Showing posts with label brand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brand. Show all posts
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Monozukuri for Sustainable Brands in the 21st Century
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Unknown
The word Monozukuri has only been in use for almost 15
years. In 1998, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office set up a "Monozukuri Kondankai", in order to reverse the trend of deindustrialization and hollowing out that Japan was experiencing after the end of the Japanese financial bubble by affirming Japan’s strengths in manufacturing. In general, monozukuri is the "art, science and craft of making things." While monozukuri is used to describe technology and processes integrating sustainable development, production and procurement, it also includes intangible qualities such as unique craftsmanship and dedication to continuous improvement. In the Japanese tradition of Monozukuri, when
an item or human effort is taken into use, there needs to be a benefit for the
society as a result while, at the same time, the balance between production,
resources and the society should be maintained. Monozukuri should therefore be
an inspiration for most global organizations in the 21st century in their effort
to create strong, innovative brands, which deliver compelling content through
their media channels, especially then it comes to branding and brand
storytelling.
Toyota and Nissan lead the way
Companies such as Toyota and Nissan have already tried to
elevate their brands or the company’s core interests by creating unique content
that exceeds infomercial-like self reverence.
Back in 2011, Toyota chairman Fujio Cho said that Toyota’s
mission is to “preserve the Japanese Monozukuri". What does
"monozukuri" mean here? It probably captures the Toyota perception of
sustainability. According to Toyota monokuzuri, the person doing the making is
de-emphasized and the attention is on the ‘thing’ being made. This subtle
difference reflects the Japanese sense of responsibility for using ‘things’ in
production and their deep respect for the world around them both animate and
inanimate. In its application of Monozukuri to the production of automobiles,
Toyota has pursued a sustainable method of making its cars ever more safe,
environmentally friendly, reliable and comfortable and circulating this
perception to its customers.
At Nissan, brand storytelling has been dubbed “kotozukuri,”
complementing the Japanese manufacturers’ mantra of “monozukuri”. Brand
agnostic stories, intentionally omitting reference to the parent firm or its
competitors, or in Nissan’s case, look to raise the profile of the people,
products, technologies and relationships as part of infotainment.
Why? Actually, it's about Nissan's recognition that traditional
media and consumer engagement face more challenges as well as expense amid a
growing range of choice. Meanwhile, internal communications, often constituting
corporate media or house TV units until now, have expanded from a parochial
approach to include more content for mass distribution. The relationship with broadcasters and print media, who
often have their own on-line presence, has evolved to include video embeds,
undeniably showing return on investment versus the cost of similar paid media
exposure. Use by the blogosphere or consumers also has powered the metrics of
successful marketing, as “shares” and “likes” offer potential for viral
exposure.
It seems that every organization may perceive Monozukuri in a different way. However, "Many names now describe the trend such as brand
journalism, corporate narrative or 21st Century Kotozukuri, but all require
more sophisticated storytelling and delivery, making ties to traditional
agencies" (Dan Sloan, Nissan Global Media Chief).
Back to storytelling
Storytelling is a well known and ancient art form.
Persona-focused storytelling is essential to branding. When it comes to
creating a powerful brand narrative, the persona – the articulated form of the
brand’s character and personality – comes first, and all other elements unfold
from there. A compelling brand starts with a strong, well-drawn, and quickly
recognized persona, the essential connection between what a company says and
what it does.
This brand persona creates a long-lasting emotional bond
with the audience because it is instantly recognizable and memorable, it is something that
people can relate to, and it is consistent. Nike, McDonald’s, FedEx are all examples of
brands with personas that fit these criteria. In each case, there is a clear
personality associated with the brand. These companies understand that it is
their clear articulation of their brand persona and their discipline in placing
that persona into stories that work with and help strengthen that brand persona
is what makes the difference between strong and weak brand associations.
That long-lasting and implicit trust is what distinguishes
the great brands from the rest of the pack. It will also protect the brand when
it makes a misstep. Nike has a strong brand persona that is all about
performance and winning. Their long-used tagline, ‘‘Just do it,’’ is instantly
recognizable as is their logo, the swoosh. In 2006, Nike teamed up with skier
Bode Miller, which seemed like a good idea at the time. After all, he had won
two silver medals at the Olympics in 2002, four gold medals and a silver medal
at the World Championship in 2003, and in 2005, he became the first American in
22 years to win the World Cup title. His performance trajectory was clear. If
anything, it seemed that the difficulty would be in finding words to match his
expected performance.
