Horse sold for 5 million euros

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, one of the top riders in the world never sold a top horse before.

However a 5 million euros offer was too much to decline.

Bella Donna is a 10 years old mare that is now reaching the top.

The new owner is the Ukrainian millionaire Oleksandr Onishchenko.

More info in this link.

20 million tons of gold in the ocean

There is a lot of gold in the ocean and it is possible to extract gold from seawater.

However, currently there isn’t a cost-effective way to mine or extract gold from the ocean and make a profit from it.

Why?
Because as you know, the oceans are huge, and the actual concentration of gold in seawater is only about 0.0000000006%. To put it another way, there is between 0.1 and 2.0 mg per ton, depending on location, which means that with current technology is more expensive to extract than the value of the gold extracted itself.

More info in this link.

Flying Nannies – Airlines new trend?

"Etihad Airways", the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has recently launched an in-flight child care assistance program, with nannies that are specially trained to entertain children on long flights

This type of service has already been launched 18 months ago by an American Company called “Nanny in the Clouds”, which offer an in-flight childcare with experienced babysitters for a fee.

This approach is totally different from "Scoot Airlines" from Singapore, which recently introduced a Child-Free Flying Zone on the airplane, which can be booked for an extra fee on the ticket.

More info about this service of Etihad Airways in this link

Nestlé + Google New Ad

Is this war?
Following the new version of Android OS 4.4 being called KitKat, the branding war of OS (Operating Systems) is on.

Check this new ad from KitKat:

 

World Travel Awards for Europe - 2013

This weekend, World Travel Awards presented the 2013 prizes for Europe.
You can find below the winners of the most important prizes of this year:

Best European destination of the year - Yorkshire, England
Best European airline - Lufthansa
Best European low-cost airline - Easy Jet
Best European luxury train - Orient Express
Best European cruise operator - Norwegian
Best European hotel - Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul, Turkey
Best European boutique resort– Vila Joya, Portugal
Best European luxury resort – Conrad, Portugal
Best European design hotel – The Vine, Portugal
Best European golf destination – Portugal
Best European beach destination – Algarve, Portugal
Best European rent-a-car operator - Europcar

Check out all prizes in: www.worldtravelawards.com

Pricing Strategies - Skimming

The purpose of this strategy is to optimize profits in the long run, by segmenting the market in three types of consumers:
- “Pioneer” customers who are willing to pay a premium price to be the first to access your offer.
- “Common” customers who are only willing to pay a “value for money” price.
- “Opportunistic” customers who only buy when facing and outstanding price/discount.

Then the market is sliced in three timeframes to take the best of those three consumer segments:
- On the launch the price is set high to maximize profits on the “Pioneers”
- After the “Pioneers” segment is exhausted, the strategy is to decrease the price to take now a broader segment – the “Common” customers.
- And in the end, usually when a new other product is already replacing this one, they decrease even more the price to tackle the last segment – the “Opportunistic” consumer.

However, this pricing approach is not appropriate or available to all markets due to:
- Legal reasons – Some markets/product have their prices regulated.
- Some markets/products have extreme elastic demand which means that any price variation can collapse the demand.
- This strategy invites other competitors to enter the market, so or you have a very unique product, or the exclusivity of the market (e.g. patent) or the entry cost on that line of business is very high avoiding the entry of more competitors.
Example of a market that usually follows successfully the "Price Skimming" strategy:
- On the video games market, you can observe that usually those brands launch their new products with a premium price and usually those prices decrease over time until it reaches only 10% of the original price aiming to the “Opportunistic” segment in the end.

What Nagasaki and Portugal have in common?

Nagasaki is still an important port in Japan and a major shipyard facility in the world, with a huge economic impact in the region.

After being devastated in the World War II, by the second and last atomic bomb dropped in the war, mainly because this city also hosted a major naval base of Japan, Nagasaki became prosper again and also became a strong example of perseverance and peace in the world.

So, what Nagasaki and Portugal have in common?

Nagasaki was founded by Portuguese sailors in the second half of the 16th century and Portuguese influence was strong until the 19th century.


