Corrine.meandering

Branding Class@MIT Sloan

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Personal Branding: Anna Wintour

Larger than life personalities are certainly nothing new to the fashion industry, which has (arguably) more than its fair share of distinctive characters, many of whom have gone on to influence fashion in their own inimitable ways.

I thought it was interesting to think about Anna Wintour, who helmed Vogue and was on Forbes' list of influential who's whos. Known for her classic bob and for launching the careers of many models, designers, photographers and other professionals in the fashion industry, she is equally revered and feared for the power she used to wield. I'm wondering how much of her persona (and I use this word deliberately) is intentionally crafted, and how much of it is authentically her. 

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"I can't stop talking about [insert brand]." Thoughts on Uber and guerilla marketing

I attended a talk by Uber last week, and one of my big takeaways was how Uber builds its brand in a new country. For a company that's just over 3 years old, Uber has managed to garner a lot of mindshare, both in the US and internationally. 

Uber's value proposition, as I understand it, is seamless, reliable, stress-free transportation (or "moving people", in their own words). In dense urban cities where waiting for taxis brings up memories of stressful street-side hailing, uncertainty, and teeth-gnashing frustration, what Uber offers has garnered it many fans. Who then tell their friends about Uber. Who tell their friends about Uber. 

In this way, the Uber brand spreads by word of mouth, because the inability to get a taxi is a universally shared experience. 

In addition to this, Uber relies on tactics to surprise and delight customers, such as its Uber Ice-cream truck days, where users could call for an ice-cream truck using the Uber app. In China, Uber adapted the ice-cream truck idea, and instead customers could call a lion dance troupe to their office or home. 

The reading mentions how fans of a brand develop a "reflexive defensiveness" when the brand they admire is criticized. I think Uber is on its way to gaining a critical mass of such fans, and if it continues to do things right, it will become one of those beloved brands with fans that jump in to defend it whenever any criticism is raised. And that is something no amount of money can buy.

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I'm conversant in Intel-speak (basic competency). And you?

I remember buying my first laptop. The prospect of a ~$1500 commitment motivated me to try to understand what the myriad features of a PC (also known by the geeky in-crowd as "specs", short for specifications) meant. RAM, GHz, screen size, with or without DVD-R, graphics card, other gobbledygook. It was like traversing a whole new world, and I was scared to look in. 

Only thing I rapidly learnt was that Pentium IV is better than Pentium III. Over the years, the next generation of Intel labels for their microprocessors changed to i3, i5, and i7. I knew I was getting a faster machine if I bought an i5 over an i3, and this correlated with why I was paying $400 more. I found Intel's labels oddly comforting in their simplicity. 

Till I read the Intel case, it never struck me how successful Intel, a B2B company, had become in educating me, the end consumer. I'm still not entirely sure what a microprocessor does, but I would have said, with great conviction, that for word processing and some media use, I needed an i5 core processor, not an i3 (too slow for graphics heavy work), and not an i7 (too powerful for my needs).

In my opinion Intel has done very well with its branding, so well that it seems to have weathered the storm from several big antitrust investigations (first with AMD then with NVIDIA). 

A quick search online yielded the following ad (among many others like it), and I can see that Intel still embodies the same principles that drove its brand in the early days - reliability and technology leadership. And that's brand consistency, indeed.

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Brand extensions, fit issues and dilution

Remember Pierre Cardin? When reading the case on Burberry, one thing the then CEO said really stuck out for me. Rose Marie Bravo said of the brand when she first took over: "The company not only lack ed a cohesive vision, it lacked the discipline necessary for a luxury goods retailer."

Luxury goods have to manage the twin tension of wanting to sell more products (volume drives down production costs and also brings in more sales revenue), while wanting to remain exclusive and desirable. Take it too far down the volume route and you get "brand dilution", the textbook example being Pierre Cardin. Back in Asia, Pierre Cardin is associated with value-for-money, mid-priced underwear, random things like a non-high-end range of leather goods (handbags, small pouches), t-shirts for older men, and cheap perfume. All things middling and certainly not luxury status. Pierre Cardin items are even available on Amazon! I was surprised to google the name and find the designer had a haute couture line!