There was no shortage of words: in TV spots for the 2006
Winter Olympics, Miller was shown talking about performance, talking about his attitude, and
talking some more. But there was not much ‘‘doing’’ – he fell short in all five medal
attempts. Worse, he did not even seem concerned with winning, an attitude that did not match well
with the Nike brand persona. This created a disconnect between the audience and the brand,
since the fit between Bode and Nike clearly was not right. Monozukuri here, as a unique
value proposition for the consumer, through storytelling, went wrong.
Brand my brain
Brain studies have shown dramatic effects of branding. In
one famous study, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
to see how subjects’ brains responded when they were given Coke or Pepsi. Some
of the subjects were given the soda without knowing which brand it was, and
were asked to give their preference on taste alone. Others were given the soda
and then an image of Coke or Pepsi was flashed at them before they took a sip.
The result? The blinded tasting resulted in no preference
for one brand over the other in the group, some preferred Pepsi, others preferred Coke, but they
did not know which was which, so the overall results were what you would expect in
two chemically and physically similar drinks. The unblinded tasting was something else
altogether. While there was no influence of brand knowledge for people who thought they were
drinking Pepsi, there was a very strong brand influence when they were shown an
image of Coke. Their belief that they were drinking Coke actually altered their
experience to the point where some areas of the brain lit up only when they
believed it was a Coke that they were drinking. Clearly, branding is a real,
measurable effect. Coke lit up the hippocampus and the dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex, areas of the brain related to memory, control of action, and
self-image. Our brains love Coke even more than our taste buds do.
How is it connected to storytelling? Actually, a lot of it
has to do with the fact that Coke has been telling a good story, using an
exciting yet accessible brand persona that people easily relate to.
Storytelling has been engaging listeners and readers for ages and Coke figured
out how to make that work to their advantage. Researchers have shown that
successful storytelling (as a correct Monozukuri version) strengthens the
connections consumers have to brands to a great extent.
Conclusion
When it comes to brand development, a unique perception of Monozukuri for each organization may lead our audience in the brand story and
its actions. Marketing strategists should always perceive and apply Monozukuri in the
optimum way to genuinely connect with the audience and ultimately convert them
into loyal customers.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Smart Brands - Economic Depressions 1-0
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Unknown
An economic depression affects everyone. During the Panic of
1857, the Post World-War I Crisis, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Great
Recession of 2008-2009 or even the "Greek Crisis", the basic mechanisms of
consumer attitudes were similar. Both the value perceived by consumers and
shareholder value were heavily influenced by brand. Brand can drive growth in
an up market or protect the company’s value in a down market. But, what really
happens we enter a recession phase and what are the impacts? Actually:
• Investors become very risk-averse. They are quick to
criticize companies’ performance, resulting in decreasing share prices.
• The labor market is easily depressed causing employees to
regard the organizations they work for with a more critical eye.
• Falling consumer confidence leads to heralding either
lower prices or sales, but in either case falling profits.
Just steal
Brand development reaches far beyond traditional forms of
consumer advertising. However, most still confuse the discipline of branding
with ad communications. This interpretation ignores that:
• Brands are strategic assets rather than purely symbolic
tools.
• Effective branding is a matter of profit, not just market
share.
• Competitive advantage branding is a matter of sustainable
investment rather than cost.
During a recession, brands that focus on value, rather than
price, can reassure consumers with greater confidence. The moral support that
is provided by brands during a recession helps to rebuild that enduring bond
between brand and former consumer. As consumers begin evaluating their purchases
on a different set of priorities, heritage brands can use the emotional
connections that already exist to regain past consumers that have moved on to
“higher end” brands. A recession can unlock the relevance trapped within the
brands of people’s youth.
The necessity for a clear brand proposition is more
important than ever as consumers recognize the need for new ways to work within
their shrinking budgets. The companies who recognize and seize the opportunity
to steal market share while others are in shutdown mode, will find the benefits
far outweigh the costs.
The Buy Down Effect
A comScore survey revealed that one in five shoppers
converted to less expensive, generally private label brands to save money. The
figures below show the change by market segment after the end of the Great
Recession of 2008-2009.