Examples of Portuguese influence in Japanese culture:

Japanese Rōmaji	Japanese Script	Portuguese	Meaning in English
bīdoro	ビードロ	vidro	glass
bōro	ボーロ / ぼうろ	bolo	cake
botan	ボタン / 釦 / 鈕	botão	button
furasuko	フラスコ	frasco	flask
iesu or iezusu	イエス, イエズス	Jesus	Jesus
jōro	じょうろ / 如雨露	jarro	watering can
kandeya	カンデヤ	candeia	oil lamp
kapitan	甲比丹 / 甲必丹	capitão	captain
kappa	合羽	capa	raincoat
kirishitan	キリシタン / 切支丹 / 吉利支丹	cristão	Christian people
kirisuto	キリスト / 基督	Cristo	Christ
koppu	コップ	copo	cup
kurusu	クルス	cruz	cross
kyarameru	キャラメル / カラメル	caramelo	caramel
manto	マント	manto	cloak
pan	パン	pão	bread
rozario	ロザリオ	rosário	rosary
sabato	サバト	sábado	Saturday
shabon	シャボン	sabão	soap
tabako	タバコ / 煙草	tabaco	tobacco, cigarette
tempura	天麩羅 / 天婦羅	têmporas	deep-fried seafood/vegetables. "Têmporas"meant fasting in religious days which catholic portuguese didn't eat meat and instead, ate fried vegetables and fish.

More info regarding Portuguese words vs. Japanese pronunciation origin in this link

44 years of Internet...

Many people think that the Internet was launched in the 1990s and this worldwide phenomenon had a boost in the beginning of the new millennium.

However, Internet was really created 44 years ago, specifically in 1969 in the U.S., as an information technology for the military offering a network with scale and redundancy, in order to offer military internet users the same performance regardless of their size, and be able to recover from damages in one or more of its componentes.

These characteristics were considered critical in the cold war when the nuclear threat was still on.

The Internet was only open to commercial use in 1991, therefore many people think that the Internet was created only at that time.

Portugal +1,1% vs. Eurozone +0,3%

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Portugal expanded 1,1% in the second quarter of 2013 over the previous quarter.

This value was much higher than the Eurozone average (0,3%) and impressive when compared with another countries of the Eurozone:

Germany: +0,7%
Greece: -4,6%
Netherlands: -0,2%
Ireland: -0,6%
Spain: -0,1%
France: +0,5%
Italy: -0,2%

So, although it's too soon to claim that Portugal GDP is back on track, it's great news for Portugal.
 

Japan Debt reached 200% of their annual GDP

On June 30th of 2013, Japan Debt reached Yen 1.000 trillion (around USD $ 10,46 trillion).

This impressive value is now larger than the economies of Germany, France and the U.K. combined.

Analysts are apprehensive with current Japan trend and are expected new taxes from Japan government to balance Japan deficit.

To understand how serious is this 200% value (public debt as % of GDP of Japan) compare it with south of Europe countries and Ireland which are under great pressure from IMF and rating agencies:

. Greece – 158% (2012)
. Italy – 126% (2012)
. Ireland – 118% (2012)
. Portugal – 115% (2012)
. Spain – 85% (2012)

Top 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World

For all of you that are considering to relocate in another city or another country, this information is extremely valuable.
Mercer released recently their "Cost of Living City Rankings" and according to Mercer research, the Top 10 most expensive cities to live in are:

1st - Luanda, Angola
2nd - Moscow, Russia
3rd -  Tokyo, Japan
4th - N'Djamena, Chad
5th - Singapore, Singapore
6th - Hong Kong, Hong Kong
7th - Geneva, Switzerland
8th - Zurich, Switzerland
9th - Bern, Switzerland
Also in 9th - Sydney, Austrália

Simply Sintra - The Guardian article

"Sintra is often described as a Disneyland for grown-ups, but spend time exploring the surrounding beaches, seafood restaurants and woodlands, and you'll find there's much more to this historic town."

Click here to read The Guardian full article about Sintra (Portugal)

 

8.000 Downloads in 1 Year

I am happy to inform that my Master Thesis was downloaded/viewed more than 8.000 times, in the first year after being published.

