A brand core, well thought through, will let you define the look, feel, colours, fonts, sounds/audio to arrive at an identity. This identity then leads you to arrive at a visual language and tone of voice that is very distinctively recognisable as the face of your brand and by extension – branding of your product or services.
Trend1 : Knowing your consumer
Who are they? What are their motivations, interests and opinions? How are they changing? How is their world changing? Designing your brand and brand experience around the answers to these questions – will lead you to a defining a relevant product offering, doping more or less of technology, ease of browsing and sales assistance levels.
The only way to have a meaningful dialogue with consumers is to understand them. Including addressing any of their problems and concerns expressed both online and offline. More importantly it is also about bonding with your consumers beyond the transactional to an emotional level. In today’s market wherein the consumer is spoilt for choices, there are very few differences between brands which can be easily overcome by knowing your consumers and creating a differentiating brand experience around them.
Take the case of Apple and its strap line – Think Different – which is not just a line or tag line, it permeates every aspect of Apple’s businesses – spanning procurement to product design to retail. The brand experience of Think Different is so strong that every consumer interaction with any of Apple’s products (i-phone, i-mac and the rest of the range) and with the Apple retail stores reinforces the brand core. The designs across both products and retail tend to be unique, minimalistic and totally out-of the-box. The emotional bond that consumers have with their Apple products makes them brand advocates and promoters of the brand.
Trend 2: Building an Omni channel experience
At the risk of using a cliché – Omni channel, one still needs to understand what exactly is Omni channel? It is generally assumed to be building a brand presence across multiple channels – online and retail and/or different retail formats. This is only partially true, Omni channel is about building complimentary yet seamless brand experiences by profiling the consumers across channels and by leveraging the strengths of each channel. Consumer profiling is self-explanatory while the latter quite simply means each channel has its own merits. Online is used generally for browsing the entire range, pricing and convenience. Brick and mortar outlets provide a multi-sensory product and brand experience. These differences between formats should be capitalized upon while creating an Omni-channel experience.
There are multiple cases of online brands creating a brick and mortar version to build on the strengths of the offline platform, and multiple cases of the reverse from offline to online. Nordstrom (Department Stores in the USA) has managed to seamlessly blend the online and offline experiences via the social media platform. It uses Pinterest online and in stores to give its consumers a personalised and relevant branded shopping experience. They’ve added a Pinterest button to their website and they have also started to put physical Pinterest logos in-store to emulate the online process of ‘pinning’.
Trend 3: Creating a service-centric mentality
In a country renowned for its warmth and hospitality, we fall short in providing a service brand experience. While organisations have started improving the quality of products retailed, because consumers now have a range of brands to choose from and they will only choose the best quality at a given price band, the sales attendants and consumer care personnel treat the sales as transactional (read as meeting sales quotas). Building product knowledge, professionalism and a genuine consumer care among the front line and back end service providers is a key differentiator. The consumers who buy brands are the ones who will refer you if the entire experience provided is exemplary and distinctive.
Cathay Pacific is a service brand that has been consistently ranked as the world’s best airline by Skytrax. It has unfailingly raised the bar in upgrading its product, passenger comfort and service standards in accordance with its brand pillars. The raising of the bar happens by having a consumer focus and constantly listening to their feedback and more importantly – acting on the feedback. Cathay Pacific lounges, in-flight seats, the food and beverage selection, and service both on-ground and in-air merge the entire product-service experience to seamlessly tie into the overall heart-felt service brand experience.
Trend 4: Localising the offering
While overall the brand and its experience should be a constant across geographies, one needs to tweak elements of the marketing and service mix to suit the needs of the local market. Building brand affinity can be enhanced by adding an element of comfort and familiarity in the branding and space design in order to connect emotionally with your consumers.
Starbucks adds an element of localization not only in tweaking its product offering to suits local market sensitivities and tastes but also infuses local cultural elements within its retail space enhancing the consumer’s comfort levels while encouraging repeat visits.
Trend 5: Social Consciousness tying in with the brand
CSR imperatives are mandated for organizations of certain sizes, but leveraging the right CSR activity that builds on what the brand stands for, adds a valuable dimension to an organisation’s brand building effort. Food brands for example could help farmers through pricing, training or any other avenue they see fit.
There are brands like TOMS that have built their offering around a social cause. When a consumer purchases a pair of shoes for themselves, TOMS provides a pair of shoes to a child in need. This gesture not only mitigates consumer guilt over an extravagant purchase but also builds on the do good, feel good factor of buying into the brand. This also generates conversations around the brand.
These trends we have forecast for India are at a basic level since we foresee these as the first ones to change in the coming year. The higher-order experiences within the above trends will be the next steps in the coming years.
