Adiós!

Jean

Farewell to new colleagues I have met and friends we have made.

Each city inspired us to see the world through a new lense. Together we opened our ethnographers’ eyes to new cultures and began to see how brands move across cultures. The truth is, I could only guess at how this class would unfold. I had a plan and a lot of industry contacts. But, blending two universities and 15 people (who didn’t know one another) and dropping them into foreign lands was not a sure bet for success. It was, however, an assured adventure. And what an adventure it turned out to be.

Together we immersed ourselves into worlds unknown, opened our sense to unfamiliar cultures in search of their unique cultural codes for autos, beer and fashion. My students were like sponges and I ran them ragged. We traversed each city moving from ad agencies, to neighborhoods, and then on to shopping malls and auto dealers, often ending up at pubs. We attended classical concerts, visited museums, and walked historical streets. In short we were students of culture. To see the cultural codes they determined for each sector, check the comments below or their sector links. Enjoy!

To my students I say, it was a privilege to be your teacher and to learn side by side.

To my gracious colleagues, a heartfelt thank you.

Jean

The ethnographic brand tracking helped the students to observe behavior and identify key patterns within their sector. The agency visits throughout the week helped the students to uncover the cultural meaning behind these observed behaviors within a historical context and learn about some of the successful strategies behind Czech advertising from the best that Prague has to offer: Remmark, Garp, Leagas Delaney, and Ogilvy.

As part of the final wrap up, the students also had a discussion about Czech advertising in general. With the help of Jan Tluchor, who joined us from the University of West Bohemia, the students compared and contrasted Czech advertising with British and American advertising.

Overall, it was an inspiring week. Everyone acted like true ethnographers and soaked up everything Czech culture had to offer. Most importantly, the students kept their minds open and embraced all of the different perspectives we learned about – something that will positively influence the approach they take with future work. Our sincerest děkuji to everyone along the way who helped to make our experience here in Prague so meaningful.

Amanda

Enjoy!

As we were leaving, I shared with Michal the sensory ethnographic exercises I had the students participate in on Parizska Street. He loved them! That led to an extended discussion on the role these exercises, and sensory ethnography in general, can and should play in understanding consumers and overall brand development.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Jean

On Tuesday afternoon we ventured to Mlada Boleslav about an hour Northeast of Prague. There we toured the Skoda factory and museum, accompanied by Lucie, one of the newest Account Managers at Leagas Delaney. It was a great opportunity for everyone to experience an important part of the research process. It was also just plain old fascinating to see the process of how a car is produced from beginning to end.

From beginning to end, it takes 25 hours of physical, human labor to make one car. Aside from the production aspects, it was fascinating to see how the Skoda brand is communicated across all touch points within the factory and museum. In addition to giving us the logistical information behind car manufacturing, our tour guides also made sure to provide us with a sense of what work life is like for the Skoda factory employees – including an overview of some benefits like higher pay than most Czech factories, more vacation time (five weeks) and maternity leave (six months paid at 80 percent and up to four years off with a guaranteed job, though not necessarily the same one), and free university classes (at a school founded by Skoda). The brand experience concluded with a guided tour through the museum, which showcased the history of Skoda bicycles, motorbikes and, of course, cars. It was an insightful brand experience and a captivating way to contextualize Czech history.

So, what were the main takeaways of the Skoda factory tour? First, it was important from a humanistic standpoint to have a reminder of the physical labor and remarkable logistical acumen that goes into producing the products we sometimes take for granted. Second, it was an opportunity for students to take what they experienced at the factory and translate it into an advertising framework. That’s where Thorsten Jux, Managing Director of Leagas Delaney-Prague stepped in.

Thorsten’s presentation as deep dive into the nuances of global branding, within the context of the Skoda brand and its mother company Volkswagen. His detailed discussion about how the brand lives in a global marketplace, yet subtly reflects a Czech sensibility was a worms-eye view into the intricacies of global brand management. In short it’s about “Substance in the age of the one-second brand. The brand in one second.”  Skoda. Simply Clever.

Jean & Amanda

Slavia Café, across from the National Theatre with its art deco furniture and beautiful murals, is nearly magical. Add to that a magnificent view of Prague castle, intelligent conversation, apple strudel, and delightful companionship and a gray afternoon melted away.

There could be no better way to spend my last afternoon in Prague.

Děkuji Ladislav.