Housewares realized no net shift for buying less expensive brands, but a
prominent 6 point gain in buying other brands on sale. It is possible that in
the case of durables consumers are more hesitant to try a cheaper brand but are
still looking to save money by buying premium brands when they are on sale.
comScore, SymphonyIRI |
• 1.5 point increase in market share among businesses
increasing ad spending during recessionary periods (Cahners)
• 2.5 times increase in market share vs average of all
businesses in post-recession period for those who aggressively increased media
expenditures during last recession (CARR Report)
• 256 percent relative sales growth for businesses which
maintained or increased media spend over those who did not (McGraw-Hill
research analysis)
In times of recession it is better to tighten the belt and
cut marketing and branding expenditures. However, when companies cut their
outreach, they also begin to cut the ties that bond consumers to those brands.
For smart companies, opportunity beckons. As we see competitors cutting back, we
must now recognize that is the time to strike. If funds are too tight to make
an all-out attack,we should just cut less than the competitors. Remember, in a
recession both our marketing money and our message go further.
Consumers and Cost Control
Recessions usually trap brands between low priced
competition and rising raw material costs.
Faced with narrowing margins, such brands may consider raising their
unit prices, reducing the quantity or size of the product, or reducing the
quality of the ingredients used.
Consumers-respondents in the aforementioned survey by comScore were
asked to choose between these three options.
Specifically, they were asked, "Which action would you most want
your preferred brand within each category to take, if it had to take a cost
controlling action?"
Consumers prefer, if necessary |
Consumers indicate a preference for quantity reduction
vs the other stated alternatives.
However, this strategy is not without risk. One additional question in
the survey explored the reported effect that this downsizing of products had on
consumers‘ buying behavior. Four out of
five respondents indicated they had noticed product downsizing in the
categories they regularly shop. Perhaps more concerning, more than half of the
respondents reported occasionally changing their behavior. Thus, while consumers claim to prefer product
downsizing, it does appear to have at least an occasional effect on brand
choice for many shoppers and should be approached with caution.
Conclusion
Finally, brands can win economic depressions by successfully
differentiating their product versus lower priced competitors in order to
maintain preference and reduce price sensitivity of consumers. Decades of
research on advertising have demonstrated that the use of brand differentiating
messages is highly effective at increasing preference for the brand. Therefore, to optimize the impact of
continued marketing support during hard economic times, advertisers need to make
sure their efforts are effective at differentiating the brand from the
competition. Yes, i know, Porter is always right!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
A Facebook for my Brand : Fan Pages and KPI's
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Unknown
Facebook fan pages can be regarded as a virtual brand community. They are specialized, non geographically bound communities and they are based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand. Therefore the theoretic explanations for a brand community are also suitable for explaining the fan page phenomenon. Social identity and symbolic interactionism theories show that interaction with members of a reference group can lead to a strong feeling of belonging to this group (in this case the brand community) which in turn can lead to stronger buying behavior and positive brand attitude.
But how can we be sure that being a member of a facebook fan page has an impact on a brand admirer's buying behavior and brand attitude? Researchers from the University of Mannheim actually designed an experiment and assumed that members of the BMW fan page show stronger buying behavior and brand attitude than non-members and that within members, buying behavior and brand attitude are even stronger for active members than for passive ones.In order to carry out the experiment they conducted an online survey among 840 BMW admirers.
The BMW Fan Page Survey
Membership and interaction were expected to influence psychographic dependent variables (brand loyalty, brand commitment) and economic dependent variables (purchase intention, willingness to cross-buy and positive word of mouth). Willingness to cross-buy was polled in three categories, which were lifestyle products (e.g. apparel), financial services (e.g. leasing or insurance offers) and original BMW spare parts. Purchase intention was polled in two categories, which were automobiles and BMW car repair services. In order to analyze the influence of membership and interaction, two separate experiments were carried out. In the first study, respondents were split into members (n=210) and non-members (n=630) according to the membership of the German BMW fan page. The non-members became the control group and members became the experimental group.
Furthermore, members had to answer questions about their usage of the BMW fan page . Using these responses, a weighted interaction level was determined for each member. A cut-off value was then applied to the weighted interaction level to classify members of the BMW fan page either in passive or active members. While passive members don't or rarely interact with the fan page, active members display a higher level of interaction.
Influence of Membership
In order to analyze the influence of membership on the dependent variables, the nonmembers and members of the Facebook fan page were compared with each other. Non-members (n=215) were recruited in BMW internet forums to make sure they are admirers of the brand. In order to be able to analyze variances of members and non-members, the groups need to be about the same size (max factor 1.5). That is why a sample of n=315 was randomly drawn out of the total number of the BMW fan page members (n=630).
