1.2.10 Branding - It Doesn’t Have To Cost A Fortune
When I lived in Yorkshire in the late 60’s and early 70’s, a friend of mine had some beautiful timber furniture ranging from a dining room table and chairs to a dresser and an ashtray. A mouse was carved on each piece, sitting on the rim of the ashtray or climbing up one of the legs of each chair. I was told that the mouse was the signature of a local company and such was its recognition, letters from overseas addressed simply to the “Mouse Man” Yorkshire had no difficulty in reaching their intended destination. It was a brilliant piece of branding.
Some years ago I had some contact with a manufacturer of office furniture – mainly chairs – and the CEO was explaining to me that it was more of an assembly rather than a manufacturing operation. However the bought in components, while superficially similar to the untrained eye, varied greatly in quality.
I asked him how his company competed with cheap imports and his response was that he targeted a different market where comfort and longevity were more valued. I then asked him how the user could distinguish between his product and cheap imports and he told me that the name of the company was on a label underneath the seat of each chair. Immediately my mind went back to the Mouse Man and I suggested that he place a small platypus on one of the “arms” of the base of each chair and used the animal on business cards, stationery and the like.
We tend to associate branding with consumer products and companies with large promotional budgets.
But wouldn’t it be good if you had a way of identifying products from your company without the need to spend big on promotions?
Here are some examples that I’ve come across that might provide food for thought.
Stripes stand out
I remember an Austrian manufacturer of textile testing equipment. The company was at or near the top as far as quality and performance was concerned, but equipment from the various manufacturers looked alike because the tests that were conducted all had to produce comparative results. The Company hit upon the simple yet very effective idea of having a broad, mauve diagonal stripe on all items of laboratory equipment. Walk into a textile testing laboratory and it was immediately obvious if this Company’s equipment was being used.
Here is something even more basic.
Orange plastic film
Back in the late 70’s I had contact with the construction market and noticed that under any concrete slab that was about to be poured was an orange plastic film. I was told that it was manufactured by ICI (now Orica) and was the only orange product in existence. Competitive manufacturers produced black plastic film because that was the traditional colour that also exhibited the highest UV resistance. ICI wanted to differentiate their product and reasoned that changing the colour of the plastic to orange might do the trick. Having the ultimate in UV resistance wasn’t necessary as the product was soon buried under concrete. It thus created a unique association between orange plastic film and one supplier.
XL in 3D
There is a company based in Brisbane that manufactures service bodies for 1 tonne tradesman’s utes. Most companies in this field tend to identify their products by attaching a small identification plate to the back of the bodywork. XL Service Bodies took a different tack. The two letters “XL” are cut out of the metal sheet that forms the transverse “beam” upon which the storage modules are mounted. The letters are about 200mm high and highly visible.
Pink power
When I lived in Brisbane in the early 80’s there was a quarrying company that had a ready-mix concrete arm. The colour of the trucks? Not white or blue or grey as one might expect but bright pink. Each carried the slogan – “think pink”.
Classical conditioning
All the above examples rely on a form of learning called Classical Conditioning. In Classical Conditioning, a secondary stimulus is linked to a primary stimulus that already elicits a particular but unconditioned response. So if we take the “Mouse Man” as an example, the sight of beautifully made timber furniture – the primary stimulus - results in a desire to own such furniture on the part of consumers in that particular market segment. The mouse is the secondary stimulus that is attached – literally and figuratively – to the primary stimulus. This evokes a conditioned response, which is to contact the Mouse Man and place an order.
The theory of Classical Conditioning is reflected in the famous experiment that Pavlov carried out with his dogs. Pavlov noticed that dogs salivate at the sight of food. (The breed of the dogs that participated in this experiment is not recorded but it’s a safe bet to assume they were Labradors). The primary stimulus was food; the unconditioned response was salivation.
Pavlov reasoned that it might be possible to elicit the same unconditional response by forging a link between a primary and a secondary stimulus. So Pavlov started to ring a bell every time the dogs were presented with food. In a very short space of time (they must have been Labradors) the mere ringing of the bell would cause the dogs to salivate. They had been conditioned to associate the bell with food.
Recognition Branding is a low cost method for forging an association in the customer’s mind between your product and you as its supplier. It works better with physical products, particularly those that have low differentiation and large but readily identifiable markets. The primary and the secondary stimulus need to be close as possible. In the case of the orange plastic membrane, the two stimuli were one and the same thing. Can Recognition Branding be applied to services? I’m sure it can – it just needs a little creativity and an ability to think outside the square.
Of course, the ultimate success of Recognition Branding is still dependent on the product itself. If that fails to live up to expectations, Classical Conditioning still works – but in reverse. “Don’t buy furniture from the Mouse Man – it falls to pieces after a year or two.” If that were the reputation the furniture acquired, then the carved mouse would serve as a warning – steer clear of the Mouse Man. This form of learning is called Instrumental Conditioning where subsequent purchasing behaviour is influenced by the degree of reward or punishment experienced by the customer with previous purchases.
I have spoken with many manufacturers over the years and one of the most common frustrations vented is that they believe their product to be different and better than the competition but find it difficult to convince customers of that fact because the various products don’t look that different. Even if the customer buys their product and is satisfied with it, there is nothing instantly recognisable about the product that will act as a cue when repurchase is considered.
Using the principles of Classical Conditioning may provide a way.