Alex Woodruff Biz Buzz

Watch carefully
It’s bad enough copying competitors’ products and selling a me-too. But when your advertising starts looking like the competition’s, you’ve really not done your homework.
Banking is a low-involvement sector to lots of consumers, as with many everyday services, especially when they don’t want to pay for it. So I wasn’t exactly looking for this [...]

I was delighted to be talked to (AT) so politely by the German VDA Chairman (car makers’ association). NOT!
When I visited the website for the Frankfurt Motor Show (known in Germany as the IAA), he told me I AM interested in exhibiting. Really? Maybe you’d like to ask an English native speaker why this statement [...]

Stand closer, and read.
There are strange laws and legal obligations in every country. In England banks promoting mortgages have to warn you that your house may be at risk if you fail to keep up payments. In many countries medical companies have to warn you about the possible side effects, in Germany with “Ask your [...]

Designed for those with superior knowledge?
When Fiat’s multipla was launched in 1998 it was hailed as a triumph of modern design. The high headlights were an ergonomic stroke of genius. It reaped so much acclaim that it was even put on display in the New York Museum of Modern Art.
Yet it was a sales flop. [...]

There are plenty examples on the internet these days of products that don’t translate. My favourite still has to be the Nova car, which in South America basically meant “doesn’t go”.
So it’s refreshing to see examples of challenging names within the same language.

Would you apply for a job at this company? Or invite them in [...]

This post is dedicated to those of us who have published marketing materials and then, to our horror, discovered that there’s a major error. Everyone else spots it straight away - so why didn’t we?
Both of these examples are German. The first one I also didn’t spot. Erlebisse instead of Erlebnisse - click the image [...]

I have Niall to thank for this example - a company we would both advise to think carefully before going international:

As ever, look before your leap. Or in this case: ask a native speaker!

If a soup is called low fat, and it’s on-shelf next to a soup for kiddies, you’d expect it to keep its promise.
Not so with these two Knorr soups.
Soup on the left: for kiddies, limited edition Teddy Soup. Soup on the right: low fat.

Knorr confusion
I won’t bore you with the nutritional breakdown, but the [...]

During a short stint in Sales, I was told that Mars never price promoted products that could be stocked or “hamstered”. Not sure whether that’s true or not, especially as promotions are a good way to round off the AIDA process - they stimulate customers to act - but that can also do you damage.
Interestingly, [...]

Like many of its counterparts, ASDA, a major UK supermarket chain decided, that it was time to copy the leading brand in a key sector of the snacking market, and launch a me-too product under its own label.

The victim: Penguin. A United Biscuits brand and household name to most Brits, who like all seagoing nations [...]