Who is in the dream team?

We want the best team in the world to achieve amazing things. Be it sports or business, its all about putting talented people together and making it collectively. We know '1' is an extremely lonely number and unsustainable in the long run. No successful leader I know or read about can do everything themselves. They usually have a dream team rallying behind them.

A brand dream team is hard to assemble but does not excuse us from having one. Talents are out there, we just need to find them. A dream brand comes from a dream team. The key is first to identify the roles in this dream team. Here is my list in no particular order of importance or ranking. Each role is like a table leg supporting the table (brand). I doubt even the most multi-talented amongst us can encompass all of these skills.

1) Story Teller - People love listening to stories. All great presenters are great story tellers. Any brand has a story to tell its customers that romances and captivate them. This role takes on crafting and communicating a brand story which delivers the impact needed to drive its products and services. The Story Teller is an advocator of customer engagement.

2) Experience Designer - This role handles all communication and customer facing experiences. Working closely with the Story Teller, this person takes care of the details to communicate the brand to customers. They prototype experiences or image how it feels like to be living and breathing the brand. The key is to  deliver that experience to customers from multitude of angles. From the way the packaging feels to how it is disposed or re-cycled. This role creates multi sensory platforms rather than visuals to translate the brand promise to an acutal experience.

3) Design Researcher - Someone who has a passion for life and people. They are not marker researchers who get stuck in an office all day and claim they understood 'what is out there'. This person listens and observe before asking questions. Like a dry sponge with child-like curiosity, consumer behaviours are recorded and analysed by them. They constantly take notes, beam down ideas and cross pollinate them to feed brainstorming sessions. R&D folks love them.

4) Brand Strategist - This role takes on a T-shaped design. Left-right, they deal with the breath of issues that encompass market sentiments, trends and competitors. Top-down, this person handles strategic branding to details like pricing and market channels to penetrate. This role is a fusion of a brand management and marketing with a dose of creative thinking.

5) Brand Orchestrator - The boss (fiend or friend, the team decides!). The visionary or realist who reports to the business stakeholders and to manage the team's performances and results. Primarily, the brand owner who assembles and orchestrates different members and rally them behind the brand's vision. This role pull all available resources to ensure the dream team work in optimization. Being a juggler and hurdler who also surmount difficulties in order to attain what the dream team must accomplish. The dream itself.

I would also like to acknowledge this fantastic book Ten Faces of Innovation for inspiring me to write this post. Read it to know what are the different roles and design thinking to build a truly innovative culture in your organization.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Judging brand values

Perceived brand value is highly subjective for individuals. Consumers decide the value of a product or service with your brand. Paying $6 dollars vs 90 cents for a cup of coffee exemplifies this. Advertising is to communicate that value to your target consumers and convince them that it is worth it.

I am forced to assess my own brand value and take a good look at myself recently. A 'man in the mirror' moment. Drawing up various value assessment list for myself. It also leads to me think how brands are measured? By ratings, sales or profits? A popular convenient store brand recently advertised its list of 'Most Wanted' brands. What is it based upon I wonder?

One way to measure brand value is by how much value it adds to its customers. Here are 5 brands I picked.

William J Bill Clinton Foundation (Social) 

Operation Hope (Financial Literacy) 

City Harvest Church (Religious Faith) 

Al Gore (Environment)

Martin Luther King Jr (Human Rights) 

Each of these brands touch on the lives of thousands and some up to millions of people.

They are not the Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE and Nokia (Top 5 Global Brands 2009) we know of. These brands above may worth less in monetary value but I believed they exceed at providing intangible brand value.

What amazes me are the tribes that followed these brands. Their faith and belief in these brands are best spoken through their massive actions to ensure success and longevity in these brands. Case in point, Martin Luther King, Jr’s speech “I have a dream” has generated near to 8 million views on You-Tube today. It is first recorded nearly 50 years ago. Dr King’s movement paved the way for the first Black president in America today. Ideas that turn into a brand which became a movement, they eventually outlive the brand themselves. Tribes who follow movements are hardcore loyalists. They talk about the brand movement in the most passionate way and help spread ideas. That’s how they really grow in their intangible value.

