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Measuring Outcomes in B-Corps

After reading this week’s case, Better World Books, I found myself wondering about measurable outcomes. For traditional for-profit businesses, companies are judged mainly by their profitability, but B-Corps like Better World Books have an additional “social good” metric that they must monitor. My big question is: how do these companies pick social good metrics to monitor?

To me, it seems like an extremely difficult outcome to measure. Better World Books wants to tackle literacy issues in the developing world - how do they know if any changes in literacy rates are due to its books, or some other unrelated factor? For me, this is the biggest issue facing B-corps. It seems like these businesses are not held to the same rigorous causation standards that the world of academia is. In that world, researchers are extremely cautious about asserting causation for any measured effect.

Better World Books has a big banner at the top of its website with the number of books donated and amount of money raised for literacy & libraries. How are we as consumers supposed to know whether those number have made any impact whatsoever? It’s possible that they are donating books, which are then eventually making their way to landfills. In that case, Better World Books is just delaying the landfill process, rather than fixing it.

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SHINE Progress Report

Meera Krishna, Simone Laube, Shani Rokman, Andrew Kao, Jessica Kao, Jeff Jaehyun Kim

About SHINE

The SHINE mirror seeks to transform the getting ready experience by making the process fun, easy and tech-enabled. The mirror can catalogue your entire wardrobe and make suggestions for new outfits to wear. Additionally, the mirror provides useful information like time, weather and usage statistics to help you make the most of your wardrobe. SHINE comes with a smartphone app to help you access your wardrobe and control your mirror remotely. Moreover, the mirror utilizes smart, dynamic lighting so that you can see your outfit in realistic lighting conditions. SHINE helps consumers start their day prepared and looking their best.

Branding Challenge

When the SHINE team initially conceptualized the smart mirror, they focused the product on the female fashionista market. Over time, the SHINE team realized that there is a market for both men and women who are interested in adopting new technology that helps them look their best.

Our branding challenge is to answer the following three questions:

Should we position the SHINE brand to appeal to both men and women? For instance, what features appeal most to target male and female consumers?

Should SHINE be marketed as a tech product or a fashion product

Depending on answers to the first two questions, how does the current branding need to change?

Methodology

PHASE I

We will initially gather deep customer insights through surveys with males and females of all demographics. The survey will help us understand the following questions:

What are the current pain points with getting dressed?

How likely are consumers to adopt the concept of a smart mirror?

What smart features are most important to men and women? To fashionistas and non-fashionistas?

Who would be our ideal consumers?

The Phase I survey will prove or disprove the following Hypotheses:

Men and women care about different features

SHINE would be most compelling to tech enthusiasts that enjoy the trends of smart home application

SHINE would be most compelling to fashion forward consumers

People care most about time saved

People want help getting dressed

People care about how they look and dressed

People would find e-commerce through the mirror useful

We will send the survey through our personal networks and use Mechanical Turk to broaden our reach. We would want to get 200 responses from a specific demographic in Mechanical Turk.

PHASE II

In the second phase, we would like to collect additional consumer insights on the consumers we found to be most promising as our Beachhead Market in Phase One. We will conduct observational research through daily logs on a small subgroup of this segment. Subjects within our target customer base will write a log of their daily habits while getting ready in the morning. We will then pull customer insights from these logs in order to understand customer pain points and best product features.

@amklearns @jessicalearns @soundeff @rebrandingsloan @shanirok

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Lululemon’s “Luon:”Another Example of Ingredient Branding

The Intel Inside case reminded me of Lululemon’s “Luon” campaign. Lululemon, a popular athleisure apparel company, has spent many marketing dollars promoting its trademarked Luon fabric. Luon is the main fabric found in many Lululemon products, from yoga pants to headbands. The fabric is made out of 86% nylon and 14% Lycra. According to the company’s campaign, this fabric is special because it’s pre-shrunk and moisture-wicking.

Many of the company’s ads highlight the functional benefits of Luon. Over time, Lululemon has introduced a number of additional proprietary fabrics, including Luxtreme and Silverescent. With each new fabric, Lululemon ad campaigns continue to highlight the fabrics and their benefits (anti-stink, super stretch, breathability, etc.) as key differentiators from other athleisure products. In fact, the company even has a “behind the seams” section on its website detailing the specifications of each type of Lululemon fabric.

I think Lululemon’s decision to highlight its proprietary fabrics has succeeded. It seems that users buy into the ideal that these fabrics are the “special sauce” that makes Lululemon products high quality and thus, desirable. Loyalty is so strong that Lululemon customers remained faithful even after it was revealed that the Black Luon yoga pants were see-through. In that case, the Lululemon brand took more of a hit than Luon.

