Branding for Startups: Part II

Feb 28, 2012 News 0 comments

JFDI Mentor Patrick Schwing spoke to the founders of the JFDI–Innov8 2012 Bootcamp in a private session this week. Patrick guided the startups on consumer-inspired innovation and holistic marketing by sharing lessons he learned as part of Brand Management teams at Procter & Gamble.

What were some of the “truths” of business and marketing that he shared?

1. Your product or service should be consumer inspired and technology enabled.

Find out WHO you are targeting, and define what will delight him or her. Then work to define HOW your technology will deliver on that insight.”In big business as in fledgling startups, focusing on what the customer needs and matching those with the technology available is key to creating a product your customer will love. The true test of top notch consumer understanding – be able to articulate needs/desires better than he/she can.

2. If you wan’t to understand lions, you don’t go to the zoo, you go to the jungle.

To create a good product, you need to understand your customer. To do that, you must learn about their habits and needs by witnessing how they work, live and play in their natural habitat. This is where surveys and focus groups can go wrong.

To learn more about your user or customer, Patrick suggested Shopalongs (or their equivalent). Follow someone around for the day and observe their behavior in painstaking detail. Rich customer understanding comes from understanding actual behavior vs. what they claim in an artificial/staged research environment. Focus on details such as rituals, consumption, and usage behavior to understand the mindset when they interact with your product.

3. Consider the possibility of doing things differently vs. doing different things

Many entrepreneurs succeed by taking a product or service that exists and tweaking it in a way that changes the experience for the customer. The product may be similar (note: it is ALWAYS better to have superior consumer performance), but brining a unique idea to life can transform the consumer experience.“Think about [the beer brand] Corona…they didn’t make a drastically different beer compared to their competitors, they just took beer to a different place had offered a highly differentiated and holistic point of view on a stale Category.”

4. The only strategy the consumer sees is execution

At P&G they use the terms First Moment of Truth (FMOT) and Second Moment of Truth (SMOT) when analyzing customer experience. The FMOT is the customer’s first impression at shelf , which for a JFDI company would probably be the look & feel of the website or app interface. The SMOT is the customer’s experience using your product. “You have to win on both vectors to be successful – these are the moments when consumers make judgements on whether to engage with your brand.”” If you don’t deliver on these, it doesn’t matter how good your code is, you won’t have enough customers to keep you in business.

5. Don’t spend your time chasing tail lights

“You can’t jump higher than Nike.” Nike’s had immense success promising better athletic performance with their products. Reebok, a competitor effectively selling the same thing, didn’t try to compete with Nike on an athletic promise to consumers. Instead, Reebok saw that their sneakers were popular in Hip Hop fashion and focused on that segment of the market. Instead of putting Michael Jordan in their ads, they used aspirational entertainment icons to connect with consumers in an ‘ownable’ space …and they’ve been successful doing so.

Patrick has over 9 years of experience at Procter & Gamble working in Brand Management (Marketing) across multiple Brands, Categories, and Geographies. He is currently Brand Manager of Head & Shoulders in India and the Philippines. Additionally, he is responsible for digital adoption and capability development in P&G’s Asia organization.