Branding with Authenticity to Achieve Massively Increased Market Share

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Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Hemingway and listening to his riveting  presentation about ‘The Dove Real Beauty Campaign, The Impact & The Aftermath’.

 

Dove Models Real Beauty

 

Firstly for those of you who don’t know, Mike Hemingway took over the worldwide Unilever Dove business in 2004, leading the team that created the famous Dove “Real Beauty” campaign. This now iconic work led to immediate sales increases, whilst pioneering new concepts in “brand equity innovation” and “new” mass media engagement and communication.

 

Dove Profits

 

In Mike’s opinion mass market advertising is largely dead. It lacks integrity and authenticity which with the rise of social media is increasingly important to consumers. They have opinions, freely express them and expect their brands to engage honestly. A brand can’t merely espouse values anymore, it must be truly authentic.

 

In Mike Hemingway’s opinion, if businesses don’t have real emotion and integrity they don’t deserve to be in business or survive anymore.

 

Dove Real Woman

 

Mike really emphasised Dove’s brand values and challenged more traditional thinking about brands, saying “a brand is an opinion about your category that the consumer must find both personal and important”. “A brand must express emotion and fall in love with its customer”, “treat them with respect, know them intimately, talk to them about what they want to talk about”. 

 

 

Dove’s mission was to broaden the definition of beauty. In researching their market, Mike and his team discovered some disturbing statistics which has since fueled the foundations for all their brand building and engagement strategies.

 

Dove Real Woman Curves

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly women feel at their least beautiful during or after childbirth, menopause and puberty. However more worryingly the majority of female children, teenagers and women are unhappy with multiple aspects of their bodies all the time. 

 

Dove Pro Age Diana

 

Every woman has a right to feel beautiful but the stereotypes the beauty industry has fed them for decades has made them feel otherwise in order to sell product. Over the decades, media has distorted and brain washed us to have a very narrow idea of how women should look, to be considered attractive or beautiful e.g. they have to be slim, have beautiful skin, style their hair and makeup a certain way etc.

 

Research found:

• only 2% of women like their appearance

• 68% of women feel worse after reading Cosmo

• a child of 15 will on average see 500 images a day of stereo typical beauty

• 60% of young girls at home using Facebook are hiding because they feel inadequate

but most disturbing and worst of all, 

• unhappiness with the body typically starts at the age of 3 !

 

 

With the western notion of beauty, little girls are now future targets before they are barely out of nappies. No wonder such a colossal percentage of young girls are growing up with eating disorders and massive self esteem issues. 

 

Dove Children

 

Whether you are a consumer of Dove products or not, we are all aware of the incredibly powerful images, messages and emotions the brand has evoked. The women used in all the Dove campaigns were real women with real bodies, not size 0 models, and they all fitted within their healthy BMI indexes.

 

Dove Campaign For Real Beauty

 

In engaging with its market Dove has redefined beauty and the beauty imagery used within the public domain. Dove didn’t start something, it gave a voice to a surge of feeling that was already there. 

 

 

With raised awareness through a combination of print campaigns, videos and viral media, supported by unsolicited PR, Dove successfully created an international storm to government level, which still resonates with as much relevance today.

 

The longevity of the Dove brand campaigns is a testament to Mike and his teams success,  truly experts in branding.

 

How does your brand really engage with its consumers ?

 

Does it stand for something that matters ?

 

Does it have an opinion ?

 

Does it express emotion ?

 

What opinion do your consumers have about your brand ?

 

Get in touch, we’d love to hear your thoughts . . .

 


Surviving & Thriving: Innovating Through Recession to Success

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Innovation, that oh-so-elusive yet desirable trait touted as the engine for economic growth by our hackneyed politicians, is actually the life blood of any business but never more so then in our current economic market. 

 

Fresher, smarter thinking is critical in business for ongoing growth and prosperity. Product and service development is a constant, iterative process to respond to competition and market demands.

 

New products, methods and ideas are about constant change which for some can be uncomfortable and stressful while for others it’s the essential variety on which they thrive. 

 

Take the humble egg, largely overlooked and seen as a commodity purchase with generally poor packaging, weak brands and negligible consumer recognition. Clonarn Clover, a small Irish family artisan egg producer has launched a new brand, O’Egg, to market with white eggs in a pink box ! They are the only artisan free range producer of white eggs in Ireland, said to be far superior for lightness in baking, and sold at a higher price to the common brown egg. 

 

O Egg White Eggs Icograda 

 

The O’Egg white eggs are packaged in an unlikely bright pink box, ensuring on shelf impact, targeted at a female consumer. Also the O’Egg brand is supporting “Action Breast Cancer”, with the logo for same prominently displayed on pack which also resonates with their target market. Product, brand, packaging and marketing inventiveness on a modest budget to shake up a sector which has seen very little ingenuity in a quite a while.

 

In this period of economic fluctuation, armed with the immeasurable online resources at our finger tips, we are actually presented with multiple opportunities unlike any generation before.

