Hello, welcome to the " Planning of Asiana Cobra" segment. This will be the agenda. I will introduce what Asiana Cobra is and I will explain that this is a very, very useful brand platform. We will apply it to a specific company and show how flexible it is. Well let's get started. Okay, what is Cobra Asiana? Okay, do not be alarmed, it has nothing to do with snakes. [LAUGHTER] But it's an acronym that I'll explain later. It consists of brands of Asian national companies, and it is a reorganization of associations of secondary brands. It is a notion that brands have many associations, even the direct, indirect ones that can transfer very positive meaning, but sometimes also negative to a brand. And using Cobra Asiana, companies can plan not only for markets and existing strategies, but for future ones as well, and facilitate the information of brand narrations for marketing of Asia and for marketing to Asia. Well, we've learned from scholars like Kevin Keller that brands act like this network, an associated network. And I highly recommend this book, Strategic Brand Management, is a very long word, isn't it? Where he explains how different associations can confer different meanings to a brand. Here I have reorganized and expanded that approach in four categories, Asia, National, Company and Brand, and that's why Cobra Asiana. So, we could think almost like an onion, where you have different layers and we start by the outermost layer, which is Asia. And Asia can have positive and negative associations. You can have very old ones that are outdated, and may have new ones that do not go beyond Asia. In that sense, it is very similar to the topic of Pan Asian Identity, what refers to the broad identity of Asia. And as a company how do we convert these positive and negative Pan Asian associations? It corresponds to us a kind of narrative form and assures us that the positive ones are much more emphasized as opposed to the negative ones. And the negatives ones may include an often stereotyped image of how Asia is, that it is very populated, that it could even be bad and that it is a really cheap labor source. Many of these associations can be outdated, and in fact, false. But many of the associations can be positive and when used well they can confer very positive meaning, not only for the region, for the country, but finally to your brand. And in the case of exotic and luxury, these are the associations that cosmetics companies have used well, companies from Japan, from Korea, such as Shiseido and Amorepacific. And it is also used proactively by companies in the travel industry, hotels and spas too. When we go to a deeper layer, that is the nation, and each country has its own associations, positive and negative. Let me see Korea, where many of these are antiquated. Korea emphasizes things done very fast, that some companies have been corrupt and that because of its neighbor, North Korea, South Korea can be a very dangerous place to visit. But of course, there are many positive associations related to this country. That it is very efficient and maybe the that facts and the fiction they are two sides of the same coin. Then, as a company, as a nation, it corresponds to you to form a very positively and proactively what the narrative is. And also create a very dynamic and great country. And that explains why the Korean wave or Hallyu and K-pop are so popular beyond Korea and Asia in fact. I will have an interview with a K-pop fan in this course, Her name is Judith, from El Salvador. And we see this kind of marketing slightly powerful, made by countries with their slogans. I have a list of some Asian countries that have tried to make brands for themselves, in a positive way. But we have to ask if this type of brand is relevant or not, if it is unique to this particular country. Finally, we have to relate this, connect it with what really makes, for example Singapore, unique. For example, in the case of Singapore, its night Formula 1 race is maybe consistent with their argument that the things that they do are unique compared to other countries. Well, at company level we have to think about what people, not only in your country but in other places, associate with you. For example, I will use LG. We will have an interview with an LG executive about marketing. But this is my analysis of what some associations with LG would be like. And I use this only as an expositional point of view. In actual practice I should carry out a much more scientific and representative research of the consumers that I want to understand. And see what are the associations, current associations for your company. Also here we could have some positive and others negative; obsolete, and perhaps, when needed, updated. Potentially negative could be that LG has been a very cautious connector and it has turned out to be relatively lagging behind in some technologies. A common association with many Korean companies is a Chaebol. This first family has conglomerates. Maybe that stigma, that still sticks to big conglomerates, in a way is not positive. But we see that the number of positive associations exceeds the negative ones. That's what I think LG has to use proactively to get by, especially with technology like the internet of things, threatening. In fact, a lot of this is already here, the fact that LG has this complete line of electronic products augurs well from the point of view that they are prepared for this technological trend that is already upon us. Well, for many companies, brands and companies are highly interrelated, but brand associations maybe point far beyond of specific product associations that people can have. So, especially for companies that have many products like LG, I think they should try to assess which are the specific product or industry associations. Also brand associations are related to the DNA of the brand, DNA in English, which is their central value proposition. In the case of LG, you can also have positive and negative, obsolete and maybe for Korea and other places that have to be updated. For potentially negative brand association, it could be the impression that many people have that LG is concentrating on their competition, His rivalry with a company, maybe that company can be Samsung. While a more positive and broad means something that they can use beyond their existing association. They may be a global innovator not only at home, but in other markets, especially emerging ones, countries like Indonesia, Nigeria and India, and that are paying close attention to the value shared with the client.
