BJK&E

Upon making my rounds today to see if anyone needed me to do anything, I had a temporary lapse of sanity and asked Paul if he needed anything. His answer “Heather…..write a blog about the differences between British and American business culture”, I again had to remind him that I was Canadian.

This seems to be a theme here in Britain, always mistaking me for an American.

How can we be confused with Americans?

I thought that my distinct soundings of the work ‘Eh’ after my sentences would tip people off, also the way I say ‘about’. If they didn’t catch on with my Canadian vocabulary I thought that my style of dress would also be a clear indicator that I am Canadian. All the flannel attire and work jeans, looking much like a lumberjack, with blue ox in hand.

I also thought that my painfully polite manner and dislike of confrontation would be another clear indication.

Contrary to some belief here in Britain, Canada is its own country, we do have system of government, a prime minister, a flag and a different work visa than the US. We do not belong to the United States or Britain; we are as some Brits like to call us “just like Australia”.

Business is very different here than back in Canada. Back home in Canada we do not have these new fangled things called computers, but this may be a good thing for our hands would freeze while typing and, well, we do not have power in our igloos to run lights, let alone computers!

If businesses are lucky enough to find a shack with electricity the heat is generated from a small wood burning stove, and the office walls are covered with animal heads and there are bear rugs on the floor.

The biggest industry in Canada is seal hunting. Baby seals are harvested, seal blubber is used to power our lamps, bones are used for utensils and tools, and the meat is dried and made into pemmican. Our second largest industry is that of Maple Syrup. Maple Syrup production has been taken over by the older population since sending them on ice flows was banned a few years back.

Moonshine and beer brewed by the Sasquatch are the drinks of choice during office hours as well as after hours.

Curling leagues dominate the other hours that are not consumed by playing hockey, watching hockey, talking about hockey, dreaming about hockey, arguing about hockey and thinking about hockey.

In the few months that we do have a general lack of snow, time is spent playing street hockey, watching re-runs of hockey, talking about hockey, dreaming about hockey, arguing about hockey and drinking beer.

Canadian football, other than hockey, will get us out of our docile ways. Football season is the most frightening time in Canada; never will you find more people with faces painted beer in hand sitting in front of a TV.

I ask again! HOW CAN WE ALWAYS BE CONFUSED WITH AMERICANS?

Heather   (The CANADIAN Intern)

Congratulations to Tim and Helen Irwin on the birth of their new baby girl.  Born on Thursday 12th June, Miss Betsy Irwin weighed in at 8pounds 10 ounces.   I’m sure a head-wetting drink will be had over the next day or so……..

When facebook first launched everyone jostled to be invited by someone. I could pass someone in the street and I’d be friends with them on Facebook the next day. Popularity could only be recognised by how many friends you had on Facebook. Stalking became a daily event, cheating even harder to orchestrate and logging onto Facebook took priority over logging onto work email.

Things have calmed now and the first flushes of excitment at a new toy have wained. I can only speak on behalf of my own peer group when I say this social network now provides a handy forum for sharing holiday snaps and arranging get togethers.

But I still could not help but feel a sense of dread when my mother announced she had joined Facebook! That sinking feeling I recalled having as a 16 year old teenager who has just had her cigarettes found by her parents!!!

I may be 30 but there are always things you don’t want to tell your Mum, right?

She now has access to my portfolio of (162!!) friends worldwide. (We have become friends on Facebook as I could hardly refuse). So quizzes me on how I know each of them and offers constructive commentry like ‘he looks like a nice chap, why don’t you go out with him’. With friends in Australia there is no control over the southern hemisphere hilarities that appear on my wall and suddenly its imperative to keep a close eye on friendly banter. Dodging photos on nights out has been perfected to a fine art as ‘tagging’ could invite my mother to witness antics she doesn’t need to be privy too!

In contrast mum only has 3 friends, myself, my sister and brother who are equally as panic stricken. So it’s hardly fair that we are not offered the same voyeuristic advantages. Although drunken photos of my mother on the world wide web I can probably do without.

My bloggy woggy….well it appears to have worked for Russell Brand.

My favourite word at the moment is chutzpah! it means audacity. Ex: James showed great Chutzpah in single handedly wrestling an army of enraged mountain goats. Fabulous.

My favourite track at the moment is tranquilize by the Killers featuring Lou Reid. Its dark and electro. Nice.

My favourite book at the moment is Aspirin: The extraordinary story of a wonder drug. This book charts the history of aspirin from ancient Egypt to modern day. Its a surprisingly entertaining read. cracking.

What has annoyed me the most over the past few weeks is undoubtedly the Think! ads that have been running on tv and in the cinema. Shock and awe is all very well but they’re all rather unpleasant and I strongly disagree with trying to scare or shock people into doing things. It reminds me of the fire and brimstone approach to religion where clerics used the fear of Satan and hell to keep their congregations in check. Definitely not nice.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

You may have read, or certainly heard about James Surowiecki’s book ‘the wisdom of crowds - why the many are smarter than the few….’ There is a beguiling appeal to the simple, and almost intuitive notion that more people giving more information/opinion will lead to a more accurate out come. Wikipedia is built on such a notion. In fact, as JS himself points out there are a vast number of situations where this is not the case. Indeed three of the 5 main situations could almost be used to define a crowd - where the group is too homogenous, imitative and emotional.