 

Ebookfling Logo

 

A great online example is EBookFling, a startup that creates a virtual e-book swap, facilitating lending of e-books between consumers using lending features enabled by Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. 

 

Ebookfling How To

 

Borrowers upload titles of what they own and can swop with anybody signed up to the service for a temporary swop enabling them to “try before they buy”. Readers get exposure to try new authors without the risk of up front expense and the author gets a type of exposure not previously available. It’s a win:win with a service facilitating more fluid transactions between buyer and seller. 

 

Poopourri

 

Some might say our economy is in the toilet but Poo-Pourri is a fantastic example of entrepreneurship and product innovation. In a little over three years this start up business has grown to a €3 million enterprise. Poo-Pourri is made from a secret mix of essential oils sprayed into the toilet bowl and used to mask the smell in the bathroom before the deed is done, rather then after, like traditional deodorisers. Its far more effective and eco friendly ! Today the range consists of more then 60 products successfully selling in five countries.

 

Poo Pourri Sign

 

It is essential to become a fast discoverer with low cost, swift experimentation, prototyping and piloting, all of which leads to new insights and opportunities. Successful innovation (product or service) requires key ingredients some of which include:

• Ideas which solve important problems for your customer whose needs you must understand intimately

• An ability to get to market quickly before the market changes or your customer needs shift

• A fully integrated branding, design and marketing strategy focussed on your target markets needs

• Knowledge of barriers, adoption cycles and inertia within your target market

• Adequate resources and funding

 

Start with the end in mind. If your solution solves a problem that real customers have, your chances of success are increased. If your innovation is easily adopted by your target customers, based on a thorough understanding of their needs, then you have a much greater chance of success.

 

Country Crest Range

 

Country Crest is another Irish food manufacturer turning the highly competitive ready meal market on its head with innovative packaging and added pack functionality to meet their customers needs with its From the Orient range. A “collectibles” range of complete meal solutions in a NY style deli box, which is very different and distinctive on shelf compared to its competitors (all in trays and carton sleeves), the food is a “grab and go” solution which can be heated in 3 minutes and eaten from the box.

 

When you produce something really successful you can’t afford to slide into complacency. Your competitors are aggressively assessing the market looking for the next big thing or how they can topple you or take a chunk of your market share. Even when you’re on the crest of the wave your business must have a proactive strategy to relentless innovate, develop and search for new opportunities to stay ahead.

 

Most importantly though you have to get noticed to sell your product or service, capture your target markets imagination and create excitement through powerful branding and great design.

 

Do you have a great new innovation ready to bring to market ?

Is there an area of your business or market, tired and overlooked, crying out to be reinvigorated and transformed? 

 

Drop us a line or give us a call.

We’d love to help you make your brand the next big success story.

T: +353 1 8322724

E: [email protected]

 


Top 10 Tips To Get or Keep Your Brand On Track

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1. Understand and know everything you can about your ideal customer. What makes them tick. What they love and what they hate. Have a bulls eye focus to meet their needs. Then tailor your brand to be irresistibly desirable to them. To be their number one product or service of choice.

 

Owl Eyes

 

2. Is your brand distinctive, different and memorable ? Does it really stand out from the crowd or is it just another “me too” blending into the morass of mediocrity ? Does your brand have meaningful individuality with the same values that stand for something important to your target customer ? Stand out within your market and align your brand values to your customer values if you want to get their attention and sustain it.

 

3. Have you reviewed your brand strategy, or action plan to put your brand to work ? This is your brand communications system that provides structure and guidance for all points of contact within your business, both internally and externally with your customers. It needs to be monitored, measured for effectiveness and regularly updated to meet the changing needs of your market. 

 

Curious Frog

 

4. Do you have a brand social media strategy to directly communicate with and exchange opinions and ideas with your customers. Develop your online marketing strategy to communicate with your customers in the channels in which they predominantly use. Deploy your tactics consistently. Your brand’s customers are talking about you even you aren’t participating. Be actively part of the conversation. Influence discussions, give your customers reasons to return to you.

 

Social Media Geek

 

5. Learn from your customers feedback, opinions and preferences and then innovate your brand and develop your new product offerings to meet their changing needs. Drive your NPD creatively to meet their preferences, pleasantly surprise them, keep your offering fresh and relevant if you want loyal customers and raving brand advocates. 

 

6. Be prepared to engaged your brand with your customers in multiple channels both on and offline. Mass marketing is largely a thing of the past. Your brand needs to fluidly and congruently communicate with its market at a much more focussed and personal level, almost one-to-one at times, using parallel tactics on and offline (through traditional and new media) where appropriate.

 

Kitten

 

7. Is your brand identity design fresh and “up-to-date” pertinent to your brands market ? Does it have longevity and reflect your current brand story ? Make sure it looks current and contemporary wherever it sits on the scale of appropriateness and relevance to its industry category and target customer.

