Timeless brands - How can I make my brand to stay relevant?

Are you trying to 

ind a consumer insight that can help your brand stay relevant whilst re#,3;  dqb maining true to its b  rand essence? Are you interested in anticipating consumer trends to stay ahead of the curve? The examples in this blog post could inspire you to bring this mindset to your job.

This Christmas I visited the ‘Volez, Voguez, Voyaguez’ exhibition from Louis Vuitton in NYC. The purpose of the exhibition is to bring to life the story of the brand, its founders and as well of those who today are inventing the Louis Vuitton of tomorrow. When you get in the exhibition, you need to download the exhibition app. This app can be used to enhance your experience of the exhibition using photo filters and unlocking virtual experiences throughout the different rooms.

The tour opens with the most symbolic object of the brand, the maison, which was created in 1854 and since then it has been considered a model fashioned with contemporary flair, embodying the travelling & forward-looking spirit of the brand. The design of the trunk taps into a bold ‘diamond insight’ which is

‘Travellers desire to explore every corner of the world without renouncing to their comfort and elegant lifestyle’

Sticking to this powerful insight has allowed the brand to evolve and develop products that meet the needs of travellers of all times.

The thing that stricken me the most is Louis Vuitton's ability to design products which adapted to the changes in transportation methods and people’s lifestyle to stay relevant. Back to 1854, when the first flat trunk has been designed, people used to travel in transatlantic steamships. These cruises were spacious, and it was a pleasure allowed only to the few. Also, back then people’s lifestyle was more laid back than in today’s world. All of this made of the flat trunk an immense success. Beginning of the twentieth century, the automobile and airplanes were invented, drastically decreasing travelling time. These less spacious transport methods combined with a faster pace of life probably inspired the creation of the steamer bag.

Staying true to its brand essence and looking beyond its industry has allowed Louis Vuitton to evolve to stay relevant. Across industries we can find similar examples to this, where multi billion dollar companies have reinvented themselves whilst staying true to their brand essence such as Lego which back in 1939 used to produce wooden toys with the purpose of ‘providing an outlet for a child’s imagination’. Nowadays, Lego makes Hollywood films, video games and bricks whilst remaining true to its brand essence-http://itsasmallworld2012.blogspot.com.es/2017/10/the-entertainment-era-here-to-stay.html

McDonald’s is another brilliant example of this, the brand evolved from been a barbecue restaurant in California with the ambition of being ‘customer’s favourite place to eat & drink’, to a drive-in restaurant with a streamline menu which day by day is including more healthy options to adapt to taste and changing needs of people. The fast-food chain evolved whilst staying true to its DNA.

All these examples mentioned above show that finding and sticking to a powerful insight, keeping your eyes open to how other industries and people's lifestyle change and quickly adapting to this are key success factors that could help your brand to stay on trend.

American Girl - Characters that speak to the heart

Is Christmas time in New York City and streets are packed of people doing their Christmas shopping. After having a hot dog & a coke in front of the Rockefeller Centre tree, Anna and I ventured into the new American Girl store which recently opened its doors to the public.

Initially, Anna was so excited about visiting the shop whilst I was more sceptic with the idea of spending our time there. However, as soon as I got into this brand new shop with two floors full of dolls, my inner child came out and I couldn’t hold myself just to enjoy the experience. The shop was spacious, the iconic star of the brand was placed everywhere and the pink and white interior walls created an involving and vibrating ambience.

In the American Girl store, children can buy existing doll or personalise their own. Each of the existing dolls have a dedicated section to explain the doll’s personality, big ideas, dreams, challenges and how her awesome attitude helped her to sort out difficult situations and build friendships throughout her journey - just like a real girl will do. You can also buy the book which tells the story of each doll in detail. The depth of personality of each doll shows American Girl’s understanding of the people it serves, their believes, problems, values & aspirations. 

Next to each doll display girls can find a range of clothes and accessories to buy for her and her doll. For example, if Maddie - 10 years old girl from New Jersey - desires to be a rockstar, so she will not only be able to dress up her doll as a rockstar but she can also acquire the same outfit as her doll. All this mentioned above, shows how American Girl is making a great job inspiring girls to build confidence and inspire them to make a difference and be whoever they want to be in life. This is a powerful insight that connects all girls from all times. 

