In these times of economic austerity, the new Tory-Lib Dem coalition in the UK is beginning to calculate which policies they can afford to implement. And as they do, they may want to consider more affordable alternatives to their flagship proposals.

Take, for example, the Tory idea of tax breaks for married couples. Could stable marriages not be supported just as well by endorsing one of the many extraordinary, niche innovations from the off-beat world of marketing? I’m thinking, of course, of the Better Marriage Blanket: https://www.bettermarriageblanket.com/

The key as ever to successful niche innovation is answering a real unmet insight and then laddering your benefit to breaking point – in this case all the way from odour reduction to better married life. Scoff you may, but according to this article, the company behind it is unable to keep up with demand.

It’s a testament to the powers of basic marketing techniques and may well offer an innovative alternative to Tory policy. You heard it here first.

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The high cost of Blackberry, between 395 USD and 1500USD, considerably high for most of Venezuelans, doesn’t seem be an obstacle for the explosive expansion of the smart device in the Latin American country.

According to Telefonica, the Spanish telecom company, 70% of the Blackberries that they sold last year were sold in Venezuela. Furthermore, the levels of sales of Blackberries in Venezuela are twice as high as those in Brazil and Mexico combined. This is very impressive because the population of Venezuela is 27 million people whilst the combined population of Brazil and Mexico is almost 300 million people.

The Blackberry Messenger is what has made the device increasingly popular in the South American country, where people love to be connected with ‘lots of friends’ all the time but need to do it in safe way because of the increasing insecurity. The fact that Blackberry users can exchange PINs (personal identification numbers), text one another on a secure platform and better still without paying additional charges for each text message they send, has led to the fast adoption of the device.

In addition, the Blackberry Messenger fits better with the way Venezuelans communicate. It allows them to hold several informal conversations at the same time and show their emotions and feelings across through the use messenger emoticons.

The surge for Blackberries started about two years ago when the device was made accessible to the Venezuelan mass market, which is mostly dominated by prepaid consumers. Thus, Venezuelans, who like to keep up-to-date with last innovative trends, have become one the fastest consumer segment in adopting smartphones. According to RIM, the maker of Blackberry, per-capita adoption of smartphones in Venezuela exceeds that of Europe.

Another reason for the success of Blackberry in Venezuela is its high level of brand awareness and esteem. Brands play a big role in purchase decsions. Despite low income levels, Venezuelans always try to buy the best and most reliable brand for two reasons mainly; (1) fashion and status; and (2) inflation, combined with shortage of goods, leads to people not to save money but to buy things today because a week later they could sell them at higher price if they want to.

And what about iPhone? Venezuelans are very aware of the brand and iPods are very popular devices but Blackberry was the first smartphone that was massively accessible to the people.

Now this Blackberry effect is being seeing in other markets of the region. According to RIM, the Blackberry messenger is helping drive sales in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and Caribbean countries. Blackberry was the top selling smartphone in South America in the last half of 2009.

This story of Blackberry in South America is a great example of marketing strategy. Instead of reducing marketing budget in financial downturn times, RIM and Telefonica have looked for opportunities across geographical regions, looked at consumer behavioural trends and pushed consequently the penetration of their products in the fast growing regions.

Remember if people ask you for your number over there, it is very likely that they mean the PIN of your Blackberry, not your phone number!

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Launched in the US about four years ago, Effen is still a small brand. And while it may be preferred by a niche audience, its apparent aspiration for mass-appeal means its communications have to, above all, focus on building awareness. So as a lover of word-play, puerile humour, and smart marketing thinking, I can only congratulate them on finally succumbing to the temptation to exploit the punning potential of their name in the English language.

Their two latest ads run with the lines: “There’s nothing more satisfying than Effen on a plane” and “Nothing warms me up like Effen by the fire”. Genius.

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