elBulli’s food had been described as “molecular gastronomy,” “deconstructionist,” and “embodiment.” For example, instead of serving a regular chicken curry, the curry sauce was served as a solid and the chicken as a liquid. In another dish, the three main ingredients of the Spanish tortilla – eggs, potatoes and onions—were cooked separately. Served in layers, the potato was prepared as foam, the onion as a puree and the egg-white sabayon topped with deep-fried potato crumbs. Perhaps one of the most alarming was a dish called “the mummy,” which featured the skeleton of a red mullet deep-fried and wrapped in cotton candy. As illustrated by the name, all dishes were assigned monikers with irony and humour. Adrià believed that by using humour, shock, memory and intellect, he would evoke the “sixth sense” in the diner to experience food in a different way. At the same time, he had an unwavering commitment to taste: “We never stop believing that the most important, the essential component, of cooking, is taste, a sense we want to explore to its limits.”

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Growth and innovation are words often heard in business today and are closely interconnected. It is difficult to meet growth targets without going beyond the current and perceived limits of one’s business. Management teams must act accordingly and look for ways that will help them achieve these objectives. But what is the starting point to begin thinking about solid and sustainable rates of growth? How should we prepare an organization to successfully implement growth strategies?

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The night before was filled with laughter, and most of us who indulged in red wine to celebrate (or meditate?) the Semestral Review, were still battling our headaches. Last 21 July, we were treated to a delightful dinner at posh restaurant Antonio’s in Tagaytay City. We burned the night candles by drowning in wine, excellent food, antics and merriment, toasts, songs and dances. By 10PM, we were on our way back to Moon Garden, our camp for the night, and shared our casitas to dream away.

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The best of the best recruitment consultants and sales consultants of John Clements Consultants Incorporated (JCCI) held the first CADY Awards at Shangri-La Hotel, last July 16, 2010. The event was patterned after Hollywood's Academy Awards. Like its Hollywood counterpart, all the attendees donned their best outfits and sashayed on red carpet – they were interviewed and photographed like celebrities.

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I am often asked if it is important to monitor your brand to ensure proper use. As the director of marketing for the Corporate Learning division of Harvard Business Publishing, this is a subject that is extremely important to us as a subsidiary of Harvard University, one of the world’s most recognized and powerful global brands.

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THE CHALLENGE

BPI, as a financial institution, is known for its history of accomplishments, all the way back from 1851. Its proud legacy was closely intertwined with the country’s own progress and development throughout history. It is the first bank in Southeast Asia, also the first to have issued Philippine currency. It introduced ATM technology to the country, and began many of the trends in banking such as the debit card system, the emergence of easily accessible banking kiosks, and many others.

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Ancient philosophers have long postulated that loyalty is one of the supreme qualities in a person. In life, we are loyal to figures that play an important role in our foundation as an individual—family, religion, country, schools and friends.

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For the past ten years, British Petroleum, with the help of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, repositioned itself as a more environmentally conscious company with the tagline, "Beyond Petroleum." They changed their logo to the now-recognizable green-and-yellow flower, and proclaimed that they were "exploring new ways to live without oil." According to Derrick Daye and Brad Van Auken, “the repositioning was not without its detractors." There were many sceptics, who accused BP of greenwashing. But it appeared to most that BP really was walking the walk: its CEO had accepted a link between burning fossil fuels and global warming, the company was investing billions in alternative energy development and, in developing the original campaign, Ogilvy’s team had found 'hundreds of astonishing proof points that made the vision credible.' To underline its vision, BP even festooned its headquarters with aloe vera—which “removes more carbon dioxide from the air than any other green plant." All in all, it was a $200 million advertising and public relations program.

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In my training workshops I always ask the question – When did you first experience a brand? Hands would go up and I’ll get answers like “McDonald’s –because that’s where my mom and dad would take me when I was a child.” “Johnson’s baby powder – I remember my mom would apply it on me after a bath.” They were all viable answers, but people forget that their first real branding experience was when their parents named (or branded) them.

In a world where celebrities receive equal, or in some cases, further recognition than scientists, political leaders or Pulitzer-Prize winners, it makes perfect sense for companies to appoint them as brand ambassadors. There is an inherent advantage of employing a celebrity to a brand as opposed to a faceless corporate entity since it immediately projects a credible, relatable image to the consumer.

What Are the Must-Have Skills for CMOs to Build a Great Marketing Organization? What Motivates Them? EffectiveBrands Sits Down with Three of the World’s Great ex-CMOs: Jim Stengel, Simon Clift and Rob Malcolm from P&G, Unilever and Diageo.

Looking into the landscape of the consumer market for healthcare brands in the Philippines shows three basic models of market entry:  RX to OTC switch, Direct to Consumer, and Ethical-OTC Partnership. The most common route is RX to OTC switch. This approach has shown high rates of success across different categories. Success vary according to marketing inputs on launch period and its sustaining strategies.

There seems to be a recurring misconception that the best brands are created with a predominantly internal focus. You bring the company’s smartest people together in a room, create something that no one has thought of, invest like there’s no tomorrow and you’ll end up with an iconic brand. Surely, if you keep at this strategy for long enough, you will create valuable brands that draw people. Build it, and they will come.

Recruitment business is just like any consumer package goods business where the principles of brand management can be very much applied. Application of these principles is seen in the way employers or companies attract the talents that they need for their respective organizations. While the consumer approach can be differentiated easily since they have tangible product features, quality and performance, image and prestige, value and price and innovation and design, recruitment companies have intangible features. How can we use then the principles of brand management in a company like John Clements Consultants Inc? Many years ago it was quite difficult to attract marketing practitioners to move to the banking industry. It was an enigma and seems to be a far fetched idea but now most banks would have full compliment of branding or marketing team in their organization. Thus, it has become fashionable for marketing guys from the consumer package goods to make a career shift to the banking industry.