In this first chapter I would like to talk about attitude brands, not to be confused with a lifestyle brand (which you can read in one of the next chapters). The difference
relies on that the attitude brands do not try to adapt themselves to the
consumer lifestyle but propose a new prism on how the consumer should live his or her
life.
The
above mentioned statement came across very clear when interviewing a colleague
who’s wow brand was Nike. When asking her why was Nike a wow brand, the answer
was somewhat shocking to me. She replied that Nike was a brand that challenged
her to move out of her comfort zone and push her boundaries. I found that this
effect Nike had on her was really interesting. How can a brand push your boundaries?!
I would understand that your parents, line manager, work colleagues, etc. may
have that effect on you but not a brand via its marketing message.
Nevertheless,
after further research on Nike’s history, marketing campaigns, etc. it comes
much clear why Nike has such a direct and effective impact on my dear
colleague.
Thanks to a coherent, constant and unique messaging of the brand’s positioning
to consumers globally, the simple but well known positioning “Just Do It” Phil
Knight, (founder of Nike) came up with, has made Nike the brand that
represents ambition in the sense of desire for self-improvement.
Here are some pretty clear examples from Nike:
Nike’s
success formula has not gone unnoticed to its key competitors and as a result
Adidas and Reebok are trying to replicate the same path with a very similar
positioning
Reebok
proposes an attitude to see life through their new positioning: ‘Live with Fire’.
Whereas
Adidas has invested heavily in their “Impossible is nothing”
After
several interviews I realized that numerous wow brands mentioned by colleagues
were brands that had been extensively stretched and the question that came to
my mind was: Do brands become “Wow” as a consequence of successful stretching
or only “Wow” brands are the ones that have the power to be stretched?
I
do not have the bullet proof answer to this question but intuition tells me
that the truth must rely on a mix of the 2 options.
I will start with a brand that a colleague explained with such
passion that deserves to be the first of the list of stretched “Wow” brands:
Chanel
The power of Chanel to grow organically in its core category,
fashion, and yet manage to successfully stretch itself into other categories
(fragrances, make up, skincare, jewelry, watches…) without losing credibility,
relevance and still connecting with its main audience is what has made this
brand a global icon worldwide.
The key to stretching Chanel has been the consistency with its brand values and
therefore protecting the long term equity of the brand:
Chanel has always found a coherent and
flexible evolution of the brands core essence via capitalizing the brand into
new products and categories. This may sound complicated but it’s easy to
understand if we put the example of ‘would it have been a good idea that Chanel
had stretched the brand into the world of farming equipment? Of course not, as
this has anything to do with the core essence of Chanel meaning luxury, female
sophistication, French heritage, etc.
Here are other examples of stretched brands that came through in
my interviews or have been researched while building this blog:
Apple
From software and computer maker to consumer electronics titan .
Apple Computer dropped the “Computer” from its name, becoming a
consumer electronics powerhouse that destroyed Sony’s (SNE) Walkman with the
iPod, made smartphone pioneer BlackBerry (BBRY) virtually irrelevant with the
iPhone, beat Google (GOOG) to the living room with the Apple TV streaming box
and topped it all off with the iPad, a game-changer that dominated the new
tablet market while bruising PC sales.
Porsche
Brought luxury and sports car performance into the SUV category
with a unique and premium priced value proposition in the Porsche Cayenne.
Offered a new benefit for their current franchise, who owned a
Porsche 911, but then moved into another life stage with a family they could no
longer accommodate in their car.
By bringing luxury, sportiness and performance values into this
new category, they were able to grow their business, while protecting brand
image. And it didn’t stop there. After that the Panamera, a 4 door sports
saloon was launched and recently the Macan, a smaller SUV.
Virgin
Richard Branson, is a brand on itself and very closely linked to
the basic value of the Virgin brand. Virgin's brand essence is iconoclasm. Four
clearly defined values and associations describe the Virgin brand: service
quality, innovation, fun and value for money. These are Virgin's core
identities.