I found that they have these three common traits.   

1) Authenticity. Authentic brand always prevails. It is backed by something real and solid.

2) Passion. Passion will fire your work ethic. These brands show interests in others? They are light beacons of inspiration and passion to their brand facing followers.
3) Servant-leadership. Leadership branding that understands this; in order to lead, they need to serve others first. They understood that serving their tribes will only make them higher.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Embracing rituals that matter

Rituals are behavioural routines being performed during product or service interactions. The way we queue up in food courts and boarding of buses are Singaporean's societal rituals. We have rituals of tapping EZ link cards on buses. We also have rituals of blowing out candles on top of Birthday cakes and then making a wish. In fact, no one did explain to me the rationale behind it. Some rituals can be so ingrained in consumers that it has already altered behaviour subconsciously. Let’s take a closer look at some other advantages of doing so.

Reinforces brand promise

Apple invented the click wheel as their de facto iPod navigation. Apple can keep adding new menu functions for new models but this ritual of ‘round the wheel clicking’ remains at the heart of it. It has become an integral part of Apple’s iPod identity. A knock off iPod which tries to copy their product experience will need to try a lot harder to mimic the same product experience. In a way, distinct rituals prevent copying of brand experiences. Ritual sort of adds on an additional experience trademark to products. A brand that innovates in rituals actually gains more in the long run. If properly aligned with the brand promise such as Apple’s design simplicity and intuitiveness, the click wheel ritual further reinforces it.

Successful brands do have a few rituals to compliment their entire brand experience. The McDonald’s value meal arrangement on your tray and their staff asking you about upsizing your meals are all part of McDonald’s brand ritual. If McDonald’s somewhat remove them, the McDonald’s experience may seem somewhat incomplete. Or simply observe how Starbucks train their staff on pronoucing drinks to each other behind the counter when you place an order.

Up play differentiation

Rituals also play an integral role on brand or product differentiation. It can vary according to their variety of products offered. Case in point, Rolls Royce (RR) revived its 20th century rear hinge, coach style doors for their latest Phantom models. Of course, it is a much more advanced version than the past model with on-the-go, self-locking mechanism to prevent ‘suicide door opening’ situations. Coupled with a compelling product story (Phantom’s doors open this way because …) which compliments this vehicle model specific ritual makes the Phantom even more differentiated from other car brands. Phantoms are now known not only for its high quality and price but also for how its door are opened.   

Rituals are not random and should have a specific purpose. Certain rituals can be back sliding agents to brands. Think about the last time you had a confusing experience with a brand. They are evidence of poor ritual planning or none at all. Hence, one of the merits of doing market research or observation studies is to uncover and scrutinise rituals to deliver impactful brand experience.

What are your brand rituals? Do they further add value to the brand? Time to speak to your brand consultant?

Please leave your comments, if any.

Brand Usability

Websites and products are frequently assessed for their usability. Usability essentially measures if the product fulfills its intended purpose. Usability testing measures how your customers perceive different aspects of your product from packaging, user manual and the product itself. It can be summed up as a measurement of user experience for your products.

Why usability? Products need to be able to perform and fulfill its intended purpose. Usability testing enables your to measure if that purpose was achieved or not. Imagine Apple iPhone which looks visually great but making a phone call is painfully challenging. We know that is not the case. In fact, most would agree that iPhone not only looks great but also a highly usable communication device.

What about usability for brands? Is your brand usable to your customers? How can we measure that? They can be seen through these lenses; Recall, Visibility and Accessibility.

Recall
Brands that forms top of mind recall stands out and win. It’s a fact that they occupy a territory with their target audience. Hurray if you are one of these brands like Coke, Starbucks or McDonald’s. Most brands or underachieving ones need to work a lot harder to attain this status. However, that does not stop your brands (underdog ones too) from achieving top of mind recall. A highly usable brand is one that is easy to recall, stands for something (aligns with your customer's needs) and memorable.

