Welearned from previous articles the keys to unlock secrets behind “Love at first time” brand impression. Now the truth is you may be not the only one who shares some of the similarities and is ready to complement as a hero at “micro-receptivity” moments. Competition has never been less aggressive, not to say, way surely more aggressive than in a traditional marketplace where selection process was much simpler and easier with clearer and fewer choices to assess. Successful conversions, as many experts pointed out, may include how precisely designed your marketing — sales funnel is, but perhaps at the core, it is time we go back to the fundamental lesson of economic and consumer behavior of what really urges people to take action and hence, to buy.
Signaling your brand as the “1” in a matrix of potential mates
A few days ago, Bianco — a Danish footwear brand launched their new ad “The Lift” featuring a young “potential to become” couple having a crush on each other by sharing the same lift to work everyday. The outfit signals and fantasizes a love and companionship future they possibly can build together. The young man and young woman, they both get thrilled away. Trickily, till the end when they recognize it is even their last chance to start the conversation, none dares to say “hi”. We will not discuss on true intention of the brand as they plotted the scene. Let’s zoom more into the “overthinking” state of the characters. Obviously, they both have very clear benchmarks as they “read” desirable traits from the other. The hesitation may result from past experience that formed their fears and doubts subconsciously, which is not included in the video. A self-esteem protection. With that, maybe we need an impulsivity trigger and a more comfortable environment to open up. Else, it may be the case of having a weightful enough reason to just “step out of their minds” — a reason they can risk their “thought to be” self-esteem or even life not to lose.
Millennials set fire to YOLO (you only live once) experiential lifestyle. In microeconomics, this kind of mindset can be explained through “opportunity cost” in which people tend to make decision via weighing the largest forgone option among all the choices they have in hand, not the sum of all alternatives. “Best ever, first time ever, one time only, don’t miss, limited” are top key advertising keywords. Scarcity tricks behind time and quantity-bound promotions are not new in the market. These are top impulsivity “spices” marketers can use to accelerate conversion. The triggers can have a short-term span of effects and best applied for the early period of launch or flash-out. In a longer-term perspective, to win the battle in the mind of your consumers, it is crucial to land yourself in a “position” of not only uniqueness but also “why consumers need to choose you” at a certain “cost”. In other words, define the territory you occupy in your consumers’ mind relative to your competitors and make them believe you are the “best affordable” option meeting their needs. Having strong brand positioning can minimize the risk of having consumers leaving one brand for another that they find better in some attributes. Do distinguish brand positioning (the product’s value proposition placed within the context of the market landscape) and value proposition (the emotional and rational benefit that consumers derive in purchasing a product).
There are frameworks on brand positioning and brand positioning statement you can use from prestigious companies. To simplify, we design below framework for your quick understanding and application:
Brand positioning is the integration of your brand code into consumer’s living system and makes people follow your lead. Brand mantra is injected partially in brand campaigns, taglines or slogans; of which confusion on each term usually happens. A strong brand campaign, cut-through tagline or sale-driving slogan copy can only be developed once the positioning is clear. Nike’s brand mantra promotes authenticity (integrity and purity) in athleticism. “Just do it” is the brand tagline that manifests “Authentic Athletic Performance”. Nike’s recent campaigns “Dream Crazy” and “Dream Crazier” were bold but successful moves to celebrate and redefine sports dreams beyond norm belief of being “authentic athletes”.
Dior, a heritage brand house which depends largely on its corporate branding, just launched an interesting campaign for their Spring/Summer 2019 ready-to-wear collection adding a new spark of inspiration from contemporary dance. While fashion critics may need to dig deeper on technical design of the collection, it is no surprise the “dance” is possibly a strategic brand innovation since similar co-creation was witnessed in Beijing in November 2008. Partnering with Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, Dior invited 20 leading Chinese artists to create artworks expressing the “essence of Dior” in the spirit of the epic “New Look” designed by Mr. Christian Dior in 1947. New Look is one of the most influential creations in the history of fashion. At its core, Dior stands for “innovative luxury”. Hence, “playing” fashion in an “artful” way may be a creative and trendy way to express the brand essence especially when more than ever, art is considered one of the most precious forms of human’s creations and since long ago has been well-associated with nobility.
Making your brands more buyable — Minimum Viable Brand
The classic model of brand positioning is owning the №1 or monopoly proposition in a particular area. Question is whether branding, business expansion, product innovation, and market share domination is the winning game of giants only. Or should we all play in the “blue ocean”? Perhaps, a 2D positioning map may not be sufficient and sometimes irrelevant for today’s market where there is a thin border between real and virtual world, where consumerism is no longer influenced solely by monetary status but is a sophisticated process of “social self-promoting” through the brands chosen.
In startup world, the very first stage for a business or product owner is to work on MVP (minimum viable product) — a good enough version of your future product to satisfy early customers, serving as a build-up for future product development and minimizing risks of consumer delusion from brand’s overpromising — the trap most brand advertisers fall into. Respectively, we can develop our minimum viable brand (MVB) according to the features the MVP presents and upgrade, restage gradually as the product grows. The concept was introduced by Jeremiah Gardner whose idea was to create an equation of functional benefits (product), emotional values (brand) and market fit. We do not recommend buying the “Lean Brand” book but the idea of having a “mini” pilot version of your brand is helpful. The difficult part is how to pick the core feature as your “competitive advantage” (POO and POD as mentioned in the above framework) from which you can generate, extend and amplify incremental attributes. As you “perfect” the full product and brand, pay attention to “perfect” the small feature and brand attribute first. You can decide to be a titan or a network of elves when the time comes. Tech and tech-based companies which master in this area you can learn from, to name a few, are Google, Amazon, and Grab.
Now let’s go back to the bookworm example at the beginning. If you are aiming to win over a “romantic” bookworm, present yourself as her dream prince charming, from inside out, who “understands” her love for books as well as her tendency of romanticizing, “stirs” her nerves, “rescues” her in time(s) and “urges” her to explore more by occupying an irreplaceably unique territory in her heart. At the very first time.
Good luck and enjoy the ride. Stay tuned for more.
Next topic: Consumer Segmentation — Fallacies of Traditional Approach in 4.0 Era
Authors: Nguyet Nguyen (Azurie) & Hoang Ha (Sylvie)