I like what a HBR article had to say about Pierre Cardin's mistake:

"By 1988, it had granted more than 800 licenses in 94 countries, generating a $1 billion annual revenue stream—and profits plummeted. It wasn’t until the Pierre Cardin name started appearing on wildly nonadjacent products such as baseball caps and cigarettes that margins collapsed. Initially, the brand extensions into the perfumes and cosmetics categories were successful because the premium degree of the Pierre Cardin brand transferred undiminished into the new, adjacent categories. The owners of Pierre Cardin, unfortunately, attributed this to the strength of the brand rather than to the brand’s fit with the new product categories." ~How not to extend your luxury brand, Mergen Reddy and Nic Terblanche 

Why do some brands make the transition to non-adjacent product lines, while some don't? The same article mentions that the difference is understanding whether the core brand's value is primarily symbolic or functional in the eyes of consumers. Symbolic valued brands can make the leap more easily into non-adjacent product lines because the symbolic power allows for more flexible fit with a wide range of products. For example, Bulgari is a symbol of luxury, so a Bulgari range of hotel furnishings makes sense. Whereas a Porsche (functional value) range of hotel furnishings does not. 

Theories aside, I say greed plays a role as well, and I would focus on the core of the brand's products rather than play the dangerous extension or licensing game. In the short term, brand extensions can see like easy money, but in the long, they can damage the equity of the brand irreparably, like in the case of Pierre Cardin.

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Social or cultural settings matter, and the way brands are interpreted can differ considerably depending on context. 

The reading on Viewing Brands in Multiple Dimensions mentions how funky Kitkat flavours failed spectacularly in the UK. Which struck me as really ironic, because in Japan, I don't think I've EVER seen normal chocolate KitKat. Locals and tourists alike go gaga over the weird seasonal flavours of KitKat. 

I found a really funny review of 15 different KitKat flavours on Snacktaku HERE. For a flavour (pun!) of what the rest of the review is like, read what the reviewer has to say about one of the 15 KitKats sampled - the Purple Sweet Potato KitKat:

"I have absolutely no frame of reference here, having never tasted either a purple sweet potato or whatever the pile of purple goo is on the wrapper of the purple sweet potato Kit Kat.P

My mind gave me hints of blueberry as I chewed this light purple sliver of coated wafer, though I'm certain that was just my imagination compensating for color again. The unimagined portion of the taste was light and incredibly sweet—too sweet for my tastes.P

Here's an excerpt from the notes I took while eating. "Too sweet. Lingers far too long. Must drink to cleanse palate. WILL NOT GO AWAY." That doesn't sound good."

~Mike Fahey, Snacktaku KitKat Review

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'Ship my Pants' - Kmart and thoughts on the evolution of a brand

This ad made me smile. I think it hits the right note - slightly corny, all toilet humor, but still family oriented enough for everyone from the kid to grandpa to watch and relate to. 

As Kmart hits 50 years in the retail business, one could say they're way past their heyday, and are struggling to remain relevant in the minds of shoppers more inclined to Walmart, Costco and Target.

This ad, released around this time last year, generated a good amount of buzz online, and was seen as an attempt by Kmart to update its image as a "has-been". While the new service they're advertising is by no means groundbreaking, the way in which Kmart is bringing forth the message certainly is, and I hope they do manage to successfully turn their image around.

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What makes people love a brand so much they're willing to tattoo it on themselves? As I'm sitting in branding class thinking about the way we react to brands around us, I was reminded of Johnny Cupcakes.

For those who haven't heard of Johnny Cupcakes, it's not, as you would initially be tempted to think, a cupcake store. In the words of founder Johnny (no his last name is not actually Cupcakes!), if someone gave him a penny every time they thought Johnny Cupcakes was a cupcake store, he would be rich. But then again, he already IS rich, and all because of the power of a brand that he built up.

