Lisbon Calling: David Lemley Addresses International Audience in Portugal
My first international audience of brand marketing professionals was filled with people from large multinational CPG companies. Wayfast, an informal breakfast format, sponsored by Way Marketing, was held at the ultra-swanky Sheraton Hotel in downtown Lisbon.
We landed, went to dinner and drinks -which lasted until almost 4am. After 2.5 hours sleep headed directly to the Sheraton. By the time all of the technical issues for my presentation were solved, I had 10 minutes to sit down. Bad idea, jet lag kicked in right when I took the podium (because I spent those 10 minutes calculating that I had been without rest for about 36 hours). After a bit of rough start (some of the humor was not translating) we began to hit a good rhythm. It was rewarding and a bit terrifying to be the one to introduce radical concepts into a marketplace that is at least ten years behind the US in its jadedness when it comes to brand.
The next day I participated in a public forum entitled “Authentic Brands” hosted by FNAC. Earlier in the day I had been in several discussions around the topic as I met my fellow panelists. Its turns out that the word for trademark and the word for brand are exactly the same. This gave rise to a great forum as we set out to share this insight and its relationship to Portuguese Brand strategy.
A highlight from the forum: I asked whether anyone thought McDonalds was keeping the promise of their brand in Portugal. After several great vollies, I suggested that McDonalds promise to them was simply to offer a quick, affordable classic American meal in a clean restaurant wit clean restrooms.