Alec Saunders SquawkBox

This morning’s call was with Marc Gingras, CEO of Tungle.  Tungle announced today that they’ve built a Blackberry integration for Tungle, allowing users to respond to Tungle requests while mobile.  It’s a big step forward and Marc generously answered all of our questions.

On the call: Marc Gingras, Mike Pruyn, James Body, Dan York, Jim Courtney, Jeanette Fisher, Dave Brown, Jeb Brilliant, Jonathan Jensen and Frank Abrams.

 

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Gillette’s Fusion branding is pretty eye catching.  With it’s distinctive metallic orange and blue colouring, the Fusion razor fairly leaps off the shelves.

What I didn’t understand was the extent to which they have taken their brand identity.  At least, not until I visited the supermarket this weekend. Having travelled to visit family in Kitchener, and having left my razor in Ottawa I was forced to pick up a new razor and a can of shave gel at the local supermarket.  I was struck by how Gillette has changed the identity scheme for all of their products — not just the razor, but also the gel and aftershave — to the same orange and blue.  The effect at retail was as if there was an entire wall of Gillette products, and nothing else to choose from.

Paying attention to brand at this level isn’t something that just the big guys can focus on.  In the software industry, we can incorporate UI, corporate image, and more in the identity that we create for our businesses.  Gillette just happens to be very good at it.

And how far did Gillette take their identity?  Well, even the gel dispensed from the can was coloured Gillette Fusion blue.

Obsessive?  You decide.

Tungle is announcing this morning that they’ve extended their super meeting coordinator software to include Blackberry support.  What this means is that on the go Blackberry users will now be able to respond to meeting requests created by Tungle from their Blackberries.

But wait… doesn’t the Blackberry already let you coordinate meetings?  Yes,

1. if you are using a Blackberry Enterprise Server and…
2. if the meeting is between one or more people in the same organization.

Tungle’s Blackberry integration may solve a huge problem for mobile professionals and fill a gap that the team at RIM hasn’t seen fit to plug.

Join us at 11 AM this morning to chat with Tungle CEO Marc Gingras on the SquawkBox.