Sienna Santer

Harvard '22

[siennasanter]

The iPod Effect

When you think of France, images of basking under the Eiffel Tower or drinking champagne on a balcony come to mind. You think of luxury, elegance, high fashion, and fine dining. Despite California wines often beating out French ones, the French wine industry still flourishes due to the positive associations and perceptions of France as a country.

Source: https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2019/03/health-officials-tell-french-to-cut-down-on-wine/

This “Halo Effect” in marketing leads consumers to buy into brands with which they have positive associations, and this positive association is often secured through a single holy grail product. For Apple, this was the iPod in 2005. Despite having personal computers and software that were much higher priced and could have given them much more revenue, Apple focused on marketing the iPod as THE product to own (such as through their highly visible iPod Silhouettes). Small, portable, and relatively affordable, it was easy to market this personal music player as something anyone who is anyone should own. This popularity and the success of their marketing campaigns for the iPod secured Apple in the eyes of the consumer as a fun, technologically savvy, high quality brand with their finger on the pulse. Instead of competing in the personal computer market which was quite saturated at the time, Apple focused on a cheaper market where they could dominate, coming to own 74% of the digital music market share. This Halo Effect due to the iPod transferred to their other products, and after the 2005 iPod marketing campaigns, Apple’s sales increased by 38 percent and their profits by 384 percent.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/387239267936168469/

Just as Apple owned the digital music space and focused on the iPod to cement their brand, so too should Concha Y Toro pursue a “top-down” approach to focus on its cheaper wines and expanding into lower price categories. Due to associations and the Halo Effect, Chilean wines will not be able to practically compete with luxury French wines, but they can dominate the market of affordable quality wines. Branding their Chilean wines as affordable but fun, innovative, and appealing to a younger market looking to become wine connoisseurs without breaking the bank could help them manage associations in a positive way and paint the brand as THE wine for millennials and Gen Z just entering the wine market. For Concha Y Toro, “Made in Chile” matters. As it is rather a blank slate right now, it is up to them to drive its positive associations and create a Halo Effect of their own.

Note: this post is a makeup post for Week 3. 

[siennasanter]

The Burberry Look: From Fuddy Duddy to Hype Beast

Even more so than an Hermes bag, anyone who was anyone in England had a Burberry trench coat.

Growing up in London in the 1980s, my mum described the old Burberry as a brand for the established aristocracy “fuddy duddies.” The brand screamed holidays in the countryside and wealthy aristocrats, with its main pieces being scarves and trench coats. “At Christmas, you gave a Burberry trench coat,” my mum said. “It was THE gift to give someone,” she said, a symbol of the British upper class, often given by one’s parents or grandparents.

1980s Burberry Ad in Vogue. Source: https://picclick.co.uk/Vintage-1980s-Vogue-Magazine-Art-Advert-Ad-Picture-202509980624.html

All of that soon changed. My mum tells me that she remembers the exact time when Burberry rebranded and she was a young professional living in London. Suddenly Burberry went from traditional trench coats and scarves to fun Wellington boot liners and ponchos. Burberry became reckless and adventurous, and took enormous risks in its advertising, catering to the 18-24 year old range. It was unusual to have an English brand that was so young and fun. “It was cool,” my mum said, “and it was so English.” Burberry’s commitment to English heritage made fun and spontaneous for the British youth secured its identity as an aspirational high fashion brand for young people.

Kate Moss in a Burberry Bikini, 2000. Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/529735974891126271/

In recognizing the iconicness of their check, Burberry differentiated itself from its competitors who did not have as much brand power. Whenever someone saw check, they thought of Burberry. While before aristocracy had prided themselves on owning luxury that was not flashy or that no one knew about, the new rebranded Burberry catered to a younger crowd who wanted everyone to know they owned Burberry. Burberry was one of the first luxury brands to enter into the “hype beast” trend of flashy displays of designer logos and patterns. Today the trend of showing off fashion is incredibly common amongst young people and celebrities alike, due to brands such as Supreme, Off White, Louis Vuitton, and Balenciaga. While the old money aristocracy did not want anyone to know just how much their bag or scarf cost and valued its quality above anything else, the new money and the youth took pride in everyone knowing just how much their outfit cost them. While Burberry may not have known that their catering to youth and branding of their signature check would help instigate this trend, it has lasted well into today, with high fashion brands placing their logo on just about anything from phone cases to face masks. As is everything in fashion, this trend will die out eventually, but for the meantime we can enjoy it while it lasts and go pick up a Burberry inspired band-aid on our next run to the drugstore.