Coke
Managed to create a very balanced product portfolio with each
sub-brand serving a ‘fresh’ target group: Light, Zero, Life (the first soda that
is naturally sweetened).
Amazon
As an e-tailer, Amazon re-invented themselves to get a bigger
variety of products to consumers faster. Expanded its portfolio beyond books to
a marketplace, creation of Amazon Web Service, Amazon Kindle, Amazon studio
etc. Introduced same-day shipping and acquired robotics maker Kiva Systems to
solve old-fashioned warehouse problems and get products to customers more
quickly.
McDonalds
Some Europeans viewed the chain as an unfortunate American
export, so they spent over $1 billion to overhaul its European menus. Updated
its décor to a higher quality aesthetic and added more diverse menu options
such as chilled gazpacho, spinach and parmesan stuffed chicken tenders and
chicory salads.
Also expanded the times in the day it could be visited. McCafe
has been popular, especially among teenagers because it offers something
different to Starbucks (and was cheaper).
Lego
From the toy shelf to the game shelf.
Lego embraced open innovation and entrepreneurship via adapting
their product to fit the new generation of children (who play more digitally
then physically). Not only did they re-invent their toys but they also connected
with the new consumer through popular films such as Star Wars and Lord of the
Rings, plus expansion into areas such as video games – and content creation
(LEGO movie)
The
case of the supermarket chain Mercadona is a story of huge success due to
multiple reasons which I will not elaborate in full detail since I want to
concentrate on one of the key success factors: their employee management.
In
this chapter I would like to highlight the importance that employees play in
order to build a wow brand. We all know the global examples of strong corporate
culture that have a positive impact within the brand such as Google and
Facebook where employees embrace the brand as being part of a family to an
extreme where private and professional life are no longer differentiated.
Now
I would like to take you through a local Spanish example that a friend has been
following since years and which he considers to be a wow brand.
But
first let’s see several key facts of this story:
·Mercadona is a Spanish family owned
supermarket chain founded by Francisco Roig and his wife in 1977 which began as
a small butcher shop in Valencia expanding nationwide since to more than 1.148
stores holding 14% of Spain’s total food retail space and reporting more than
€508 million in profits for the 2012 fiscal year
·Despite Spain’s recent economic crisis beginning in 2008,
Mercadona hired more than 4,000 workers in 2012 and is one of the few Spanish
companies to profit during this period
·Mercadona has a marketing model that does not spend capital
resources on advertising or market campaigns and adds yet another method of
cutting costs. It instead relies on word of mouth and free social media to
promote and maintain its brand.
·Mercadona employs more than 70,000 workers, all of whom are
under permanent contracts. Upon hire, workers are required to complete four
weeks of training, costing the company an average of $6,500 per employee.
Employees must also go through twenty additional hours of training each year.
·Employees receive salaries above the national average of workers
in the grocery store industry and the majority of employees receive a bonus
each year:
ØIn 2011 223mn euros were given to employees as a bonus
·Leaders of Mercadona believe this combination of training and
payment creates employees who are dedicated and flexible when it comes to
meeting customer needs. It is also believed to have helped the company to
maintain a relatively low level of only 5% employee turnover in 2012.
·Mercadona does not open Sundays were legally allowed in order to
offer its employees a balance of work and private life.
·The company also has a policy of internal promotion. All general
management positions have reached their positions within the company.
·Absenteeism rate is 0,7% versus the national 6% average.
·Mercadona was ranked the 9th most reputable company in the world
in 2009 by the Reputation Institute as listed in Forbes Magazine.
As
per the facts above mentioned we can see that Mercadona relies heavily on word
of mouth marketing and creating a strong employee - corporate brand (Mercadona) culture via the following
mechanisms:
1.Aligning People-Brands
Internal trainings, immersion programs about the brand/company. Making everyone
understand what is the brand/company’s core essence
2.Activating attitudes and behaviors
This is the most important for the Mercadona brand. Its values and personality
can’t just exist in a training guide or hanging in the wall of a meeting room.
