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Branding Position & Social Media Presence Workshop for Eureka Robotics

I would like to dedicate this last Tumblr post to my classmates who participated in a workshop I animated yesterday, on Tuesday, May 14, to brainstorm on Branding Image and Social Media Presence Strategies for the Start-Up my husband and I have been working on.

Who is Eureka?

We provide Automation and Robotics solution for Companies who needs the precision handling manufacturing in this Industry 4.0 era. How do we do that? We make Robots smarter. With our technology, the robot can see, grasp delicately, and move objects with the most optimized trajectory.

Background

At Eureka, we’ve been running low key on social media since the birth of startup last April 2018.

Now that we have a pretty solid customer base, we believe it is now a good time to start building a brand and social media image for Eureka.

We have some multimedia materials but do not have a clear vision of how to utilize those materials to build a consistent brand image for the business.

After watching the branding presentations in 15.846 Branding class and some videos produced in the framework of the 15.283 Social Media class, I realized that the best source of ideas and expertise are from my dear classmates that I have the privilege to rub shoulders with and that I admire so much!

Goals

Our objectives for the Branding Image and Social Media Presence Strategy are of 2 folds:

To be known as the go-to company (in Singapore, then South East Asia, and the world) for companies that need automation;

To become attractive to the best talents (the Google or Facebook of robotics)

The key takeaways I had from the 1.5-hour workshops are:

Even though my presentation is intentionally left plain and without any analysis to leave space to mental freedom, we still fell back to the classical tools learned in class - Roger’s 5 factors, 5Cs, 4Ps, the ladder of inference, etc. Below is the screenshot of a Whatsapp message of Taiki, a PR professional, summarizing his suggestions on what we should be focusing on when creating content for our social media posts and branding image. Marien, the strategist of the group also reminded me of always starting from those fundamentals.

Shigeki made me realized that we did not mention anywhere on our website about the competitive advantage of our technology as compared to the incumbents one.

I also learned from my amazing Social Media Guru classmate Fee that we need to choose carefully the type of social media platform we want to be on. Each platform has its own specificity and is tailored to a particular type of content and frequency of post (e.g. Instagram would be short and carefully taken video or pictures, the frequency would be 2 o 3 times per week. LinkedIn would be highly focused and specialized articles, preferably every 2 to 4 weeks).

I also learned that once we have chosen a medium, and started posting, there is “no way back” if we wanted to have a significant online presence. Consistency in frequency and content is key.

James provided a detailed analysis in detail of what we could improve in the demo videos so that it can reach a broader audience and create a higher impact.

Satoshi, another PR professional, and an incredibly creative classmate suggested the use of Press Release Distribution service to distribute the news I have to several web media.

Sheridan demonstrated that sometimes, the old method of distributing brochures can be the most efficient way in building “brand awareness” when you attend conferences and exhibitions.

Joyce reminded us one of the fundamentals for any company to drive brand awareness and sales is to invest in Google Adwords.

Josh highlighted the fact that we should also consider industry focus channels by ensuring our presence on dedicated website forums, targeting consulting companies reports, conferences articles, etc.

Nick suggested to highlight the university, media, and advisor affiliations in the description of our companies on LinkedIn and website. I wouldn’t have noticed that we missed that in our description!

And last but not least, Brotish, as a true leader, gave me very insightful feedback on the organization of my workshop.

Leadership is about making those around you better. I am blessed to have amazing friends and being part of this cohort.

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“Fair & Lovely” vs. “Dark is Beautiful”

This post is a reflection of the HBS case 9-516-079 Fair & Lovely vs. Dark is Beautiful.

The success of whitening skin products in Asia

Let’s first watch this Thai commercial of a skin whitening product.

How can a company dare to invest in such an advertisement with potential controversy and unethical values? 

The product does not explicitly advertise the “benefits” of fairer skin, but customers, embedded in the local culture, associate fair skin to other benefits that the cultural norms and values (such as finding a successful husband, opening doors to a successful career, receiving social recognition, etc.) that the product can bring them beyond a fair skin. 

It also plays with humor and exaggerates the benefit of the product. The customer would obviously not expect such a result and therefore do not hold the product accountable if no whitening benefit is observed after using the product.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Coco Chanel and the beauty industry successfully promoted suntans

In Vietnam, most women wear long gloves, long dresses, face masks and hat to protect their skin from the sun to appear fairer, while European and American women prefer a dark tan.

It is not just a mindset that survives from colonialism. All over Asia, lighter skin has always been associated with a higher cast. Even in Europe, all the way to the late 20s,  having a darker skin was associated with being a manual worker and having low status. Women went to great lengths to preserve pallid skin, as a sign of their “refinement”.

