ABOUT BRANDS...
For those who don't have time to read the Marketing Bible, a little explanation, short and simple to understand, about key concepts to built a brand.
1- DEFINITIONS
What is a brand ?
A brand is the combination of 3 elements : the product or the service (design & quality), the positionning (consummer target and style), the expresion of the positioning (communication, shop, VI…).
How to build a brand ?
A brand have to have a captain, a person who decide where we want to go, this person have to have the vision of the brand. The vision is the the focus point where we want to go. This focus point should never change, but the location of the focus point will change, at the same time of the evolution of the environement and of the evolution of the brand itself.
Define and describe the vision and the positionning is the strategic plan.
What is values (brand values) ?
Values are what that define the brand, what is his psychology, his philosophy. As for a human person, values come from the soul, the education, the experience.
What is design (especially communication design like brand design, retail, packaging, website…)?
Design is "to dress" the brand according with the strategy and value.
2- THE VISION
Now, you know where you are, you know where you want to go.
Where you are : a brand without vision, just a brand among others.
Where you want to go (the vision): to be a xxxxx oriented brand, with xxxxxx level positionning, with xxxxxx spirit.
In order to reach the vision, you have to build a brand with a specific soul, in order to be « alive ». Alive means that the consummer can feel the personnality of the brand, as for an human person, regarding his way to talk, the accent, the body moving, the meaning of the word he uses, …etc
For exemple, your values are : know-how (we like to work well, because we prefer well finished products), respect (for ourself and for others, we take care of others as we take care of us), elegance (that means natural comportment oriented to nice and good taste things and products) complicity (that means proximity, sharing experiences and knowledges), pleasure (for me and myself, that means taking time for life, taking time to appreciate quality and intelligence).
All those values are the soul of the brand, wich is synthesized by the concept. The concept is a pure idea, wich is the result and the begining of the strategy. In french we call this the « fond de marque » (it can be translated in english as the foundation, but in french the sense is more deeper).
3- HOW TO CONTROL ?
The problem is to check if what you do is ok with your brand when you design visual identity, shops, products (or services), website, communication,....
The idea is not to put the concept on the design, but to check if that what you have designed is OK with the values and the positioning of the brand.
There is no guide book, or recipe for this. The marketing team have to judge if they are on the target, with the more possible objectivity (that’s not so easy to be objective!).
That's why the commun way is to use consumer group, with consumers on our target. And to ask them their feeling about the designs (without any explanation about the project).
CREATING A BRAND NAME
Intuition or reason ?
If you look closely the history of brands, those who earn money, those who are in the minds of consumers, there is few "reason" in the brand itself (in its name). I do not think that the name "Apple" is the result of a brand platform developed by a host of high-level consultants. But more the result of an intuition or an inspiration. What is certainly true is that Steve Jobs wanted to build computers for human, and Bill Gates had an engineer vision. The name Apple is not the name Microsoft. One refers to an organic object, the other is the description of a content.
The process of creating a name organized as a list of tasks, is reasonable, certainly, but generally unsuccessful : in this case, reality is opposed to reason. Indeed, the amount of registered trademarks in the world does that created brands based on criteria organized are filed in 90% of cases. The same causes produce the same effects!
It must then appeal to intuition, or intuition of the name designer , and then compare the marks found, able to be registered, with the initial objectives of the brand.
It's the sense of the creation tool TheBrandGenerator name: by itself he cannot do nothing for anyone. It is more a support for enriching the insights, to create a corpus of names that are testable, around an idea, an intuition.
«Intuition is a combination of historical (empirical) data, deep and heightened observation and an ability to cut through the thickness of surface reality. Intuition is like a slow motion machine that captures data instantaneously and hits you like a ton of bricks. Intuition is a knowing, a sensing that is beyond the conscious understanding — a gut feeling. Intuition is not pseudo-science. - Abella Arthur» http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuition_%28knowledge%29
MARKETING IN APPLE STORE
6 facts about marketing strategy for iPhone Apps.
The App Store (which sells application for iPhone and iTouch) is a great business model for Apple, of course, which holds a global distribution network, integrated, with no storage costs or purchases from suppliers software (Apple surrenders a percentage of amounts paid by buyers).
It is also a great platform for vendors of application: distribution and financial management is done by Apple, and there is many tools to know almost in real time where and how sales happens.
But Apple locks some of the information (how many competing apps sold, the level of overall sales), despite some boastful ads (2 billion downloads in 2 years, 1 500 000 downloads for the best selling apps ...).
