Product Design and Development Management - Case Study Example

Key Factors for Successful Brand Creation How Brand Development can be incorporated into Product Development? Branding as a Strategic Tool In a world of intense competition and dynamic market changes, companies have to fight harder on the marketplace to survive and be successful. Today products are becoming increasingly identical, product life cycles are shortening and the power of consumers and competitors is pressing companies for strategic changes. Competitive advantage, once a peculiar phrase written in the marketing textbooks as a “should do” recommendation, has become a “must have” requirement for success. To be smart in the market requires companies to create further added values for their customers, employees, and shareholders, and to develop recognizable and appreciated images in the eyes of those relevant parties. Karl Speak even argues that marketplace position and intimate relationships are today valued above profitability. The present “information age” has turned consumer culture development and brand relationships as the new “best practice” in business (49). What makes branding an important marketing tool, is that “the brand image is enduring in the minds of the customer” (Montague 17). Branding is a powerful instrument to counteract market negative pressures, because branding makes companies, products and services visible and distinct; it prolongs products life cycles, and allows companies to sustain costs and prices to levels that are less dependent on competition. Developing a strong brand identity that is consistent with corporate strategy is therefore the recipe for long-term success. Brand identity refers to the degree a product has achieved a distinct image in the eyes of consumers and the general public (Schmitt et al 83). “It’s corporate strategy made visible.” (Peters 11). Brand identity is closely related to customer impressions, meaning the image a product or a company actually has, as opposed to product or corporate expressions, meaning the image that is desired (Schmitt et al 84). Often companies produce positioning statements that describe how the brands should be positioned in the minds of customers. These statements are the backbone for branding strategies that attempt to minimize the gap between desired brand image and actual identity. Key Factors for Successful Brand Development Brands make promises for unique product experience. Delivery of those promises is therefore crucial for creating lasting impressions and loyal customers. The brand management profession commands a range of tools for successful brand development. These are graphic standards, conformity to corporate identity, marketing communications sending consistent brand messages, product design reinforcing brand character, packaging etc (Speak 52). According to Monty Montague (18) several factors contribute to the promise keeping commitment, namely overall product design and performance, and sustained communication of the brand. The concept of those factors can be further extended with sensory interaction with the products; consistency of brand identity, and brand adaptability. The apt integration of those factors is intended to meet and exceed consumer expectations, thus creating a distinct brand identity. Sensory elements Branding is built on sensory experience. Everything, associated with a product – from advertising and promotion to the point-of-sale environment, from purchase to use, creates brand image and builds relationships (Montague 17). Various visual and auditory communication factors have effect on brand identity – logos, packages, lighting, buildings, uniforms, business cards, advertising, stationery, musical backgrounds etc. create memorizable and not that memorizable experience for target audience and eventually influence the overall perception of a brand (Schmitt et al, Marketing Aesthetics 18). More specific elements from the product sensory impact are colour, shape, and packaging. According to Tom Peters “colour is a most potent emotional tool.” (14) Strong brands have strong colour association, like Coca Cola’s red colour, or Kodak’s yellow, or Shell’s yellow. Colours are meaningful recognition tools, when they are made even more visible – through logo, packaging, uniforms, business cards, etc. Shapes, on the other hand, besides a purely functional purpose, can act as brand enhancers. The Absolut vodka product team, for example, have built up their international advertising strategy on the simple-shaped, easily recognizable bottle. Similarly, packaging is as much a trivial functionality, as it is an exciting and enticing element of brand development. Research data shows, that packages have 1/6 of a second to capture consumer’s attention (Peters 15). This is especially valid for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market, where products compete with hundreds of direct or indirect competitors on the shelves in the supermarkets. Design Design symbolizes brand values and creates attitudes, it differentiates and positions products and services (Peters 11). Much of customer history with a product or a company is influenced by design (Montague 18); therefore design should be exploited as a strategic communication and relationship-building tool to customers and stakeholders (Jevnaker 44). As further on discussed, successful design decisions are integrated with profound understanding of consumer preferences, and the design function is incorporated in all