In the ground floor, children have access to tablets where they can create from scratch their own doll for $200. Girls can define the dolls’ name, look, hobbies, favourite places and even decide if the doll requires hearing aids! how cool is that?

After spending sometime with Gabriella, Anna, Samantha and many other dolls, we decided to go to the store’s cafe for a cupcake. To my surprise, the cafe was full of children having food next to their dolls. The toys were sitting in specially designed chairs for them and in many cases the girls outfit was matching the one of their dolls!

Completely amazed by this experience, we moved to the American Girl beauty salon. In this section, hairdressers were making beautiful hair style to girls, dolls and even sometimes moms! providing people meaningful experiences as this helps the brand to stand out against other players.

If we look back at my previous post on Barbie’s (http://itsasmallworld2012.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/barbie-breaking-family-stereotypes_9.html) and we draw some comparisons between the way Barbie or American Girl are helping girls to build up girls’ confidence and desire to be whoever they want to be. I must say, American Girl is doing a better job in this, as American Girl is creating ‘real girls’ instead of dolls with fully built up personalities and challenges as real girl do; whilst Barbie dolls are a bit more of a face value product where character stories are flatter what doesn’t allow Barbies’ to further connect emotionally and empathise with children.

Furthermore, American Girl has understood the value of bringing the brand to life with its stores. Creating real life experiences allow girls to construct stronger emotional bonds with their dolls and enjoy unforgettable moment with family as well. Moreover, the in-store services gives another reason more for families to visit the store more frequently. In this aspect, I also consider Barbie has some margin of improvement. Creating powerful in-store experiences could help Barbie to bring to life its dolls and keep families yearning to come back to the store and engage with the brand. 

As a marketer, I feel grateful of visiting the store as it taught me the importance of brands finding and sticking to what I call a ‘diamond’ insight (i.e. a deep human truth that will last forever) and bring this insight to life in such a deep and empathic way people won’t be able to forget!

I definitely encourage you to explore this magical place!

The entertainment era, here to stay

It has been a rainy weekend in London, not a bad excuse to take Anna to the movies to watch 'Ninjago', the latest Lego film. While watching the movie, I couldn't stop asking myself

'How Lego - a brand that makes bricks for kids - became an entertainment house?' 'What are the benefits for brands to become media publishers? 'Is becoming media creators the new way for brands to connect with people?'

These are some of the questions I'll try to untangle with this post.

Every day consumers are exposed to hundreds of thousands of brands, markets are becoming more saturated and product differentiation is becoming harder to achieve. In this complex reality, brands need to fight tooth and nails to become top of mind for consumers. Companies have realised that traditional marketing formula of pushing information to people is becoming less effective. People aren't anymore passive receivers of information but they are actively browsing for the topics they care about.

Little by little brands are realising that to emotionally connect with consumers they should stop talking about themselves, and engage in conversations that help improve people’s life and inspire them to live differently. 

Furthermore, entertainment is a great way for brands to reduce the possibility of people switching off with your content. It provides the opportunity for a brand to subconsciously influence viewers about products.

Another great benefit of creating entertainment from brands is the opportunity to construct imaginary worlds that allow marketers to bring brands to life. The level of rapport you can build with people through content - such as branded films - and console games - such as Lego Batman - is much higher than through a standard TV commercial.

Hereafter, brands like Lego and Red Bull understood that creating entertainment could help them to break the clutter and become top of mind in consumer's minds.

Red Bull is known for being a pioneer here. Back in 2008 Red Bull Media house was created as separate arm of the company to produce premium media for extreme sports' lovers and lifestyle, such as magazines, TV series, apps, music, games and so forth. Red Bull Media House is a profit centre which generates money out of advertising, licensing or co-production deals. Being a content powerhouse opened many new doors for the brand. Through these different channels, it now reaches a much wider audience, including the elusive young demographics, going beyond only selling an energy drink, and it helped them build strong partnerships with brands such as Shutter Stock, O'Neill and extreme sport influencers.