If you wish, you also can download it here for free:
https://www.repository.utl.pt/bitstream/10400.5/4459/1/DM-ANLGA-2011.pdf

Title:
"Trust Impact in Online Shopping"

Abstract:
There is still a big gap between the number of Internet users and online shoppers in Portugal. Although trust is considered by many as a key factor in e-commerce, the knowledge about how trust influences online shopping intention in Portuguese consumers is still little.
This quantitative research has a deductive approach in which statistical procedures were applied to validate the hypotheses of the theoretical frame of reference. The purpose of this research is to describe the relationship between trust and online shopping intention.

Note: This Master Dissertation is written in Portuguese 

Why I love Lisbon

More info about Lisbon: http://www.visitlisboa.com/Home_UK.aspx?lang=en-GB

The most successful viral commercial ad ever

This Dove ad had more than 55 million views in 3 months.

 

EURO2016 Logo - Made in Portugal

The "Euro 2016 - France" logo was designed by a Portuguese company.

Brandia Central did it again... following Euro 2012 logo which was also designed by them, Euro 2016 logo inspired by the theme "celebrating the art of football", will have some Portuguese design.

Congrats to Brandia.

 

How Seinfeld feels about Telemarketing?

Supporting new entrepreneurs

In May 2013 I was invited by Beta-Start to make a coaching session for new entrepreneurs.

I made a presentation about a key element in Marketing which is usually forgotten when people think about Marketing.

The theme of my presentation was Pricing, more specifically about Pricing Methods and Pricing Strategies, followed by a Q&A session.

It was a real pleasure and I wish all the best to these new businessman and businesswoman on their new endeavors.

If you are a new entrepreneur, check out Beta-Start in the link below:
http://www.beta-start.com/

Portugal named one of the top 5 destinations for a family summer holiday

Check out Portugal review at "iWantsun.co.uk":

"Portugal, a favourite family holiday destination for years is still top the list, providing interesting culture, stunning beaches, gorgeous architecture, delicious cuisine and most importantly, good value for money.

According to the Holiday Costs Barometer, Portugal is the 7th cheapest destination for popular holiday items. Resort prices in Portugal have also plummeted by 15% this year compared to last, meaning you’ll get great bang for your buck too.

Besides the popular Algarve resorts, why not head north and try the beautiful historic city of Sintra near Lisbon and Porto in the north of the country?"

learn more at: http://www.iwantsun.co.uk/family-holidays/2013/05/07/top-five-destinations-for-a-family-summer-holiday-2013
 

Learn more about Portugal potential

7 more years to Portugal

The Eurogroup gave more seven years to Portugal repay their loan.

In the short term is a good news for Portugal, because the annual repayment value of the loan will be reduced, but in the medium term this means that the value of accumulated accrued interest will be higher, so the loan will become more expensive.

So, although it is good news because it reduces the immediate pressure over the national budget, it is not something to celebrate.

What would be the immediate consequences if Portugal decide to leave the Euro?

At the day of that decision, it is expected that all financial transactions in Portugal would be suspended including deposits retrievals, except of small amounts for daily needs.

The new Portuguese currency would suffer an immediate devaluation, comparing with the Euro or Dollar, which means that the Portuguese workers’ salaries would also suffer a real devaluation.

Therefore the living cost in Portugal would increase a lot in just 24 hours.

The new reality will generate some chaos because many people, would run to stores as fast as possible to buy everything they can, trying to avoid the huge price inflation expected in result of their country leaving the Eurozone.

The decision of leaving the Eurozone will generate social unrest and can even occur some riots.

This outcome is expected if this decision is made in countries as Portugal, Spain or Greece due to their current financial situation, and this opinion is shared among many economists.

Off Topic - My Youtube Channel

If you like horses I invite you to visit my Youtube Channel.

Just follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Uberwald01

Off Topic - Lisbon Grand Prix 1996

Rider: André Antunes
Horse: Frágua
Class: Grand Prix of CSIO-j Lisbon 1996
Position: 8th
Comments: Capt. Pimenta da Gama




 

How FNAC became a customer experience role model to other companies?

FNAC is an international entertainment retail chain of cultural and electronic products, founded in 1954 initially as a members-only discount buyers' club.