Then the data was analyzed using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) in order to examine differences between the responses of the two groups. The mean values were calculated and compared between the groups to evaluate whether membership and interaction do have an influence on the dependant variables. The F-Values of MANOVA indicate that there are differences between the groups. These values ranged from F = 23,608 to 89,195 woth significant values of p=0.00, allowing to proceed with the interpretation of MANOVA.
A comparison of the mean values of the two groups proved that there are significant differences between non-members and members of the BMW fan page for all 10 dependent variables. Specifically, membership has a strong positive influence on the affective variables brand trust, brand loyalty, brand commitment and positive word of mouth (∆ between +0.646 and +0.733, average ∆ = +0.675). Its influence on the conative variables brand satisfaction, purchase intention (for both product and repair services), and willingness to cross-buy (for lifestyle products, financial services and spare parts) is also strong (∆ between +0.395 and +0.985, average ∆ = +0.682). The highest difference of mean values exists for purchase intention (∆ = 0.985) and willingness to cross-buy (∆ = 0.923).
Influence of Interaction
Having analyzed the influence of membership, the next step was to look more closely at the members of the BMW fan page, with the objective of determining whether the level of interaction on Facebook fan sites has any impact on the dependent variables. For this purpose, the four types of interaction with the fan page (writing posts, clicking the “Like” button, uploading photos or videos and sharing photos or videos with other users) were weighted to determine the level of interaction. Based on this level, members of the BMW fan page with a low level were then classified as passive and with a high level of interaction as active members.
The two groups were also analyzed using a MANOVA. Unlike the first pass, the second one did not deliver significant F-values for all 10 constructs. While most of the constructs had values between F = 4,815 to 23,668, purchase intention (for both product and repair services) and brand satisfaction failed to deliver satisfying p-values (p = 0.065, 0.758 and 0.425).
The comparison of the mean values of the two groups makes it clear that the significance of the MANOVA F-tests stem from the differences between the groups. Specifically, interaction has a positive influence on the affective constructs brand trust, brand loyalty, brand commitment and positive word of mouth (∆ between +0.160 and +0.316, average ∆ = +0.233). Its influence on the conative variable willingness to cross-buy (for lifestyle products, financial services and spare parts) is also positive (∆ between +0.164 and +0.379, average ∆ = +0.248). An influence on brand satisfaction and purchase intention (for both product and repair Services) was not observable as can be seen from the p-values. Highest mean value differences were seen in willingness to cross-buy for lifestyle products (∆ = 0,379) and brand loyalty (∆ = 0,316).
These two KPI's
The results show that being a member of a Facebook fan page has a strong influence on both affective and conative variables. Non-members show lower brand attitude and buying intention than members do. Membership as a key performance indicator can thus be used to assess intended buying behavior (conative component) and emotional affinity of customers to the brand (affective component).
Interaction has an influence on the affective dependent variables as well as partly on willingness to cross-buy. But while membership has an influence on all dependent variables, an influence of interaction on purchase intention and brand satisfaction was not observable. Interaction lacks a significant influence on the conative dependent variables. It can be assumed that interacting with a Facebook fan page does not influence such variables like purchase intention and brand satisfaction since there are other factors playing a more important role in buying a car or being satisfied with it. In the case of brand satisfaction, it is likely that whether a customer is satisfied with the brand or not depends on the performance of the brand and not necessarily by how he interacts with the fan page. If the brand performs above the customer's expectation then brand satisfaction will follow. Interaction as a key performance indicator can thus only be used to assess emotional closeness to the brand BMW but not intended buying behavior of members.
The findings of this survey also show that membership and interaction do have a strong influence on brand admirers. The number of members of a fan page and the level of their interaction can therefore be considered as key performance indicators which actually have an economic value for the company using them. The findings also have implications for companies wanting to use a fan page on Facebook. Companies need to implement and monitor these two KPIs in order to evaluate whether their efforts on Facebook are successful or not. This means that companies need to follow these two KPIs closely when conducting a marketing campaign on Facebook in order to evaluate whether said campaign was successful or not. Companies should also focus on acquiring new members for their fan pages since it has been shown that membership has an impact on brand attitude and buying behavior.
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
5+1 mistakes B2B marketers should avoid
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Unknown