Formulating
attitudes and common behaviors of employees in their daily job lives, in their
routines is fundamental to create a common work spirit in the organization.
3.Reward Culture
The company has systems that reward employees towards promoting
the best practices, attitudes and behaviors in benefit of the Mercadona brand
(which is not a standard practice in the retail sector, especially amongst
lower educated staff)
4.Community
Acknowledging the importance of integrating employees as active members of the communities
that surround the Mercadona brand. Who would know more in a community about the
Mercadona brand and who would defend and prescribe the brand better than an
employee?
5.Measuring and tracking
Creating programs that measure the attitude and behavior of the Mercadona brand
within its employees and linking it to the bonus scheme.
Mercadona
is aware that competitive advantages within the retail sector are minimal and
that the key is “how” to communicate the brand through the human capital of a
company.
Several
brands that came out of my interviews share a common objective towards the
consumer which is to connect on such a level that the brand shares the consumers life
values and actively participate in his lives.
The
most known examples are the surf related brands such as Quicksliver and
Billabong which started more as functional or technical brands and nowadays
represent a lifestyle for millions of people who live surf more as a philosophy
of life than a sport.
I would like to focus your attention on a less famous
brand but a WoW brand to a colleague of mine: Petzl
The company was created by the cave explorer Fernand Petzl in
the mid-1970s. Their three specialties are:
·Vertical sports: equipment for mountaineering, climbing, caving, etc.
·Work at height and rescue: solutions for
progression and safety in difficult-access worksites and in technical rescue.
·Headlamps/head torches that provide hands free lighting
While
analyzing Petzl and other lifestyles brands as the above mentioned surf related
ones, it clearly came across that these brands follow 3 steps to become a so
called lifestyle brand:
1st
Step – Understanding the Consumer
Lifestyle
brands try to fit into behavior patterns of a specific target group of
consumers trying to understand them in every detail. How does the consumer enjoy
his free time, what are his challenges, wishes, how does he relate with others,
etc. For example in the case of our WoW brand, Petzl, the aim would be to
understand who is their consumer (e.g. business man/women between 30-45 years
of middle-high class with a healthy lifestyle, with no children that tries to
enjoy life via meaningful experiences such as mountain climbing)
2nd
Step – Product quality is crucial
The product is essential in these brands as it needs to fulfill a rational and
emotional answer to our consumer needs.
In the case for Petzl, the product characteristics such as light weight and
resistance is key to build its credibility among its target consumers.
3rd
Step – Creating The Brand
Once
the product is part of the consumers lives it is time for transforming the
product into brand value via extending the brand into relevant categories that
answer all consumer unmet needs of a specific lifestyle world.
In the
case of Petzl, the brand that began offering caving equipment soon extended its
range to equipment for Mountaineering, Canyoneering, Bouldering, rock climbing,
Ice climbing, Trail running, Backpacking, Trekking, etc.
For
this last chapter I have included several brands that come across as magical
and unique in their own categories. There isn’t just one defining
characteristic that make these brands wow brands but many. But first of all let
me introduce you to these local heroes:
As
you will have probably noticed all these brands share several elements in
common:
1.Very detailed and
elaborate “story telling”, expressed as craftsmanship for its ingredients,
production process and/or its history
2.Distinctive design
expressed via its tone of voice and typography Overall, these brands seem to have
mastered their tone of voice having in mind what brand personality they want to
express. This is a competitive advantage in the mature markets where these
brands operate where marketing messages are often homogeneous and based on
similar concepts.
As a result of properly
activating points 1 & 2, the values and brand
personality come through very
clearly and therefore we see the connection
between what the brand says, does, and
how it is perceived.