Lululemon has utilized its proprietary fabric brands to help the company build a resilient brand architecture.

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Lessons Learned from Luxury Brands

At this point in business school, I’ve read a number of cases and discussed many in-class examples of luxury brands that have struggled to regain stature. Burberry, Gucci, Coach, Ralph Lauren - it seems that many luxury fashion brands, in particular, have suffered from the same missteps. As such, I have created a list below of key principles that each luxury brand should follow to avoid some of the mistakes that have plagued companies in the past.

1. Exercise restraints and control with SKUs, licensing agreements and distribution channels. Many companies get licensing-happy and go overboard with the proliferation and distribution of products with their company’s brand. In the Burberry case, for instance, the brand became licensed across many categories (”from wallpaper to chocolate”), and this prevented Burberry from being able to control the quality, price and design of its products. As such, consumer perception of the brand was negatively impacted.

2. Find your niche. Burberry made the shrewd move of surveying the existing market and positioning itself between everyday wear (a la Ralph Lauren) and super luxury (a la Gucci and Hermes). Importantly, Burberry made sure that its branding was consistent with this niche and, in doing so, the company carved out a section of the market for itself.

3. Evolve around your roots. Many luxury brands have a mythology around their origins stories. In Burberry’s case, it was the utilitarian and stylish choice for the rugged Brit. When Burberry introduced its new campaign under Rose Marie Bravo, they acknowledged this history with the inclusion of British aristocrat, Stella Tenant, but then evolved the brand to attract more fashion-forward, edgy consumers with the inclusion of Kate Moss. Burberry struck a great note with this campaign - it stayed true to its roots and capitalized on the romance of its origins, but it expanded the notion of who a Burberry consumer could be.

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PayPal vs. Venmo

Our reading for Thursday reminded me of a project I did in my H1 Product Management class. Our team partnered with PayPal to design new product offerings that would draw millennials to the core PayPal platform.

As our team began to understand the PayPal brand and its target market, a number of brand issues became clear. First of all, PayPal suffered from an outdated image. Despite PayPal’s most recent “New Money” ad campaign (see below), many millennials still associate the company with eBay and older generations. In fact, most young people didn’t even know what types of products and service PayPal offered.

In contrast, nearly every single millennial is intimately familiar with Venmo, another financial app that offers a subset of the same services offered by PayPal. What most young people don’t know is that Venmo is owned by PayPal. The Venmo brand is young, hip and trendy. One Venmo user I interviewed said, “Venmo is the real new money.”

When millennials that we interviewed found out that Venmo was owned by PayPal, they were surprised and often responded with some variation of “it’s probably better that most people don’t know that.” The dissociation between Venmo and PayPal suggests that PayPal understands its brand shortcomings and maintains separation from Venmo to preserve Venmo’s strong millennial brand.

After this realization, we began to wonder how PayPal can entice millennial users without cannibalizing its Venmo user base. Is it even worth PayPal’s time to target millennials? Perhaps a better play is for PayPal to establish itself as the financial app to use as millennials get older, outgrow Venmo and face more complex financial lives.

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Differentiating SIA

After reading this case, I was surprised by the strong SIA brand that the case presented. As a frequent traveler in Asia, I do not perceive Singapore Airlines to be the dominant customer service player. While people regard SIA well (it’s still known to have excellent customer service), Emirates seems to be the new winner when people rank airline customer service and luxury. Moreover, smaller players like Cathay Pacific have also entered the competitive mix of Asian airlines known for offering outstanding customer experiences. This made me think that in the years since Singapore Airlines’ initial success, the company has struggled to differentiate itself from the growing pack of Asian airlines.

While SIA’s “Singapore Girls” campaign was unique and revolutionary when it first premiered in 1979-1980, today, many competing airlines have followed suite. In fact, after a quick Google search, a advertising theme of the exotic, refined and beautiful flight attendant quickly emerged. I’ve posted pictures from a few major Asian airlines below - Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Emirates. As you can see, the only way to really differentiate the ads are the uniforms and the logo on the plane in the background.

I don’t think that the “Singapore Girls” campaign is a differentiator for Singapore Airlines because other airlines have copied this strategy. Moreover, as discussed earlier, Singapore Airlines’ incredible customer service has also become less unique with players like Emirates emerging as the premier luxury and customer-focused airline.