levels of product development. Although vanguard design is often catchy and challenging, it should be noted that the purpose of good design is functionality and commercial success, not prize-winning on design contests. Adaptability Branding is not homogenous, when it comes to different consumers and markets, simply because consumers and markets are not homogenous. Successful brand creation should take into account consumer specifics, even country specifics, when international brands are involved. For example, in markets, where the company or product is not well established, companies may use the “essence approach” (Schmitt et al, 90), stressing upon shape, colour, packaging, and advertising – all visual elements creating brand identity. Conversely, where companies and products are well known, then an allusion approach may be more appropriate, with less stress on visuals marking the product. Marketing Communications Marketing communications through advertising, direct marketing, personal selling, PR or sales promotions are crucial to the positioning of products and brands. An integrated marketing communications strategy ensures that a brand will communicate a consistent message through a range of media channels and marketing tools. Karl Speak refers to those functions as “keeping the brand”, as complementary to the company’s focus on establishing a working organization that supports the brand values, i.e. “living the brand” (49). Nothing will destroy a bad product faster than a good advertising campaign. Communication is primarily about making promises, and selling, hence it should be tightly bound to product development teams, since design is about making things work and making things better (Montague 23). Poor design and product development tend to disappoint users, spoil experience and undermine brand identity for long periods of time. On the other hand, design-based symbols successfully incorporated into company and marketing communications raise knowledge and foster understanding of brand values by repetition and consistency. Consistency and Integration Branding is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Brand consistency requires the company to ensure that customer needs and preferences are precisely identified, and that product development teams and brand managers direct their efforts towards superior customer satisfaction. Branding products and services should also be in accordance with long-term corporate goals and product development strategy. Single company brand strategy, for example, has to be weighed against individual brand strategies for the different products or product groups. Individual brands mean added development and advertising costs (Montague 20), still where product lines are varied, individual brands allow product development and marketing teams to tie the brands to the specific characteristics of the products. Brand consistency therefore means integrating brand development in the product development process. Corporate Branding Elements In corporate branding, Schmitt et al identify four P (Managing Corporate Image and Identity, 84) constituents of the corporate aesthetics. Aesthetics is a powerful tool of brand differentiation; it consists of properties, products, presentations, and publications. Properties refer to physical assets such as plant, buildings, interior, company vehicles, retail stores etc. Products include what company produces, be it consumer products, services, or industrial output. Presentations address those immediate tangible or intangible elements that present the product – packaging, lighting, colour, background music, logos, product displays etc. Finally, publications comprise of printed or broadcast information from the company – brochures, advertisements, catalogues, interviews etc. Consistency in using these four elements is the key to building a distinct company identity. Incorporating Brand Development into Product Development Speak argues that the traditional brand stewardship is no longer enough for successful brand development. Companies need to engage the entire organization in the brand-building processes (49). This means that product development and organizational behaviour should be consistent with core brand values. Branding culture should be visible in all company levels, from entrepreneurial managers to product development teams, and from functional departments’ employees to front office sales staff. The product development process encompasses a whole system of marketing strategy, market research, graphic design and engineering. Montague recommends that the product and brand development process initiates with vision and mission identification, where more specific goals shape the actual business strategy of the company. This means identifying customers and actual users, understanding their needs and adjusting a plan to meet and surpass those expectations (21). Relying on research data and testing is a key element in the product development process since brand image is primarily about what customers and other related parties think of a product or a company, and not about what the company believes it has achieved. Product design is closely related to product development. Design should be incorporated early in the product development process. As Tom Peters comments (13), one of the biggest mistakes many product development teams make, is to put design creation late in the product development process. On the other hand, when design is integrated early in the R&D process or