Two is company, three is …?

A while ago I got thinking about the number three. It’s recurring occurrence in myths and symbols.

Why do/es

• The genie grant you three wishes?
• A winner’s podium have three places?
• Hinduism and Christianity both have a holy trinity?
• Japanese mythology have three monkeys?
• Freud talk about three ego states – id, ego and super ego?
• Fairytales have three little pigs, Goldie locks and the three bears?
• And time get divided into three: past, present and future?

When I turned my attention to the television – I came across brands that promised three benefits. A new shampoo brand that mentions three benefits - Nourishment, Protection and Hydration.

Aqua Fresh toothpaste with its iconic three stripes signifying protection, cavity fighting and fresh breath

Tea brands that played around with strength, colour and aroma highlighting one or the other.

Of course there are products with fewer or more benefits though I have deliberately cited examples with 3 to try and see if there is any more meaning to it. Do they talk about three just because one is too little and two still not good enough? By that logic it could be 4 or 12 or any number of benefits that people could remember.

Then I realised: Three is the smallest number of co-ordinates required to enclose a geometrical space.

Two straight lines cannot enclose any space!

In this context therefore three = solid, real, substantial, complete.

In another context three represents the ‘middle ground’ between the binary extremes of black and white, of good and bad.

Life is not always about the extremes.

We are not happy with things that just have do-good benefits; we also want those products to make us feel-good. For instance, people had the option of a) having staple home cooked food that one did not always enjoy and b) feasting on the more alluring street / junk food that was not good for us and then there was c) Maggie noodle that gave people the third option – Taste Bhi Health Bhi. Similarly we understood cleanliness as being good and dirt as bad – again two extremes – until Surf Excel appeared on the scene occupying the middle ground by positioning Dirt as good.

In life we cannot always exclude the existence of a “grey “area - a 3rd option. Three then = balance, realism, the in between space.

So coming back to the question I started with – what do you equate three to?

brand communication, symbolism & number three,

Cross-posted on Chlog

Brands : Making a promise and keeping it too!

Let’s play a guessing game…

We have an international youth brand

They say - they are committed to designing products and marketing programs that reflect creativity and the desire to constantly challenge the status quo

Their positioning - Celebrate Individuality in Sport and Life.

Their product line – well…let me give you a snapshot…

What some of their target consumers say about their products?

“I don’t wear their clothes because at my age I want to wear clothes that reflect my identity. When I walk into their store I see very few cuts, style variations…the only variation is the colour…it reminds me of uniform”
“I don’t think they’ve changed their style in the last 10 years…do they follow any fashion trends…year after year I see the same stuff”
Still haven’t guessed?

Some years back they rolled out a new global advertising campaign -- "I Am What I Am" celebrating the individuality they stand for!

A press release that I read said they flawlessly integrated the message of "I Am What I Am" through an aggressive and consolidated marketing plan which includes - cinema, TVC, billboard advertising, strong retail presence, SMS and Internet activation and public relations. Why didn’t this extend to their product line I wonder?

They wanted to make a connect with the youth through contemporary icons, athletes who appeared in this campaign. It was intended to capture the minds of the youth by giving them a voice for self- expression and therefore become relevant and inspiring to them.

Did the campaign work in encouraging youth to embrace their individuality by identifying with their sports heroes…perhaps.

Did it inspire more young people to go to their store and buy their products? I guess not until their products start to reflect the individualistic streak that their campaigns have talked about

If branding = promise keeping…then it should reflect in everything that the brand says or does. Everything!

Last year they launched…a range of clothes that reflect a confluence of sport and style reflecting the edginess that youth seek.

Now… this looks more like - keeping the promise that they made.

brand alignment, Reebok, Reebok Classics,

Cross-posted on Chlog

Lost amidst a 1000 windows!

We live in strange times…

We sms while dining…eat while watching tv…read, check mail while in a meeting…catch up with friends on chat while at work …take our cell phone with us to sleep…some of us even take it to shower!

Constantly flitting between open windows on the computer…we perennially scan the environment around us so as to no miss anything. Linda Stone calls it a state of ‘continuous partial attention’

There is suddenly so much information all around and so much to catch up with that it leaves one feeling challenged. The info-glut creates a sense of info-guilt…a constant feeling that there is so much out there that I don’t know – books I haven’t read, movies I haven’t seen and therefore the race against time to catch up with things leaving us hurried and restless.