 

8. Keep your brand designs looking fresh and relevant be they product or service. Is your brand collateral moving with the times or, better still, a leading innovator in your brand category. Reappraise all your brand design materials critically and objectively e.g. web site, Facebook page, LinkedIn presence, ezines and newsletters, packaging design, brochures, leaflets, vehicle livery, exhibition stands, branded power point presentations, movies, video and showreels. Do they reflect your brand story and deliver both on the aesthetics of your brand design and in their functional effectiveness ? Are they delivering perceived value ?

 

Brand Profile Frog

 

9. Are your customer facing staff enhancing the impression of your brand ? Are they behaving and communicating in a way that consistently supports and amplifies your customer brand experience and brand personality ? They are your brand ambassadors and how they dress, talk and present themselves in person or on the phone has a significant impact (positively or negatively) on your brand. Choose the right people carefully and support them with regular training and incentivize them to enrich your brand promise.

 

10. Never overlook, under resource or under estimate the importance of your brand customer service. Your customer service experience can make or break your brand. Todays customers are highly mobile and sophisticated.They can and do very quickly talk publicly about your brand and their personal experience with it. Ensure you have an outstanding brand customer service strategy for meeting your customers needs at all times. 

 

These brand tips are by no means exhaustive so if you have anything you’d like to add or feel deserves inclusion please don’t hesitate to come back to us. We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

All the very best in growing your brands into even more profitable and thriving power houses in the year ahead.

Own Label Powers Ahead – Growing Brands & Engaging Consumers

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The battle for the supermarket floor between “private label brands” and “branded goods” has never been more competitive then in recent years. Economic pressures have encouraged consumers, who were previously much more loyal to branded goods, to discover the quality of, and buy, private label brands because they’re invariably cheaper. 

Private/Own Label << versus >> Branded Products

Own Label V Branded

 

Own label brands have become a lot more sophisticated, moving beyond the early ears of perceived poorer quality “me too” copy cats, thinly disguised from their branded counterparts, to stand alone quality brands in their own right. Indeed the private label sector is now distinguished by sub-brand segmentation with a variety of offerings such as value, mid-tier, premium, organic, healthy, speciality, allergenic, vegetarian and child friendly etc. 

 

Private Label or Own Label in Ireland still holds a smaller relative market share of approximately 20% then the more mature UK market of over 40%, but it is growing rapidly. With profit margins up to 25% higher and prices between 10-18% lower, private label proliferation is a very strong economic motivator for retail groups. Amongst other things it is a very compelling vehicle to grow retailer market share through consumer loyalty to their “brand”.

 

Private label brands are very much in the lime light in the UK at present with both Asda and Sainsbury’s relaunching or launching new own label brand ranges motivated by the need to increase their market share. Asda’s, the UK’s second largest supermarket group owned by Wal-Mart, has relaunched it’s entire range of more than 3,500 own label food products and invested over £100m in a drive to improve product quality without impacting on prices. The Asda own brand ranges, “Smart Price”, “Chosen by You” and “Extra Special”, account for close to 50% of group sales with 85% of that accounted for by the mid-tier range “Chosen By You”.

 

Asda Chosen By You

 

From a branding perspective the Asda own label “Chosen By You” range, while price positioned as a mid tier offering, has sought to really connect with the hearts and minds of their consumers. No other retailer to date has visibly endeavoured to so actively seek both the counsel and consent of the very people who buy and eat their products. 

 

Asda Video Link

http://www.asdachosenbyyou.com/

 

What better way to engender positive brand sentiment, trust and loyalty ? Their dedicated “Chosen By You” website is totally focussed on engaging with their customers at multiple levels in a very tangible way to really demonstrate they care about what their customers want, and most importantly, what they think.

 

What does this kind of private label brand challenge mean for “branded goods” ? Retailers have a significant impact on what brands get to shelf and stay on shelf. Shelf facings are a premium but ultimately it’s the decisions of consumers that decide whether brands survive and thrive or disappear. 

 

Consumers buying decisions directly impact the bottom line. If a brand sells it stays on shelf. If consumers care about a brand it sells. Their choices are made at both rational and emotional levels. 

 

Branding is about winning and keeping customers. It’s about influencing choice. The onus then lies with the brand custodians to really connect with their customers, build enduring relationships and really give them a compelling reason to try and continuing buying their brand. 

 

What do you think ?

 


The Critical Product Ingredient

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Lorraine Carter, Persona Design, writes in Irish Packaging Magazine, about Brand Packaging Design – The Critical Product Ingredient. Dare to be different, distinctive and memorable or get lost in the crowd.

To read the full article published in Irish Packaging download here

What your packaging says about your brand

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Lorraine Carter, Persona Design, writes in Food Ireland Magazine about “What your packaging says about your brand” and how branding is one of the most significant contributors to a products ultimate success or failure.

To read the full article published in Food Ireland download here