even considered part of the company strategy, it helps capture values from market developments, and ensures awareness of the product design and application. Through an integrated design effort, companies can identify patterns that influence consumer decisions (Montague 18) and develop products and services that create positive emotions and associations thus enhancing brand identity. In support of this statement, Jevnaker (41-43) gives the example with TOMRA, a high-tech recycling company whose market share had risen from 30% in 1993 to 70% in 1996. The base of this profitable growth was good knowledge of what customers value, and R&D dedication, integrated throughout the corporate and market strategy of the company. Making design development integral part of the organization is never easy, because management and designers have profoundly different backgrounds, and this often hampers communication and project execution. Jevnaker (43) argues that developing working relationship between functional managers and creative designers is the most critical issue in putting the new ideas on the corporate agenda and making them strategic. This calls for creating a truly “prototyping culture” (Schrage) where managers and designers acknowledge each other’s expertise and knowledge. The Strategic Planning Framework Schmitt et al identify CAM – the Corporate Aesthetics Management – as a strategic framework for managing the company’s visual output that adds to company image (Managing Corporate Image and Identity 82), that is also applicable for more specific projects, such as product or services branding (89). The framework encompasses gap identification, strategy design and follow-up control and update. It encourages participation and increases brand and image awareness at all company levels. Similar to the other authors’ recommendations, successful CAM requires situation analysis addressing corporate image, i.e. identification of potential gaps between corporate expressions, and customer impressions. This analysis can easily be transferred to gap analysis on product brand perceptions in the product development process – projected image and perceived identity. Gap analysis evaluates how consistent its strategy is with customer preferences and with respect to competition, and to what degree it is perceived to have an identity (85). A recognizable brand is thus assessed towards three criteria (87): customer perceptions, distinctiveness from competition, and expression of corporate mission and culture. Schmitt et al argue that CAM, or branding strategy, in order to be successful should be focused on the concept of style “as a system of forms” (86) meaning that corporate style should permeate into all types of physical and intangible assets, such as buildings, or office design, or product packaging, or marketing communications. The essence of the style, its “theme” (86), whether stressing upon professionalism, high-tech, relaxation, functionality, or symbolism, is what shapes the overall aesthetic impression, the company or product positioning. Corporate and product identity decisions refer to the range of styles and themes and the degree to which all elements are used. Companies may decide to incorporate styles and themes in all visual elements, or may choose some elements to express corporate identity, strategies defined as aesthetic expansion, and aesthetic concentration (87). Finally, it should be noted, that distinct corporate and product identity is not a long-run status quo. Consumer preferences change over time, and so do competitor activities, so firms should track and evaluate changes and adapt their CAM, even challenge it in order to add value to their operations. The CAM programme (Antil, 5-16) should be tracked in terms of its communications effects on awareness, knowledge, attitude, and action. To sum up, successful branding involves the creation of an organizational culture dedicated to delivering brand promises, from identifying consumer preferences, to product design and development and to marketing communications, consistent with brand values. Brand management is not a status quo equation; it’s a dynamic process of continuous learning and teaching between the company and its customers, or, as Peter Senge states “To practice a discipline it to be a lifelong learner. You never ‘arrive’; you spend your life mastering disciplines.” Works Cited 1. Antil, John. “New Product of Service Adoption: When Does it Happen?” Journal of Consumer Marketing 5 (2) (1988): 5-16. 2. Jevnaker, Birgit Helene. “How Design Becomes Strategic.” Design Management Journal Winter 2000. (2000): 41-47. 3. Montague, Monty. “Integrating the Product + Brand Experience.” Design Management Journal Spring 1999. (1999): 17-23. 4. Peters, Tom. “Design as Advantage No. 1” Design Management Journal Winter 2000. (2000): 10-17. 5. Schmitt, Bernd, Simonson, Alex and Marcus, Joshua. “Managing Corporate Image and Identity”. Long Range Planning, Vol. 28, No 5, Elsevier Science Ltd. (1995): 82-92. 6. Schmitt, Bernd and Simonson, Alex. “Marketing Aesthetics” New York: Free Press (1997): 18. 7. Schrage, Michael. “Serious Play: How the World’s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate”. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press (1999) 8. Senge, Peter. “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization”. New York: Doubleday Books (1990) 9. Speak, Karl D. “Beyond Stewardship to Brand Infusion”. Design Management Journal Winter 2000. (2000): 48-53. Read More