Well its been an interesting and inspirational journey so far, as I hope you can see from the below interviews and posts.
First of all I was surprised that I was speared with the usual suspects being Nespresso, Red Bull, Apple and the likes. Note sure why this is, maybe because I talked to people close to marketing who shied away from the obvious. This of course means that not all brands might be known by everybody following this blog. Some of the brands are either very local (Freitag) quite special interest (Monocle) or still up and coming (Jimmy Fairly). With Adidas there is at least one biggie.
Reflecting on what I have discussed with people there are quiet some commonalities emerging. Although it is fair to say that the brands I have been given are quiet differentiated, the reasons why people love them are still quiet similar.
Lets start with one recurring topic: Heritage came back quiet often either linked to a brands long history (Adidas) or linked to some story about the founders (Freitag Adidas, Monocle). Heritage seems to be important as it instills credibility, substance and trust into the brand. If the heritage on top is locally relevant like in the Freitag case it gets even more powerful. In the Moleskine case, the not so clear past of the brand interestingly seems to add to the myth. Once properly researched this tends to vanish unfortunately (Moleskine is today owned by an investment company, the black books were surly not invented by them and the brand name is purely fictional taken out of a Chatwin novel). This is quiet disappointing to learn. A dream destroyed....
Another recurring topic was social responsibility / sustainability both mentioned with Jimmy Fairly and Freitag. I guess this addresses the ever more present consumer conscious. Once I went into deeper digging Moleskine is stating this as well regarding their paper sourcing and production.
Not surprisingly consumer co creation and customization is mentioned all over the place. This makes brands look cool however I am not sure how many of you out there actually own some NIKE IDs, mi adidas and so on. Looks more like a reassuring element and fancy positioning tool that actually something that is widely used.
And then of course its the product. Now as seen in the Moleskine and Adidas case at equal product quality level the image of the brand can make the difference (often talked about regarding iPhone/iPad as well), BUT the product at the heart of the offer has to deliver, in terms of style and design but as well in terms of functionality.
Now one striking thing is the nearly complete absence of any comments about price. If the offer is right we are happy to pay nearly every price affordable to us. The ability to charge multiple for what from a rational point of view seems to be a comparable product makes the power of a WOW brand (why would you pay 5x more for a pair of Gucci jeans if you can get something functionally comparable from H&M?!).
Now this shows what WOW brands do: They makes us dream, live an emotional experience and bring us benefits which are beyond the ordinary functional level. WOW brands offer an experience, both from an immediate and aspirational perspective: "Moleskine makes you think you are a bohemian artist, Monocle gives you the feeling you are an up to date intellectual who spends time improving the world instead of playing angry birds." (Thanks for those statements to a former boss of mine one could not have put it better). With Freitag you know that you have chosen a bag that will last a lifetime and makes you part of the "cool set" .
In essence its is all about the mix. Its like a good meal, if you manage the get the ingredients right, put love, commitment and soul into it, serve it well made up in an appropriate environment, you'll make a hungry man (or woman) happy.
First of all I was surprised that I was speared with the usual suspects being Nespresso, Red Bull, Apple and the likes. Note sure why this is, maybe because I talked to people close to marketing who shied away from the obvious. This of course means that not all brands might be known by everybody following this blog. Some of the brands are either very local (Freitag) quite special interest (Monocle) or still up and coming (Jimmy Fairly). With Adidas there is at least one biggie.
Reflecting on what I have discussed with people there are quiet some commonalities emerging. Although it is fair to say that the brands I have been given are quiet differentiated, the reasons why people love them are still quiet similar.
Lets start with one recurring topic: Heritage came back quiet often either linked to a brands long history (Adidas) or linked to some story about the founders (Freitag Adidas, Monocle). Heritage seems to be important as it instills credibility, substance and trust into the brand. If the heritage on top is locally relevant like in the Freitag case it gets even more powerful. In the Moleskine case, the not so clear past of the brand interestingly seems to add to the myth. Once properly researched this tends to vanish unfortunately (Moleskine is today owned by an investment company, the black books were surly not invented by them and the brand name is purely fictional taken out of a Chatwin novel). This is quiet disappointing to learn. A dream destroyed....
Another recurring topic was social responsibility / sustainability both mentioned with Jimmy Fairly and Freitag. I guess this addresses the ever more present consumer conscious. Once I went into deeper digging Moleskine is stating this as well regarding their paper sourcing and production.
Not surprisingly consumer co creation and customization is mentioned all over the place. This makes brands look cool however I am not sure how many of you out there actually own some NIKE IDs, mi adidas and so on. Looks more like a reassuring element and fancy positioning tool that actually something that is widely used.
And then of course its the product. Now as seen in the Moleskine and Adidas case at equal product quality level the image of the brand can make the difference (often talked about regarding iPhone/iPad as well), BUT the product at the heart of the offer has to deliver, in terms of style and design but as well in terms of functionality.
Now one striking thing is the nearly complete absence of any comments about price. If the offer is right we are happy to pay nearly every price affordable to us. The ability to charge multiple for what from a rational point of view seems to be a comparable product makes the power of a WOW brand (why would you pay 5x more for a pair of Gucci jeans if you can get something functionally comparable from H&M?!).
Now this shows what WOW brands do: They makes us dream, live an emotional experience and bring us benefits which are beyond the ordinary functional level. WOW brands offer an experience, both from an immediate and aspirational perspective: "Moleskine makes you think you are a bohemian artist, Monocle gives you the feeling you are an up to date intellectual who spends time improving the world instead of playing angry birds." (Thanks for those statements to a former boss of mine one could not have put it better). With Freitag you know that you have chosen a bag that will last a lifetime and makes you part of the "cool set" .
In essence its is all about the mix. Its like a good meal, if you manage the get the ingredients right, put love, commitment and soul into it, serve it well made up in an appropriate environment, you'll make a hungry man (or woman) happy.
Hi Manuel
ReplyDeleteWell done!
One thing that seems obvious is why mass-Brands (what RB, Apple and Nespresso are) are not present in your interviews. First of all, as you stated, is the choice of people you asked. But further more there is an attachment to a WOW brand in both directions: I like it because it's special but also it makes me special to like it; and to show my preference.
This brings up the key-question of every successful brand: How to handle the turn between the-cool-(partly) underground-WOW-brand and the cool mass brand?
Funny enough it seems to work some times: Vero takes Adidas as WOW brand. But let's think about all the years where they were more then out (outside the sports community) before the hip ‘hop movement in the US re-discovered them. But now they are back in business. This raises the next point: Have they done something for it or was it the same then with Roederer where it just happens despite their mkt-departement?
For Redbull it seems very difficult to have 85% Mkt-share and to stay cool. Also they clearly have chosen the “mass-way” (F1 etc) instead of what made them big (cultural sponsoring etc.). They kept the “extreme-sport” engagements like a tribute to what they were sometimes ago: cool and innovative.
Back to my initial point: As long as most of us believe in trendsetters (and it seems your interview partners do or are trendsetters) they will choose things that not everybody does/have. Otherwise they would not be trendsetters anymore ;-). So the coolness factor of a WOW brand is just a kind of mirror: how cool will I be if I do/wear/drink/consume this.
Greets Alex W