the video making it one of the top campaigns of 2008.
Stolen Nascar (TaxBrain.com
Promoting a website about tax is pretty difficult so the marketers behind this stunt decided to get creative.
They staged the theft of a Nascar with their website address on the site and managed to get over $1 million woth of TV exposure totally free within just a few days.
The stunt shot the site into the limelight and it has never looked back.
Working with Napolitan Productions, we brainstormed for a couple of days and concluded that our NASCAR racecar sponsorship had our branding, so we felt it could be the centerpiece in a viral video. Research indicated that a NASCAR had never been stolen by a racing fan, and since these fans truly are fanatical — just maybe a NASCAR could be stolen on lazy summer day at a small racetrack in California. Helping us along this path was the release of the movie ‘Talledega Nights.’ We hired real stuntmen, models and a seasoned reality TV camera crew. We rented the local racetrack to rehearse, clued in racetrack management of our plan, then the following Sunday at a live racing event, the car was “stolen.”
Threshers 40% Off Voucher
In 2006, shortly before Christmas, Threshers leaked a voucher worth 40% off wine and champagne via the internet. Apparently the voucher was only intended for suppliers and the belief that Threshers had mistakenly released the voucher made it spread faster and faster around the world via email, social networks and blogs.
Threshers pretended to be worried about losing money on the promotion but no doubt ended up making a huge profit and getting publicity in a month than they got for the whole year.
“It was never intended to get this big,” a company spokesperson said.
The company admits it is slightly concerned about the popularity of the offer.
“We are waiting with bated breath… Early next week, we should get the figures for what level of business we have seen this week and over the weekend,” the spokesperson added.
“This is a better offer than normal and it could end up hitting our profit margins.”
Subservient Chicken (Burger King)
Launched in 2004 and racking up an amazing 46 million views in the first week Subservient Chicken is deserving of a place on any viral marketing list.
The site, at subservientchicken.com, features a chicken-suit-garbed human embodying the classic BK tagline, “Have it your way.” In a nod to adult “cam” sites, users type in commands and the bird obeys. Visitors are eating it up — and, Burger King hopes, consuming large quantities of its TenderCrisp chicken sandwich as well. The site is part of an integrated campaign for the new product.
“It was important to us to get to the elusive adults in their early twenties and thirties, the 18- to 34-year-old men, the so-called missing men who aren’t watching TV,” said Blake Lewis, a spokesperson for Burger King, which is controlled by Texas Pacific Group. “This audience embraces the Internet.” Lewis said the site got 46 million visits between its launch Wednesday, April 7 and the following Wednesday.
Gorilla Advert (Cadbury’s)
Another recent example of how an amazing advert can get millions more views thanks to the web comes in the form of a gorilla playing the drums for Cadbury’s.
Absolutely fantastic.
Hotmail
In todays era of social networking it’s easy to think how quickly the likes of Facebook and Myspace grew but the real viral marketing pioneer was Hotmail. In December 1996 Hotmail had 500,000 registered users - less than a year later they had over 12,000,000 users. This astonishing growth rate was down to the fact that every single email sent from Hotmail included a small advert promoting the service in the footer.
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In the most severe recession since WW II, the global economy is projected to shrink by 1.3 percent in 2009, with a slow recovery in 2010about 10 hours agofrom TweetDeck
The stakes have been raised. The country's top leaders are finally stepping out of their luxury offices' comfort to seek the much-needed support of the people on the ground for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup, which critics of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) believe, are being poorly marketed.
Yesterday, Tuesday 14 April 2009, Deputy President Baleka Mbete's convoy of 12 cars and two open-top buses carrying government and LOC officials - all shielded by a huge contingent of local and foreign journalists - went to Soweto, home to 1.4 million people, to encourage maximum attendance at the tournaments.
Mbete, the chairperson of government's 2010 inter-ministerial committee, and her huge entourage departed from SAFA House and made stopovers at Bara Mall, Jabulani Mall and Maponya Mall, where she and LOC CEO Danny Jordaan handed over T-shirts and vuvuzelas, and addressed the crowd about the importance of the upcoming two events.
“We know the culture in this country, which is generally to leave the buying of tickets to the last-minute, but we are urging you to go and buy your tickets now to avoid disasters such as the ones that occurred at Ellis Park and in Cote d'Ivoire,” Mbete, flanked by Richard Maponya, told a cheering crowd at Maponya Mall.