Hypebeast Korea and Burberry event at the Burberry flagship store in Seoul, South Korea to celebrate the launch of Burberry’s 2018 Capsule Collection. Source: https://www.trend-hotspot.com/fashion/hypebeast-korea-and-burberry-celebrate-burberrys-latest-collection-in-their-flagship-store-in-seoul/

[siennasanter]

Be Right Back, Going to Complete a Puzzle

Jigsaw puzzles are timeless. Invented in 1767, puzzles have been around to educate and entertain children and adults alike for centuries. From puzzles for toddlers to complex 1000 piece puzzles that take over an entire family living room and stump adults for days, puzzles are an amazing way to improve brain function and are a fun yet challenging activity anyone can partake in. While puzzles are often dismissed as a child’s toy, recently I have seen adults and teenagers alike challenging each other to puzzle completion, tackling a 5000 piece puzzle on a rainy day and laminating it once it is done in a display of triumph. The case on Stave puzzles immediately stood out to me for this reason, and I think it has potential as a successful business with great product diffusion.

Image source: https://www.660citynews.com/2020/02/12/snapping-into-place-jigsaw-puzzles-have-ardent-following/

Relative advantage

Thick cut mahogany-backed plywood puzzle pieces over flimsy cardboard ones barely a centimeter thick? There is barely a competition. Stave puzzles are aesthetically pleasing and beautifully handcrafted with initials and dates on each piece, making the puzzles like art. Not only are the materials of Stave puzzles superior, but they also redefine puzzles before them by offering inventive pieces, multiple ways of completion, and personalized designs. However, the extremely high price point does detract from their relative advantage for most folks who are unwilling to shell out hundreds of dollars for a puzzle. Rather, they certainly cater to a specific market: higher-income people who have disposable time on their hands to engage in an activity like solving a puzzle, and who are highly competitive and enjoy a challenge. They also cater to those who value social capital and owning things that are luxury or custom, as those who do not care about this would not see much value in a Stave puzzle over one found at Target.

Compatibility

While Stave puzzles’ quality, custom designs, and inventive pieces and engineering set them apart from everyday puzzles, they still have many of the same features as an ordinary puzzle, allowing them to be compatible with the current market. As they are not completely redefining the puzzle or disrupting the experience of completing a puzzle in any way, I imagine that Stave puzzles are relatively compatible with customers’ existing values and experiences of puzzles, building upon them in a way that makes them easily consumable.

Cutting the puzzle pieces. Image source: https://www.stavepuzzles.com/basics/

Complexity

Stave puzzles are highly complex, but this is part of what differentiates them from everyday puzzles. With Richardson creating new puzzle pieces such as the Phony Corner and Whammy Edge, or puzzles such as the Champ which has 32 incorrect ways you can complete it, the ingenuity of these puzzles is unmatched. Leaving people on the edge of their seats waiting to see if the puzzle can be completed, as the article describes, is exactly the type of complexity that is entertaining and will keep people engaged until they achieve mastery. Playing on people’s stubbornness and ego, Richardson is selling the idea that his puzzles are special and extremely complex, making anyone want to attempt to tackle them. Despite the frustration that may follow, the feeling of satisfaction and triumph at completing one of these difficult puzzles will be unmatched and will inspire people to try another. That is what will keep them coming back and buying again and again.

