Royal marketing advice

[grimnir]

Mighty interesting interview with marketing expert Martin Lindstrom. I only translated the royal bit.

Q: You are also brand advisor to an European royal house.
A: "I can't tell you which one, you understand. In our culture, royalty is the highest to aim for on the ladder of fame. But it doesn't happen on its own. Even a royal family is a brand, a posh brand, build up very carefully. And the royal image too is all about the delicate balance between fantasy and reality. A royal house may not be too haughty, because it gives the public the feeling the royals aren't theirs anymore. But being too approachable isn't good either. I've experienced it myself; the more time you spend with a princess, the more common she becomes. The brand crumbles so to speak. That is why interviews or royal visits seldom last more than 20 minutes. The distance has to remain in place. The magic has to be maintained. "

Q: This royal house had a brand issue?
A: "It had turned into nothing more than an advertising banner for the country. We thought up that this family should focus on promoting national values, unity and optimism. We sought new charities for the members of the royal house ans I looked for old rituals in the national history that could be revived. People are loyal and attached to brands that are surrounded by rituals. I am actually a big advocate of royal houses, especially in countries as Denmark and the Netherlands, where religious belief has crumbled. Here, especially, we want something to believe in. A royal house gives us a feeling of home and hope. A royal house represents a dream world.

Source: Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, March 6, 2012. Translation by yours truly. Couldn't find the article online at the time or I would have posted a link.

So, which royal house is it? And why?
My money is on the Dutch somehow. A lot changed there in the nineties and zeros when the younger generation got married. They went from grey mice to prominence. Plus they are run like a tight business, professionally, look at the media code. Nothing comes out unless approved. They use everything and anything to gain and strengthen their sympathy and support. They give me that feeling of underhanded influencing that is also such a big part of marketing. And more of those things that he talks about in the interview.

Obviously not Albert and Co. They ended up with that Stahl woman.

[margarita]

That's interesting! Thank you grimnir:-)

[axelle]

This is very interesting! Thanks!

[sandsla]

OMG, if they had to hire someone to turn around their image, the last thing they should be doing is advertising it, especially the very guy hired to turn it around. Too funny. All they need to do is to use some common sense, which also goes for the people they hire??? Does the word discretion exist anywhere within the palace--I guess Albert's faux wife and the desperate promotion of her all these years is probably the answer to that question.

;D Creative, I have to laugh, because once again it reminds me of Arrested Development. Reminder when they had to hire a publicist...Remember their charity cause TBA ;D. Like Lindsey who was told she needed to get a job, maybe they could get Charlene to hang around bars to promote alcohol by gettimg men to buy her drinks--that sounds up her alley. Charleze's character so perfectly sums up Charlene, except Charlene has no heart or money. I can't believe they are advertising all this . In one stroke they could fix the problem by just getting rid of the problem, instead of committing it to their history. I've never seen such fiduciary waste and risks these people take. One more self serving person Albert has "hired".

[grimnir]

Sandsla,

He explicitly does not mention who hired him. Since the rest of the interview suggests the guy is actually somewhat competent, I don't think he was hired by any Monegasque royal or Monegasque wannabe royal. That is why I posted the article here and not in the Monaco section. The last paragraph is my own opinion and not part of the interview.

The funny thing is that the guy is a marketing/pr expert and writes books about how we as normal Jo and John Smith are influenced by marketing and pr. About how it has become such a fine sience these days that one is practically defenseless against these sorts of ploys. Really somewhat scary if you brood about it for some time.

It reminded me of an article by psychologist years ago. It briefly described the psychological concept of priming: not introducing things in one big bang, but slowly and bit by bit. The same thing is used and can be used to make people do things that they normally would never do. Very evil, very clever and you're practically helpless to do anything about it. They subtly make you push your own boundaries and then suddenly you're standing there holding the bloody knife...

Anyway, those are the means and the trics royals these days ressort to in an attempt to keep their plushy and comfortable jobs and to boost their popularity. Just so you know it.

[paca]

LIndstrom is Danish, so I guess that would be the ones who hired him. People tend to trust people from their own country more then outsiders. Also he has the advantage of knowing his countrymens mentality and expectations. Marketing only works if you know and understand how people work.

Mc Donalds change of image was btw started by a German company. And it was first tried in Germany. Germans are into healthy food, environment etc. more then any other western country. So if they could convince Germans, then the rest would follow. And what better choice then to hire a German company to do the turnaround compaign. They know how their country men tick. And it was a long ride. I know this because my friends sister worked on that campaign and it started about 13 years ago. It took Burger King 13 years to realize what was going on. Now they are trying to do the same by copy pasting Mc Donalds.

My point is, that you need to know whom you need to convince. Once you know your target, you can go after it. In a WW company, you need to convince the most sceptic and the most aware consumers. When it comes to fastfood, it is Europeans. Italians are not that into fastfood and prefer to go to restaurants, the French love their bistro, brasserie and cafes, but Germans always had little foodstands everywhere. Doener is the most popular fastfood in Germany. So the target was clear and who better to know how Germans tick then Germans. They added a different interior to make it appeal to people and have them stay for a coffee or two. That way they could eventually convince those who would otherwise prefer a brasserie or cafe to come us well.

Royals need to convince first of all their own people that they are still needed. The Danish were never as close to their people as the Dutch. You don't see them mix with the population. They descend on them. Yes you can walk in some parks that surround their properties and that is supposed to convince people that they are open to their people, but that is just an illusion. They are actually rather distant. They also had a lot of negative press, especially Mary. SHe still gets a lot of criticism, but she also gave Denmark a new image. His emphasis on old rituals brings to me that thing about the childs name not being revealed until the baptism. Actually I think it only was revived with Marys kids. I think with Joachims kids the names were known. I could be wrong, but I don't remember that kind of guessing game happening before. That also sounds like a marketing strategy to keep the press and public interested and especially since that is a positive event. Also the date of the baptism is kept a considerable time apart from the birth, to give the mother a chance to get back in shape and then present the picture perfect family with cute babies. Everyone knows that babies look a lot cuter after a few weeks or months then after a day or so. They tend to be easier to keep quiet too. Not a good show if the baby screams through the baptism.

btw apple uses the same method to launch their products. First they launch rumours about new releases, then they slowly spread info and then it goes slowly from there. They are creating a hype and make people buy sth they not necessarily need. They just want to have one and they want to have it before their neighbor gets it.