The above video shows a unique method for retailers to sell product in malls. Albeit, not every retailer can sell products in this manner, but at least understand why this stand is more successful than most retail outlets. The following are marketing and retailing principles to consider should you be operating brick and mortar store fronts:

• A good presentation starts with a “wow”. You have to get your future customers attention. This stand does this with their incredibly loud speaker, beautiful girls, and the bright pink.
• If you can get your potential customers eyes you will have to engage your customers. Far too many retail locations lack the necessary sales people to close a sale. If you are going to shock and awe your customers, you had better be able to sell to your customers.
• Lip stick is sold by giving free samples. Does your business give free samples or sales literature about your products or services?
• Sex sells. Sex sells. Sex sells. Whenever possible, incorporate sex into your marketing message.
• Make it easy for your customers to purchase and quickly leave. The longer they stand in your retail location the more they cost you.

I hope this observation and quick list of retailing tid-bits was of some help you and your business. If you have any additional retailing tips please include them in the comments.

Copyright, trademark, and patent piracy is thriving in Thailand as well as other Asian countries. Before traveling to SE Asia - in America I could care less if movies, cd’s, cell phones were ripped off and sold to the public. I figured: who cares, Hollywood and consumer electronic companies make enough money anyways. It wasn’t till I saw how rampant piracy was in Thailand did I become concerned. Why should I or any American or non-American even care about piracy? Because it hurts the US economy/World economy by hurting US and non-US corporations that spend billions developing content and software. I assume that 80% of the ripped off goods are coming from China. I don’t believe the Thai people are capable of cloning such amazing duplications, besides it would just be cheaper to import it from China. The pictures below are from the MBK mall in central Bangkok. This is the heart of the city; therefore, the primary shopping destination for locals and tourists alike. Tens of millions of dollars in pirated goods are sold in this mall every year.

You can purchase unlocked Apple iPhones (which I doubt are fake), any type of software you want, fake video games, copied dvds, copied music, fake designer purses, fake designer t-shirts, fake designer suits, fake, fake fake. Brands lose valuable prestige in these countries and governments offer no support to foreign corporations looking to stop this infringement. The Thai people would be outraged if the government stepped in and shut down these illegal operations. The people would lose a huge source of national income if these operations were halted. Is the King protecting these illegal sources of money, is he making money from it himself? I doubt it, he is rich enough, but Hollywood and software corporations need to seek the King’s council to receive assistance in order to stop the rampant piracy.

Not only are the goods fake, but it’s clearly obvious that they are of lower quality. But not in every case. Some t-shirts I was examining had a cloth material that was as nice as an American Apparel t-shirt (which is regularly used for print shirts found on busted-tees, and other popular tshirts websites). I would imagine that textile manufacturing plants in China are spitting out both knock-off and designer t-shirts at the same time; why not make as much money as possible? What are some solutions to this global epidemic of piracy and brand theft?

Movies are difficult to contain as sneaking in a mini-cam and filming a full length feature film is pretty easy. A movie can be filmed at a New York premier, beamed to the right organizations in China, and immediately be distributed to over 100 million people. I was thinking that a possible way to prevent piracy would be to have US patrons in movie theatres go through metal detectors in order to prevent camcorders from entering the theatre. Additionally, movies could be formatted to where they could only be seen if special glasses were worn. Another method for movie production studios to prevent piracy (and which they are already doing) is to have global launches of major motion pictures. I was on the island of Koh Pagnon and saw an advertisement for Iron Man - wow, good job hollywood. Too bad it’ll be on the streets only a few days after release and cost less then the price of a movie ticket.

If you are a major movie production studio and interested in finding out how Banner Blindness can help reduce the spread of dvd and software piracy across the globe - please call 843-425-3566 or email Support@BannerBlindness.com It would be financially feasible to carry out an international Stop Piracy campaign through online marketing and advertising. In order to save Hollywood I think it’s important for Hollywood to educate the world about piracy and its negative effects on society.

Kings and queens have ruled their nations for hundreds of years through modern marketing and advertising principles. In Thailand the King Bhumibol Adulyadej and some woman (who may or may not be the queen - I’m not going to spend the time researching them) plaster Bangkok and Thailand’s country side with their images. In the video above you can see how King Bhumibol plasters his face in the airport over every overhand so all travelers have to see his mug. 80% of the Thai population know who they are, but don’t know wtf they do - they are considered the “rulers” or “leaders” of the country.

Most people in the world can’t imagine what it would be like to be the King/Queen of a country with 60 million inhabitants. If the population of Thailand is taxed at around 10% the annual revenue of the Thai Government must be around ($1.2 Billion = $2K (average annual income)*60million people *.10) I don’t think the Thai King gets all of that revenue, but I’m sure he has a hand in administering it. Additionally, the Thai king owns a massive amount of realestate, national treasures, and probably has a few billion dollars, not to mention the prestige and power of being The King. The Thai King is probably no way near as rich as some European royalty. Regardless, the Thai king is excellent at owning the “position” of king/ruler in the Thai people’s mind. I believe that the Thai king lives abroad as he was ousted by a military general. Owning this position in the peoples “mind” is far more powerful than any Thai General can ever have.

In nearly every shop or enterprise that I have encountered has had a picture or statue of Buddha, incense, and wasted food to Buddha. In a large percentage of these shops there is also a picture of The King; according to Wikipedia The King is considered by many Thai to be a Deity - now thats a powerful position to have in the minds of the people. It seems like selling statues and pictures of The King is a rather lucrative business. I wonder who manufacturers these pictures and statues. I assume the statues are manufactured and sold by a crafty entrepreneur, and the pictures of the King are probably manufactured and distributed by the king’s administration.