Johnny Cupcakes (JC) is actually a t-shirt brand, and when you think about it, there's nothing unique, or even terribly difficult about designing t-shirts. Johnny's business is in the fickle world of fashion, and it doesnt take a lot of technical skill to do what he does. Yet he's managed to turn JC into a multimillion dollar business, with fans as rabid as they come (see this FORBES article for fan responses, usually reserved for much more established brands). 

If anything, one theme I've spotted in the building of the JC empire has been consistency. We talked about this in class. Johnny's posters are distinctive, and from the Martha's VIneyard pop-up, to the London Grand Opening, to the poster for the Sloan event last year, the colours and design aesthetic have been amazingly consistent. JC stores are brightly coloured, larger than life (with huge fake ovens and cake display counters).

Another JC philosophy has been to surprise customers with its tongue-in-cheek approach to fashion and the fashion business. When Johnny started his online business, they used to surprise customers with little things slipped into their t-shirt parcels like badges, stickers, and even dollar notes.

Now that you know a little about Johnny Cupcakes the brand, doesn't it make you want to go check out their t-shirts? 

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The video is the "making of" clip for the latest SIA campaign, again featuring the Singapore Girl. In it, various SIA executives weigh in on the image that they want to portray of the Singapore Girl, and by extension, Singapore Airlines.

As a Singaporean, reading about Singapore Airlines always gives me mixed feelings. On one hand, I'm proud of the international reputation of the airline. On the other hand, I identify strongly with what is mentioned in the case, that "Singaporeans are the most demanding". As a Singaporean, I feel I have an emotional stake in the brand, which carries in it its name a part of my identity. And so I feel I have the right, like the rest of my countrymen, to complain about how high-handed SIA is, how their customer service seems to be dropping, and how the Krisflyer website is perennially down for maintenance. It's complicated, they say, as with most love-hate relationships. 

What I did find interesting as I googled SIA's new ad campaign though, is the attempts made to evolve the brand over the years. 

SIA had used the same ad agency for most of its campaigns, Batey, from 1972 to 2007. Then in 2007, in a much publicized switch, SIA selected TBWA to take over from Batey. TBWA's first campaign was not well received, I recall. They decided to do away with the Singapore Girl on the ads because she was deemed as outdated. New ads focused on the customized service experience. Which resulted in ads like this, published in 2011:

  Terrible, right? Faceless and generic, and totally bereft of the Singapore Girl.

To cut a long story short, SIA soon realized the iconic Singapore Girl was not irrelevant - she just needed an update. The newest campaign, released late last year, for example, reflects the prominence of the Singapore Girl once again, but with a different focus. 

Two quotes stick with me in the "making of" video for the new ad:

"As times change, a brand needs to evolve with those changes" 

"[We are] creating a fresher, more relevant, more contemporary look for the airline"

~Robin Nayek, TBWA Singapore, SIA's ad agency

Beyond building a brand, the evolution of a brand is a tricky thing, as a company tries to transition a strongly held public perception to a new one, sometimes working to effectively destroying what it had previously created. On that note, I honestly can't say I like the new ad campaign, but that may just be the Singaporean critic in me speaking.

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In reading the Concha y Toro case and thinking about the issue of bottom-up versus top-down strategies, I was reminded of the fashion industry. It is similar to the wine industry in that it very much about image perception, and sometimes quality is not that easy to tell upfront. 

There are many examples of premium fashion houses that have taken the top down strategy. Marc by Marc Jacobs is the less premium, more youth oriented line by the eponymous designer. Miu Miu, by Prada, See by Chloe, to name a few more examples. I think it seems to be a good strategy to capitalize on a premium brand by coming up with a sub-brand to make it more accessible (on a price basis) to younger consumer. The idea being that younger consumers enter at a lower price point, become familiar with the brand, and eventually "graduate" to the more premium line as their careers and incomes grow.