There is currently no verified models, each one launched their apps into the market a little groping, by changing its pricing practice and its strategy days after days.
A key question that arises is the use of free application, to attract consumers and then switch to full versions, paid. The other issue is the level of price elasticity with respect to what the consumer is willing to pay.
In response, the analogy of the Hypermarket, the Nescafé and China seems to be the best way to understand how this market works.
1- Fact 1. Not seen, not sold. The hypermarket's rules applies to the AppleStore.
The Apple Store (80 000 references) is a large hypermarket. With shelves and products inside. The consumer comes through the door of the App Store, and then visits the various departments: Games, Business, Comics, Books, Education ....
At the entrance of each department, at the head of the shelves, the Best Sellers. In the department, we find first the good sellers. And after, the low sellers. The more sales declines, the more they go to the bottom of the shelves.
2- Fact 2. New market, new products, new consumers : new ways to buy.
An Hypermarket in China. Why in China? There, consuming is very recent. And our Chinese friends are like all of us in the Apple Store.
We are just walking there, we look, we discover, we buy a little. We take our time reading labels in the products. By discovering a whole bunch of stuff that we did not know before. Or things that we knew, but presented differently packaged. And many promotion girls, so pretty, giving us for free to test and to taste new food.
3- Fact 3. Promotion or not promotion, that’s the question !
And Nescafe? Coffee is a new product in China, which is marked by high statut level. I drink coffee, I am modern, as an American. Furthermore it is expensive, I can afford. And coffee is both virile and gives good health, it makes walking neurons more efficiently. Nescafe is experiencing a strong success in China, thanks to a very important advertising investment and a massive presence of facilitators in the stores to promote coffe.
You are therefore in a hypermarket in Shanghai in the aisle which passes the department of coffee. At the department entrance, a nice promotion girl of the Nescafe brand, white shirt, red vest, black skirt : she awaits behind his booth.
4- Fact 4. Promotion can be only brand communication. Are brands so important in the AppStore?
You walk past her, she offers a smile to taste a cup. If you have a bit hungry, time, or you're stingy, you will take the cup and drink. That's all. And you will buy the brand you want and maybe even ground coffee.
If you are already a consumer of Nescafe (and you're hungry, thirsty ...), you take the cup. You will find it's nice from your brand to give you a small unexpected gift, and to share with others my brand, and this gives you self-value (self-enhancement: "My brand gives gift to everyone, it's really a nice brand, my brand"). Maybe you will think that there is not so much coffee at home and you will buy one. And if it was on the shopping list ... you would have bought anyway.
And if you do not like coffee: zero effect.
You did not even saw the promoter.
5- Fact 5. Viral marketing and on store promotion : when the promotion kills the viral communication.
You are a Chinese countryman which has just arrived in town.
You learn plenty, you've never seen so many things, strange things which you had no idea. Yet it is written in Chinese, yet you do not understand well. You see the girl with her cup, coffee is written. What's the coffee? Something for long-nose, certainly, it must be disgusting, it's complicated, what's the point? So complicated that you dare not even get close to the girl, you're afraid of being thought a fool.
You get back into your construction camp, where 15 of your mates housed during construction. One of your neighbors offers you a of coffee, but before explaining you how to drink it, when, and why it's good, and even it gives status! When you will hit your pay, you will buy it, and bring it back to the village, to show that you are not anymore a peasant.
If by cons you tasted the coffee offered by the demonstrator, because she was pretty, you would immediately spat out: "Bouah, what's that thing wich stinks vomit? Another devilish long-nose thing ! " And returned to barracks you have told your friend: "You drink this yucky stuff you? I tasted, it's not for me!"
Nescafe is relatively expensive for a Chinese, but because it's a good product and well done. There are now Chinese brands, although cheaper, certainly not so good (the consumer thinks as it's cheaper, it's worst). Nestlé can sell much cheaper, but they will have no longer the ressources to do so much communication. And the margin will decline dramatically (this is not a linear curve).
6- Fact 6. Have an adapted strategy with the apps kinds.
All this applies perfectly to the App Store: to offer a free test is a good strategy, if the apps is a simple and know concept (a racing game), and if there is a strong competitive environment. Communication will help with offering consumers little more (tips, tutorial,...)
For a product more complicate, new for the consumer: it will not work, there is even a risk to kill the product by a negative buzz.
Having a low price is necessary if it is a staple stuff, with great competition. If the apps has some interesting functions or marketing differences, then the consumer will be willing to pay the price.
And the consumer will be a product ambassador, as he has paid a "good" price an application that he will use it, and being it's own demonstrator.