March 11, 2011: My Surreal Role in a Real Life Disaster Movie

On Friday, March 11, 2011,  the last day of one of my many trips from Sydney to Japan, I experienced indescribable terror, as a 9.0 earthquake struck. It all seemed so surreal, yet in some ways, so familiar...as if I was starring in a blockbuster disaster movie.  

Over the years, Hollywood has perfected the successful disaster movie formula to 6 plot points. And my real life experience never deviated from these 6 well worn clichés:

#1: Start with a foreshadowing that is ignored, or gives a false sense of relief

All that week, seismic activity had been higher than normal, and there was talk that these were all foreshocks to a bigger event. On Wednesday, the 9th, I was in a meeting on the 5th floor of Nissan's 22 story, glass and steel, ultra modern global headquarters in Yokohama, when a 7.2 quake hit. We paused momentarily as the building shook. Someone in the meeting joked that this was finally a test of the seismic soundness of the less than 2 year old building. Then we resumed the meeting. We were all pretty cavalier about it.  I remember posting a flippant comment on Facebook about  my Diet Coke splashing.  We all walked out of the room thinking that the predicted big event had occurred, and the activity would die down. 

Early Thursday, there were several quakes in the 5-6 magnitude range.  Surely they were aftershocks from the 7.2. As Thursday moved to Friday, things settled down, and it seemed as if that was that.

#2: Portray the catastrophic moment of terror in slow motion, as seemingly normal people become hysterical idiots and behave irrationally.

On Friday, I was back in Yokohama, luggage in hand, as I planned to attend 2 client meetings, then depart for Narita Airport for my redeye flight home. My first meeting ended at 2:30 PM.  With the next one scheduled for 3:00 PM, I decided to head to the 5th floor visitor area in between meetings. My colleague and good friend Russell happened to be there as well, so we sat down and began to chat. At 2:46 PM, the building began to shake again, much like it had on Wednesday.  

But it wasn't the same. The shaking continued to intensify. Time stood still. I watched in horror as the glass and steel building twisted back on itself. The ceiling, floors and walls were all moving independently...in slow motion.  As the floor undulated, it was impossible to stand. I became an hysterical idiot screaming, with no sense of irony, that we were all going to die. In a last ditch effort to save myself from the weight of the collapse of the 17 floors above me, I dove under a 1 foot round plastic table, trying to decide which body parts were the most important to protect.

Nissan Glass and Steel Headquarters

#3: Show panicked crowds running down the street

After the shaking subsided, Russell calmed me down, and he and I wanted out of the building. We ignored orders to stay put, and ran down a 3 story, non-working escalator, then down 2 more flights and exited the front of the building, where we were greeted by police waving at us to get out of the way as they pointed towards the sky. As we looked up, we saw a huge construction crane teetering at on the edge of the top of the 20+ story building that was under construction next door.  We ran across the street, not really knowing what our next move was.   

As the excitement seemed to die down, Russell and I decided to walk to our agency's satellite offices around the corner. A minute into our walk, a 7.0 aftershock hit. We were met by a wall of people running frantically in the other direction, as the crane began to creep precariously closer to the edge. We turned and ran for our lives with the crowd. Luckily, the crane managed to stay aloft.

#4: Show chaos and gridlock in the aftermath

Dazed and confused, I retrieved my luggage from our offices. I was to take a train to Narita, but found out all train lines were shut down pending inspection.  I then tried to get a bus, only to find that they were not running either. Taxis were banned from the streets. I returned to the office, where colleagues Chris and Masa joined Russell and me. We tried to communicate with our friends and families to no avail. The aftershocks were coming every few minutes, rattling our already unsettled nerves. Chris and Russell lived in the Tokyo area, and Masa lived somewhere in between Tokyo and Yokohama. All were anxious to get home.  I just wanted to be anywhere but there.

