gkBRAND joins a group of talented independent agencies to launch a new international network – Tribe Global.

The network, which sees its international launch take place in London on 27th January 2012, has been founded by 13 independent, owner-run and managed agencies from around the world, many of whom have worked on joint projects during the last 10+ years as part of ComVort.

Those involved include: BJL, The AdStore, Family and Complete Media Group in the UK, Steam in the Netherlands, Dagré in France, Interact in Luxembourg, defacto.X and Punktzwei Markenagentur in Germany, gkBrand and Bolin Marketing in the USA, Gaudelli MCW in Mexico and Tempest Advertising in India.

Bringing together like-minded, dynamic agencies, the network aims to provide an international offering to both current and future clients, whilst nurturing and developing creative expertise breakthrough global talent sharing methodologies.

BJL managing director, Nicky Unsworth, commented:

“The founding agencies have worked together for many years on a number of international projects and global brand launches. In the last couple of years we’ve increasingly talked about formalizing our relationship, and recent discussions between clients and ourselves have led us to believe that this is the right time to launch a global network.

“We have experienced an increasing interest from clients who seem to be electing to work with independent agencies and also see the benefits of doing so. You could say we’re more entrepreneurial, are better at making local decisions and are more agile in the current economic climate.

“The other networks out there tend to be open to membership rather than formed proactively by a group of agencies. We know of no others that exist in this format. In the coming months, we aim to extend the network to tap into the core markets not covered by the current founding members.”

Marco van Rookhuijzen, MD at Steam added:

“The network’s hub will be based in Amsterdam which is well known as an international creative hotspot, bustling with talent and people who think differently – which is our core ethos at Tribe Global.

“Tribe Global requires an explicit commitment from its member agencies to support dialogue, exchange knowledge and pro-actively respond to market opportunities. We are not a club; we are a tribe. And we depend on each other to move forward.

“Clients want to work with agencies that are responsive to changing market conditions and understand commercial business needs in the current climate. We believe that an independent network of agencies consolidating this offer to clients will be compelling.”

Clients who have already benefitted from these international partnerships have included; Pilkington, Johnson Diversey, No2av, Erlenbacher, Noa Bank, Shell, Radio Liberty, Aramco and Luxembourg Tourist Office.

Tribe Global network has 650 staff and a joint gross profit of more than $50 million in 2011.

For more information about Tribe Global and its member agencies please visit the new website at www.tribeglobal.net

Tribe Global is a new network, which will cover the following countries and support brands in all major languages:

UK, France, Germany, Holland, Mexico, India, USA and Luxembourg. It will be actively recruiting in the Far East, China, Middle East, Russia, Spain, Scandinavia, Japan, Turkey, CIS countries and Australasia with the aim of completion by mid-late 2012.

For more information please contact:

This article will be the first of a series where I wan to talk about CEOs and their involvement in the consultative sales process. It’s a passion of mine and hopefully you will enjoy reading as much as I have enjoyed writing and creating.

CEOs: Helping Sales by Staying Out of the Way: Insight 1

I’m not sure you agree with me, but in my experience CEOs should be involved in the sales process, but they shouldn’t lead it.

Sales efforts, especially in a consultative environment should be spearheaded by experts who understand and embrace a consultative selling process. While the overall strategy and direction of a company should certainly be driven by the CEO, I have yet to see an organization capitalize on the potential of all members of the sales organization and show strong growth while their CEO was leading and driving the sales process.

Why is that?

CEOs are charismatic leaders who have a vision for their company and a foresight for the future developments of their industry. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they should run every single department and be in charge of every detail. Micro-managing the sales process can happen when the CEO does not embrace or perhaps not understand a consultative sales environment, the selling cycle etc. CEOs micro-managing sales will eventually sour the work of the sales team.

The question arises: Why do CEOs then get involved in the sales process?

A few possible answers:

a) CEOs often don’t have very high regards for the sales practice or in other cases they don’t really understand it. Many CEOs feel that sales is really simple and that they are the best sales person in the room. That usually stems from the fact that they had to raise capital to start or expand the company. And yes, very often they are good sales people but that doesn’t mean that they are good sales management leaders.

b) Often CEOs get involved in the sales process due to a lack of success and a lack of trust that somebody else can make it happen. If success doesn’t happen fast enough, they often start micro-managing the sales manager and/or the sales team. Unless the sales manager is really savvy and knows how and when to push back, CEO meddling can confuse the sales process.

c) Additionally I have experienced CEOs getting involved because they felt there weren’t that many really good sales managers out there who could effectively lead a sales team. Now to be honest, there are, but managing a team and selling are two different skill sets. I have seen companies change sales managers twice a year in desperation.

So, what’s a CEO to do??

The successful growth of sales in your organization will depend on how well the sales process is built and who is leading it. Reflect on the values of your organization, what benefits do you offer to prospective clients. Why would and should they buy your offering? Once you have a sales leader who understands your organization and what you offer thoroughly and successfully builds a sales team, puts a sales process in place, then it’s time to step back and support the process.

