New product development is always a tricky business. A certain degree of uncertainty is intrinsic to the process. Some new products click while many fail. Yet, despite the uncertainty and risk, chances of success can be improved to a large extent with some commonsense.
I am often surprised to see that again and again new products fail in market not because of lack of resources to market it or the product's attributes and features, but due to marketer's inability to understand the consumer and her need - obvious or hidden. The problem starts with marketer's myopic thinking. The culprit is 'company centric' view of a consumer. This 'company centric' view of consumer comes in various flavours, all equally lethal for company's health and well being. Below are some samples:
Marketers try to make a product that they feel is best for the consumer and then go and try to sell it to them. Most of the time this approach fails because how a marketer views the needs of a consumer is often vastly different from how a consumer views her needs!
Marketers get a brain wave for a new product idea. They develop the product after investing lots of money and resources. Once the product is ready, they start searching for consumers who could buy it. It's like shooting arrows in a blind allay in the wild hope of hitting the bull's eye. Seldom have they succeeded.
Marketer sees a product at some far away land and feels that the product seems so nice. He comes with a sample and hands it over to his R&D people to develop a similar product for his market in his country. Once the product is ready, he starts searching for consumers to sell it and then finds that the overall market for the product is so low that there is no business sense to launch the product.
Successful product development has few basic features apart from the luck factor. From what I have observed in my career so far, great and hugely successful products are built around following pillars;
They are backward engineered from consumer. Hence, when developed they have a ready or at least, a latent market to tap.
They are simple from consumer's point of view and satisfy her needs in a simple way sans complication and at a price and experience that gives her maximum utility value and satisfaction.
They have a 'consumer centric' DNA.
New product development requires simplicity. It needs to put the consumer at the center of the gravity and then develop itself around the consumer. This is perhaps the only way I know to develop great products that are loved by consumers and are commercial success.
In the world of marketing, only those products end up with consumers which start with consumers.
Labels: Brand Management, Customer, Marketing
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Leadership Mantra
"Leadership is action not position."
Noticed this beautiful quote on the wall of a multiplex in Mumbai. It succinctly sums up the essence of leadership.
Very often people complain that they were unable to bring about change because they didn't have the authority or the position to execute. Perhaps this is the biggest excuse for avoiding action. The truth is that anyone, irrespective of position and authority, can practice leadership. Leadership is all about action and action is neither big nor small. True leadership is about taking action for what one feels is right. It starts with self and gradually influences the surrounding. It's like an expanding circle, starting from the center (you) and gradually moving outward to increase the circle of influence to lead more and more people to desired action.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Great leadership always starts with personal leadership - action guided by a vision. Every action creates a ripple of change. More the action, the more ripples of change are formed to influence larger and larger mass of people. But everything starts with an action just like a long journey starts with a single step.
Even if you are a nobody, you must act. Embrace action to lead yourself to your vision. Sooner than later, the world will follow you. Lead the world by leading yourself through action.
Labels: Leadership
Noticed this beautiful quote on the wall of a multiplex in Mumbai. It succinctly sums up the essence of leadership.
Very often people complain that they were unable to bring about change because they didn't have the authority or the position to execute. Perhaps this is the biggest excuse for avoiding action. The truth is that anyone, irrespective of position and authority, can practice leadership. Leadership is all about action and action is neither big nor small. True leadership is about taking action for what one feels is right. It starts with self and gradually influences the surrounding. It's like an expanding circle, starting from the center (you) and gradually moving outward to increase the circle of influence to lead more and more people to desired action.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Great leadership always starts with personal leadership - action guided by a vision. Every action creates a ripple of change. More the action, the more ripples of change are formed to influence larger and larger mass of people. But everything starts with an action just like a long journey starts with a single step.
Even if you are a nobody, you must act. Embrace action to lead yourself to your vision. Sooner than later, the world will follow you. Lead the world by leading yourself through action.
Labels: Leadership
One Story; Multiple Brands
One Story; Multiple Brands
Everyday while driving to work, I get to see huge billboards advertising products and services on the road side. Today, a thought crossed my mind. Isn't the space too big for a brand? Annual lease for such billboards run in lakhs of rupees. Isn't it possible to have more than one brand in one hoarding in such a way that there is one story about two or three brands and not separate stories? It sounds absurd and blasphemous but may be there is some value in this madness.
Why the idea can work?
In a cluttered world, more than anything else brands get noticed by the simple yet engaging story they tell. It is all about the story your brand can tell, with or without the spoken words, in the few seconds of attention a consumer grants to open an opportunity window.
Unlike products stories are not physical. Stories are a communication medium; a kind of bridge between message sender and message receiver. They are all about integration of thoughts and ideas in a coherent way that conveys the intended message. Due to this nature of story, it is very much possible to weave one story on two or more brands without diluting the essence of any of the brands involved. It's all about right synchronization of the story and the participating brands.
The key to such experimentation is the degree of maturity level of respective marketing team and their advertising agency. The higher the level of maturity in understanding their own brand, better their expectation from one another in their marriage on billboards!
How it can work?
For this to become a reality, advertising agencies will have to show guts to experiment. It will not only take a high degree of creativity to execute a campaign but also persuasive powers to bring all the stakeholders together to solemnize the marriage of brands on the billboard. The problem is easier to solve if the advertising agency is common to all brands involved. If different agencies are involved it will become a tough nut to crack and will require a high level of collaboration and check on creative ego!
Absurd as it may sound, my gut feeling says that it can work, not only in outdoor media but, may be, in electronic and print media also if some out-of-the-box thinkers indulge in out-of-the-box creativity. Any takers?
Labels: Advertising, Brand Management, Marketing
Everyday while driving to work, I get to see huge billboards advertising products and services on the road side. Today, a thought crossed my mind. Isn't the space too big for a brand? Annual lease for such billboards run in lakhs of rupees. Isn't it possible to have more than one brand in one hoarding in such a way that there is one story about two or three brands and not separate stories? It sounds absurd and blasphemous but may be there is some value in this madness.
Why the idea can work?
In a cluttered world, more than anything else brands get noticed by the simple yet engaging story they tell. It is all about the story your brand can tell, with or without the spoken words, in the few seconds of attention a consumer grants to open an opportunity window.
Unlike products stories are not physical. Stories are a communication medium; a kind of bridge between message sender and message receiver. They are all about integration of thoughts and ideas in a coherent way that conveys the intended message. Due to this nature of story, it is very much possible to weave one story on two or more brands without diluting the essence of any of the brands involved. It's all about right synchronization of the story and the participating brands.
The key to such experimentation is the degree of maturity level of respective marketing team and their advertising agency. The higher the level of maturity in understanding their own brand, better their expectation from one another in their marriage on billboards!
How it can work?
For this to become a reality, advertising agencies will have to show guts to experiment. It will not only take a high degree of creativity to execute a campaign but also persuasive powers to bring all the stakeholders together to solemnize the marriage of brands on the billboard. The problem is easier to solve if the advertising agency is common to all brands involved. If different agencies are involved it will become a tough nut to crack and will require a high level of collaboration and check on creative ego!
Absurd as it may sound, my gut feeling says that it can work, not only in outdoor media but, may be, in electronic and print media also if some out-of-the-box thinkers indulge in out-of-the-box creativity. Any takers?
Labels: Advertising, Brand Management, Marketing
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