Off the top of my head, I could only think of one company that went in the other direction and launched a more premium brand, Burberry Prorsum by Burberry. Known for its distinctive tartan design, Burberry is well-known in Asia and the Middle East, besides the UK. I'm not sure the idea is to get its current customers to upgrade to Prorsum (which is very different in aesthetic from the main Burberry line), rather than to allow Burberry to experiment in the really high end range with more colourful, cutting edge designs that are a departure from its more stodgy main line. 

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Now one of the world's most popular "indie" games, Minecraft exceeded all adoption expectations of its Swedish programmers and is still gathering speed in the video-gaming community.

I worked for an indie gaming startup over summer, and the issue of how to drive adoption and optimize diffusion for an indie game, which would only appeal to a certain niche audience, was very much on my mind. As I think about indie videogames and adoption and diffusion rates, I think about the tension between remaining "indie" and having "indie cred" and wanting to hit mainstream (which brings with it the promise of recognition, fame, financial sustainability etc.)

Price, marketing, "cool cachet", originality of gameplay and art style and reviews by other well-regarded members of the indie gaming community were the key drivers of adoption rates for indie video games. These seem to correlate less with Rogers' five factors, because for the videogaming community the extent of change agents' promotion efforts (independent endorsement by other well-regarded indie gamers) was most important and the hardest to obtain. The only part of the five factors we had the most control over was to increase trialability by providing a short, free demo version of the game (e.g. two levels of the game free) so people could try their hand at the gameplay. 

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(via http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=xzMOzAGSZ6o&u=/watch?v=-6xjkNXY-jE&feature=share)

Reading about Heineken's marketing problems in the case reminded me of this TV ad which showed roughly 8 years or so ago in Singapore. If I can remember an ad from 8 years ago, it must have been pretty decent. In Asia at least, Heineken seemed to show none of that uncertainty mentioned in the case in communicating its brand.

Even now, I still like the ad. I was surprised to find it apparently did not air in the US at all, purportedly because Jennifer Aniston's contract did not include airing rights in the US. That seems like a pity.

Beer is such an emotive, image-based product, that brand is everything. Heineken here portrays a fun, hip, image, and the humor finds its mark. 

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http://www.futurebrand.com/images/uploads/studies/cbi/CBI_2012-Final.pdf

I just came back from Kunming, China, after 2 weeks on-site for China Lab. And in thinking about branding, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was about country brands, or the general perceptions people have of countries. 

I went to China with certain perceptions about the country, and I found myself surprised to find that on most counts, reality was far more pleasant than I had expected. For one, China is way too big and diverse a country to be described accurately in general brushstrokes. But also, perhaps its international reputation hasn't been the best managed. The difference between my initial perception and my experience with but one city in China got me thinking about what goes into the brand of a country. How long would it take to overcome a relatively negative country brand, and how can this be done?

A quick google search pulled up Futurebrand's Country Brand Index report 2012-2013, and I found that Singapore, my home country, is ranked 14 on the list, which includes only one other Asian country, Japan.

I remember more than 10 years back, my home government embarked on a deliberate exercise to manage the Singapore brand. A country brand is a tricky thing to manage, though. Futurebrands includes what I would call opinion-based criteria such as awareness, familiarity, preference, advocacy, and data such as government stability, investment attractiveness, etc to comprise its rankings. Singapore chose to emphasize its attractive business environment, high quality of life and offerings for tourists. Countries like South Korea relied on its culture and entertainment to make headway globally, with entertainment celebrities, music groups and dramas fronting the Hallyu wave.   

So there are probably many ways to building the brand reputation of a country. I look forward to hearing more thoughts in class about this, especially since so much of one's identity is tied up in the brand of one's home country. In the meantime, I look forward to being able to visit China again in the near future, for the opportunity to revise more of my perceptions of the country!