Critics continue to lash at LOC for its mediocre handling of the events' marketing, saying their ill-conceived strategy might lead to poor attendance of the games and eventually to the embarrassment of SA and Africa vis-Ã -vis the international soccer fraternity.
Mbete vowed, however, that the government will do whatever it can to ensure that all the stadiums are filled to capacity come June 2009 and 2010. Some residents told Bizcommunity.com that it was time the government stepped in to help galvanise support for the upcoming two events.
ordaan, who is said to be frustrated by the slow pace of tickets purchase, said: “We are a bit slow in buying tickets. Therefore, we urge you to start buying your tickets so that you can fill up the stadiums.”
He also said that out of 640 000 tickets allocated to SA for the Confederations Cup, just over 300 000 tickets have already been sold, narrowly reaching the 50% mark and raising questions about the theory that SA is a ‘soccer-mad nation'. He called on the corporate sector to follow Investec's example, which bought 50 000 tickets for the Confederations Cup.
Early this month, LOC issued a statement, saying that 1.6 million tickets have been requested since tickets first went on sale on 20 February 2009, with 70% of applications coming from the rest of the world and only 30% from SA residents - a far cry from the ticket euphoria that gripped Germany at this stage in the previous World Cup, according to reports from Germany.
A few eyebrows were raised at Bara Mall when a Zakumi-like creature wearing ANC colours stood among the crowd and waved at people. A local journalist called the mascot an opportunist practising ambush marketing.
We talked about the role of the IMF in class last week and the question came up about how the IMF actually fosters stability among the world's financial systems. Here's a piece of the press release coming out of the recent G-20 from the IMF's website:
Strauss-Kahn says IMF reinforced as central institution of financial system
G-20 decides to triple Fund's lending capacity to $750 billion
Leaders target concessional lending to low-income countries to more than double
The Group of Twenty (G-20) industrialized and emerging market economies has reaffirmed the IMF’s central role in the international financial system, agreeing to triple the Fund’s lending capacity to $750 billion and enabling it to inject extra liquidity into the world economy, according to Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
At their summit in London on April 2, the G-20 leaders decided to dramatically beef up the IMF’s lending capacity to support its ability to combat financial contagion, providing significant new financing and a broad mandate for action.
Strauss-Kahn told reporters that the huge increase in IMF resources would bolster the IMF’s firepower to help economies around the world respond to the crisis, which has plunged economies into recession and sent world trade plummeting. Low-income countries would also get help, with leaders proposing more than a doubling of concessional lending resources.
The G-20 leaders agreed to triple the IMF's war chest to $750 billion. And they will back the IMF in effectively creating an additional $250 billion by issuing "special drawing rights," or SDRs, the institution’s own reserve asset or quasi-currency that borrowing nations can draw upon if needed.
IMF’s multiple roles
Strauss-Kahn told a press conference after the G-20 summit that the IMF’s role in helping to combat the global economic crisis and reinforce the financial system had been reaffirmed in a variety of ways.
• Economic forecaster. IMF economic forecasts were now the central reference point for countries planning how to respond to the crisis. The IMF is forecasting that the global economy will recover in 2010, but only if the right policy actions, including a coordinated fiscal stimulus, are taken.
• Policy advisor. The IMF has been outspoken during the crisis in pressing for a coordinated response to the crisis through cuts in interest rates, big increases in government spending, cleaning up the financial sector, and bolstering regulation. The IMF had become a partner for governments to discuss policies and help them analyze what policy responses to the crisis would work.
• Global lender. The resources the IMF has to support its members will be tripled to $750 billion, including $100 billion each from Japan and the European Union. The IMF will use the money to buttress countries affected by the global downturn. Strauss-Kahn pointed to Mexico, which is seeking $47 billion in a precautionary credit line from the IMF. He pointed to new changes in IMF lending policy to make it more flexible.
• Provider of help to low-income countries. Strauss-Kahn said he had committed at a conference in Tanzania last month to being the voice for low-income countries at the G-20 summit. The summit set a target to more than double concessional lending to the world’s poorest countries. “So the commitment made by the IMF in Dar es Salam has been fulfilled, and the low-income countries are not forgotten at the G-20.”
• Boosting world liquidity. The G-20 mandated the IMF to make a new general allocation of SDRs which will inject $250 billion into the world economy and increase global liquidity. Strauss-Kahn said that although $250 billion did not seem that much in a global context, “you will see that it’s the beginning of increasing the role of the IMF, not only as a lender of last resort, not only as a forecaster, not only as an advisor in economic policy and its old traditional role, but also in providing liquidity to the world, which is the role finally and in the end, of a financial institution like ours."
