Tag: Product

How is your brand performing in the economy of feelings?

 

 

Ever since I can remember, marketing has focused on the USP, the unique selling proposition, and the product’s/service’s features and benefits. This is a traditional theory and applies to a rational, analytical view of value. In an oversupplied market with more, and often conflicting information, rational decision making becomes a myth.

 

Instead, start paying attention to what people do (which is the best indication of how they feel), not so much to what they say.

 

The more choices there are and the more complex life becomes, the more people make decisions that “feel” right to them, and NOT on an objective truth.

 

So, how is your brand performing in the economy of feelings?

 

Changing behavior is a herculean task- ask any newspaper brand or cigarette brand or an Operating System brand..

 

You would have heard of this brand called Betty Crocker fabled for their Cake Mixes– when they launched, it was launched as a plug & play product, get the mix into the oven and voila, the cake is ready! Guess what? The brand bombed in the market.

 

They went back into the market wherein they gave only a 70% ready product and got the customer to participate and work on the remaining 30%- now guess what?? Betty Crocker was a roaring success.

 

Same thing applied to Ben & Jerry when they launched their Lavender flavor- it bombed..comeback kid was twinned with a more familiar to the audience Vanilla flavour and presto..

 

Creative pursuits that aim at changing consumer behavior should be hinged on layering the novel on the already familiar.

 

Caution: The value of marketing is not where you have been told it is.

 

Analytics inform , emotions compel.

 

In an era of quantum marketing with 5G, IOT, AI, VR, AR, MR, Meta etc, connecting hearts and minds is a great opportunity.

 

So, Marketing 101 would somewhat go like this:

-Identify which audience you want to be serving

-Examine what they need or want but don’t have

-If you can help people get to where they seek to go, when they’re ready to get there, the stuff called marketing gets significantly easier

-Be happy with serving a MVA(Minimum Viable Audience) rather than try to be all things to all people. Delight the daylights of your MVA

-Instead of finding customers for your product or service, find a product or service for your audience

 

As I conclude, may I direct you to this article from BrandKnew on how marketing has changed over the last half a century

 

ENDS

 

 

 

Branding Matters. Because, Branding Matters!

Branding:  The peculiar art and science of distilling something* down to its essence and giving it physical shape.

( *usually a product, place, service, or person).

Brands continue to shape humanity in ever more fundamental ways- even those who don’t torment ourselves over logos, typography and the message like some of us do.

Brands connect us, just as they drive us apart.

At a time when it seems increasingly difficult to rely on our elected leaders, when virus and violence remind us of our shared mortality and required humility, we need to focus on brands that bring us together.

Branding is a tool.

All of us use it.

Most use it in public.

Many use it for profit.

Some use it for power.

It is rarely used in private.

Humanity is a web.

It is a complex, intricately woven structure of cultures, races, and genders. A patchwork of beliefs, histories, world views and identities. A quilt of sublime beauty and unimaginable horror.

We are all part of one species, sharing one planet. And we inhabit a world in which any of our individual actions- what we buy, what we eat, what news we share, how we travel, what we throw away- affect everything else.

Everyone of us has a place. We all have a role to play. Most of us want to make the world a better place for ourselves, our neighbors, and our children.

In some shape or form, we all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

We all want to belong.

Branding used to be about ownership– about what belongs to us. Branding was about marking one’s possessions in public.

At some point, we discovered that the purchase, use, consumption (or even wasting) of a product could serve as a reflection of our worldview- our status.

Caviar | The Automobile | Champagne | Fur Coats | Beaver Hats

We have transitioned from wearing pelts for survival to wearing pelts for status. Attaching value to actions and the consciously public display of labels allows us to seek out the like-minded. People like us. Do things like this. The not so subtle art of clanning. The same class. The same wealth. The same team.

Our people. Where we belong.

Was this the moment where we surrendered to the brand?

Brands are the ultimate gatekeepers, trendsetters, and mass mind-shapers. They determine who and what we love, who and what we hate, what gets visibility, and what gets marginalized and buried.

Brands are the foundation of the attention economy; without them, we wouldn’t be debating how much information the human species can realistically process. We wouldn’t be deliberating about how to divide our attention between all the things that require it. Without brands, we would be hopelessly lost.

Without brands, would we be free?

Brands mark our status, signify our value, and let us broadcast to the world:

” This is who I Am “.

Consciously, unconsciously- possibly in permanent denial- we are living in a mega-branded reality in which the gestures, messages, imagery and actions of brands influence us more than we realize. They touch every facet of human life.

” I shop, therefore I am “.

This is how I dress.

This is how I speak.

This is what I do.

This is how I play.

This is how I pray.

This is who I love.

This is what I believe.

” This is who I am “.

Brands have a way of teasing out the best in us. They help us feel attractive, prosperous, and together. They make us feel part of a group, like we belong. They help us maintain optimism about ourselves and the world. Whether it’s flashy new pair of kicks, a new car or a motivating app, brands can dramatically alter our moods, our energy levels, and how we see ourselves.

Caveat: This power though is a double-edged sword.

It is to our benefit that we’re drawn to offerings that help us thrive, succeed, understand ourselves better, and achieve more happiness.

But are we just flaunting what we have got? Living a life of empty materialism and compensating for our insecurities? Or are the brands in our lives serving a deeper purpose, supporting our best possible selves, our strongest relationships, our most viable society?

” Choose your self-presentations carefully, for what starts off as a mask may become your face .”- ERVING GOFFMAN

 

To be continued..