I haven’t watched TV or listened to the radio in Thailand - but I can only assume that the King administration actively promoted itself through these means as well. Does royalty in other countries do this? Certainly, and I would assume it has been this way through all the ages. Look at Iraq for example. Saddham filled Baghdad and the countryside with his image, statues, and victory monuments - all dedicated to himself. When I traveled to the country of Jordan I was amazed to see that Sadham and Bin Laden were cult-like heroes and t-shirts, key chains, posters, and other paraphanalia were availabel for purchase. I don’t believe that any organization were responsible for these items, as manufacturers were probably using current events to dictate their product cycle.

What does it mean to be a king or a queen? Is there any down time to enjoy your fabulous wealth and power? Are all kings corrupt and licentious? If you could control an entire country that is somewhat modernized what would it be like? If being a king of a third world country is cool - what would it be like to be the president of the United States!? Being the president would not afford you the ability to do as much as you could if you were the king of a third world country. The President of the United States and other modernized countries are constantly scrutinized by a free press. But in a third world country you can do whatever you please, and face no scrutiny. It appears that in Thailand the King loves his people and has their best interest at heart - however, I have a feeling that being a king is about owning the position of being the ruler or leader of a nation and therefore banking from it.

I see it time and time again - the more granular a business owner operates his/her business: the more successful it is.  When touring the islands off the SE coast of Thailand you get to observe hundreds of retail stores and restaurants.  The more granular the proprietors of these businesses are; the more successful they are - at least I assume.  I dont have financial data to back up my assumptions, but I can easily observe that the more granular a business operator is the more customers they have.

Mr. K’s restaurant is on a main road on the island of Koh-Phangan and is very granular in their business operations.  The restaurant is like any other restaurant; it has tables, chairs, coolers, a cash register, a menu, etc…  However, it’s the small (granular) elements that make this the most successful restaurant on the island.  The following are the granular observations I made while eating at this restaurant:

• The employees wear matching shirts and rotate their shirts on a daily basis
• A few of the employees speak english and ask you about where you come from and your journey
• They give patrons yellow paper to discuss their dining and travel experience.  There were hundreds of these testimonials neatly plastered across the walls
• Word of mouth: the yellow paper and exceptional customer service encourages travelers to tell other travelers about their dining experience.  I told at least 5 travelers about the restaurant.
• Presentation: the restaurant takes the necessary time to ensure that their food presentation is perfect each and every time
• Matching their menu to the tastes of their patrons.  They have food for people from nearly every country in the world.  Burgers and pizza for Americans.  Thai food for Thai.  Spaghetti and ravioli for Americans.  Pancakes for the Dutch.  Additionally, their menu is simple and straight forward.  Usually I notice that more successful restaurants have a “less is more” type attitude with their menus.  However, Mr.s K’s make their huge menu straight forward and simple to read, therefore; it’s still successful.
• An exceptional product.  Mr. K’s food was exceptional.  I don’t think you could order anything from the menu and be dissapointed.

The example above is an example of a granular business that was succintly run.  Is your business granular and succinctly operated?  I would bet that if your not satisfied with your bottom line; chances are that you aren’t running your business at a granular level.  What do your business cards look like?  What level of customer service do you offer your customers?  What type of color scheme is your logo/presence?  If you want to succeed and be the best in your niche - you need to get granular.  There is a famous chinese proverb that says, “People don’t trip on mountains, they trip on stones.”  In the business world, businesses don’t succeed because they dont gather up the stones into a mountain.

If I wasn’t so established in the United States I would move to Thailand, Bali, China, India, Indonesia, or ANY third world country to start a business based on basic marketing and branding principles.  I’m currently in Thailand and amazed at the number of companies that have names like “Goi Chin Limited Trading Company” “Hang Seung Group” “Mokrat Hanolup Co.”  On a bus I saw Colonel Sanders from KFC “Kentucky Fried Chicken” - this is branding.  My sister made a simple yet poignant observation when she stated that the best billboards don’t “say” anything but the actual name of the company “a.k.a…the brand”.  So many start-ups, medium sized companies, entrepreneurs, and even corporations don’t FULLY realize what a brand is and what brand marketing is.  The following are some simple principles to consider when developing a marketing campaign based on a brand:

You need a logo.  A logo is a picture or text that is a “graphic”.  A “graphic” is professionally done, stands out from plain text, is attractive to the eye, and most importantly it is SIMPLE.  Less is more when creating a logo.

Your logo should include an image that represents the primary function of your business.  In the KFC example there is a bucket with Fried Chicken and Colonel Sanders.

When creating a billboard advertisement just advertise your Brand (logo).

The name of your company should be one word.  For example: McDonalds, Google, Yahoo, Chipotle, Dicks.  Antithesis: Panda Express, Sports Authority, etc…

In Thailand there are approximately 65 million people.  Pareato’s 80/20 principle tells us that approximately 50 million people work to support the 15 million (or upper/middle class) in Thailand.  The 15 million people are who businesses want to be targeting as they are the ones with disposable income.  15 million people is 1/5 the population of people in the US with disposable income; therefore, foreign countries present a tremendous opportunity to brand marketers.  Additionally, as 3rd world countries begin to roll-out more credit cards and other credit instruments (leases, mortgages, notes, etc…) you will see increased spending and less saving.