This is not until Coco Chanel successfully promoted suntans with the liberation of women and the change in attitude in less restrictive lifestyle and habits. Women wore shorter dresses, looser corsets, embrace pleasurable activities such as smoking, drinking, and dancing. Sunbathing was another way for women to express their freedom and rebellion, shedding the conservative ways of the Victorian era.

Nowadays, women with toffee-colored skin such as Jessica Alba, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, are at the forefront of the definition of 21st-century beauty.

What can WoW learn from Coco Chanel? Will the new definition of the western 21st-century beauty help WoW in its “Dark is Beautiful”?

Some personal sharing

To finish I would like to demonstrate how culture and your surrounding can affect your behavior and choices.

These are pictures of me during two consecutive summers.

On the right - Summer 2008 - In Vietnam, completely covered from head to toe trying to prevent my skin from sun tanning.

On the left - Summer 2009 - In California, trying to get as much sun as possible to look like a true Californian girl!

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Experience at Yume Yo Katare Ramen - Analysis through the lens of Behavioral Science

In this post, I would like to tell you about my experience at one of the highest ranked Ramen shops in Cambridge, located in Porter Square, Yume Yo Katare.

The shop is old and tiny. You don’t even get to sit on a proper table facing your friends. It is not located at the best location. The ramen is good but not exceptional. The chefs are not Japanese.

But, why is the queue never less than 50 ft even at the opening time, and never less than 45 min long? Why did I have such a great experience there and could not help myself spreading the words with so much excitement about that restaurant, even after 2 weeks since my last visit?

Let’s analyze the experience through the lenses of the 5 operating principles for service-encounter management from the behavioral science findings from the article “Want to Perfect Your Company’s Service? Use Behavioral Science” by Richard B.Chase and Sriram Dasu. The principles will not be listed in order.

Principle 2: Get the Bad Experiences out of The Way Early.

The experience starts at the queue. First, when you arrive you are expected to queue for at least 45 min.

The management and optimization of the queue and the occupancy in the room almost perfectly follow the Little’s law we learned in 15.778 Introduction to Operations. The staff comes by to check on us and to group us by batches every 10 min in order to minimize the waiting effect on us.

Then, as soon as we got in the restaurant, we are asked to choose from a simple menu of 2 choices (3 pieces or 5 pieces of meat) and 3 choices of drinks (Water, Oolong Tea, Jasmine Tea). After paying at the cashier, one of the only 3 staff brings us to our “table” (or I shall call it bench), organizing us row by row. From there, the all pain stops, and the series of surprises begin with the entire staff crew screaming out loud in sync “Irasshaimase” (“welcome” in Japanese).

Principle 4: Build Commitment Through Choice

The very limited choice of drinks and food makes us accountable for choosing that restaurant for that particular single dish. It also makes us believe that the restaurant surely is the specialist of that particular dish. While preparing for the dish before serving to us, the chef asks us whether we would want some “delicious garlic”. Thinking about it, they could have asked us while taking our order. But no, this was asked by the chef, who faces the rows of customers as if they were the professors and the customers were the students. It was the first step of rapport building.

Principle 3: Segment Pleasure, Combine the Pain

We have seen how the pain was all combined at the beginning of the experience. The pleasure was segmented and spreading throughout the time we stayed in the restaurant.

The staff had in total 3 times of planned contacts with the customers. Every single time, they came with a huge smile, warmth, and a surprise:

Before bringing us to our seat, we are asked whether we would like to share our dream at the end of the meal.

When receiving our meal, we are surprised by the generous portion of food served.

When we finish, the same staff will rate our performance (whether we finish our meal) by screaming out loud “Here we have a [rating]. Let’s give a round of applause”. The [rating] can be “Perfect” (the bowl is empty), “Very Good” (Noodle is all consumed, only some broth is left), or “Almost” (some noodle and broth are left).

Depending on whether we chose it, we’ll be invited to share our dream. Once the dream is shared, everyone in the restaurant - customers and chefs - will give you an enthusiastic round of applause.

And of course, throughout the meal, you are entertained with other customers sharing their dreams and the staff announcing their rating as the customers finish their meal and leave the restaurant.

Principle 1: Finish Strong.

The experience finishes strong by giving the opportunity to the customer to share their deepest dream and thoughts (and vulnerability). We all feel emerge again in our childhood when sharing innocent and positive thought and being ready to receive appreciations from strangers.

Principle 5: Give People Rituals and Stick to them.

Even though the restaurant is extremely crowded, tight, and the number of staff is limited, every single customer goes through the same ritual. Queue - Choice of Food - Payment - Choice Sharing Dream - Sitting - Choice of “Delicious Garlic” - Eating while listening to others’  dream - Eating performance rating by the staff - Sharing of Dream - Receiving applause - Leaving the restaurant, as they reconnect back to reality after a short escape to their childhood.

Inside the restaurant - Customers are students and the Chef is the professor

Tiny restaurant but why so popular?

