Volkswagon's Islamic Dream

This post is going to talk about the Islamic car. No, I am not talking about the Saudi made Gazalle I.
Volkswagon was set to acquire Malaysian car manufacturer Proton and manufacture the world's first "Muslim oriented" car. The prototype would boast a compass pointing towards Mecca, a special box for carrying the Qur'an and another compartment for headscarves. Sounds appealing, if you are a practising Muslim that is.
Lets understand the facts: There are about 1.7 billion Muslims on the planet, with nearly 80 million in Turkey alone. It was, therefore, only logical for Volkswagon to capitalize on such an emotional appeal and partner with Proton to capture this burgeoning sector.

But like some fairy tales, this one does not have a happy ending. Talks between the two automakers failed early last month, and both have agreed to go (or drive) their separate ways.
You have to give it to Volkswagon for its savviness. To fill a religious gap in terms of automotive is almost brilliant. Too bad we couldnt see the marketing campaign. A drive from Munich to Mecca in the first Islamic car would have been nice.

What's Ford Kuwait thinking?

Horrible marketing tactic by ford Kuwait!!

Recently, I got an email from a known spammer in Kuwait about Ford Edge and Explorer. Has Ford Kuwait become so desperate that they now hire third part spammers to flood inboxes in kuwait with unsolicited email messages? You know e-marketing has hit rock bottom when you see a fortune 500 company involved in spam.

What they should have done is emplyed ethical e-marketing practices such as email and social media to reach out to their potential customers. Perhaps e-marketing takes time to develop and therein lies the difficulty for many companies to consider spam as a quick alternative. Its fast (really fast), relatively cheap and no load for the client. Just hire an e-gun and fire away.

I bet the results must have been disappointing.

Bad Marketing at Wataniya Telecom

Wataniya Telecom is good company. No doubt about it. Even though they choose to operate a cartel with the other service providers in Kuwait, Wataniya does enforce the illusion of choice.

However, their marketing could sure use some improvement. Dont think of this post as a bashing of their marketing efforts. Everyone can sure use some advice on marketing communications and data mining.

The thing that bugs me the most about Wataniya Telecom is their website and their online credit recharge. You can insert any email into their information field and they will ignore it. So you could, in reality, put in sjkdnjksdnf@skdngks.com and Wataniya will accept it!!

This just goes on to prove their little regard for e-marketing. They could deliver all of their communication online and build a better experience for their customers in Kuwait. Kuwait is slowly becoming an overcommunicated society. But e-marketing presents an opportunity that can even the playing fields and shift the balance in favor of companies that have an eye for e-marketing in Kuwait.

Social marketing advertisement

Enjoy this video on a car seat belt. I wish social marketing could be pursued much more aggressively in Kuwait.

The problem, in my opinion, is the socio-cultural values in the country. Seat belts are not respected in Kuwait and even less are contraptions for children. Why is that? Dont they only help in saving lives and avoiding injuries?

With the reight social marketing campaign in Kuwait, things can change.

Societal Marketing in Kuwait

Societal marketing in Kuwait or anywhere else involves some kind of corporate response to social demands, the first step is to identify and classify the numerous social needs.
There are three categories of such needs. First, survival needs consist of the
various needs that are necessary for individual members of the social segment to
survive, such as food, shelter, and the preservation or restoration of one's
health.

A second category is concerned with safety needs. These are the needs that are
necessary to protect the members of the social segment from external and
internal threats. Not only do nations have defense establishments for protection
from external threats, but they also enact and enforce laws to protect
individuals and groups from others in society. Such laws cover numerous areas
ranging from environmental protection to safeguarding individual liberties.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/societal-marketing-mcdonalds-75498.html#ixzz0oFt54fcG
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Bad Marketing at Dal Al Shifa Kuwait

The other day I got my hand on a flyer by Dar Al Shifa raising awareness of H1N1. Now, dont get me wrong or take this post as bashing the people at Dar Al Shifa Kuwait, but something about that campaign had bad marketing written all over it.

I love societal marketing. Any marketing for the greater good is something I support with ten fingers (Arabic expression. sorry, got lost in translation), but this campaign was just poorly done.

For starters, it had an expensive 300 gm, full color paper distributed in lavish, giant paper bags. Plenty of them. Will this help people to sanitize or aid them in their next shopping spree? The goal of any social campaign is to influence public behaviour and measure it. A secondary goal could be to get corporate sponsorships / endorsements.

This campaign had neither. What good is any marketing if you cant measure it? Too bad.

Good intentions, decent budget, no marketing accountability. Another day of Bad Marketing in Kuwait.

Marketing Mastermind

I just finished my latest workshop titled "Marketing Mastermind" and I hafta tell you that it rocked!! It was truly amazing to have 10 individuals discuss core marketing strategies and vision. Marketing in Kuwait is often confused with advertising or sales. But in the mastermind, we laid it all on the table and disected every aspect of marketing and how we can apply it to our businesses in Kuwait.

I am very proud of my attendees who put up with me for 4 intensive and grueling days. Nonetheless, they all passed by so quickly. And even as I write this, I think of how I can take it up a level and deliver a better and more relevant course on marketing in Kuwait.

Thank you guys and ladies.