Guillaume
30.04.2009
Geri Jacobs is free lance researcher and strategist:
How can you become a hero brand in a market like Moscow where choice doesn’t depend on your hero status, but on your financial status?
Guillaume:
Geri, you’re saying in Moscow you’re a hero brand, not because you do terrific things, but because your expensive.
First I’d like to say that there are people on earth for who Donald Trump is a hero. And that is not because of his haircut.
You state that there is a difference between hero status and financial status. I’m not sure that is right. I can imagine in a country where making money was blasphemy for any generations, people look at spending money as an act of freedom. Which would mean that you could actually be a hero brand because you are bringing luxury that wasn’t allowed before.
A year ago I was speaking at a conference in Moscow and invited for the opening of the new Lacoste Shop in the Gum. Indeed I was surprised how must effort the crowd made to look rich. But really rich. Babes with jewels. Gentlemen with big cigars and Armani suits. Campaign all over the place. Michel Lacoste and I looked rather shaggy in this jet set. Conversations were all about what you mentioned: making money, getting the right for import of luxury brands in merging markets like Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Ordinary daily products didn’t matter. They were there before, weren’t they.
So how do you deal with that?
Look at it from the good side. There is opportunity. At least there is money. And it wants to be spent.
Think of what our parent’s generation did. (I mean my parents – your grand parents). They came from war and wanted wealth. They bought soap called “Lux”. Because American stars used it. Lux was a hero brand for my mum. Made her feel like a star too.
So I guess I’m saying you may be looking at Russia with Western eyes, and taking your own values as true values. Which is why you consider “financial status” not enough for a true hero.
You ask if “hero brand” works for these markets. Sure, why not. Gucci, Lacoste, Prada, all hero brands. They are part of the game, they look distinct, they have great names, and great stories to tell.
What about bread, butter and cheese?
Well, look at Lux. Give the ordinary things a shine. Why do you think Golden Syrup is called Golden?
30.04.2009 om 02:14 pm
Hakim Benbouchta
Hi Guillaume,
I fully agree with you, except on one point. I’m not sure that the fact that “there is money and it wants to be spent” is a good thing in itself. I think people (western countries included) need to be educated on the question of spending. We value money too much, for the wrong reasons. We (me including) spend too much money to buy futile things. I admire Bill Gates because he makes about 80.000 families live and because of it’s foundation. Not because he’s the richest man in the world. So “money that wants to be spent” is not enough for me. Quantity is not everything. Let’s put some quality back in our world. I’m sure you will agree, won’t you ?
Cheers,
01.05.2009 om 10:27 pm
Johan van Mol
Anything we buy must have some benefit. It could be functional, emotional or social. In a market like Moscow a group of people prefers brands that deliver a social benefit. The hero-aspect has to do with the “why” question rather than with the “what” question.
02.05.2009 om 03:02 pm
Hi Guillaume,
Thanks for your analysis. By the way, I too have felt terribly underdressed in Moscow on more than one occasion 
You say I look at Russia with western eyes, projecting my own values onto their situation. I guess I’d kind of expected them to have moved on by now. After all, it has been more than 15 years.
What I have noticed, though, during my last visit is that the infatuation with all things western has certainly diminished since then. At the time you could see Russians order 10 hamburgers at a time at McDonalds or eat themselves silly on bananas. The taste of freedom. Nowadays, America is not the promised land anymore.
Russians have always had a strong culture of hero worshipping. The “heroes of the people” would get medals, statues and the odd mausoleum. Yoeri Gagarin, Lenin, singer Alla Pugachova, to name but a few. But they achieved extraordinary things.
Nowadays Russian heroes seem to be tennis players who don’t actually play tennis, models who don’t model but who run art galleries paid for by their billionaire boyfriends and the teenage girl singers in pleated skirts who aren’t actually lesbians.
I lòve the Russian culture, it is a soulful country that is more about the heart than about the mind. I’m just hoping that with their gained freedom, Russians haven’t lost the ability to applaud heroes that are more than skin deep.
03.05.2009 om 06:56 pm
Hakim Benbouchta
@ Guillaume. I personnally continue to think that, if we could educate (not “oblige”, of course) people to be less individualistic and more socially responsible, we will make earth a much better place to live.
But this point takes us far from the original Russian question. Sorry for disturbing..;-)
04.05.2009 om 09:04 am
Guillaume, I agree that there must be a parallel, fake brands go with fake heroes. The Russians you saw are - I imagine - not your average Ivans. The Russians I saw were normal youngsters between 20 and 30 yrs, working hard to make something of themselves.
Also, let’s bare in mind that we are talking about Moscow, not about Russia as a whole. Moscow is the Las Vegas of Russia, be it with better scenery. Go to any other city, even Saint-Pete, and you come across a different type of Russian already. As always, the capital attracts the go-getters, the ambitious and the gold-diggers.