Jean

I have tired to make our time here a sensorial, cultural immersion. Something off the beaten path, a sensory awakening. Something that engages the students with the soul of the city and its culture. This is, of course, no easy task as we are tourists. Yet, in pursuit of an ethnographic sensory awakening we sometimes look nothing like tourists. Is the average tourist a Tesco shopper spending 30 minutes documenting 30 sensorial impressions? I think not. Does the average tourist walk blindly (literally) down the Parizska Street on the arm of a friend accounting for every scent and sound? I think not. Nonetheless, yesterday, that’s exactly what we did. And then we found the sweetest café, tucked around the corner from Parizska Street, where we sat with lattes and hot chocolate debriefing and learning, having taken in Prague with all of our senses.

Other times cultural immersion comes in the form of agency visits. Yesterday we visited Remmark. There we were introduced to Czech consumer culture from three counter points: geo/political orientation, religion, and the Velvet Revolution of 1989. We learned that Czech people are resilient survivors, but skeptical and ironic consumers. For these resilient skeptics, there is one cultural icon that binds them together across time and space — beer.

Today we visited Garp. The energetic team at Garp set up a hands-on workshop focusing on BTL marketing, framed by a Staropramen case study. The students had a chance to use their new-found cultural insights to brainstorm branding solutions. And then, much to the delight of the students, the team offered to moderate a pub tour.

For tonight, it’s time to rest. But then it’s hard to rest in a city that beckons your senses to awaken as never before.

Jean

On Saturday we embraced the local culture by experiencing a day of Czech activities outside of “the big city” of Prague. With Thomas and Thomas (two of the University of Economics students) as our guides, we set out to have a Czech castle adventure. I don’t think any of us could have anticipated how beautiful the experience would be! We started out by taking a train about 45 minutes outside of Prague. Once we stepped off the train, we started our uphill climb to Karlstejn, stopping at small shops and stands along the way. After taking a tour of the amazing Karlstejn castle, an original castle of Charles IV, we headed back down to the little town to have a traditional Czech meal of pork and dumplings. Thomas and Thomas taught us some important Czech phrases over lunch: “prosím” (please), “děkuji” (thank you), “miluju te” (I love you), and “jedno pivo prosím” (one beer please). It was a great meal and an even better conversation.

After our castle adventure concluded and we arrived back in Prague, Thomas and Thomas took some of the students to the Czech Beer Festival. It was convenient timing for the students who are studying the beer sector. Check out their sector blog to learn more about their experiences at the Festival and their thoughts on the role of beer in Czech culture: Branding Beer Across Cultures.

A beautiful train ride through the Czech countryside, a tour of a real life castle, traditional Czech cuisine, a Czech language lesson, and the Czech Beer Festival:  not a bad way to spend a Saturday! Děkuji Tomas and Tomas, for the helpful insights into Czech culture and for a wonderful day that was enjoyed by all.

- Amanda

To learn just how challenging a task it was we spent Friday morning with two giants from those early years:  Ladislav Kopecky and Jiri Mikes. Both were at the forefront of bringing western style branding into the Czech marketplace. In those early years Kopecky created a documentary tracking the evolution of the Czech Republic to a free market. From 1994-98, he served at Director of Lintas, Prague. Mikes founded the Prague office of McCann-Erickson in 1989 and later work as a global consultant to the Czech government. Together, while working at McCann, they won an Effie for their work on Hami.

They shared their passion for advertising through historical case studies that illustrated the importance of cultural branding — branding that respects the subtle (and not so subtle) nuances of culture. Kopecky enlightened us with the back-story of a highly skeptical Czech consumer thrust into a free market economy. Mikes inspired us with a presentation on sustainability and the absolutely essential role that corporate social responsibility must play in the future.

Today they share their wisdom with a new generation of Czech advertising and marketing students — and a few very lucky students who visit from aboard. Kopecky is affiliated with with Charles University, while Mikes is with the University of Economics.

Our wonderful hosts Vice-Dean Vaclav Kaspar and Premysl Prusa from the University of Economics made us feel most welcome. Prusa presented his research on wine retailing in the Czech Republic, as we sampled the topic at hand. And after a meeting with Vice–Dean Kaspar it’s clear that richer opportunities lie ahead for our two institutions.

And so, to my Czech colleagues in this lovely Prague spring I say, “děkuji”

Jean