Christine Lu is the Chairman and founder of The China Business Network and Executive Producer and Host of The China Business Show, a weekly talk radio show focused on doing business in China.
After earning a bachelor's degree in International Relations with a focus on East Asian Studies from Boston University, Christine moved to China in 1999 to assume the role of Marketing and Business Development Director for her family's joint-venture clothing business in Shanghai where she successfully designed and launched two lines of women's ready to wear clothing that retailed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. During this time, she also founded, with partner Janet Carmosky, a women's portal and e-commerce dot-com.
The concept was incubated and rolled into TV Shopping Network (TVSN), a joint venture funded by Duty Free Shoppers founder Robert Miller's private equity firm Search Group, Prudential Assets Management Asia and IAC's Home Shopping Network.
Following the 2000 dot-com crash in China, Christine served for five years as Marketing Director for TV Shopping Network and oversaw the company's business developmement, internet, direct marketing and mail order strategies in China. In 2004, Christine returned to the USA and launched an online kitchenware business that maintains eBay Gold Powerseller status and is a featured merchant on Amazon.com's Seller Network.
In March 2007 Christine created and served as the Executive Producer and Host of Entrepreneur Magazine's The China Business Show which has since evolved into The China Business Network, a media and networking platform for those in the international business community doing business in China.
LONDON – World leaders pledged $1.1 trillion in loans and guarantees to struggling countries and agreed Thursday to crack down on tax havens and hedge funds — but failed to reach sweeping accord on more stimulus spending to attack the global economic decline.
At the end of a highly anticipated one-day gathering, leaders of the Group of 20 nations said they would upgrade an existing financial forum to serve as an early warning monitor to flag problems in the global financial system.
They did not, however, satisfy U.S. and British calls for new stimulus measures. Nor did European politicians get their goal of a global financial superregulator.
The leaders did bridge several gaps between the United States and some European nations over how far to regulate the market and how to curb the excesses that sparked the global economic crisis.
President Barack Obama, in his first major venture into international diplomacy, failed to get U.S. trading partners to spend more money on job-creating stimulus programs, as the U.S. and Britain have done. The proposal was opposed strongly by France and Germany.
However, it had become clear long before the gathering began that there was little support for more such stimulus spending outside the U.S. and Britain.
"I think we did OK," Obama told reporters afterward. "We have agreed on a series of unprecedented steps to restore growth and prevent a crisis like this happening again... We have created as fundamental a reworking of resources to these international financial institutions as anything we've done in the last several decades."
Obama's words echoed comments by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the French and German leaders.
Thursday's gathering was called in hopes of restoring faith in the global financial system — and in one possible gauge of success, European and U.S. markets surged ahead as the outcome of the summit came into view.
The biggest headline figure was the new money for the International Monetary Fund, which helps out governments that run into financial trouble from the crisis, and other development organizations to send credit to countries that have seen it dry up.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who earlier had threatened earlier to walk out if unsatisfied with the outcome, also praised Obama for helping to create consensus and persuade China to agree to publish lists of tax havens.
"There were moments of tension," Sarkozy said. "Never would we have thought to get as big an agreement."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the measures "a very, very good, almost historic compromise" that will give the world "a clear financial markets architecture."
"For the first time we have a common approach to cleaning up banks around the world to restructuring of the world financial system. We have maintained our commitment to help the world's poorest," Brown said. "This is a collective action of people around the world working at their best."
The G-20 leaders also said that developing nations — hard-hit and long complaining of marginalization — would get a greater say in world economic affairs. They said they would renounce protectionism and pledged $250 billion in trade finance over the next two years — a key measure to help struggling developing countries.
The leaders also agreed to new rules on linking executive pay to performance, Brown said.
Despite the announcement of a global supervisory body to flag problems, Sarkozy lost his bid for a global regulatory czar that could actual enforce regulations inside U.S. and other countries.
Thanks to Karl Kasca for this terrific information from the US Department of Commerce - Commercial Services. Below are upcoming U.S. Commercial Service initiatives designed to connect you to business opportunities around the world. Please click on the links below or scroll down to learn more about each opportunity.
If you have any questions about these initiatives, please contact your local U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist. To find the trade specialist nearest you please visit http://www.buyusa.gov/home/us.html.