At 7PM, with no alternative, we decided to walk the 30+ kilometers back to Tokyo. The scene outside was epic. Gridlock, and crowds of people walking past the stalled traffic. We walked past convenience stores with empty shelves. We saw women lined up outside shoe stores, ditching their heels for 'sensible shoes'. And we ran into people selling their bikes for top dollar to those desperate to get home.  

#5: Tell the stories of people coming to each other's aid, and relying on pure adrenaline and basic survival instincts to persevere

The 4 of us were quite the sight. Russell and Chris in suit, tie and dress shoes, carrying their briefcases. I had changed into my running shoes, but had my roller suitcase and 20 pound backpack to carry. Masa was the only one with comfortable shoes and no extra baggage.  We wound our way down streets, some of which were pitch black, due to power outages, blindly following our iPhone maps, which through some miracle were still operational. We switched from Chris's phone to Russell's when Chris' battery died. We communicated with family and friends through Facebook, tracking our progress as we walked.

As we climbed stairs to access pedestrian overpasses, the guys took turns helping me with my bags. They made me promise that if my wheels failed, I would ditch the suitcase and abandon some of my favorite shoes. At some point, Masa turned onto a different route, and Chris, Russell and I marched on. The temperature was falling, and none of us had warm coats on. The guys had blisters on their feet. My back was aching with the weight of my backpack. At some point in the walk, we realized that we had not eaten much all day, but the only thing we were able to buy along the way was a bottle or two of water. 

After almost 3 hours, we stopped to rest, and realized we were only a little more than halfway there! We were demoralized. We saw a bus stop, and realized that busses were running. But after about 5 full busses passed us without stopping, we realized we had no choice but to resume our walk.

#6: End with the main characters dead tired, but finally feeling safe

Finally, when we were less than 5K from our destination, I felt I couldn't walk any more. By this time, Russell and Chris had helped me a bit with the backpack, but after running on adrenaline for almost 6 hours, we were all sapped of our energy. Miraculously, the gridlock lifted, and a vacant taxi appeared! We climbed in.

Russell offered for me to stay with him and his wife Dawn that night. Dawn had been alone in their apartment with their dog, Ranger, since the earthquake. She met us at the door with glasses of Flowers Chardonnay. We could smell the huevos rancheros that she resourcefully prepared for us, with ingredients from her cupboard. As we drank a bottle or two of Chardonnay, the aftershocks seemed less menacing. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, we were calm enough to finally get some sleep.

And so, the movie ends.

Epilogue

The next day, I tried to get to Narita, but after spending 5 hours in a taxi and only progressing 13K, about 1/5th of the distance to the airport, I asked the driver to turn and take me to a hotel. Feeling that the $100 fare on the meter was inadequate for 5 hours of gridlock, I tried to give him an additional $100 to compensate him for his time. However, tipping is not part of the Japanese culture. Instead of making him feel better, I actually had insulted him. He threw the 10,000 yen back at me, and cursed at me in Japanese.

On Sunday, I was able to get to Narita, where thousands of stranded travelers had been camping out for 2 days. My elite airline status bumped me ahead of many who were waiting, and I was able to get a business class seat on direct flight back to Sydney. Home just in time to celebrate my 18th wedding anniversary.  

PS, I have no plans to star in any more disaster movies.

THE CAST:

Russell: Calmed me down after the shaking stopped

Chris: Dragged my luggage for miles despite severe blisters on his feet

Masa: Lifted my bags up many steps at pedestrian walkways

Dawn: Nursed us back to health with chardonnay and huevos rancheros

Return to Oz: There’s No Place Like ‘Home’

Before John and I moved to Sydney in 2010, we’d been to Australia a number of times on vacation.  But we were still just tourists. And even the most experienced tourists miss the nuances of everyday life.

By the time we left Sydney to return to America in 2012, I knew two things.  First, in the immortal words of Arnold: ‘I’d be back’.  Second, that my visits would never feel the same as my pre-expat days.

