By Pete West
The discussion of what makes WOW! brands is not new. You only have to google the name to find 100's of websites all professing to know the answer to what makes that oh so important WOW factor! ... and for a tidy sum of $$$'s they would be willing to share that secret with you!
I decided to split my approach between 2 sets of consumers. A convenience sample of 4 work peers as well as a less known entity, 5 university students here in Calgary.
The results are as follows ..
STUDENT No.1
Our University Student felt very confident that he was the 'anti-brand', until we started to dig a little deeper! It's clear that the 'apperance' of the NISSAN GTR or CHEVROLET Corvette factored above all other concerns. When asked about brands perhaps related to clothing, it was evident that 'value for money' was far greater than any brand logo, with the exception of sports, where a favourite EASTON and BAUER were noted for their 'performance'. Although initially a referal, it was clear that he had validated the choice prior to finally adopting.
STUDENT No.2
Our second University Student was clear to state 2 brands, one within fashion and one within the automotive industry. BUFFALO JEANS have the 'fit' that makes this student (a tall guy) keep coming back .. despite the reliability of the brand for this 'fit' it's clear that if cheaper alternatives were known, this brand may just become a mis-fit, loosing it's WOW! Unlike the Jeans, the SUBARU car is 'technically' advanced, with a clear 'reputation for performance' driven by an 'image' established by years of world class rally competitions. This car is a clear 'aspiration' for our Student, providing the desire image, along with the unquestionable performance to accompany.
STUDENT No.3
This University Student was again hot on the Fashion trail (a common theme with university students it appears!), with REPUBLIC, NUDIE JEANS C0 & UNDERGROUND 'style' clothing. It's clear that the 'purchasing experience' is less important than the 'product' itself. As a result our student will search the internet and shopping mall's to hunt out the best price for his product, with little regard for any 'added value service'. 'Underground Clothing' also gives way to the idea of clothes associated by a broader identity than the specific brand itself .. we will discuss this more!. For cars TOYOTA represents 'reliability', his highest consideration for purchase, although the 'good price value' of TOYOTA was a close second . If reliability and price were ignored and image alone was the criteria used, AUDI would be the winner.
STUDENT No.4
Our fourth University Student has one brand that stands out amongst all others in the world of fashion (again a popular brand arena for students). AMERICAN EAGLE provide 'soft & comfortable' clothing, 'affordable' and 'stylish'. Unlike some of our other Students, this was a self discovery. No visit to a Mall could be complete without a visit to this store, and infact could be the 'only reason' that our student might select one Mall vs. another to shop.
STUDENT No.5
Our final Student provides the perfect mix of 'self discovery' and 'personal recommendation' with the CONVERSE shoe brand. Discovered in her brothers closest the 5yr's and counting sample of the brand that I witnessed during the interview supports our students comments on the importance of 'reliability' and 'comfort'. After noticing that she was eating a SUBWAY sandwich, I couldn't resist to ask how important that brand was to her .. 'not at all' .. 'it's high in sodium, cheap and filling' .. clearly not all brands have a WOW!!
4 WORK COLLEAGUES
I was keen to compare our university students to another group. I selected 4 peers from my workplace and asked them the same questions as our University Students. We did get some notably different insights.
More obviously, each interview was much, much longer, at an average of over 10 minutes. Brands were typically bigger and much more well known, E.G. NIKE, RALPH LAUREN, RED BULL, GREY GOOSE, FORD, IKEA, COCA-COLA and APPLE.
In the interest of keeping this blog direct and to the point, I have captured each WOW! brand recognised below, as well as the 'key justification' offered to support it's WOW! status.
http://www.nike.com/
Key Insight: Legacy, Historical Attachment, Product Quality
Key Insight: Legacy, Historical Attachment, Product Quality
http://www.ralphlauren.com/
Key Insight: Brand differentiation covering all ages and shopping experiences
Key Insight: Brand differentiation covering all ages and shopping experiences
http://www.greygoose.com/
Key Insight: Exquisite, Extreme Luxury, Smooth Consistent Taste
Key Insight: Exquisite, Extreme Luxury, Smooth Consistent Taste
http://www.ford.com/
Key Insight: Rugged, Strong, Traditional
Key Insight: Rugged, Strong, Traditional
http://www.ikea.com/
Key Insight: Ultimate 'Shopping Experience'
Key Insight: Ultimate 'Shopping Experience'
http://www.coca-cola.com/
Key Insight: Admiration of Legacy, Consistency & Brand Expression
Key Insight: Admiration of Legacy, Consistency & Brand Expression
Key Insight: Consistent Innovation (Product & Shopping Experience)
So what have we LEARN'T from the above CONSUMER interactions?
Key Observations;
(i) Our STUDENT consumer group, recognised 2 key categories of WOW! brands. Those that were 'Functional' brands e.g. American Eagle for comfort, Toyota for reliability, Converse for durability and those that were 'Aspirational' e.g. Subaru for performance and Audi for image
(ii) My WORKING PEER group, recognised 3 key categories of WOW! brands. Brands that had 'Tradition, Heritage or Legacy' e.g. Nike, Coca-Cola, Ford. Those that 'Constantly Innovate' e.g. Apple, Ralph Lauren, or provide a unique 'Shopping Experience' e.g. IKEA, Apple and those that can be associated with a 'Extreme Lifestyle Choices' e.g. Grey Goose (Exquisite) or Red Bull (Daring and Fun)
(iii) So what is that all important WOW! factor. Well, if 9 interviews were going to provide this, I would be a very rich man! It's clear that there are some common elements as listed above, and perhaps some by consumer group. I look forward to the discussion over the coming 10 days as others help me to centre in on this question, that's why of course I created this blog!!