Event: Cable TV Trade Mission Venue: Seoul, South Korea
The mission will take place in conjunction with the 2009 South Korea Cable TV Association Trade Show, and participants will benefit from one-on-one business meetings with prospective agents, distributors, and end-users. Participating companies will meet with Korean Cable TV system operators, program providers, and terrestrial TV and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service providers during the course of the show. They will also be provided with updates on major projects, Embassy business briefings; and networking receptions, in one of the world's most wired countries, with a booming cable industry. U.S. companies working with computer software, films/video, information services, and telecommunications equipment and services are encouraged to attend. For more information about the mission, please contact Karen Dubin, at (202)482-3786, or at karen.dubin@mail.doc.gov.
Webinar: INDIA: Protecting Your Intellectual Property
This webinar will explain the issues involved in protecting your intellectual property in India.With its population of over one billion and burgeoning middle class, India represents a lucrative market for U.S. exports valued at $18 billion in 2008. Leading prospects include medical devices, environmental technologies, and information technologies--fields in which the U.S. enjoys a great competitive advantage and where the protection of intellectual property is a primary concern. For more information, please contact Barbara.Lapini@mail.doc.gov or Patrick.Spence@mail.doc.gov.
Seminars: Complying with U.S. Export Controls, and How to Develop an Export Management and Compliance Program
Join U.S. Commercial Service Kansas City for two programs led by the Bureau of Industry and Security’s professional counseling and compliance specialists. April 21 – 22 - Complying with U.S. Export Controls – provides an in-depth examination of the Export Administration Regulations. April 23 – How to Develop an Export Management and Compliance Program - Learn smart business strategies to efficiently manage your export compliance requirements and minimize the risk of an export violation. For more information contact: Sally.Pacheco@mail.doc.gov
Webinar: The Reinsurance Sector in Brazil: Opportunities for U.S. Reinsurers & Brokers
In this webinar, you will learn about opportunities in the Brazilian Reinsurance Market. Growth in the Brazilian insurance industry has outpaced GNP for the last seven years. Reinsurance in Brazil is currently a market of around U.S. $1.3 billion, or about 1% of the world's reinsurance market. Brazil represents an interesting market for reinsurers, as overall risk exposure is less than other markets. A question and answer session will follow after the presentation. For more information, contact Linda.Abbruzzese@mail.doc.gov.
Webinar: Economic Sanctions: What Every Exporter Should Know
This webinar introduce exporters to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the agency of the U.S. Department of Treasury which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions. Learn about current sanctions programs, including a detailed explanation of the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (the SDN List). Find out how to comply with OFAC requirements, the key components of an effective OFAC compliance program, and how to address enforcement issues. For more information, contact Margaret.Gottlieb@mail.doc.gov
Event: Archived Webinar Series on the Fundamentals of Exporting on CDs
A 6-session webinar series, Export Fundamentals, is now available on CD (audiovisual). Hosted by the U.S. Commercial Service from January- March 2009, session topics include: Exporter Obligations/Export Control Update, Classifying Your Products for Export and Import, Export Documentation Fundamentals, Incoterms 2000 –Transportation Obligations, Costs and Risks, Ensuring Payment for International Sales, and Increasing Your Global Sales Using the Internet. For more information, please contact Ken.Walsh@mail.doc.gov
This day and a half- long conference on the Africa, Near East, and South Asia (ANESA) region, which includes a large number of countries across three continents, will provide a unique and unprecedented opportunity to learn more about business opportunities and make valuable contacts in this vast region. Presented by U.S. Commercial Service officers and county specialists, May 13th features an overall perspective and afternoon panels focusing on individual countries. On May 14th, a limited number of one-on-one counseling meetings will be available.
This ground-breaking Executive Trade Mission to Santiago, Chile and Lima, Peru -- the Department's first since the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement entered into force last month -- will put U.S. companies in direct contact with pre-screened potential business representatives, clients, and partners in two important FTA partner markets. Under the leadership of Walter Bastian, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, the mission will promote U.S. products, services, and technologies in a wide range of industry sectors. For more information, call Louis Quay at 202-482-3973 or Jessica Arnold at 202-482-2026, or e-mail: andeanmission@mail.doc.gov.