This company argues that they differ from its competition with a "unique brand positioning based on the exaltation of pleasure to discover the diversity of cultures and technologies”.

In my opinion FNAC does much more than that.

FNAC aims at the customer “top of mind” positioning through a customer experience policy and orientation.

As I perceived it, FNAC welcomes you in their stores even if you don’t seek to buy anything at that moment.
- You can find in FNAC stores, sofas which allow you to read comfortably and go through any book for free even if that book is for sale.
- Also, you can find a coffee shop inside the store enabling you just to hang out a bit.
- All the products are displayed in a way that invites you to check them without seeking assistance from an employee.

This customer experience strategy relieves the buying pressure from the customer and increases the number of visits per each customer.

So what is the benefit to FNAC, if many customers regularly enter in their stores and don’t buy at all in that visit?

This investment in the customer’s emotional connection with FNAC brand returns as revenue, when those customers find themselves in need to buy something in the FNAC product range, they will think FNAC first, therefore this is called “top of mind” positioning.

Top 1% most viewed LinkedIn profiles for 2012

I just received today a linkedin e-mail with the following message:

“Congratulations! You have one of the top 1% most viewed LinkedIn profiles for 2012!”

This is a nice marketing technique from Linkedin and I was pleased with the message.

Link to my Linkedin profile:
http://pt.linkedin.com/in/lopesgracaantunes

Top 10 Super Bowl Ads of 2013

Check the best Super Bowl ads of 2013

 

Do you think that being a thug is financially rewarding?

Do you think that being a thug is financially rewarding?
Think again... check this presentation bellow.

How to make a business decision?

Almost everyone thinks that they can be a successful business man or woman. But, how many truly know how to make a business decision?
Did you know that in fact, there is reliable process to make every business decisions?
 
Daniel Bernoulli a great Dutch mathematician created the formula that haunts all business managers around the world, which is:
Expected value = Value of the Gain x Odds of the Gain
 

Example: Should I bet in the lottery?

Decision making process:

1^st prize: (prize vs. odds)
€15.000.000 x 1/116531800

+

2^nd prize: (prize vs. odds)

€310.751000 x 1/6473989

+

…

+

13st prize

€4 x 1/23

= Expected value of €0,71

If the lottery ticket costs €2, this means that the expected value is less than the cost, so you shouldn’t bet, unless it is just for your own fun and entertainment.

But, what about if the expected calculated value turns out to be greater than the entry cost? This means that I should always invest?

Not really. It depends of the opportunity cost of that investment.

Before you make your final decision you must also compare the expected values between your best investment options available which require that investment resource.

So, it looks easy… what’s the trick?

The issue is around the odds. Usually business man and woman cannot calculate the odds accurately, because sometimes they don’t have enough information available about the market preferences, competitors intentions and other relevant key points that can affect their odds, and then, their only option is to estimate their odds.

And estimating odds having only part of the required information it is very hard.

 

P.S. – This article was inspired on Dan Gilbert presentation “Why we make bad decisions”.

Country Brand Index 2012 - 2013

According to Futurebrand ranking:

 

Portugal was 32nd in this Country Brand Ranking.
 

Rational Brands vs. Emotional Brands

What is a pure rational brand?
It is a brand built on rational and quantified values as price and service and product quality as product longevity or endurance.

And what is a pure emotional brand?
It is a brand built on emotional values as familiar image, lovable traces, keenness and desire to relate to.

There are pure rational brands or pure emotional brands?
No. Every brand have rational and emotional values, however we can classify it according to which values are more perceived by the customers.

Example of a brand more in the emotional side: Apple
Example of a brand more in the rational side: Samsung

What is better? To be in the emotional or in the rational side of brand value?
There isn't an easy answer.
An emotional brand can have higher profit margins, because their customers are not price sensitive as others.
However as you know, emotions can swing and fade over time, therefore brand management is critical to success.
In the other side, rational brands although having lower margins, usually aim to reach a much wider customer base. But as they tend to compete over price, they are more exposed to competitors with agressive pricing moves.

Impact of Trust on Intention to Purchase Online

There is still a big gap between the number of Internet users and online shoppers in Portugal.