Allow your sales leaders to lead the process. Make yourself available for any sales efforts and cheerlead the sales team from the corner office. Your vision and charisma will guide your sales team. Your belief in the organization will aid the team to attract new clients and grow business.

And never forget these THREE!

When identifying the benefits for your audiences, always remember to develop messaging that will help you get their attention.

If you have read my blog you will remember that people buy because you can help them:

•  Make money and/or
•  Save money and/or
•  Improve their reputation internally

By: Monika D’Agostino
Chief Consultative Sales Officer
Consultative Sales Academy

© 2012 Monika D’Agostino

Trends act as a fantastic springboard for new and innovative thinking. They take us out of the day-to-day and get us thinking about the bigger picture and how consumers are behaving. They are something we track on an ongoing basis, so if you’d like to know more about the interesting things we’re discovering….
– Ged Reilly, BJL

1 - ECO-CYCOLOGY

This is the next step for recycling. Brands taking back their products to recycle them responsibly and constructively. Nike’s old trainers, once sliced and ground, re-emerge as athletic and playground surfaces.

2 - RECOMMERCE

Exchanging, resale, trading up and trading in. Savvy consumers now have more options than ever to unlock the value in their possessions.

3 - PRICE PANDEMONIUM

New technologies and services are helping consumers seek the lowest price. Social networking is enabling group purchasing and flash sales as word of great offers can be spread quickly.

4 - HANDING OVER POWER

Where price is the predominant factor, we will be more willing to let intelligent agents work for us. We’re already seeing this in Sainsbury’s Brand Match promotion and the Ford Focus that can park itself!

5 - SELF-CREATION

Our aspirations are changing from material consumption and ownership, to expressing oneself creatively and self-fulfillment through new and varied experiences.

6 - CULT OF CELEBRITY

We are seeing the activities of the rich and famous filtering through to our lives in the form of concierge services and support of social causes.

7 - DEALS ON MY BLOCK

The popularity of group buying platforms like Groupon have driven the development of services that help shoppers locate discounts around them in real-time with their mobile devices.

8 - CONSUMER CONTROL

Consumers are being given more options in how they pay, when they pay and how much. We appear to be edging ever closer to a cash-less culture: Waitrose, for example, have just introduced contactless payments.

9 - INSTANT TRIAL

Retailers are finding new and inventive ways to engage customers in the form of interactive installations. These fixtures can provide personal recommendations and product trial, taking shoppers on the next step towards making a purchase.

10 - SOCIAL CURRENCY

It is no longer just about how much money consumers have to spend, but how far they can spread a message. Now, word of mouth and social media validation are necessary parts of a manufacturer’s marketing make-up.

11 - SCREEN CULTURE

More flat surfaces are becoming screens and more screens are becoming interactive.  Increasingly we will be touching them, gesturing at them and talking to them.

12 - GAMIFICATION

And it’s not just for the young’uns. With the success of the Wii, gaming has become social and inclusive. Our competitive sides are emerging, motivated by rewards and incentives.

“Gamification is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes (also known as “funware”), in order to encourage people to adopt them. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites. Available data from gamified websites, applications, and processes indicate potential improvements in areas like user engagement, ROI, data quality, timeliness, or learning.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification

Posted by: Ged Reilly from BJL.
ged.reilly@bjl.co.uk

Sources: Trendwatching.com, Future Foundation, PSFK

For more information please contact:

Finding inspiration through spirituality is what brings Vásken Kalayjian’s abstract paintings to life. Vasken Kalayjian, a multi-disciplinary artist, a meditation teacher, designer, a branding expert and a businessman delves deep into the human psyche. Through his lifelong practices and studies of the spiritual and mystical in nature, Kalayjian creates larger than life oil paintings such as “Returning to Source” and “Manifestation of Unconscious”.

“Vasken Kalayjian’s paintings evoke brilliantly the world-canceling enlightenment that can be attained only in a state of deep meditation.”

Kalayjian’s paintings are a profound exploration of a different nature-the study of the human mind and our conscious or unconscious states. His studies of yoga, Qigong, Buddhism and Zen meditation has influenced what emerged as a unique and distinct language in his art. He spends extended periods of time in nature, going on classical vision quests consisting of fasting, meditation and shamanic practices. Always exploring, growing and learning, Kalayjian later arrived at the Work, which was developed by the mystic and philosopher Gurdjieff, as well as some of the Sufi teachings. These rich and varied explorations of the esoteric nature for the past 30 years have fused into Kalayjian’s work as we see it today.

“His pictures possess a lyricism verging on the rhapsodic, and to encounter a large group of them in a gallery is an experience not unlike stumbling unexpectedly upon a natural wonder in the midst of the concrete jungle.”

–ARTnews

His most recent show titled, Exhibition of Abstract Paintings by Vasken Kalayjian, will be held on February 23rd from 6:30-9:00pm at Kaleidoscope studio. Attached please find a PDF of Vasken Kalayjian’s work along with information on the show below:

Opening Reception:
Thursday February 23, 2012
6:30 - 9:00 pm
Kaleidoscope Studio
307 West 38th Street, 6th floor
New York, NY 10018
(the show will be on view until Friday March 23. M-F 10am-4pm)
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