Event: Automated Export System (AES) Compliance Seminar & Workshop
In this very important seminar, you will learn how to comply (and avoid costly penalties) with the federal government mandatory electronic filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES). This requirement is for all U.S. export shipments that previously required a Shipper's Export Declaration (SED). Failure to file, filing late, or false filing of export information could result in costly penalties and seizure of shipments. For more information, please contact George Martinez or Sandra Campbell at 727-893-3738 or email: George.Martinez@mail.doc.gov
Event: Executive Trade Mission to Libya and Algeria
Venue: Tripoli, Libya and Algiers, Algeria Date: Nov. 4–8, 2009 Learn more/register: northafricamission@mail.doc.gov Growing economies, vast capital reserves, and major infrastructure needs put Libya and Algeria among the world’s most promising markets for U.S. suppliers. Both countries are buying U.S. products and services at historically high rates. The Department's executive-led trade mission will help U.S. companies make valuable connections in these two markets, where business deals are made on the strength of personal contacts. Participants will benefit from one-on-one business matchmaking appointments, meetings with government officials, updates on major projects, Embassy briefings on doing business in the region, and networking events. For more information, e-mail our project officers at northafricamission@mail.doc.gov. The deadline is August 1, 2009.
Export Promotion Magazine Celebrates 30 Years with Discounted RatesPromote your products to 400,000 readers in 176 countries with an ad in Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Take advantage of the magazine’s special 30th Anniversary rates and save 30% on any size display ad or $100 on your next listing ad (except Showcase section). Or advertise in the new USA Product Showcase section, which offers 1/12th listing ads for just $399! The deadline for the July-August issue is May 8th. For more information, contact your U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist, e-mail advertise@thinkglobal.us, call 1-800-581-8533, x 822 or sign-up online at http://www.thinkglobal.us/399.
Looking to Expand your International Sales? Think Peru
As of February 1, 2009 when the U.S.–Peru free trade agreement (FTA) came into effect, eighty percent of all U.S. consumer and industrial are now eligible for duty-free access into Peru, with the remaining tariffs to be phased out over the next 10 years. Also with U.S. goods and services already accounting for approximately 20 percent of Peru’s imports, Peru may be your best market for U.S. exports of non-agricultural products including such sectors as mining industry equipment, oil and gas field machinery, industrial chemicals, and food processing and packaging equipment. To help U.S. firms take advantage of the increased market opportunities, the U.S. Department of Commerce will be leading a trade mission to Peru and Chile on June 1–5, 2009. To learn more about the trade mission, go to http://www.export.gov/eac/show_detail_trade_events.asp?EventID=28112. For more detailed information on Peru and its markets, go to http://www.export.gov/articles/marketofmonth/mom_march09.asp.
The U.S. Commercial Service - Your Global Business Partner. With offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration uses its global Network and international resources to connect U.S companies with international buyers worldwide. If you have any questions about these initiatives, please contact your local U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist. To find the trade specialist nearest you please visit http://www.buyusa.gov/home/us.html.
There are many, many cases when marketing departments of very large companies have failed to test product names and slogans in foreign markets. Below are some of the "classics".
Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, which was the name of a local porno magazine.
The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, Coke did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole,” or “female horse stuffed with wax,” depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, “ko-kou-ko-le,” which can be loosely translated as “happiness in the mouth.”
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American ad campaign: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means “big breasts.” In this case, however, the name problem did not have a noticeable effect on sales.
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.
The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, “Salem—Feeling Free,” got translated in the Japanese market into “When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty.”
Ford, many years ago, had a problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for “tiny male genitals.” Ford pried all the nameplates off and substitute Corcel, which means horse.
An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market to promote the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired “I Saw the Pope” in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed, “I Saw the Potato.”
Where can you go for help? As a start, contact protocol officers at embassies and consulates worldwide and ask them for a tip sheet on what to do and what not to do when conducting business in a specific foreign country. A list of embassies can be found at www.embassyworld.com. Or try the Electronic Embassy at www.embassy.org.
Welcome to the Global Marketing and Strategy class at UCLA Extension! I look forward to meeting everyone and learning more about each of you.
The global marketing landscape couldn't be in more turmoil - every global body: IMF, World Bank, G-8 (now G-20), etc., is in a transitional state as it relates to the global economy.
Yesterday, Tuesday 14 April 2009, Deputy President Baleka Mbete's convoy of 12 cars and two open-top buses carrying government and LOC officials - all shielded by a huge contingent of local and foreign journalists - went to Soweto, home to 1.4 million people, to encourage maximum attendance at the tournaments.