And I was right on both counts.  We arrived in Sydney a week ago for an extended Holiday.  From the start, this trip is different than other Aussie vacations.  Instead of a posh hotel, we’ve rented a flat at 66 Darling Point Road…just down the street from our old home at 99 Darling Point Road.  I’m sure numerologists would have field day with that, but I’m just thrilled to be back in the old ‘hood, seeing our old friends, and doing the same old things that we did when we lived here.  Back to the nuances of every day life in Sydney…

And very quickly, I've come to remember things big and small that I’ve missed, and perhaps haven’t missed since we’ve been gone.

First, what I’ve missed  

• Tasting the intense flavor of fruits and vegetables.  When I first moved here, a friend asked me what was the biggest difference between living in California and Sydney.  When I mentioned the taste of the fruits and vegetables, he looked at me like I'd lost my mind. But I stand by my answer. It's as if I'm tasting green beans, bananas and avocados for the first time. It's amazing how all the produce tastes in comparison to the mutant, mass produced stuff that passes as food in America. Yum.

• Charging my iPad in an hour. Yes, those clunky round plugs look funny, but give me 220 outlets all day long.  Devices charge quicker, hair driers dry faster, and U.S. electric toothbrushes explode!  Oops!

• Drinking exceptional Aussie wines. In a grand conspiracy to keep the good stuff at home, the Aussies have decided to export their swill, so that wine snobs around the world will avoid Australian wines like the plague.  Little do they know that some of the world's finest, and also most unusual wines are made and consumed in Oz.  Scarborough White Label Chardonnay, Turkey Flats Rose,  any Torbruk  Shiraz, and of course, Rockford Sparkling Shiraz!  Yes, a dark  sparkling red wine that will knock your socks off.  A dark, sparkling red wine that will never be tasted by the French!

• Watching the bats take flight at dusk. This was a nightly ritual when I lived at 99. These gorgeous, colorful fruit bats, known as Australian flying foxes would glide by our window every night, showing off their 6 foot wing span as they took flight from the Royal Botanical Gardens. When I left Sydney, there was a mass effort going on to evict the huge bat population (numbering in the tens of thousands) from those Botanical Gardens.  The plan was to annoy them with loud noises and bad music.   Apparently, however, bats and humans have different standards for what they find annoying.  Watching the sky at dusk on our first night at 66, I watched my old buddies swoop across the harbor, and light in the fig trees next to our balcony.  All is right with the world!

• Eating Lamb.  Aussies love their lamb.  And our local butcher (yes, we still have them here) sells an amazing variety of lamb cuts.  Lamb steaks, lamb filets, lamb rumps, lamb backstraps (what is a backstrap?)...you name it, they sell it!  Since we've been home, we've only been able to get racks and legs. So where do the other parts of American lambs go?  Or are we back to the mutant nature of food in America?  hmmm.  Perhaps this lamb fact should remain silent...  

And now things that I haven't missed:

• Excruciatingly slow internet. While the politicians debate the cost of a new telecommunications infrastructure, Australia can boast that they have the world's slowest broadband connections.  Since I've been back, I've taken to reading paper newspapers again, as it is faster for me to walk to the market and buy a newspaper than it is for me to load the Morning Herald on my always charged iPad!

• Roundabouts.  I believe these are a vestige of British influence. The idea is innocuous enough--traffic will flow smoothly if everyone obeys the right of way rules.  And it probably works for the polite Brits.  But for the Aussies, a roundabout is just an organized free for all...a sanctioned game of chicken.  Give me good old stop signs or traffic signals any day!

• Fearing for my life every time I see anything that crawls.  Every insect and snake in Australia seems to be a deadly cousin of some annoying but benign creature in the rest of the world. And I guess they eat their victims after they poison them, because it's not unusual to encounter spiders that are the size of small dogs!  Hide, Scruffy, hide!

• Waiting for someone to back into a parking space.  Enter any crowded car park, and you will fall into a line of cars waiting as the next person backs into their spot. What could easily be be a simple, singular maneuver turns into an elaborate set of moves that takes 3 times as long.  I really don't get why this happens.  Perhaps it's a function of the rotation of the earth in the Southern Hemisphere!

