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Bits, Bytes and Branding

author-image
DQI Bureau
New Update

Good marketing can make an average product sell better. But to sell like hot

cakes, products need great marketing. And a hot cake appeals to the sense of

taste and creates an associated feeling of pleasure. It does not emphasize the

calorie count of the cake.

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The need to add an emotive experience to a product is rapidly gaining

relevance for IT products also. Traditionally, IT products have focused on

knowledge–exemplified by technology specifications. Such messages target the

consumers mind but not the heart. They miss the emotional resonance with a brand

that needs to emerge as a key brand differentiator. This traditional,

unidirectional approach worked in the past when IT was a plausible

differentiator. Today, this is not the scenario. And it will change rapidly in

the future, especially for the home segment. Consider the following:

Features are homogeneous today. They do not lend themselves to any unique

positioning. Brands are built with huge marketing outlays but they do not create

distinct images in the minds of the customer. Eventually, the price or the

salesman’s pitch, becomes the purchase determinants. But what happens when the

prices hit rock bottom and the sales pitch sounds the same?

The

key is in letting the customer do it by himself and experience what

these products can do for him in real life

Shyam

Malhotra
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The computer as a tool has also changed character. It is no more a business

or work tool. It is also not just an educational aid. Its role in recreational

and entertainment is increasing rapidly. Is the bits and bytes branding enough

in such a scenario? No. It is like trying to sell a shirt on the basis of the

fabric’s tensile strength. A life style product has to be sold as much by

style as substance. Sometimes even more so.

A possible solution is Experiential Marketing. A 360 degrees experience that

engages the heart and mind of the consumer. Something that offers sensory,

cognitive, relational and positive interactions with the product at every point.

It is a powerful concept being used in the West–especially in the retail and

entertainment sectors. IT marketers can integrate it with their existing

efforts. Today many computers are bought without actually looking or touching

the real product; leave aside actually working on it. It is only after one has

purchased and installed the computer does one get a feel of the whole product.

Is that not incomplete? Why should a customer be not able to test operate a

computer just as he test rides a car?

There are many ways to create customer experiences. In Atlanta, Whirlpool has

its ‘Insperience Studio’- a place where Whirlpool has all its products

displayed and visitors can try any of the products they want to. They can cook,

bake cakes, do their laundry, fry eggs–whatever takes their fancy with the

products on display. They can even walk in with their architects to figure out

what product will fit best in their homes. They just cannot buy the product.

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A similar approach can be taken for IT products. Printers today claim

lifelike prints. So why not a studio where a customer can walk in with a

photograph, scan it, print it, email it or just get one taken. Or maybe morph

one with Tendulkar or any other idol. Maybe even make a personalized greeting

card out of it and send it as an email attachment. Or walk in with an old family

album and walk out with a CD of digitally enhanced pictures? Want to sell Wi-Fi?

Why not let a customer place his drinks order from a PDA/laptop without a waiter

coming to the table? Or why not a ‘digital restaurant’ where among other

things the customer can select the music of his choice from a computer console.

And as the music plays his photograph is flashed on a screen.

It is not that creating experiences has never been done before. But by and

large the Indian market is not organized for such experience sharing. The

products are displayed, but you cannot touch or feel, let alone try out. The

applications demonstrated–if at all –are not personalized and the customer

cannot relate to them. The opportunity to experience is far too infrequent. And

in most cases there is nothing innovative about it. The key is in letting the

customer do it by himself and experience what these products can do for him in

real life.

Without that, low prices and lower margins will remain the rule.

Shyam Malhotra



The author is Editor-in-Chief of CyberMedia, the publishers of Dataquest.

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