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The Products Must Match the
Brand
By Paul Magee, IDSA, Director, Strategic Design & Brand
Integrity, Diebold, Inc.
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| Paul Magee |
The importance of a strong brand image is clearly getting recognition
in the business world. Companies around the world are realizing
that without establishing a strong brand image, their long-term
future can be uncertain. Surprisingly, what is sometimes lost is
the simple principle that a company’s product offerings are
a direct extension of their brand.
Of course, this sounds like a very basic concept, yet there are
more examples than ever of companies that create product offerings
that are completely incongruous with their brand message. In most
cases, it is a simple matter of creating products that are too up-market,
down-market, or just not supporting the brand message that an organization
works very hard to establish.
For example, if a company has a reputation of being a premium brand,
how much damage can result from making product offerings to a non-traditional,
down-market group? As tempting as it may be to go after those higher
volumes, it almost always comes at the expense of margins. But even
more importantly, by moving down-market for those higher volumes,
often a company runs the risk of alienating the group that represents
their core customer base. There are several examples of this in
the tire market, consumer audio market, and the airline industry,
with their regional spin-off efforts.
Of course, the inverse of this can pose just as many issues. When
a non-premium brand tries to move up-market too rapidly, the results
can be disastrous. One notable recent example is Volkswagen. Through
the late 90’s the ‘people’s car’ maker had
experienced unexpected success with their then-most expensive car,
the redesigned Passat, which was meant to compete with the Toyota
Camry and Honda Accord.
Volkswagen leadership then decided to stretch up-market quickly.
This was largely in response to Mercedes-Benz, which had been moving
down-market, but had been failing with most attempts. VW’s
first up-market offering was the Passat. But unlike the Camry or
Accord alternative, it was given an option package that included
an eight-cylinder engine, all-wheel drive, and a long list of other
amenities. The price could quickly exceed $40,000. Of course, it
was hard for most people to fathom spending 60% more than an ‘average’
Passat. Numbers were poor, and the option package was discontinued
within less than a year.
This year, VW introduced the Phaeton, a car intended to compete
in the high-end luxury car market with a price that starts at $65,000,
and escalates to more than $100,000. It will be interesting to see
how it will sell sitting in the same showroom next to Golfs and
Jettas that cost one-third to one-fifth as much. The Japanese learned
that in order to move up-market that rapidly, it was easier to establish
new premium brand identities than it was to stretch the perception
of the existing brand to appear premium.
The problems aren’t just with going up or down-market too
quickly, either. Product offerings can be inconsistent with the
brand message as well. Buick appears to suffer from this affliction.
They realized a few years ago that they needed to appeal to a younger
demographic, so they spent a lot of money to update their image
through ads, sponsorships, and endorsements. They even got Tiger
Woods (who also endorses Nike) as their spokesperson. Recently,
Buick exhumed the spirit of Harley Earl, head of GM’s product
design through much of the 40’s and 50’s. Other than
designers, most people don’t even know who Harley Earl is,
let alone equate him in any way to Tiger Woods. This sort of inconsistency
of message is pointed out in many brand articles, but more importantly,
it is visible in Buick’s products. If they are trying to appeal
to the younger crowd, they haven’t done so with their cars.
To their credit, Buick has created some fresh concept cars, so perhaps
their message is just premature. But right now, their products are
simply not in line with their messaging.
This concept goes beyond consumer products, as well—it is
equally as relevant in B2B. We have experienced the importance of
this concept at Diebold. Among the company’s core products
are ATMs, which are used by many, but are purchased by executives
of financial institutions. A few years ago, Diebold underwent a
large global effort to assess the perceived strength and composition
of our company’s brand image. In many areas of the assessment,
there were no surprises. What was surprising, however, was discovering
that our products weren’t properly supporting our brand’s
strengths or direction to our customers or consumers. We had unwittingly
commoditized our products over time.
Shortly after this brand awareness effort, we began development
of a whole new flagship line of products, named Opteva. With Opteva,
the basis of the product effort stemmed from the brand research.
This meant that, rather than just incorporate the latest in trendy
technologies and aesthetics, we focused on creating a perception
that was synonymous with the image people held of our company. Diebold
is perceived as a secure, strong business partner that would look
after them, as well as their customers. That sense of security and
comfort had to emanate from the product. It had to be something
that would delight them now, as well as looking ahead. The response
to date seems to show it has helped.
All these examples aside, it is still great news that organizations
have become increasingly wise to the benefits of brand image. Ensuring
that the brand message reiterates a company's product offerings—whether
hardware, software, or services—may be the detail that separates
the merely good from the great.
This article appeared in the April
2004 eBulletin.
Feedback on DMI Viewpoints and article proposals
are always welcome! Please email jtobin@dmi.org.
All articles reflect the opinion of the author and not the Design
Management Institute.
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