By Jonathan Winch, Partner & Co-founder

The telecom provider Telia has spent a lot of time and money on such statements. But their customers rate them at the bottom of the customer satisfaction scale (Markedsføring magazine, 23.03.10).

I visited a Telia store recently and became highly irritated with their service. They refused to bend a harmless rule to help fix a problem they themselves had created for me. The difficulty was one of having the wrong attitude toward their customers.

Leaving that store, I decided to sneak into another Telia store to see if they might be more flexible and the girl behind the counter helped me immediately. Her attitude made all the difference.

When people ask me to create a vision/mission that consists of a bunch of statements (something they often do), I just can’t see the value. And I typically advise them not to do it. Unless they do it right, that is…

There are essentially two types of vision/mission projects: The first are highly creative efforts that result in something most people like and think was worth it. They are the results of big, expensive processes and get implemented in companies like Carlsberg, LEGO or Nike. I can recommend them if you have the cash and time.

The second is the text-by-the-meter model where you write a lot of stuff from the company’s “We” perspective. That always results in paragraphs that you yourself would never read and which you therefore can’t expect others to want to read, either.
Without the big process, the only thing you can do is to string a lot of clichés together in prose – i.e. the second type. And that’s what we can do for you if you want us to, of course. It would take about 4-5 hours. No input is required – we just pull the clichés out of a rather worn old hat. Of course, I believe that it would be against any good brand to do so.

But there may be other internal or external pressures that require it to be done this way. The reason I’m so tough on this is that times have moved far away from long paragraphs of blowing the company’s own trumpet. People don’t believe it like they (maybe) used to. It’s just another sign that the company is not a leader – because leaders are action-focused, have a simple but powerful attitude, show that they know the customer’s time is short. Employees don’t get behind this stuff, either. They get motivated by the excitement of working with a company, not by management statements and rules.

It’s not about looking like everyone else, but about looking different in an interesting, exciting way. So let’s cut to what is really important. Let’s drop those stiff corporate statements that waste management time and no one can remember anyway. And let’s focus on expressing and living an attitude instead. So the answer is? Create an attitude with edge and express it via text, images and interactions. That works much better!

If you want to see how, just ask us.

In the ongoing quest to replenish their pipelines, some big drug companies have set their sights on Denmark.

Wall Street Journal Blogs

USA Today runs yet another story about the “Happy Danes”.

Copenhagen bus driver Mukhtar probably won’t forget his recent birthday for a while. A surprise party captured on film and used as a part of the campaign “Bedre Bustur” (Better Bus Rides) made the unsuspecting bus driver’s day quite special.

Transport service organisations Arriva and Movia are behind the viral campaign, which has been shown on You Tube more than 330.000 times since the launch 13 May.

The overall purpose of the campaign is to show people that lots of stuff can happen on a random bus ride – it is more than just a ride from a-b! Mukhtar probably agrees!

Watch how more than 100 friends, colleagues, musicians and production people took Mukhtar by surprise.

Bedre Bustur campaign site (in Danish): www.bedrebustur.dk

In connection with the 2010 Football World Cup, mobile giant Sony Ericsson has launched a “Go Danish” campaign. Denmark is the only Nordic country to qualify, and Sony Ericsson is now urging Denmark’s Nordic sisters and brothers to behave like Danes!

If you prove yourself Danish enough, you might be the lucky winner of tickets for Denmark versus. Japan on 26 June in South Africa.

A rather special bond connects Eye for Image, New Zealand and Copenhagen. So I was interested to read that included among New Zealanders’ top travel loves and loathes is Copenhagen Airport. As the only specific airport mentioned in the list, which was released by the New Zealand travel agency House of Travel, this level of awareness on the other side of the world is quite something. Add to that the fact that you don’t need to tip in Denmark (which, apparently, New Zealanders love), Copenhagen Airport really is a winner. As long as the beaches, hotels and humid weather don’t ruin the experience, Denmark could be marketed as an attractive holiday destination to New Zealanders!

The internet is free, but music and TV are not. Games are not free, and neither are magazines. People pay for quality content. Now the internet has moved from mere information to entertainment – and consumers are now willing to put up with online advertising if it means they can watch or play for free.

Nowadays, ‘consumers in control’ simply means that consumers can have ‘this much for free, and a better experience for a price’; whether that price is increasing broadband speed or buying a Hi-Def movie on a disc. If consumers can get a better experience in return for being exposed to advertising and being able to continue to play, watch or consume for free, then the trade-off is no longer forced upon them; they actually appreciate it. And even more so if the targeting is relevant and somehow enhances the overall experience.

If you want evidence of advertising enhancing entertainment, take a look at all the TV ads on YouTube that people search for and discuss across social networks. Even Obama worked this medium to his favour! See the lists that people put on Facebook about their favourite films, books, or music, and think of the reaction not so long ago when Amazon first ’suggested’ books to you. Things change and people soften.

Check the research on gaming advertising. If you want a hardcore bunch of modern geeks to crack, then gamers take no prisoners. The fact is, they appreciate the advertising trade-off that gives them free game play, and they feel that brand placement enhances game reality.

Up until 2005, connection speeds prevented quality advertising from being pushed in real-time. The advertising hindered people. But broadband brought online entertainment that is now challenging the TV and music industries. And it has also provided quality content that people are willing to trade for advertising – especially fun, entertaining advertising. We used to forward funny videos around by email. We used to call that ‘viral’. Now we are posting these videos to our Facebook walls – and most of these are centered around a brand.

Thanks to Dean Donaldson
This is based on a blog post written by Dean Donaldson. Dean is Director of Digital Experience at Eye Blaster and has more than 20 years of advertising and digital experience. You can read more of Dean’s thoughts at www.deandonaldson.com or hear his views on the future of digital marketing.

How will digital campaigns develop in 2010?
Dean Donaldson will be speaking at Poets & Plumbers’ half-day seminar on how digital campaigns will develop in 2010 on 11 November 2009. The seminar is almost sold out, but you might be able to get on the waiting list. And if not, there’s plenty more going on at Poets & Plumbers.

Companies in the United States and Canada are increasingly including Twitter and Facebook experience in their job posting requirements. Advertising, marketing and communications agencies are looking for people with a flair for social networking. And some business that are looking to gain instant, cost-effective exposure are hiring bloggers and project managers to build their brand image through Wikis and social media.

Of course, it’s ironic that many companies on the hunt for Facebook skills are still worrying about poor employee productivity levels due to the site…

This fine article on Brand Channel looks at the reasons behind the success of some Scandinavian brands. Interestingly, the article moves freely between Nordic and Scandinavia, often lumping Finland and Iceland into the Scandinavian region. So why is this interesting?

This shows that outside the Nordic countries, most people don’t understand (or care about) the difference. But many Nordic countries do. In fact, many Danish companies are keen to stress their Danish roots. Why?

My guess (and it’s no more than that) is that it’s done for two reasons: (1) national pride; and (2) the first market most Scandinavian companies export to when they start to expand is within Scandinavia.

This is fine within Scandinavia. But when companies begin to market themselves further afield, the country-specific focus loses power. Scandinavia has a reputation. It’s a ‘brand’ people associate with a trust. The same can’t always be said for Norway, Denmark or Sweden.

So why tell someone you use Danish design and not that you use Scandinavian design? By saying Danish design (or Swedish or Norwegian) you have to educate the consumer about what this is. But if you go for Scandinavian, the consumer already has a feeling for what you are referring to - and this creates an emotional link to whatever product or service you are selling.

To get an idea of images the word ‘Denmark’ conjures up in the minds of an international audience, you could check out the informal survey in this article.