Visibility
Is your brand easy to locate or navigate to? Does your brand have the right visibility, in the right channels where potential tribes congregate and engage? Not only brands need to think about having the right visibility, it must also think about how easy is it to locate your brand in the shortest and most convenient manner. Be creative about using social networking and viral tools to your advantage. Being heard is challenging but not being heard is far worst.

Accessibility
Are there ready channels which your brands can be conversational? Do you have a brand story which your customers are able to share and talk about? Can your brand be summed up in 10 seconds on what it stands for? Are your product benefits clear? If not, time to revisit this aspect of usability which makes your brand accessible or conversational.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Brand Differentiation - A banana story

This is a story of a banana I bought in Gold Coast Australia while I am holidaying there. Its a fruit that we commonly find in fruit stores and supermarket. Ordinary and nothing remarkable. Wait, there is more about this common fruit.

Upon closer examination, you will notice the tip of it is colored in red. It is actually red wax. All the ends of it in this bunch have been given the same red color treatment. Simply, this fruit producer has applied a sort of brand differentiation technique. To think that other fruit producers mostly brand their produce using tiny stickers or wrappers around their products, this brand of banana has taken another route to try something different and yes, remarkable.

This is a purple cow initiative in a market where products need to be presented in their natural state (fruits are foremost scrutinised for their freshness and looks) but yet seek to achieve differentiation. A challenging balance. Has your brand achieved differentation? If in doubt, probably its best to conduct some market research with a touch of branding creativity. Time to go bananas over brand differentiation.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Merits of Brand Flexibility

How flexible is your brand? Is your brand able to meet changing consumer needs? Is your brand still relevant to your customers today? Is your brand shrinking or growing? These are probably burning questions brand managers and owners face. The best way to measure brand flexibility is survival-ability.

Brand flexibility is not about changing brand proposition because of changing trends or tastes etc. A brand needs a grounded promise. Brand flexibility is not changing that core proposition. Will Starbucks ever set up a dedicated juice bar counter during hot summer months? Quite possibly but selling dark roasted coffee is what Starbucks as a brand stands for but they are flexible enough to incorporate non coffee (fruity blends) and seasonal treats in their product mix. Toffee nut latte during Christmas period is my absolute favourite!

Brand flexibility is about staying relevant in order to survive tough compeition.

A defeated tune
Sembawang Music Centre is bringing down its shutters after years in the retail mall scene. Sembawang sells music just like That CD Shop and Gramophone but the latter two survive despite declining CD sales. These survivors have their own ways of selling music. Gramophone takes on a mega store approach that sells CD, DVDs, Blu-Rays, earphones, speakers and even PC accessories. Gramophone recognizes consumer needs for a one-stop supermarket shopping experience. Whereas, That CD Shop fuses sexy (strictly all female sales team) with their own private label music called High Society. That CD Shop builds their own discerning music followers (High Society Tribe, complete with a dedicated website), who appreciate their handpicked compilation, complete with in-store eye candy. Unfortunately, Sembawang failed the flexibility test to evolve. 'Neighborhood-style' music stores simply cannot cut it in retail malls anymore.

Inflexible brands expect customers to listen and follow. What if customers don’t? Tribes get disbanded to join others because there is always another one round the corner that feels and looks better. Profit goes where your tribes go. SMEs in Singapore are more vulnerable. On the bright side, SMEs do have lighter feet to make relatively fast turnaround or brand revamps. Big brands are huge oil tankers, takes longer time to change directions. Being small might not be all that bad.

Is your brand tuned for flexibility to relate and adapt? Building flexible brands start with integrative thinking with your customers. Be relevant; be flexible in your branding.

Please leave your comments, if any.      