Lego is another brand that has done a magnificent job transforming into an entertainment power house and this way becoming top of mind for both parents & kids. In fact, the brand established a wonderful partnership with Warner Bros Studios to produce the box office film Lego Movie, Lego Batman and Ninjago. Also Lego is not shy of experimenting with different content formats, such as creating Lego console games, immersive Lego stores and apps that brings kids closer to the brand.

The examples mentioned above show that any brand can become a content producer and it doesn't matter what kind of product you sell, what matters is to produce content that stands by your brand ethos, that is inspiring and people cares about.

If you are able to do this for your brand, you will be able to differentiate from competitors and become a brand loved by people.

Cereal Killer Cafe - making cereals sexy!

A few days ago, I was exploring Camden market when I spotted out The Cereal Killer Cafe. This is a cereal cafe where you can pick & mix more than 120 cereals from around the world, from the most basic ones such as Kellogg's Corn Flakes to the most quirky such as Gremlins cereals.


As the next step you can select the type of milk you prefer such as chocolate milk, cookie milk or even bubble gum milk. Hereafter, you can chose a range of the wackiest toppings and finally enjoy your heavenly made creation. Amazed by this store concept, I analysed the elements that made of the Cereal Killer Cafe such a brilliant business idea. One that transformed the concept cereals, making a dull product the new sexy thing.


Develop immersive customer experiences instead of product transactions

Gary and Alan, the founders of the Cereal Killer Cafe, realised that people are no longer looking merely for product transactions. Instead, individuals want immersive customer experiences that take them into a journey. The possibility to personalise your bowl of cereals and even receive advise from experts on how to mix them to get an explosion of flavours are the elements that excite people and make them keen to pay at least 5 pounds for a bowl of cereal.

Bring to life your product DNA to steal people's heart

Another key success factor of the Cereal Killer Cafe is its in depth understanding of the product's DNA. Cereals are fun and loved by people because you can find them in diverse types, shapes,  flavours, colours and textures.  This consumer insight has been brilliantly brought to life through the personalised cereals offering, the ambience of the shop inspired in the US' dinning rooms of the 60's, the cereal prizes exhibit all around the place and the positive vibes the young waitresses generate. All these elements mentioned above helped the brand to win 

 people's heart. 

Breaking industry cliches 

We need to break the industry cliches in order to promote innovative thinking - I'm sure that if 10 years ago I'd asked a brand manager from a cereals manufacturer if breakfast cereal could be sold for  5 pounds the bowl in a shop uniquely designed for this purpose? s/he would have thought that I was crazy. However, the beauty of innovation starts here. Industry norms can't remain unchallenged, as marketers it's our duty to question them all the time.

All the points mentioned above made me think deeply about my role as a marketer and as a driver of innovation within my company. It made me realise that to create great business ideas I need to develop great customers experiences, understand what elements of my product connects with individual's heart and last but not least to be brave and open minded to challenge the norms.

Virtual Reality - breaking human barriers

A few weeks ago I attended the Virtual Reality Show at the London Business Centre. Here a large variety of virtual reality (VR) players were displaying their services and functionalities.

I was quite sceptic about the potential of this tool before booking the tickets for the conference. To my understanding VR was just another gaming gadget only used  by gamers to immerse themselves into virtual worlds and interact with other players.

While exploring the fair I was able to try various VR handsets - you can see a picture of me below :), access to different conferences where industry experts, such as Tim Joyce from Constructive Labs, guided us through a journey of creating content for use in 360° immersive experiences, and Ruvan Wijesooriya (picture below), who surprised us with his VR projects within the world of fashion. 

From the very beginning, experts, developers and practitioners' deep passion and commitment for this technology made me feel fascinated by the event.

Me :)

Ruvan Wijesooriya presenting Unstitched fashion project

After a few minutes in the show, I must say I was mind blown by the power and possibilities of this technology so I asked myself fundamental questions about this gizmo, such as 'What is VR?', 'What is the difference between VR and augmented reality (AR)?', 'What is the impact and benefits of VR?',  'Is VR a fad or a tech that will expand in time?'. These are some of the questions I will throw light upon with this article.

To understand the full potential of VR and its functionalities, it's crucial to explain what it is, VR is a 3D-created virtual environment that makes you feel like if you were truly living in that world, with all its features, while its close cousin AR helps us improve real world experiences with virtually created elements.