Trialability

Testing puzzles out in the open could be a way to increase experimentation with Stave puzzles. While puzzles are often done in the comfort of one’s home, supplying them at high-end restaurants or bars, as well as country clubs and lounges could be a way to introduce them to the target consumer and allow them to try them, just as in the case study the two men completed the puzzle in a Canoe Club with an audience rooting for their success. Since the puzzles are so niche and cannot be bought in a local store, I imagine most target consumers would come to know about the puzzles through word-of-mouth or observation, which may make it hard to popularize them on a mass scale.

The infamous “Flutterby” puzzle from the article. Image source: https://www.stavepuzzles.com/product/flutterby/

Observability

Stave Puzzles are highly observable, as their unique designs, beautiful colors, and thick plywood pieces differentiate them from the skinny flimsy cardboard puzzles one would find in a department store. Puzzles are also done out in the open and are extremely collaborative, as many people are able to tackle the same puzzle at once. Furthermore, the custom nature of the puzzles and their uniqueness is what makes them truly observable. Being able to brag that you have a custom-made luxury puzzle from the same maker who also gave a custom-made puzzle to the Queen of England certainly is incentive enough to those who value the admiration of their peers.

Be right back, I’m going to go complete a puzzle now. 

[siennasanter]

The Glossier Way

Source: https://www.lily-like.com/glossier-beauty-bible/

Through nudging, brands help their customers make better decisions online, driving customer autonomy and encouraging buying. One brand that employs nudging incredibly well is Glossier, a millennial makeup and skincare e-commerce brand. Famous for their incredibly aesthetically appealing packaging and Instagram page, Glossier uses visual bias to create an overwhelming first impression to its consumers that is universal across its website, social media, and the types of people it features, and peer influence to create a brand that gives social capital to its customers as being high-end and trendy, encouraging customers to buy into being a “Glossier girl.”

Source: https://www.glossier.com/

Glossier uses the avatar-based approach by highlighting their ideal consumers — attractive and skinny models and Instagram “it” girls — and their skincare routines, allowing customers shopping online to compare their skin to several different women and view the products they use through interactive videos. Allowing customers to follow a model’s skincare routine with skin just like theirs and then also highlighting the products they use directly opposite nudges the customers to establish a connection with the model and then buy the same products immediately. The message is clear: use our products, and you’ll look just like this model.

Source: https://www.glossier.com/

When shopping a specific product, aesthetically pleasing photographs depicting the product on different skin tones and different women allow customers to recognize themselves in the models and see themselves and their skin tone represented. Thus, Glossier allows its customers to establish a connection to its products by seeing closely what they would look like wearing them — allowing them to virtually “try-on” products.

Source: https://www.glossier.com/

Glossier also employs customized recommendation engines in the form of a skincare quiz to personalize the shopping experience for its customer. The quiz is interactive, fun, and short, generating a full customized skincare regimen for the customer with detailed instructions on which products to use in the morning and evening, skincare tips especially for them, and all of the relevant products conveniently lined up on the page for easy purchasing. Everything is perfectly laid out for you to get perfect skin — and what is there to keep you from buying into this routine?

Source: https://www.glossier.com/

Glossier is selling the idea of belonging — that buying into their products makes you part of a special club. Using Glossier’s nudging tools to analyze Heineken’s, we can see how Heineken is falling short in captivating its consumer base. Its website is not easy on the eyes, hard to use, and confusing. A few immediate nudging implementations come to mind that would allow Heineken to create consumer autonomy and drive sales:

Heineken could implement a personalized quiz similar to Glossier’s that would allow customers to choose their beer preference, recommending products specifically to each consumer based on their lifestyle and taste preferences.

Just as Glossier puts its customers front and center as the face of the brand, Heineken could also employ an avatar-based approach to create different “avatars” of its key consumers, their careers and hobbies, and which Heineken beer is their favorite. This would allow consumers shopping on the site to see themselves reflected in other customers who use Heineken, allowing them to establish an emotional connection to the product.

