The Conversation Starts From Within
Transcript of The Conversation Starts From Within
The Conversation Starts From Within
USP
Where’s the Unique Selling Proposition?
ESP
Advertising impact suffering from years of far-fetched
promises and exaggerations
It’s increasingly difficult to compensate average, undifferentiated products through remarkable communication
The conversation has to be built into or around the product
Product/service
eco
advertising
advertising
Product/service
innovation
eco
design
useful marketing
digital technology
co-creation
advertising
advertising
digital technology
innovation
eco
co-creation
design
useful marketing
Leading in…
Leading in innovation
• Changing the dynamics and conventions of a category
• Changing expectations and perceptions of a product or service
Advertising : R&D Ratio
1950 3:11970 2:11995 1.52:12005 1.34:1
“Our mantra: innovate, innovate, innovate”
“The single most important thing is that we speed up our
innovation machine, which means that we bring more highly
appreciated products to the consumer so that they say, ‘Wow, this is really something I would like
to have’”
The actual product experience increasingly becomes the centre of
conversation
vs.
Remarkable products use
advertising as a window display
Unremarkable products use
advertising as a smokescreen
The more distinctive the offering, the more transparent the communication
The more distinctive the offering, the more transparent the
communication
digital technology
innovation
eco
co-creation
design
useful marketing
Leading in…
A new generation of brands built around remarkable new services
“When it comes to digital technology, because there is a blur and overlap between the product and the experience, where the
messaging ends and the product begins is very grey.”
Rei Inamoto, AKQA
Digital technology is transforming the interfaces between products &
users
• Airline industry – digital technology is changing every step of the journey
• Food delivery category – digital technology is changing the ordering and delivery process
• Banking industry – digital technology is changing the accessibility, availability and flexibility of their services
• Newspaper industry - digital technology is changing newspapers from paper channel into multimedia product
Airline industry – digital technology is changing
every step of the journey
Food delivery category – digital technology is
changing the ordering and delivery process
Banking industry – digital technology is changing the
accessibility, availability and flexibility of their services
European banks give customers sub-par online service experiences
Source: Forrester’s 2007 European Bank Secure Web Site Ranking. Provisional scores
Belowminimum standards
Meets or exceedsminimum standards
0 25 50 75 100
Newspaper industry - digital technology is changing newspapers from paper channel into multimedia
product
digital technology
innovation
eco
co-creation
design
useful marketing
Leading in…
“The single most important competitive advantage will be, as a country or company, the ability to outgreen your competition.”
Thomas Friedman
Greenwashing or Green Sheen
• Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off• Sin of No Proof• Sin of Vagueness• Sin of Irrelevance• Sin of Fibbing• Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
digital technology
innovation
eco
co-creation
design
useful marketing
Leading in…
“At Sony, we assume that all products of our competitors have basically the same technology, price, performance, and features. Design is the only thing that differentiates one product from another in the marketplace.”
Nohra Ohga, ex-chariman of Sony
For the decade ending in December, 2004, the basket of 61 companies in the council's Design Index outperformed the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 (FTSE100) stock index by more than 200%.
BA created the world's first totally flat airplane bed, drawing back business-class customers, pushing seat yield up 9%
and stabilizing BA's rocky share price.
Turning products into collector items
digital technology
innovation
eco
co-creation
design
useful marketing
Leading in…
Increasing involvement from individuals in innovation process
• Making things requires collaboration
• The Internet is radically lowering the cost of collaboration
• Companies are losing their ‘raison d’etre’
Ronald Coase, Nobel Prize winner
Crowdsourcing business model – product creation equals marketing
Closed vs. open innovation
Closed Innovation
Open Innovation
Corporate ethos
“We can do it, we will do it”
Best from anywhere
Role of customers
Passive recipients Active co-innovators
Innovation success metrics
Increased margins/revenues, reduced time-to-market, market share within existing market
R&D ROI, breakthrough product or business models
Role of R&D and operations
Design, develop and market in-house inventions
Optimize performance of owned assets through both in-house and external development; do enough R&D internally to recognize significant external R&D
Sources: Forrester –Innovation Networks, June 17, 2004
P&G – Connect and Develop
“In 2000, we decided to stop being Fortress P.& G., and move to an open innovation system that could attract innovations of all stripes from the outside.”
A G Lafley, CEO Procter & Gamble
Tcho – Chocolate 2.0Continuous flavour development
based on customer feedback
digital technology
innovation
eco
co-creation
design
useful marketing
Leading in…
What if marketing was less about useless messaging…
…and more about useful services & solutions?
core product or service
extended or related services
Exploring useful marketing
Advise/guide people…
HSBC - The Property Panel
Nokia Music RecommendersBlackberry - B-List
Top Shop - Style Advisor & Concierge Service
Help people to enjoy or use your product…
Apple retail store
Bugaboo - Daytrips
Nokia - Silence Booth
B&Q – DIY book
HP – Online Classes
• Can become long-term property • Can become self-sustaining property
The benefits of useful marketing
Impact of global recession
• In times of recession, it’s increasingly important to look at marketing as an investment, rather than a cost.
• Marketing should be more than entertainment, but add actual value to the core offering, and as a result, to people’s lives.
So what does this all mean for marketing folks?
R&D MarketingCommunication
Moving away from a sequential approach to R&D and mkt/comms…
R&D
Marketing
Communication
…towards a more synchronised and collaborative approach
And what about agency folks?
Changing the agency model