AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY

What's in a name? Is it prestige? Is it heritage, or is it a profession?

The name in question is Andre Romelle Young a.k.a. Dr.Dre.

The world has witnessed the metarmophosis of Dr. Dre from a musician to a music producer to a million- sorry, billionaire.

Dr. Dre produced his own head phones known as 'Beats by Dre', logic being the world would buy his headphones because he designed them from a music producer's perspective, sense of hearing, and thus know that it will be of superior sound quality. But most of all, they would buy it for the name.

The world was very receptive to Beats by Dre, so much so that they are currently the number one bestselling set in the United States of America , the UK, France, Germany, South Korea and Singapore. The marketing strategy is simple and powerful.Their main candidates for their brand ambassadors are musicians and athletes - people everyone looks up to as demigods, and who will buy something because of their name; the fundamental pillar of endorsement.

For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, their campaign 'THE GAME BEFORE THE GAME' is brilliant.

They choose Brazilian football star Neymar Jr. to carry the message.They choose Portuguese as the language of choice which is a break from the norm, implying they have a larger audience. The advert is a phone call between Neymar Jr. and his father, his pre-game ritual, before any match. The advert is superb; it features may familiar faces, and use of a familiar language as well as setting and general loyalty to the sport evokes multiple layers of emotional attachment and appreciation; one, a man and his father, and two, a man and his game.

Apple recently purchased Beats by Dre  for 3.2 billion dollars. It's a good brand, and it's made a good name for itself. So once again...what's in a name?

Everything.

They've said it from the beginning of time; an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Guess an Apple is what it took to keep Dr. Dre away?

LEMONADE

In the continuing World War P (P standing for phones), there are two main enemies: Nokia vs. Samsung. Before that there was Samsung vs. Apple which was fierce, but was more of an American war.

In this edition of World War P(s) Samsung hit out hard with the Galaxy range and for a long time they were winning the war. They came out strongly, taking the Earth from the Milky Way to the Samsung Galaxy. They had numerous versions, from the Galaxy Y, Ace and the latest ones, the S3 and S4.

All was well. Samsung had won - until Nokia’s response to the Galaxy was the lemonade.

Let me explain. The Nokia Lumia is derived from an Italian word meaning lemon (one of its several meanings, anyway). So Nokia literally took Samsung’s smug lemons and made lemonade.

 The Lumia is an impressive phone especially for emerging markets in Africa. It is a Windows phone. The two main divides are the 10 series and the 20 series, and they are giving the Samsung galaxy a run for their money. The Lumia might just be better than the iconic 3310.

Nokias get points for reinventing themselves and coming up with a brilliant smart phone. I recently bought a 620 and my favourite feature is…it looks good. Most importantly, it can fit comfortably in my pocket (unlike…you know what)!

Irregardless of the competitions and wars, Nokia is still living up to its slogan; folk are still buying their phones. They are still Connecting People.