Although trust is considered by many as a key factor in e-commerce, the knowledge about how trust influences online shopping intention in Portuguese consumers is still little.

This quantitative research has a deductive approach in which statistical procedures were applied to

validate the hypotheses of the theoretical frame of reference.

The purpose of this research, which was my Master Thesis, was to describe the relationship between trust and online shopping intention.

This thesis is in Portuguese.
My Master Thesis Link

Most Valuable Global Brands of 2012

 

Steve Jobs - Special Speech

2009 Country Brand Index

According to FutureBrand, the Top 10 country brands of 2009 are:

What is the most common mistake in Marketing?

Managers that work in Marketing tend to consider that their friends’ opinion is the market opinion.

Why is that a mistake?
Because, our friends rarely represent a statistical relevant market sample.

So it’s ok to listen and get ideas from our friends, but keep in mind that usually they don’t represent the market.

How to solve the energy problem?

Nuclear Fusion is the answer:

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Also when shopping?

Definitely the consumer behaviour of women and men tend to differ.

If you pay close attention, the best warehouses and supermarkets, try to split the couples (husband and wife) in the beginning of their shopping tour.

Why they try to split the couple (husband and wife)?
Because, it has been understood by consumer behavioural studies that women tend to buy much more stuff without the “pressure” of the husband.
Men tend to have an anxiety increase when they are shopping, their blood pressure increases, and they start pushing and speeding up the shopping tour.
Women tend to enjoy more the shopping experience, and tend to buy more stuff outside the shopping list.
But, women are not big spenders, they tend to be more cautious and tend to verify and compare the prices. While men tend to buy always the same brand without verifying if those prices have changed since their last buy.

How they split the couple?
Usually the warehouses locates the “sport, hi-tech and music stuff” near the entrances. Their goal is to get the men attention, and hopefully, split the couple, while men check the “new cool stuff”, women can go do their shopping tour without being bothered by their husbands.

What is the purpose?
Women although being more savvy in their shopping, they tend to buy more, because they pay more attention to opportunities, and buy more outside the shopping list.
But that only happens, if women are not “pressured” by their husbands during their shopping experience.

So, split the couple!

Naturally, this doesn’t happen to all men and women.
I am just talking about main trends.

Dollar to Euro - My Economic Prediction on 22nd Oct 2008

I answered a question in linkedin on the 22nd October 2008, where I predicted that Dollar would loose value to Euro in the near future.

It's time to do the math.
22nd Oct 2008 - 1 Dollar = 0,7786 Euro
26th Nov 2009 - 1 Dollar = 0,6635 Euro
So, Dollar devaluated to Euro 15% in the last 13 months

Click here to see this question on linkedin forum.

So, in 2008, I recommended a "Great Deal" to India, as you can read bellow.

The question was:
Would it be a good strategy for India to borrow trillions(or whatever is available) of dollars?

And my answer was:
It could be a great move if:
- India borrow in Dollars
- Buy immediately another solid currency as “Euros” with those borrowed Dollars
- And by keeping the original debt in Dollars, is expected that Debt will have a value decrease automatically if India previously converted those financial assets to another currency as “Euro”.

Note that although European Central Bank also pumped some millions of Euros to the market, it wasn’t even close of the sum that American Federal Reserve pumped into the market, so it is expected that Dollar depreciate more to the Euro.

To all Americans that read this, Dollar depreciation also could bring good news for you.

Although the goods that America imports are going to be more expensive, your products made in America will look cheaper to the rest of the world, and so is expected a increase in your exports, boosting American Economy.

However there is a great risk that with dollar depreciation, America Demand worldwide will decrease even more and that could affect other economies that are dependant of their exports to the US, creating a “Domino effect” of recession worldwide.

In my opinion, with globalization, fewer countries are exclusively dependant of one country to export their goods, and so, with the actual economic scenario almost all countries will suffer a little with America demand decrease, but only a few countries will suffer a lot, and probably that will not generate a “Domino effect”.

Should the Government Increase the Minimum Wage? Why or why not?

Increasing the minimum wage is a popular political policy that is 95% financially supported by the private sector, because usually, the minimum wage employees work in the private sector. So, it can be an evil mean of government propaganda (government receives appreciation from the electors but it is the private sector that pays the bill).