VR is a technology which impact and benefits spread across industries. The key areas VR is already revolutionising are:

EDUCATION & REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES

I engaged with the Google Expedition team which promoted the use of VR as a complementary tool for educational purposes. This Google service allows pupils to travel to places they would never travel to otherwise, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or a space shuttle (please see video below).

VR is also used for on the job training,  The Digital Engineering & Test Centre explained me how they had developed an app for Ford (i.e. large automotive manufacturer) to train their staff on how to move on the assembly line even before a production line is in place! (please see video below). 

The array of possibilities doesn't end here, VR is being used in the workplace by doctors to rehearse complex surgical procedures and even psychologists to help their patients to fight back their phobias (e.g. claustrophobia)!

IMMERSIVE BRAND EXPERIENCES

As part of the show, I had a chat with the Dock10 which is a digital media service provider and they showed me how famous British franchises, such as the Voice and London Fashion Week, are using VR to develop immersive brand experiences. VR is 'democratising brand experiences'. People don't want to be anymore passive receivers of information but active participants who can actually interact and feel something when interacting with your content. VR offers the possibility for marketers to truly become brand architects and design virtual scenarios that help people to immediately connect with the brands they love.

Browsing online I discovered the best examples bringing to life what I mentioned above, such as:

Lowe's home furniture provider, which created 'Holorooms' where people can create and visualise their plans for home improvements (see video in the left side).

United Nations, with their 'Under the Net' 360 documentary which tells the story of Amisa, a girl living in a Yarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania, where her family struggles to survive and learns how to fight malaria. The objective of this documentary is to get world leaders closer to the day to day life struggles of the poorest people on earth and drive key decision makers to action.

GET FASTER & BETTER CONSUMER FEEDBACK

From my perspective, the benefit of VR for researchers double-sided. On one hand, it will help researches to accelerate the product and communication creation process so that ads, virtual prototypes, store layouts, apps and so on can be tested and modified in real time with immediate input from consumers. On the other hand, VR will speed up research fieldwork time and logistics. Now interviewees are able to test product or advertisements at a time applicable to them and interact with moderators and other participants across the world at home.

THE FUTURE OF VR 

VR is a progressive and pioneering technology which offers far reaching benefits and opportunities. The high penetration of smartphone in developed markets and the low cost of entry VR glasses (e.g. Google cardboard for £2) means that many people might adopt this gadget in the very near future. Big players, such as Facebook with the acquisition of Oculus Rift for $2bn, and the expansion of Google, HP, Nvidia Corp and Samsung expansion into this territory, proves the high potential of this industry. 

The long-term success of this technology depends on VR developers mentioned above to pitch this tech usage to the right audience and clearly show its applicability across different fields and industries.

On my way home, I could only think to myself, how wrong I was in thinking VR was just a video game. VR is a great tool that is disrupting the way humans beings have interacted up until now.

I am very curious to see which worlds this tool will open up for us!

Sources:

1.What is Virtual Reality (Virtual Reality Society) - https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/what-is-virtual-reality.html

2. Fact or Fiction: Virtual Reality in Market research - https://www.flexmr.net/blog/marketing-strategy/2016/11/virtual-reality-in-market-research.aspx

Barbie, breaking family stereotypes

It was a sunny and warm evening and I was sitting next to my girlfriend enjoying a cold beer at a bench facing the Thames river. We were commenting about a marketing stunt of a household cleaning brand showing parents taking care of the house. We found as a big step forward the brand portraying men as an active character of the commercial. 

After taking a sip of my beer and inspired by the discussion, I realised a funny fact, why are many of the largest consumer good firms across the world still promoting their products only to mothers and why dads aren't playing a primary role as part of firms' advertisements? 

Honestly speaking, many large firms are completely neglecting the current state of society. Families are moving from patriarcal structures where men are the breadwinners towards more egalitarians ones where men and women share parental responsibilities. Stereotypical commercials show a clear disengagement between marketers and the inherent values, attitudes and beliefs of the people they serve. Depressed by the gloomy horizon I decided to drain my beer in one go.

