Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Slovenian Marketing Magazine has issued the book Hocus pocus: focus – the second book on branding by Mitja Tuškej, partner and strategist in the Formitas group.
In late 2015, Marketing magazine published the first book by Tuškej, No Friends, No Brands, which quickly became the ultimate branding manual which people didn’t even realized how badly they needed it. The regional edition of the book No Friends, No Brands was published by Media Marketing.
On 340 pages, Hocus, Pocus: Focus will provide you an insight into how to focus the brand story to make the communication long-term viable.
“The story of a brand, written so that it adheres to the values and characteristics that users associate with the brand, is the one that has a good foundation. If we add to the brand’s story the values, opinions and thinking of the target group that is most loyal to the brand, then we are close to having a story that can lead the brand towards better recognition and greater user engagement,” Mitja writes in the book.
I called my friend Mitja to congratulate him on the book. Below is our short conversation about the Hocus Pocus: Focus.
Media Marketing: Is this book a sequel to the No Friends, No Brands, or is this a completely new story?
Mitja Tuškej: Every story has its sequel, and so my second book is the sequel to the first one. My expectations are that those who have read the first book will also read the second one, and vice versa, those who read the second book will want to read the first one.
Media Marketing: What does the title Hocus, Pocus: Focus mean?
Mitja Tuškej: It should mean: The magic of focused advertising. I am writing about the situation in these times in branding, which is in fact completely different from the one ten years ago. My impression, and my conclusion, is that we have a lot of problems in branding exactly because we do not understand what has changed and we do many things backwards.
My message through the book is: Read and start working properly. We either do things the old way, or we don’t realize how important it is to go in-depth, how important data are, how important research is, how important are insights you need to get.
Due to the wrong way in which we do things, we come to a situation that brands, who are usually competing with each other, are becoming the same. Consumers see almost no differences between the brands, and differences are important because brands are not focusing on the values, they don’t focus on emotions, they don’t go for things that are important for the brand story, but rather focus on some things that are irrelevant for the purchase decision at the end of the day.
Since everything is almost the same, we come to the fact that ultimately price is the deciding factor. And when we get into the field of prices, we join the battle that is stemming from the recession, and where price will win. This is not good, either for companies, for the profession, for anyone – not even for consumers. The consumer likes to buy something that is dear to their heart.
Media Marketing: Now the battle for emotions is starting?
Mitja Tuškej: The battle for emotions has already started, and those doing things the right way, who work on emotions, who work on real stories and for real people, those are the ones who are succeeding.
Media Marketing: Who should read the Hocus, Pocus: Focus?
Mitja Tuškej: Everyone who works in marketing departments of different companies, everyone working in agencies, and since at the end of the day the decision is made by senior management, it would be nice if they read this book as well.
The book contains a number of examples in which different campaigns are discussed from start to finish, comparisons are made, a true focus is sought, differences between campaigns. What I think is important is that those who have already read the second book had a similar comment to the one you made when you read the first book and said, “My God Mitja, this reads like a novel.” The first comments on the second book are similar – it reads like a novel. You’re not even aware how fast the knowledge is entering your brain.
Media Marketing: Where can you apply this knowledge – creative, research or something completely different?
Mitja Tuškej: At the end of the day, all this is connected. I’m not a creative and I’m not the right person to talk about creativity. However, as I work on strategies, which is the basis of each project, I adopt a model by which all strategists must do the continuation of a good brand story. So, at the end of the day, the “agency brief” has to follow that principle, so creatives could get a framework within which they need to do things outside the framework.
Media Marketing: If you don’t have a framework, you can’t know what’s outside the framework.
Mitja Tuškej: That’s right. You have to enter the framework to leave it!
The price of the book is €30, and you can order it at info@marketingmagazin.si.