Friday, July 31, 2009

Competitive Set

Consumers make choices. Either consciously or sub-conciously, before they use your brand, they consider their options.

And let's be clear, this isn't just about purchase, it's about use. Once they buy, they still have to decide to use. And this is important because it's only after use that they can reward you with...repurchase.

Stories of brands that failed to understand their competitive set are legion. Oh most of us understand the core-category competitive set (who is next to us on the grocery aisle). It's the cross category set that blindsides you. Coca-cola and water. Primetime TV and facebook. Music and video games.

A great place to start understanding your true competive set is understanding usage occasion. Most brands have various usage occasions, not just one, so they have different competitive sets. Understanding consumer behavior inside each of those occasions is key and may allow you to better pick your battles. And this understanding will evolve with time. One key consumption occasion for recorded music (CDs) is driving/riding in a car. For decades, competition was limited to radio. Today telephone calls and texting are the strongest competitors.

And it's not enough to know who the competitors are, but what are the factors that drive choice among the competitors? Example, guys that listen to sports talk radio in the car. One usage occasion competitor is "work related cell phone calls". So what happens when the economy tanks, business goes sour and job security goes down? Guys work harder, spend more time on their phones chasing business. Sports talk usage goes down. It's not about JACK FM, its about the jacked economy.

It's not always easy to understand what to do against your cross category competitors, but you have to understand who you are fighting against to win the battle. As a marketer, your challenge is that most in your organization will fixate on core category competition. This is typically driven by the need for short term sales results, but fails to see the forest for the trees.

So who is your competitive set?

Monday, July 27, 2009

Functional Benefits

Unlike Seinfeld (the show about nothing) brands are about something. To have value, they must have benefit. Ultimately, the consumer asks, "What's this do for me?"

Brands deliver functional and emotional benefits to their users. Both are essential, but I believe the functional benefit is precedent in brand building. Everything else builds on this decision and no amount of marketing overcomes a mistake in this area.

Brands exist inside competitive sets or categories, and often sub-categories. These categories typically have a core functional benefit, maybe more than one. They are the price of entry. People buy detergents to clean clothes. People drink soda because they are thirsty. They eat when they are hungry. They buy pet food their pet will eat. You may or may not be able to differentiate around a category's functional benefit, but you better be competitive.

Which brings us to product performance. As a marketer, you must know the truth about your brand's performance compared to competition and compared to consumer expectation. No amount of trial overcomes lousy performance.

So within your competitive set, what is the core functional benefit(s)?

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Why Iron & Chrome?

I'm fond of analogies. This one has to do with brand construction.

Too many marketers spend their time only on the chrome finish. They ignore the essential "ironwork" that is required to build a brand for the long term: Consumer Understanding. Product Understanding. Consumer Insights. Vision. Positioning statement. Strategy Archectiture and on. Instead their days are spent on the shiny tricks and tactics that lure consumers to evaluate the brand. The "chrome" that masks the shotty, haphazard construction underneath. They are all about trial, but never build loyalty.

Great brands have both, iron and chrome, and both are essential for enduring success.

Twitter / davidcrace