There are arguments in favour and against of this kind of policy.

In favour:
- Many political deciders and some “left wing” economists believe that corporations are always looking to exploit the employees, specially the less skilled employees, which have less job options, therefore even with big profits, corporations don’t care enough by those employees in the bottom of the structure.
- By increasing some people’s income, it will have a good effect on consumption increase, therefore stimulating the economy.

Against:
- Increasing the minimum wage will affect much more the smaller companies than the big ones. And smaller companies are already under pressure by companies from other countries with cheaper labour costs. It is expected that some smaller companies cannot afford the extra cost and will loose competitiveness in the market, and could even close their doors. The final result of minimum wage increase could be unemployment increase, therefore contributes negatively to the economy, because it will generate less consumption and increase government welfare costs with unemployed people.

My opinion:
- Both arguments have merit, therefore it is a question of when is more appropriate to increase the minimum wage, achieving the purpose of the policy with minimum effects on unemployment.
The answer of "when" depends of each country economic status, but surely that minimum wage increase is a bad policy during an economic downturn, because it will contribute even more for the downhill.

Keynesian school of thought

The question on linkedin forum was:While solving the current Macroeconomic problems, Keynesian school of thought has gained relevance in recent times. Does this spell an end to the New Classical school of thought which essentially relies on inherent forces in Market to play themselves out?

My answer:
Keynesian school of though has gained relevance, especially with the plans to “rescue” the world economy by U.S. president and the others G20 leaders.

Keynesian policies (increasing the public sector in the market by government investment and monetary growth) were successful in the past – F.D. Roosevelt policies during the Great Depression (1930’s).

But, those policies have not been successful in the crisis of the 1973-75.

Therefore, some economists believe (including me) that F.D. Roosevelt policies were appropriate in the 30’s, but those policies alone aren’t enough to solve the 2008 economic crisis, because:

- The causes of the crisis of the 30’s are not the same of 2008 crisis.

- The economic context is different. When F.D. Roosevelt invested in new highways or new railway tracks in the 30’s, that investment boosted the U.S. economy, because almost all jobs generated by those investments were absorbed by U.S. residents, and almost all industrial production and technological development was absorbed by U.S. companies with factories in the U.S. soil. Similar policies nowadays will result that generated jobs will be partially absorbed by labor from emigration, and a big stake of the industrial production will be imported from other countries, therefore, the current unemployment rate will not decrease as much as expected, and the national industrial production will not increase as much as predicted. So, U.S. investment in transports infrastructures like highways and railway tracks will boost U.S. economy, but not as much as in the 30’s (not even close), and this happens in the same way with other public investments in the other sectors, like energy for example.

I think that some Government intervention (inspired in Keynesian policies) is necessary to guarantee the market stabilization and restoring confidence, but, the guidelines to get back on sustained economic growth are:

- Regulate the markets to avoid speculation bubbles that resulted in the 2008 crisis. - Policies that attract more private investment in the economy.

- Policies to attract foreign investment in national soil.

- Policies that enable national companies to export more.

Market regulation can be defined by the G20, but the other policies mentioned will vary and will depend on each country economic characteristics.

Brandz - 2009 Most Valuable Global Brands

Brandz published their annual most valuable global brands.
Let’s see the top 20 Brands of 2009 ranking.

Atelier Augusta – Decoração de Interiores

Checkout this website.

Atelier Augusta – Decoração e Design de Interiores
http://www.atelieraugusta.com/

This is a good example of a great website (it is an Interior Design website):
- Good Image and Simple Web Navigation

50's Commercial of Colgate

1950's Pepsi Commercial

December 13th of 1950. The first appearance on TV of the young James Dean. James is the guy who puts the money into the piano/jukebox in this Pepsi TV ad.

First Pizza Hut Commercial - 1965

With the first Pizza Hut jingle ""Putt-Putt to Pizza Hut".

The First McDonalds Commercial

TV weatherman Willard Scott was Ronald McDonald's creator. That's him on the video.

Barbie - first ever commercial - 1959

Best Ads from the XX Century

I will share in the next posts some ads that are historical.

Best Renault Ad