Apply Design Thinking to Branding

Design thinking and branding are two different yet related concepts. Both are ways to solve consumers’ needs and wants. Their synthesis could result in an impactful way of how we look at branding and achieve brand differentiation. Branding is a way to tell customers about products and services; what brands stand for and why do they matter to customers. It is ultimately about creating and managing perceived value.

Design thinking (IDEO) is an approach that involves exploring diversion thinking (think multiple ‘what ifs’), prototyping and storytelling before arriving at the solution. There are actually much more than this and I only extract the essentials for this post. Design thinking is a highly collaborative and possibilities-first way of solving problems. It is about bringing ideas and experiences to life through story telling. This approach is on the way to enhance business processes, health care and even social problems. I am a fan of design thinking and branding. So why not combine the two. I believe this synthesis will elevate innovative thinking in brands. Try Change by Design by Tim Brown on design thinking approach to find out more.


Here is my attempt to combine the two. 


One the star qualities of design thinking, is the visualisation of ideas or prototyping to bring out the essence of solutions proposed. For example, if IDEO needs to design a new surgical tool (Pic B), this is how a quick prototype (Pic A) can be assembled to get a feel about the shape and form factor. Primitive yet it tells a powerful story. Hold it and you know what this idea is about. Further discussions formed around this prototype are a lot more impactful.

Pic A: Prototyping the tool

 Pic B: Final product

Lets apply design thinking to branding. For example, a mock up corner of a new Food Republic theme, complete with empty stores but with applying authentic thematic design elements. All these to test out the new brand experience. The idea is to simulate and test the brand experience through immersion and participatory thinking. Clients can also take part in this exercise and go through their ‘consumer’s experience’ together with designers and brand strategists. Ideas are added and/or refined along the way in this prototyping environment. The end result is a brand experience that is closer to reality and what the customers will go through.

Design thinking has essentially allowed branding to be lot more experiential driven, exploring innovative solutions that could not be thought about on paper or on computer screens. Critically, experiences are assessed, discussed and gauged at the pre-launch brand design stage. 

Market research has taken a stab at such new product development (NPD) work through conducting surveys and focus groups. The missing ingredient I discovered has always been the lack of brand/idea immersion or letting the ideas play a role in consumer lives. Hence, the insights gathered tend to lack depth. A brilliant idea may lack the legroom to fully reach its full potential and risk getting buried rather quickly before it can see any light.

Additionally, diversion mindset (‘what ifs’ come first) from design thinking is also another powerful tool to elevate brand differentiation in the current fiercely competitive landscape. We want our brands to be Purple Cows. 

“A Purple Cow, though, that would really stand out. The essence of the Purple Cow -- the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows -- is that it would be remarkable . Something remarkable is worth talking about, worth paying attention to.” –Seth Godin  

Purple Cows are remarkable and worth talking about. Design thinking can help you achieve that.

Please leave your comments, if any. 

Re-Branding Traditional Chinese Medication (TCM)

One of the first things that came to my mind when I recalled a recent TCM store visit is that it is filled with Asian tradition. The smell of herbs, dried goods and bird's nest etc. A store experience which somewhat brought back the memories of herbal remedies; prescribed and brought back for preparation. It seems to have little connection or relevance with me today. I am quite sure some of you may agree with me. However, there is a successful outlier that stood out from the rest which made a renewed connection.

One of the home grown Singaporean TCM brand had undertaken a rebranding journey. Productizing their tonics and herbal remedies yet retaining their traditional TCM values. Its red and white logo that can be found all over Singapore with even their own specialist clinic at Paragon Medical Centre. It has already expanded to different parts of Asia today. I will not be surprised to see this brand at international airports all over the world in the next few years.


This is indeed a fine example of successfully branding a truly Asian, traditional product and service. The challenge for the brand is to continously evolve and remain relevant to the needs of their customers. For example, they have reduced sugar bird's nest for the health conscious.

I firmly believe there is hope for Asian brands to shine with the potent combination of market research and sound brand strategies. I sure hope to see more in the list with Singapore Airlines, Banyan Tree and Breadtalk.

Please leave your comments, if any.