Get Nudie

Attended the opening of the IdeasAsia 2005 Marketing Summit yesterday. They kicked off with a opening talk (which was great) and a round table (which was a great idea but never got going with any real debate)

Tim Pethick was the opening speaker, using the platform of his 2 year old Australian fruit juice company, Nudie, he spoke about how most brands still merely pay lip service to respecting and putting the consumer front and centre. 

Memorable quote “traditional advertising is a great way to waste money” using examples of his awful experiences of Qantas and Telstra who spend a fortune in ads to tell customers they are important – but then treating them like they are not. (Long holds on call centres and rude staff)

Instead, he took a strategy of building a remarkable experience around Nudie, to create passionate consumer evangelists, and to use events, sampling and word of mouth to create awareness.

Where did this strategy get him?  Well Nudie, 2 years old and without the deep pockets of a Coke or Pepsi behind them, was just voted into the top 10 brands in Australia (see news report)

The Nudie story has similarities to the RedBull story (see previous post) – seems like this road to success is repeatable, and maybe the best road in today’s brand landscape.  In both cases it was driven by a CEO who dared to be different.

I love what the brand is doing, love their site www.nudie.com.au and will now go and hunt down a place I can try the product.  Which brand manager would not want their market to feel the same way?

Comments

[Steven Mak]

Nudie presentation was indeed an inspiring case study in Ideas! Asia 2005. Word of mouth has always been the ultimate communication medium for any marketers... well certainly from my POV. But funny, where were the Nudie products to sample during the presentation? Wouldn't it be a great captured opportunity for Tim to generate some word of mouth right there and then?

[Ian McKee]

Thanks Steven - I agree, he could have, no, should have!

I was certainly eyeing the one he had on stage and was drinking ...