• Missing my dog who is waiting back at home.  The entire time we lived here, Marley, our geriatric standard poodle waited for our return.  Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Marley last year.  But now we have Tasmania, the 1 year old standard poodle waiting for us, as Australia has some of the strictest dog quarantine laws in the world.  I guess I don't quite understand how a country with mutant spiders can fear rabies??

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and New Year!!  We'll be ringing in the New Year by the light of the summer fireworks

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Holidays…Relearning the Calendar One Occasion at a Time

Fun Fact: January 30, 2011 ‘World Leprosy Day’

source: International Holiday Calendar

Perhaps one of the best ways to learn about a country is to experience the holidays that are and aren’t celebrated, and learn first hand how they are celebrated.

It’s been more than 6 months since I first arrived in Sydney to live, so while I haven’t had the benefit of a full calendar, I’ve experienced enough to warrant some observations.

After arriving in September, the first clue that holidays were going to be different here occurred on November 2, Melbourne Cup Day. While it technically is only a holiday in Victoria, the State in which Melbourne is located, there was still a lot of activity in Sydney’s New South Wales.

Melbourne Cup Day is a public holiday... in the middle of the week…to celebrate…a horse race! And believe me, everyone gets into it. Even in Sydney, we began with an outdoor barbeque with free flowing alcohol at lunch, followed by a massive office betting pool that, yours truly actually won! (The horse was named Americain..go figure) And then the party continued across the street at the bar…

Imagine a public holiday in honor of an event that centers on sport and gambling in Puritanical America! OK, you say, the Kentucky Derby is big news in the States. Ah yes, but not a holiday. And why it is always run on a Saturday? Perhaps so that all involved can go to church on Sunday and repent.

OK, so then came the end of November. While it seemed strange that the days were getting longer and warmer, nothing prepared me for the lack of…Thanksgiving! It’s probably the most universally celebrated holiday in the States. Four days of gluttony…the official start of the winter holiday season… braving the crowds to get a deal on Black Friday. It’s such a part of American life.

But here…there’s no such thing. Not even one that gets celebrated on the wrong day, like in Canada.

But then again, be it the US or Canada, the celebration goes back to being thankful for a new life in a new country. I guess a country founded as a prison might not look back so fondly on the first settlements. And, come to think of it, there would not likely be a feast associated with the first meal at the prison commissary. Surely bread and water as a tradition would not survive across generations.

OK, now we get to Christmas and the day after, ‘Boxing Day’. Here, Christmas is THE most crowded beach day of the year. And on Boxing Day, the Harbour is jammed with the spectacle of the start of the famous Sydney to Hobart sailboat race. A week later, experience the awesome New Years Eve fireworks display and outdoor celebrations. Don’t expect to get much done in Australia from Christmas to the end of January. It’s the summer break…think August in France. There’s really nothing like Christmas and New Years here! Much preferred to roasting chestnuts on an open fire.

And the year’s milestones continue to be strange. No Martin Luther King Day, no President’s day. As a matter of fact, the only holiday on the calendar here that seems to honor an individual is the Queen’s birthday, which takes place in June. Since Queen Elizabeth was born in April, I’m not sure which Queen this is intended to honor, and am more baffled that there is not also a King’s birthday holiday, but I guess I’ll just never get the monarchy thing.

Now, we get to Easter. In the states, Easter Sunday is symbolic of new life, including Spring, but it has its place. Not the most important nor widely celebrated of holidays…Guess it’s that separation of Church and State thing. Well, apparently here, that is not such an issue. From Good Friday to the following Tuesday, everything is shut down. It may actually be that this year is an anomaly, as Anzac Day, which honors Aussie and Kiwis who fought in WWI falls on top of Easter, so I guess we get an extra day. Again, seamless blending of Church and State.

