Brand #2. The Ipod

Sometime around the end of last year, someone somewhere bought the world's 100 millionth ipod. That's right, the 100 millionth Ipod sold. That's for a product that's always suffered iffy battery life and is priced at a premium to the market.

And last week under my Xmas tree was a brand new mega ipod. It'll be my third. The first, less than 5 years old is almost dead, only working when plugged in, whilst the second, a cute little nano, has buttons that are sporadic at best.

Nevertheless, when composing my letter to Santa, I didn't seriously consider any other brands. Is there any greater testament to brand strength?

I'm delighted to report that the new ipod is smarter, bigger and altogether more gadget laden than either of its siblings. I love it, especially the chance to store and watch episodes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks ripped off You Tube. That's not illegal, surely?

Brand # 1. Ronnie Dufficy.

Want a definition of a brand? How about this..."A brand is a promise of consistency".

This morning, like many raceday mornings in the past, I've been listening to Ron Dufficy's race tips. Taking his time and working through today's Randwick card race by race, Ron Dufficy saves me having to understand form and how the track might be playing, he picks up on horses that were unlucky in running last time and notices patterns of racing that only hours of my own research would uncover. He gives us his first four selections for each race and highlights big outsiders wiith a chance.

And as a punter, all I need is one or two of his selections to win. A perfect example of branding. His judgment is consistently good. he's on air at the same time each day and he saves me a bundle of work. If I was his manager, I'd be putting all the good stuff on RonDufficy.com but I'm not.

The horse pictured is called deuxieme. He won the Bernborough cup a few years ago and Ronnie tipped him. He pronounced it dukes-e-e-mee but hey no one's perfect...

FOOTNOTE: Yesterday on new Year's day, Ron tipped "Do this Do that" to win at 6/1, especially nice for those of us in the ring at Randwick who helped ourselves to the 10/1 on offer. Happy New Year!

Free!

As a special New Years treat (Boren newydd da by the way) January is "everything you ever needed to know about brand month" on redbook.

Tune in each day and hear what makes good brands and which once famous brands are heading down slippery never to be seen again slopes, free and exclusively here at redbook.

And don't forget to collect your free "brands of the world wallchart" sponsored by Merrill Lynch and Northern Rock.*

(Ed, will that do...I'm not very good at this hyperbole stuff...?)

*limited supplies available, no BFPO addresses.

The essence of Jeremy

I know lots of smart people who don't believe in research. Some stupid ones too. But I'm flabbergasted that the research they must surely have run before launching an Australian version of Top Gear (yes, as in Australian, without Clarkson, Hammond or the Stig) would not have given them at least three insights:

1. People like the escapism of foreign shores, especially the pretty parts of Italy, France and Scotland.

2. The cars really aren't that important, in the overall scheme of things.

3. The ideas, the scripts and the three presenters are really, really good. Best of breed in fact.

Viewers might also have liked the idea that as a non commercial programme, TV presenters could be really honest about crap cars. Clarkson's quote about Boxster owners is part of 21st century folklore.

Anyway, despite all that, SBS went ahead and made their own version with three impeccably qualified local motoring journos and a set that looks just like the real thing. They got a car manufacturer as main sponsor (a marriage made in heaven) and in the first week the same audience tuned in as they would for a dose of the presumably more expensive UK version. Cue hats in the air and trebles all round...

One week later, having sampled the product, a third of the viewers have walked away, presumably in favour of Australian Idol or a rerun of the Simpsons. A spokesman said something on the lines of "well it took a long time to take off in the first place, so this isn't a surprise".

They'll realise one day that the Top Gear brand isn't about cars, or wit or even the Stig and a load of C list celebs trying to be Emerson Fitipaldi. It's simpler than that.

The essence of the Top Gear brand is Clarkson and his mates. Nothing works without him, (which is presumably why he's held the BBC over a barrel, Friends style, for his fee on the next series.)

I hear they're making an American version next. I know many people who've been down that particular one way street...

So it's not porn then...

I'll never forget trying to explain the men's market to a grizzled old journo around the time that FHM first overtook Cosmopolitan in the UK. Like most men of a certain age, he couldn't really get his head round the fact that the world was changing. It wasn't just that publishers had worked out a new formula (and lest we forget the first issues of FHM and Loaded had men on the cover) it was the beginning of a brave new world, fuelled on reassuringly expensive Belgian beer and addictive alcopops.

The reason that men's mags suddenly took off when they did was more simple.

Publishers had been researching new magazine ideas in every market since publishing arrived on the desktop. From canal boats to keeping tropical fish, new magazines were cropping up everywhere. In November 1986, Chris Dawn's Bird Watching magazine finally went full colour to the cheers of twitchers everywhere.

But as the first group of nineties adults emerged from the spotty awfulness of puberty into a world post Germain Greer, there were suddenly more single men in the world than ever before. Single men well into their twenties who were more likely than ever to be living with Mum and Dad, rather than buying a two up, two down with the girl next door.

Women's lib had opened the doors for women to go off to college, start careers, all those things we rightly now take for granted. And with more time on their hands and more money in their pockets than ever before, the lad was born. Ask Oasis. Or Calvin Klein or Ben Sherman.

FHM and Loaded, both designed for the men who knew better were actually written for the boy who knew nothing. Once they decided to put a famous girl on the cover being naughty (Ooh Miss Jones!) it was all on for young and old. Light blue touch paper etc...

Fast forward to 2008. The trailblazers are still on the newsagents shelf, just, although they've been overtaken by the new weeklies. Faster, cheaper, better? The industry soldiers on, like it did with Smash Hits, Patches, Blue Jean and The Face.

The lads have moved on. My money says they're not ever coming back...

What's it worth?

As the world goes to hell in a handcart, I heard some interesting thoughts on value over the last few days.

The first, talking over dinner about Sydney property prices (hey! don't you?) was that the true value of a house selling at auction wasn't what it sold for but the underbidder's last bid, ie: the next lowest price someone was willing to pay.

Then today, after ACP's follies were splashed all over the pages of the papers (hot off the press, "Zoo, Ralph and FHM possibly similar" shocker), I heard someone muse that magazines like Cosmopolitan and Cloe weren't worth as much as they used to be.

Finally, watching Bloomberg, or Shouting TV as we call it chez nous, one of the more rational commentators hosed down the fires of Wall Street, with a simple one liner that "we're just returning to a world where value is based on saleable assets".

Here's a simple lesson. What it's worth, be it a hotel room, a Porsche or a once famous merchant bank is simply what someone will pay to take it off your hands. Right now.

Sobering thoughts. Undeniable truths.

Defining success

Someone asked me the other day to define "success". Other people in the room talked of fast cars and holidays, one guy even mentioned "exceeding your KPI's". God bless him.

Having worked in a variety of businesses, large and small, public and private, I reckon there's a simple way to define success.

Success is improving things. What will you improve today?

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