Brands are beginning to question whether knowing their consumer is enough. In a world of constant change, being culturally relevant and future-focussed is increasingly important. Culturally-connected brands can be nimble and operate in real time. When your brand is part of culture, not sitting on the surface, you stand a better chance of being noticed and loved.

But how exactly do you connect with something as amorphous as ‘culture’? And how do you know when you’re doing it right? Read more…

Press Release, 20 March 2013:

Added Value reveals the cultural vibrancy of 160 brands from across fifteen sectors in its third annual Cultural Traction™ 2013 report.

Read more…

Brazilian brands have spread internationally by promoting a national cultural narrative, in contrast to China and India where brands tend to hide their cultural origin.

The acronym BRIC captures the new wave of economic dynamism and consumerism in Brazil, Russia, India and China. Each nation is humming along with annual GDP growth well above mature economies.

Read more…

As markets in Africa start to become key growth areas for global brands, it is necessary to gain insights into what makes the consumers in those markets tick. Doing so, however, is a complex task often fraught with challenges.

Masingita Mazibuko, Associate Director at Added Value South Africa, told Financial Mail, a leading South African weekly business magazine, that the challenges can be overcome if brand owners are flexible enough, and are prepared to accept less traditional approaches from time-to-time. These are excerpts from that interview. Read more…

Post originally written for TREND.

Everyone – from Adelaide to Hong Kong, Istanbul to Stockholm, Tallahassee to Zürich – is dancing ‘Gangnam’ style. A handful of brands have embraced the music track, or its dance moves, in a bid to capitalise on the instant recognition they spark in consumers of all ages, and from all cultures.

But for how long? Read more…

This post was originally written for MarkLives.com

The Korean hit Gangnam Style has taken the world by storm, notching up close to 1-billion views on YouTube.  Psy’s parody of the folk living in the affluent and trendy Seoul suburb highlights their rapid increase in personal wealth, manifested in lavish and conspicuous consumption. But is South Korea the only guilty country? And more than that: are they even guilty? Read more…

If like the billions of people who watched the fantastic Olympic Games organized in London this Summer you must have noticed that Oscar Pistorius became the first double leg amputee to participate in the Olympics when he entered the men’s 400 metres race and was part of South Africa’s 4 × 400 metres relay team. Even though Pistorius, nicknamed “the Blade Runner” due to the prostheses he puts on to run, didn’t make it to the 400 metres final, crowds cheered for him from all around the world, appreciating his effort.

Read more…

Brazil is booming. It’s now the sixth largest global economy and is expected to be fifth by 2013. As Western economies continue to wither, brands are increasingly looking to emerging markets like Brazil for growth. Here the ‘middle class’ now represents more than 50% of the 185 million population. That’s a lot of people, with a lot of newfound spending power. But making the most of this opportunity depends on recognising that the ‘middle class’ in Brazil and other emerging markets is not the same as that in developed markets. It’s not even a single cohort. And woe betide any brand that treats it as such. Read more…

The four key cultural roles that luxury plays around the world, written by Sam Barton, Cultural Insight, Added Value UK, for Contagious Magazine, Issue 32.

Read more…

Understanding brand positioning and techniques for effective brand positioning. First some clarification may be needed of what we mean by brand positioning as even within the Marketing industry there is no standard definition. Some people will call it brand architecture, brand essence, brand key/onion/house… call it what you will, what we mean is the process of setting out what a brand promises to and should stand for in the eyes of its target consumer. Brand positioning is the full view, often made up of component parts that include all of some of: Read more…