As I look at the calendar for the rest of the year, I realize that we will be going into winter now, with no big holidays (other than the aforementioned Queens birthday) to distract us from short days and cool weather. It seems like this needs some rethinking. Imagine how depressing winter in the States would be without Christmas.

So there you go. That’s the year in holidays. Oh, I did miss one. Australia Day (I guess like the 4^th of July) fell at the end of January. Unfortunately, I was in Tokyo for the event, one of the hazards of global responsibilities, as every country has it’s own holidays. And while I’m not necessarily up for celebrating International Leprosy Day, it would be nice for the world to be in sync with one holiday calendar. And I nominate the French to create it!!

Choke me in the shallow waters, Before I get too deep

‘I don't want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to make a right turn on a red light’ Woody Allen , Annie Hall

Yankees vs Red Sox, Upstate vs ‘the City’, LA vs SF, so let’s just say I’ve had my share of geographic rivalries.

So here I am a couple of hemispheres away, and yet the rivalries still exist. This time it’s Sydney vs Melbourne.

We are down in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. I have been to Melbourne a handful of times, and, let’s just say, I might side with the Sydneyites on this.

But remember, I also side with LA-LA land in the SF vs LA debate, as well as the East Coast vs West Coast debate. I LOVE turning right on red! I might be shallow.

But on this trip to Melbourne, I went in earnest to see why someone would prefer one to the other. Here what I learned.

An Italian waiter in an Italian restaurant told us that he lived in Sydney before he lived in Melbourne, but for him, Sydney was just too shallow. He did not elaborate on why Melbourne wasn't. I need to investigate the relative depth of Sydney Harbour to Port Phillip Bay. But perhaps his comment was too deep for me!

So here’s my assessment:
Melbourne sits on a river that looks like the Seine with faux ‘bateau moches’, giving it a ‘European’ feel. It has street cars like San Francisco. People sit with their newspapers at breakfast like in NY. It has freeways like LA. It has nice bike paths. The weather is unpredictable, cool and wet. And it has Costco. (OK that’s a good thing) I’m not really sure how these pieces fit together. I am reminded of brands that don’t have a clear sense of purpose, and instead copy and borrow willy-nilly from competitors without knowing why.

Sydney’s proximity to the ocean gives it a beachy and laid back feel, even if you are downtown. Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is amazingly livable. It has a vibrant arts community. It has the Sydney Opera house, which is as ambitious in its delivery of entertainment and culture as its architecture promises. It never takes itself too seriously. People in Sydney just seem to walk around with a smile on their face. It is a brand that has a sense of self. It is about getting the most out of your life… be it physically, mentally, professionally, aesthetically.

So, for me Sydney’s purpose and benefits are clear. And it’s hard to find a similar experience anywhere else in the world. Yes, we’ve already established that I might be too shallow to appreciate what Melbourne has to offer, but I’m quite focused and happy in my shallowness.

And, while it’s hard for me to say it, I just don’t want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to shop at Costco. Besides, Costco is coming to Sydney in July…

Shopping and Maslow's Hierarchy

‘Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone?’ Joni Mitchell

So let’s just say that I’ve never made it to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy. And let’s say that somewhere between basic physiological needs and self-actualization, there exists the need to shop. This appears to be my lifetime destination on this silly pyramid.

Anyone who knows me knows 2 things. For me, shopping is not the thrill of the hunt, but rather the thrill of hanging the head on the wall. I want to get the most trophies for the least effort. Thus, as far as shopping goes, I am a creature of habit and a creature of habits. I have my stores, my brands, and my purchase cycle…which is short. I turbo-shop on a regular basis. Navigating through each excursion with a specific trophy in mind. And sales? Please too much effort is required to find the right thing in the right size.

Nordstrom, Niemen Marcus, Anne Taylor, St. John, Cole Haan are usually sure bets for the essentials. I love the Gap for throw-way fashion. And for everything else there’s Costco.