A few days after and still not fully recovered of my heartache, I was checking a marketing website where I found the new commercial “Dads who play with Barbie” ads (find commercial below) which shows dads playing Barbie with their daughters at home. My first reaction was to laugh, however, I quickly realised that I was falling into stereotypes.

Barbie’s commercial is a superb response to the advertisers’ challenge I highlighted above. From my perspective, this ad stands for the values of the so called modern families.  These are families where mothers are encouraged to work and fathers to spend more time at home with their children. Furthermore,  the key priority for them is to spend quality time with their kids. 

This new family reality also translates to the way parents purchase toys and play with their children. Parents are keen to purchase more gender neutral toys, moreover, they are eager to engage on “real play” time where they get fully immersed into the imaginary world of their kids and play a role in their kids’ magical world where everything is possible. 

Barbie has done a tremendous job adapting to the needs, values and role models of modern families through its products. In the early 90s girls played with Barbies that were housewives and had to undertake the stereotypical housekeeping activities to Barbies becoming veterinarians, doctors, professors and even astronauts (see image below).

The brilliant “Dads who play with Barbie” ads mentioned above is part of  'You can be anything' marketing campaign. This marketing stunt has a higher purpose behind it, from the one hand it inspires girls to be anything they want to and from the other hand it incentivises parents to spend time in their kids' imaginary world which is an investment in their real world. This campaign is not only full of purpose but it has achieved great financial results growing the brand by 7% value growth making of Barbie an almost 1 billion dollars brand.

Barbie is a fantastic example of a brand with purpose, that looks beyond stereotypes and puts the people it serves first.

The unconventional Christmas gift

It’s the weekend before Christmas and I’m walking down Regent Street with my girlfriend. The Christmas lights are superb and the holiday spirit is up in the air. 

I find myself in the middle of an unusual enterprise, I’m searching for a smart watch for my mum. She insisted that for Christmas she wanted one. Initially, I found this as an unusual request. However, it made me question myself why was she interested in using this gadget? how are firms targeting mainstream consumers such as my mum to buy wearable tech? on what stage of the product innovation cycle smart watches are? and what are the challenges and opportunities for smartwatches?

I crossed a busy street corner and I stumbled upon Michael Kors store. The brand was displaying at the shop window its new “Access” smart watch collection (please see commercial below). The gadget seamlessly fuses fashion and technology and is equipped with basic functions such as multiple animated display faces, fitness tracking, text, vocal messages and email alerts. 

Michael Kors did an outstanding job bridging the gap between tech and fashion with its advertisement. The brand exhibits its target consumer which is a cosmopolitan and active woman who has an eye for design and is "always on", she wants to state to the world her personality through the mix of tech and fashion. 

Wearable devices such as smart watches are bringing fashion into new heights. It allows brands to meet consumers’ growing demand for personalisation and a fluid lifestyle. More and more, people are seeking for versatile products that can easily adapt to whatever the day presents.

Fascinated by the Michael Kors shop window I entered the store, however, I was disappointed on how products were exposed. Smart watches were shown on an unembellished display that made the product range look cheap (circa £230 - £260). I asked the saleswoman to show me the watch but they were out of battery. Completely disenchanted with the poor shopping experience I left the shop.

Now let's set my incident aside and jump into the juicy stuff. To understand the evolution and probabilities of success of smartwatches we need to explore the product innovation cycle theory.

Based on my thoughts and conversations with friends and family, I can say that only innovators and early adopters own smartwatches. These segments are primarily concerned with the underlying technology behind and its performance (Norman D. 1998). Nowadays, the biggest challenge producers have is to make technology good enough so the chasm between early adopters and the rest is crossed (refer to the smartwatch innovation cycle below). Michael Kors example shows how firms are using fashion as an enabler that might allow this transition.

Research shows that the product adoption process has been slower than expected because consumers recognise on this gadget a lack of distinct capabilities such as high-speed wireless and standalone apps (Smartwatch report, Business Insider, September 2016). 

If producers are able to add new functionalities, increase capabilities and permit smart watches to run independently from phones the probabilities to hook mainstream consumers will be much higher.

Let’s wait and see how brands will overcome this challenging task. Meanwhile, a beautiful and unconventional Santa Claus figure is sitting under the Christmas tree waiting to be unwrapped by my mother.