Furthermore, instead of cookie-cutter models straight from stock images, Heineken should also feature its customers front and center on its social media. Adopting influencer marketing and highlighting the photos of its everyday customers would utilize peer influence to drive customers to buy the Heineken that their friends and favorite influencers are buying.

[siennasanter]

All-American B&D vs Miss Mikita

Historically, Black and Decker (B&D) has remained one of the largest consumer-facing power tools brands and a top household-name brand worldwide. Despite a history of selling traditional power tools, B&D’s move “from the garage to the home” in the 1970s most likely signified a desire to expand their consumer base. In 1990, B&D’s second biggest product group with 15% of its sales that year was household products, such as irons, toasters, and vacuums, all most likely marketed to and used by housewives. While the spread of B&D’s product line into the household goods sector may have solidified their reputation in the Consumer segment, expanding B&D to household products made their products seem unappealing to tradesmen who earned a serious living from their tools and weakened their brand identity. Furthermore, instances of tradesmen using B&D’s Consumer products on the job and witnessing them fail further cemented the brand’s reputation as unreliable and not for professional use.

As the products in the Professional-Industrial segment were purchased from a distributor by a company and not individually bought by each worker, B&D still excelled in this category. Historically known for its good quality and as a reputable name-brand alongside Pepsi and Hershey, B&D would be commonly recommended to companies by distributors such as W.W. Grainger. Contracting companies, having most likely heard of B&D and trusting its reputation and the recommendation of the distributor, would then purchase large quantities of tools to complete the project, most likely not having the time to engage in significant research and instead relying heavily on reputation and the distributor’s recommendation.

However, for workers such as plumbers, carpenters, and electricians who were expected to provide their own tools for their everyday job and who shopped in the Professional-Tradesman segment, the quality and brand of their power tools were imperative. Thus, those shopping in the Professional-Tradesman segment who earned a living from their tools were more likely to conduct research and engage in word-of-mouth marketing (such as the comment the President of B&D happened to overhear — “just have to stay away from that Black & Decker!”), and discussions of tools and their performance was a common occurrence on the job site. While other brands were known for excelling in a certain product such as Skil in circular saws, Mikita was commonly known amongst tradesmen as being reliable in all categories of tools. Rather than asking around each time they needed to buy a new tool, tradesmen were more likely to purchase from the brand they knew to be reliable each time. Furthermore, buying a set from one brand would make it significantly cheaper that buying individual tools from separate brands, allowing tradesmen to save some of the $3,000 on average they shell out for the around 10 power tools they use.

Image source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/1025393/Black-Decker-Print-Ads-FireStorm

Image source: https://www.collectiveshout.org/makita_sexualises_women

Mikita’s brand not only is superior in quality, but also in appearance. B&D’s charcoal gray coloring of both its professional-grade and consumer-grade tools is common of consumer-grade tools across the market, while professional-grade tools often sport bright colors such as red and green. Mikita’s teal is not only more vibrant but more unique and recognizable, as they are the only teal professional-grade power tool. Indeed, a worker’s comment that he would be ridiculed for showing up with “one of those Black & Decker gray things” highlighted how B&D’s color scheme cemented its brand as consumer-grade and not for professional use. In the masculine world of tradesmen and operating heavy machinery, the appearance of tools are imperative. A quick search of Mikita’s and B&D’s marketing strategies show a clear discrepancy in how they market to men: while B&D appeals to the narrative of middle-class men becoming the boss around their own house through images of working white men and hands gripping tools, Mikita sells the sexiness of power tools and the male fantasy by leaving men out and instead marketing their tools around scantily clad women. The Mikita Calendar, the crowning of an annual “Miss Mikita” and “Señorita Makita,” and even Mikita’s home page (shown above) all center the brand around sexiness. This image is the opposite of the good-natured, all-American middle-class man looking to fix up his home that B&D sells, giving Mikita a certain professionalism and sex-appeal not available to a household-name and family brand such as Black and Decker.

Image source: https://www.makitatools.com/company/press-releases/2012/august-calendars-available-for-download