Somewhere between the time we decided to go to Sydney and the time we physically arrived, I found myself in a sheer state of panic. While I don’t want to liken this to any catastrophe in which blood has been shed, it was certainly traumatic.
On one of my routine visits to the Cole Haan, website, I discovered that there were not distributed in Australia. Cole Haan as in Cole Haan Nike Air. My feet have been monogamously faithful to this brand for many years! My closet currently contains over 36 pairs. These are the ‘essentials’ that I took to Sydney (see previous blog on closet space)

Next stop, Costco website. ‘Coming to Sydney in 2011’. Can I survive the hiatus? Doubtful.
Hmmm…I guess this old dog was going to have to learn how to hunt for new game…

Practicing deep breathing exercises, I headed to the Westfield mall…or shall I say ‘a Westfield Mall’. It seems that they have the corner, or every corner on retail.

As I stepped into the mall, I suddenly knew what it is like to be illiterate. None of the logos made any sense. I had no idea what to expect from anyplace! Quality, fit, style. It was all too overwhelming. And the prices…OY!

Hyperventilating into my paper bag, I decided I just wasn’t ready yet.

Much to my delight, a couple of month ago The Gap opened its first store in Sydney. AHHH. Finally…disposable fashion at my fingertips…or at least pretty close. After walking 3 km from home to get there I discovered two unanticipated and serious problems. First of all, The Gap is a Northern Hemisphere company. I had never considered the consequences of incompatible hemispheres on disposable fashion until I saw all the heavy sweaters and jackets on display in December—the first month of summer here!

But much more to my chagrin was the price tag! What were $50 jeans in the US were $110 in Oz. Clearly I was not in Kansas anymore!

Back to square one. Ahh but that night I got on the Gap website and discovered that they now ship overseas from the states. Even to Australia. Ah…I could get around this problem. I found the $50 jeans! Oh, I’m so clever. OK I’ve got all my billing and shipping info in. Let’s see the grand total. Jeans--$50. Shipping--$60!!!

OK, so here I am. How have I been coping?

Besides not well, the answer is that I maximize my trips back to the states. In January, I had a trip to Denver. I brought a near empty large suitcase (the one that I used to carry my inflatable bed and bedding when I moved here). And shipped a whole bunch of stuff, including a quarterly supply of Cole Haan to my hotel. By the way, Cole Haan is owned by Nike. Please note the accompanying Nike stock price graph and my influence on it.

But, I have to say that there has been some upside to this whole thing. Without Costco, we have been buying our fish at the fish market, our vegetables at the vegetable market, and our meat at the local butcher. While it’s pricey, the taste is awesome…ten times better than the mass produced stuff. And, my husband ‘the Mayor’ has a chance to engage in a lengthy chat each day with each of the shop-keepers. When I shop with him, everyone knows his name!

And maybe, just maybe this means that I will learn to move beyond shopping to self-actualization….

Credit Where Credit is Due A Tale of Fiscal Philosophies

Credit. As Americans, we consider it our birthright. One credit card is good. Two are better. What about a wallet full? You need to establish your credit early. Get a credit card when you are in college. Making sure that by doing so…you can secure, you guessed it…more credit. After all, it is the only way to ensure that you can live above your means. The average American household carries a credit card balance of $14,750! Considering the median household income in the US is around $46,000, it doesn’t take an accountant to realize that this balance is not likely to be paid off anytime soon.

John and I happen to be very conservative about the use of credit. We never carry a balance from month to month. Instead, we use our credit cards like cash. So our credit rating is off the charts (in a good way). Of course, in the US, that means that everyone wants to give us more credit that we won’t use. Limitless credit.

‘Please’, the banks say, ‘we want you to get into debt…it’s how we make money. And if you have friends who may also want to live beyond their means,, please feel free to get an additional card for them.’

And, I think about one in every 10 of the credit card solicitations that we get every month is actually includes our dog…

So, after getting our first US credit card statements with charges from Australia, and noticing how the ‘foreign currency’ charges rack up, we decided we needed Australian credit cards.