We are so busy keeping tabs on everything that we find it difficult to focus on anything for too long. Shortening attention spans would impact what kind of information and how much we will be able to absorb. We’ve started enjoying T-20 as opposed to test matches, reading blog posts, microblogs and tweets instead of thick tomes. The bytes are reducing to as much as we can chew. At a movie theatre after a standard 2.5 hour movie I overheard people say that movies are becoming too long these days…who has the patience? Short film may not seem like such an offbeat format in the future.

A few days back I was at the Kala Ghoda Festival. A crowd of people waited patiently around a stage waiting for a classical dancer to appear and perform. Someone introduced her with what seemed like a never-ending list of her credentials…checked sound…and finally she arrived. Instead of performing…she decided to lecture the audience for a few minutes…and disappeared again back stage… and another round of sound testing – by which time I had lost patience and moved away from the stage to a more alluring part of the festival buzzing with activity. Had I paid to watch the performance I would have been mentally prepared to spend 2 hours of my time dedicated to this activity but at the festival I was out for a quick round of fun. More over the environment around has way too much stimulus to have me standing there firmly by the stage.

Many a time brands expect us to do just that…marketers assume that people would focus on and be wowed by what their brand is saying or doing or selling. In the hope of grabbing attention, the claims made by some brands mirror this hurry sickness that consumer’s are gripped by. Personal care products till a few years back promised visible results after many weeks / months of continued product usage. Then came Ponds that promised an anti-ageing miracle in just 7 days. As if that was not miracle enough Pantene now assures you that their product will strip your hair off 3 months of damage (and god knows what else) in 3 minutes! At this rate I can’t imagine what the next advertiser will say to try and sell his product…what could be faster than 3 minutes – just think of my brand and you’ll turn beautiful maybe!

Instead of shouting louder and faster brands that help consumers manage interruption will be valued. One that caught my attention was UrgeMe. Once I set a reminder on their site they send me a email telling me You are supposed to call xyz for shopper info before 13-Feb-2009.Don’t forget to do it.

And now…in the interest of not grabbing more of your attention…I’ll let you go this time. Do come back for more :)

Cross-posted at - http://chlog.chlorophyll.in/

brand and culture, continuous partial attention

The Culture of Service

Hullo! Its been awfully long and hope some of you are still here :)

Sometime back an acquaintance asked me to put together my thoughts on 'service'...what customers expect...what retailers do, don't do and perhaps should do. I was reminded of some of the strange...contrasting experiences I've had.

I remembered how I felt when I first visited UK. I had walked into a Candy store late one evening. I was the only one at the shop apart from two girls who managed the store. They noticed me getting in but did not say much…nor crowd around me as I browsed through what the store had to offer. At first it felt weird…perhaps I was even a little offended when I thought they did not acknowledge my presence there. They asked me the mandatory ‘are you ok…there?’ I gave them a confused nod. I browsed for a few minutes and walked out. It took me a few more visits to realize how liberating this experience was.

Contrasting this with my experience in India – where the minute I set foot in a shop…I expect to be followed around…asked questions repeatedly about what I want…and if nothing else watched by the sales staff from close quarters. This happens at restaurants too where if you are not surrounded by waiters standing barely two steps away from your table all huddled up…your conversation is constantly interrupted by waiters coming and re-filling your glass of water the minute you’ve had a sip from it.

Perhaps this ‘over servicing’ attitude is rooted in our cultural beliefs to treat ‘Guests as God’ and thus - Atithi Devo Bhav. Or may be it originated from a cautious mindset – with only a miniscule number of shops having CCTV cameras or any surveillance system, ‘following the consumer’ must have seemed like the safest bet to prevent pilferage. Over the years we became accustomed to being watch, followed, questioned, interrupted - though with more people traveling across the world…this is changing.

Nevertheless the notion of what good service means is therefore largely context and culture specific therefore.

Kingfisher airline was able to turn this around positively by delivering some of the little things that made a service difference. They refer to their customers as not just passengers but as guests, have someone escort you with your luggage as soon as you arrive at the airport right up to the check in terminal. In fact Kingfisher Red was the first low cost airline to serve water (and now even food) on board, when competitors were charging for it. Being charged for water does not just translate to a monetary cost. The annoyance value it brings with it and the associated ill will a brand earns is far more. During consumer research we often heard people complain about how even when a stranger shows up at the door he is not sent away way without being offered water – and to think of it that ‘charge us for water’…their tone almost suggested that it was blasphemous!
In fact I’ve heard my mother say that - offering a thirsty person water to drink is like doing a good deed.

Whether you are a low frill brand whose offering is based on giving the consumer a bare minimum experience or a regular brand trying to survive recessionary times and cutting down on service … it cannot be a blanket cutting down the service experience - the trick would be in figuring out – what goes and what stays.