(iv) Personal Brand Preference: If I had to choose one of the above mentioned brands it would be 'Red Bull'.
Red Bull has experienced an unpresidented amount of new competition in the energy drinks market, after arguably establishing it globally over the past 20 years. Despite this competition, the brand remains a consumer favourite with a brand value in the range of $2 billion and a slogan that evokes lifestyle in all 'gives you wings!'. A closer look at Red Bull highlights many opportunities for further discussion; Guerilla Marketing Tactic's; Generation Y focus; Mobile Energy Teams; Significant number of university Student employee's, acting as brand ambassador's; Extreme sport sponsorship; Formula 1 Racing; Small number of SKU's; simpliestic Media campaign without celebrity endorsements. This approach is very unique among consumer products, especially those listed above.
I would be very interested on the views of those reading this blog, as to whether Red Bull 'has wings' as a WOW! brand for you!
Links to Interviews of Colleagues **
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l10G6tEM7d0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKYHJ8TfXFU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG5ECou45B0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYTw_oYacZA
** Please note you do need a little patience when viewing. Unfortunately I learn't the hard way not to record video's for U-tube in high definition, especially longer ones!
25 comments:
I'm not sure if it's the done thing to be the first to post a comment on your own blog! .. perhaps you will tell me if my 'blogging' etiquette is poor!
Please take time to VOTE below on which of the above mentioned brands have most appeal to you by category. Whilst you can not add comments in the POLL please feel free to use this space to add any additional insights as to your choice.
At the same time, I would be equally keen to build a visitors POLL of unconditional WOW brands - please let me know yours, I will publise the first 10 I receive!
.. ENJOY!!
PETE SAYS: Looks like Toyota, Red Bull and Converse are the early leaders in the POLL below.
Ben:
I agree with the ideas mentioned on heritage and legacy, and also function. My main favourites are Adidas and Money Clothing, and I would buy at least one item from these brands every month.
My leisure wear (shoes, shirts, jackets) is predominantly Adidas Originals, but my functional sportswear (soccer, running, squash, gymwear) is always Nike, as their technical and purpose-made sportswear is (to me) far superior in fit and support.
That said, I would never wear Nike in a casual sense, as I would with Adidas, as this is to do with the way Adidas pitches its "Originals" line to people with an eye on vintage and traditional fashion clothing (and they also have a solid and excellent Skateboarding identity which is slowly gathering pace).
I drive a 9yr-old Audi TT which I'm not ashamed to say is purely down to image and high performance, in a price bracket I can afford! Also the build quality and reliabilty are big issues for me, and it's a 9yr old car which still turns heads everywhere it goes, and has never had a serious fault. Prior to this I owned a Volkswagen and again cannot fault the car for style, reliability and driving experience.
As far as jeans go, I very much identify with the student who said Buffalo were "his fit" - I wear Money denim which is an English high-end brand (http://www.moneyclothing.com/) for the same reason, in that whilst it is a very exensive product, I know if I buy their products, they will look good on my shape and size, as opposed to other high-end brands such as Diesel or G-Star which do not make jeans that suit my size and height.
I wear Invicta Watches as they look a million bucks but don't cost it. Again, image and build quality win it for me with Invicta.
I use Nokia phones as their reliabilty and interface are for me more important than the image of Apple - if anything I enjoy the anti-image of NOT owning an iPhone!
So if it's not too arrogant to make my own list, here are my main WOW brands:
Adidas Originals
Money Clothing
Invicta Watches
Audi
Volkswagen
Nokia
first of all: very good blog! Liked reading it...
well to the discussion, you´re absolutely right, if some interviews were sufficient we´d probably be on the beach already... enjoying life ;-)
I think with some of the things you´re spot on, Functionality (i.e. quality) and constantly innovating (but keeping quality - I believe this is where e.g. Nokia failed in the last years....) and this little intangible emotional thing... which I´m still niot sure I did capture fully.
You mentione Heritage, Shopping Exp., Lifestyle.... somehow it all applies in this emo-category, the interesting thing is that those brands use those different things based on their brand image... but the goal is the same -> bind your consumer by emotion to your brand....
but this is I believe only the starting point of the discussion...
Thomas F.
Pete this is great blog, interesting to see what is influencing students purchase patterns.
I would also like to add a few brands to the wow list:
Automobile:
Volkswagen
Shoes:
Sanuks
Watch:
Skagen
Great post! You do try to take the WOW apart in a more scientific way then I did - good job!
The rational motivators behind the choices are fairly easy, what's interesting is how brands are able to convince on those. That's where the discussion starts.
Interesting that not many luxury items were named as compared to other posts. I think that's one of the big challenges we have to solve - how to market our global brands across different cultures...
And yeah, Red Bull is the one from your list. When I think of competitor from Coke - Burn - it makes me sick. Pink liquid marketed on the back of same-old-boring-story of nightlife? How does that compare to "It gives you wings!"?..
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