The Ramen when served (with “delicious garlic”)

The “Very Good” Rating Eating Performance

The “Perfect” Rating Eating Performance

The queue is never shorter than 45 min.

Travel to childhood.

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Concha y Toro - which way forward?

This post is a reflection on the Harvard Business Case Concha y Toro (Case 9-509-018).

Does a “bottom-up” or “top-down” strategy make more sense for Concha Y Toro? Why does “Made in Chile” matter?

“Top-Down” strategy makes more sense as a way forward for Concha Y Toro:

It will be counter-intuitive for a medium brand to go to high-end, prestige position. The rebranding needed for the “bottom-up” strategy will be highly capital intensive and will require a shift in consumer behavior and perception of the brand. However, the “Top-Down” strategy will have a higher chance of success as it has an existing market on the medium price point and higher quality. Expending this beachhead market to a larger market with higher demand at the lower price point is possible.

As the case indicated, Chilean individual producers are more prone to sell their land during a crisis.

We saw how the Chilean economy is highly dependant on copper,  which is a commodity, and the government savings. Reaching the economy of scale, owning land will make the brand less sensitive to a crisis, and fluctuation of the Chilean Pesos.

Research has shown that during a crisis, customers don’t spend money on Luxury items and holidays, but would opt for small leisures such as mid-budget restaurant, cinemas, etc. Wine can also benefit from this trend [1].Concha Y Toro has an existing strong distribution network, relationship with retailers, on which it can leverage to successfully execute this strategy.

Concha Y Toro can benefit from the reputation and branding of Chilean wine overall as the Volvo of the wine world. A product quality consistency in large-scale product. Coupled with the strategy and competitive advantages mentioned above, it will create a reinforcing loop, advantageously position Concha y Toro in those market segments.

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Corona & MIT Grad Gala 2019

These pictures were taken last Saturday (April 6, 2019) at the #MITGradGala2019 on the #SpiritOfBoston. What do they have in common?

The lime-topped, clear-bottled, pale lager Corona appeals to everyone by proposing a different value to each of its market segments:

Traditionally non-beer drinker, for example, women (gender neutral and beautiful long-neck-bottle design)

Working Professional (Wish-I-was-on-a-beach attitude - escape from reality)

People with (or who wish they had an) adventurous lifestyle (e.g. surfers, etc.)

In a social gathering, I see two categories of drinkers - those who drink sparkling wine from a champagne flute or sip spirit from a whiskey glass, and those who drink beers from a pint glass or directly from a dark glass bottle. But if you hold a white-yellow-blue bottle with a lime on the top, somehow I see you mixing well with both groups.

How did I shape that image?  In my opinion, Corona has used very effectively Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle in its advertising techniques. Here is how the three modes of persuasion, Ethos, Pathos & Logos, have influenced my perception of this beer brand:

Ethos: The brand calls upon ethics and values to create credibility in it.  Corona grows with the economy of Mexico and contributes its development. The multinational beverage company inspires Mexican passion and pride.

Pathos: The brand elicits emotions in the consumer. Corona started with an image of pleasant time in Mexico (“cross the border”) as Mexico was not considered a traditional brewing country. Throughout the years, even if the ad campaign evolved, the theme was consistent with “Fun, Sun, and Beach”. This consistent guiding message establishes the premium image in the US.

Logos: The brand puts logic into play by using evidence and facts. To confirm its position as a premium imported beer, the bottle was sold in its authentic Mexican form with the same design and same glass. Despite the sudden increase of the FTE in 1990, the brand chose to maintain consistency by gradually increasing the price over a period of 3 years. Supported with a consistent marketing campaign, Corona has maintained its image of a high-end level import brand. #2019mitsloanbrandingb #2019MITSloanBrandingB

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Do you refer to this sticker as a sign of reliability and superior performance while making your decision on which laptop to purchase?

This is the result of a long-term marketing strategy plan that Intel started in the late ’80s. Rare are the B2B brands that managed to build a strong brand recognition throughout the whole value chain - they gained the trust of the OEM companies and computer brands, and connect with the end customer.

The HBS case “Inside Intel Inside” illustrates Intel’s marketing strategy.

Problem: Intel had high brand awareness amongst customers. However, the quality, one of its biggest strength was not always associated with the brand. Also, customers could not make the difference between different processors and different brands.

Objective:  “Brand strategy has to follow our business strategy” (Dennis Carter, technical assistant to Intel Chairman Andy Grove). Intel wanted people to associate the brand with Reliability and Leading Technology.

Strategy: Intel not only developed the brand with an extensive company marketing campaign (e.g. the extensive usage of a distinguishable Logo “Intel Inside”), it also leveraged the strategic partners in the value chain to enhance its brand (co-branding) image and improve penetration in the existing and new customers base (e.g engagement with OEM companies in advertisement).