Additionally, I’m sure that SIA, along with other Asia-based airlines, have been harmed by the negative press surrounding Malaysia Airlines. Many passengers now fear that their security and quality standards are not up-to-par with industry regulations. Singapore Airlines must find a way to break from the Asian airlines pack, finding different ways to differentiate itself from its competitors.

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Concha y Toro: Learning from Yellow Tail

This week’s Concha y Toro case reminded me of a similar case that I studied in my H1 Product Management class. In that class, we discussed Yellow Tail’s branding and marketing strategy in detail.

Yellow Tail is on the lower end of wine brand perception. It’s not quite as bad as Boone’s Farm or Franzia, but it’s not much of a step up. Interestingly, however, this positioning was Yellow Tail’s intent from the start. Yellow Tail realized that the growing market of wine drinkers did not know much about wine. Importantly, many of the consumers they wanted to target actually preferred beer to wine. Instead of positioning themselves as a competitor to existing budget wine brands, Yellow Tail decided to position their product as a competitor to beer.

Unlike other wine producers’ marketing campaigns, Yellow Tail markets itself as an easy, accessible, fun wine. Their labeling is simple, bright and colorful. Instead of including lots of confusing information about vineyard, grape, vintage, their label just has a logo and the name of the grape. They keep it exceptionally simple. Even their website has a helpful and easy-to-understand flavor map to guide consumers to the “right” wine for them.

Perhaps Concha y Toro can learn from Yellow Tail’s embracing of the basic segment and utilize a “top-down” strategy to entice new drinkers to enter the wine market and to convert existing value wine drinkers to try Concha y Toro.

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Comparing Four Products with the 5 Factors Framework

In order to compare the four products presented in “Four Products: Predicting Diffusion,” I decided to create a comparison chart using Rogers’ 5 Factors Framework. I highlighted those qualities that should increase likelihood of diffusion, and based on my rudimentary analysis, I predicted that Silver Band Aids and Satellite Radio have the greatest likelihood of diffusion. Now, we know that Satellite Radio was a commercial success, but after a quick Google search, I don’t think we can say the same for Silver Band Aids. This makes me wonder: are some of the five factors more important than others in predicting diffusion? Are there other factors we should be considering? Food for thought...

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Corona vs. Heineken

While reading this case, I found it particularly interesting that Corona considers Heineken to be its biggest competition because I perceive the brands as attracting completely different audiences.

I’ve always considered Corona to be a beer for everyone to enjoy on vacation and in the warmer months (my Corona consumption certainly increases between the months of May and August). Heineken, on the other hand, seems to be a male-focused beer. I imagine a bunch of guys drinking Heineken while they watch the game when they’re in the mood for something classier/higher quality than their standard bud lights.

Based on these perceptions, I would think that Corona would have an easier time attracting customers because the brand/product is more accessible. What then is stopping them from gaining the #1 spot?

Perhaps people think of Corona as a special occasion beer rather than an “everyday” beer. I asked my husband when it occurs to him to order a Corona, and he said “when I’m eating Mexican food or on a beach.” My husband drinks a lot of beer, so this narrow view of when it’s acceptable to drink Corona is limiting the amount he purchases. It may behoove Corona to move beyond the “fun, sun, beach” message and convince consumers that Corona can be an every day beer.

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Black and Decker

Black and Decker faces a serious brand perception problem with tradesman that is partially due to its success with everyday consumers. The case notes that many tradesmen see B&D as a power tool brand for laymen, lacking the quality necessary for repeated use on the job. This is a particularly tricky situation for B&D because the greater marketshare they gain with everyday consumers, the stronger the brand’s “novice” perception becomes among tradesman.

As I’m sure we will discuss in class, changing consumer perception of a brand is extremely difficult. After reading this case, I immediately thought of a Gucci case that I had read in another marketing class. In that case, Gucci’s brand had deteriorated due to lack of product curation and diminishing perceived exclusivity. Gucci ended up eliminating its product line and essentially starting from scratch with a new designer, Tom Ford, to redefine the Gucci look. The rebranding process was eventually successful (Gucci was able to elevate the brand from where it was), but Gucci never fully regained its footing in the ultra-luxury space.

While maintaining the company brand name worked for Gucci, I do not think it will work for B&D. I suggest that B&D rebrand its power tools under the “DeWalt” name and aggressively target the tradesmen segment. They may also want to consider adding additional features and services to attract this segment - perhaps they can sell these tools in more niche stores, offer a separate customer service center for DeWalt tools or hold special expos for tradesman to promote the products. The DeWalt brand is B&D’s best chance of capturing the tradesman market and overtaking Makita’s market share.

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Nudges in Politics, Part II