This is not the place to debate the finer points of information theory, but James’ book, together with the rapid rise of virtual crowd building via social networks, should give us involved in marketing and communication pause for thought.

The digital landscape might offer consumers the near perfect information that would lead to optimum decision making, but I fear that we are asking too much. Human behaviour certainly in the instance of brand consumption is not to analyse minutely, but to buy on the basis of consistency, reflective of one’s values and to make them feel good. Hmmmm isn’t that ‘homogenous, imitative and emotional’ behaviour?

So does this mean the aims of brands and crowd wisdom are technically at odds but in reality aligned? Perhaps, but it unquestionably makes the job of brands harder. To me, the mantra for brands must be ‘Honesty, transparency, and people’. Honesty - Align your marketing to what you really do or you will get found out. Transparency - let people see what you are doing - if you don’t they will jump to conclusions. People - technology is actually making the importance of a brand’s people far more important they need to be good and they need to care, whether that’s in ideas for the brand, the salesman or the service centre handler.

Because the reality is it’s easier than ever for the slightest negative perception of the brand to incur the wrath of the crowd - just ask Northern Rock or the McCann’s…

Prior to coming over to London from America to start work as BJK&E’s new intern, I knew that British television was bad. There’s something in every American’s internal wiring that makes us wary of UK programming.Beside such universally adored icons as Monty Python or Ricky Gervais, I had not really ever been exposed to British television. I had developed a stereotype of British TV. I would picture either some variation of Benny Hill, where every scene would end with some rapscallion involved in a hyper-speed chase, or I would imagine an absolutely drab melodrama of some aristocrats with ‘holier than thou’ attitudes. So when I finally landed across the pond, I decided not to watch any British television,

Instead of no TV at all, I decided to go where everyone goes to solve their problems: the internet. Google finally proved useful and found a website called TV Links. Within five second of visiting the homepage, I had realized I found a gold mine Perusing through the site, I found their tagline to be a bit modest: “Better than a remote control”.

They have 6 categories of content including Shows, Cartoons, Documentaries, Anime, Movies and Music Videos. The selection of TV shows is quite impressive. I immediately went for Kung Fu, the classic, aptly titled series featuring David Carradine (he played Bill in Kill Bill). There are a large amount of British shows on there too, since the web address is actually www.tv-links.co.uk. I tried a couple out, such as Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul, but I guess I’ll never quite appreciate the subtleties of television over here.

Movies have quite the selection, including freshly bootlegged versions of films still in theatres. A classic one which I am quite partial to is called Reefer Madness. It was made in 1936 as a cautionary tale featuring a fictionalized and highly exaggerated take on the use of marijuana, following a trio of drug dealers who lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to “reefer” cigarettes by holding wild parties with jazz music. Those swingers and floozies have always been trouble.

The Music Video section provided a great selection of videos, concerts, and interviews of artists. As for all you English-folk out there, I know you’re dying to know if they have Phil Collins on there. Yes, sadly, they do.

As for the rest of the site, I’ll let you navigate with your own discretion. And next time you think you’re stuck watching Neighbours, think again.

Twenty five years ago fashion was dictated by the catwalks. Couture designers and Super models were the pillars of what was ‘fashionable’ and high street stores came second to the fashion designer brands such as Gucci or Calvin Klein.

Being fashionable was measured by the designer you chose. Brands developed high street kudos and were more accessible to the general public. With the recent growing interest in celebrities and what they’re wearing, getting the look has become more important then where the look is from. Where boutique stores were the main fashion outlet, you can now pick up your outfit from Asda and confidently brag about it to your peers. Wearing second hand ‘vintage’ clothes is cooler than to be hung up on designer gear which can be considered ‘chav’.

Marketers have a task ahead of them. They have to simultaneously build their brand, talk about the new ranges and direct people to all the shopping outlets including online. So what are fashion retailers doing to market themselves to a consumer whose finding where they shop or how much they spend less important?

Magazines are the primary medium with advertising spend increasing over the last three years. This is not a surprise. Magazines have their own brand loyalty and women’s trust, and thus are an opinion forming medium. PR is increasingly important and often relied upon. The magazine and retailer relationship is key. Celebrity names such as Kate Moss, Lilly Allen and Madonna are all designing high street fashion and so the celeb weeklies have become the fashion retailer’s best friend. Brands cannot be built upon a media landscape that moves with the latest fad and celebrity.

Brands should be as important as ever. This is what allows high end high street companies and mass market stores in the same wardrobe. It is also what drives people back into store, builds trust and advocacy.

It takes confidence to look longer term at building the brand personality and holding your audience by becoming synonymous with other key areas of retailers lives through sponsorships and integration. Growing credibility and consumer relevance can be a slow burner but this will move the brand towards the key objective to be top of mind, regardless of economic pressures or latest fads. It could also be deemed visionary to have this foresight and look to a replace the packshot with edgy creative and get a lead on the market.

The consumer is also starting to question the source of the cheaper clothes and this will only get louder, by looking to create more value to the retail brand and by (seemingly) becoming more transparent this could cushion the blow of a potential consumer backlash.

Retailers need to look at new innovative marketing strategies with longer term goals in order to differentiate themselves. If you can offer a better, more rounded brand experience time and again then the short term cheaper sales opportunities are, just that.