So, since we have a mortgage in the US with Citibank, we started there. We were summarily turned down for a Visa card. TURNED DOWN!!! Something about we’re not sure what, but clearly, they did not want us to live beyond our means.

So, next I called American Express. I’ve been a ‘member’ since 1982, and due to my business travel and the fact that we use our cards for all household expenses, we have close to 2 million awards points (that we have never redeemed). We have a Platinum card in the US. I figured I had some clout.

‘Oh, do you want to switch your current account to an Australian one? I can do that for you.’

‘No thank you, I would like to keep it and open up an additional Australian account.’

‘Oh, I see. (the vibe on the other end of the phone clearly indicated that wanting multiple credit cards is a definite warning sign of a credit criminal) Well, you’ll have to reapply for our card. It will take about 60 days for approval, if you qualify.’

HUH? Apparently membership doesn’t have as many privileges as I thought.

Now this is getting ridiculous.

As we licked our wounds and tried to get over the indignation, we remembered this story:

Years ago, John and I got our first boat with electronics—GPS, radar, the whole enchilada. Suddenly, we felt a bit invincible against the elements. Then one day, John recommended that we go for a sail. I looked out the window. The fog was so thick that we couldn’t see across the bay. It was then that I sat John down and explained to him that perhaps we weren’t on the same page on this one…that there were two schools of thought. In my mind, the electronics were not there to allow you to get INTO trouble, but rather they were there to get you OUT of trouble, should you happen upon it.

So, let’s just say we got over our shock by realizing that the philosophy about credit in Australia is that it’s about not letting you get into trouble. Use your credit cards to live within your means.

But we still needed a credit card!

So we pulled out all the stops and used our connections to get a friend of a friend who works at a bank to help us. But alas, I was out of town, so only John could get one, as they do not issue cards here sight unseen.

And now, every time we get our mail shipment from the US, we wistfully open the ‘you have been pre-approved for a new (insert card name here)’ letters and dream of reckless spending…

Global Car Brands and Rocket Science

So, how many times have I said that building a global automotive brand isn’t rocket science? How different can people’s attitudes about cars really be?

And, given my experience with cars, everyone always feels compelled to discuss their automotive purchases with me. But my first such conversation with an Australian colleague caught me off guard.

It all started familiarly enough. ‘Yes, I know I should consider a Nissan, they are our client, but the brand is not so cool. My wife just can’t see herself driving one….’

Yes, I had been to this party before. I was just waiting for the next sentence to be about a Honda, a VW, an Audi, a BMW, a Porsche…. And then it came...

‘So, we’re going to buy a Peugeot instead’

A WHAT??? That funky French brand that left the market in the US and no one noticed they were gone? THAT is cooler than a Nissan? I might as well have been talking to a three-headed alien at the Space Bar in Star Trek.

The next week, a friend who has all the means in the world to drive anything, picked us up in his…you guessed it Peugeot. Now I’m sensing a French conspiracy. How could this be happening?

Up until then, I hadn't really taken notice of the cars in on the narrow streets of my neighborhood, as not unlike the narrow streets in my neighborhood in Long Beach, most of the cars had luxury badges. Mercedes, BMW’s, and maybe a few more Aston Martins than at home (blame that on the Brits), but nothing unusual??

Ah but look more closely. The badges are not attached to big honkin’ SUV’s. They’re not even attached to stately sedans. Instead they are attached to little econo-hatchbacks! Little econo-hatchbacks, with little engines that sell for over $50,000! (US or AUS, it’s the same these days) HUH?

OK, you could say the same for the SUV's and sedans, but they're, well, BIG. And all Americans know the value of BIG....cars, houses, not to mention closets, which I previously have.

But I guess at the end of the day, it means that these brands are stronger than the products, which is what branding is all about. And I guess global brands can deliver the same promise in different packages for different sensibilities.

But I’m still going to have to find a rocket scientist to explain the PEUGEOT phenomena to me.