For in-house counsel, who may interface with marketing all the time in reviewing advertisements, press releases, and collateral, it is always great to learn how a marketing person thinks.
Barbara E. Kahn, Vice Dean and Director, Wharton Undergraduate Division, Professor of Marketing, gave a talk in San Francisco on May 8, 2006 on new ideas in branding strategies.
There appears to be a shift in marketing these days from focusing on the product to the customer to experiences. She gave the example of a birthday cake, where people first made cakes from scratch by purchasing commodities such as flour, eggs, sugar. Then when people became busy, cake mixes came along. The focus moved from the product to the customer. Brands such as Betty Crocker gained recognition.
Today, experiences is the new idea in branding. Instead of making the cake, people tend to desire experiences such as parties at Chuck E. Cheese where the cake is thrown in for free. Experiences require interactions with the product and how it is used.
In order to connect an experience to a brand, people need to identify with the brand. This may be done with a multisensory strategy where all the five senses are involved. A consistent theme may be launched through taste, music, scent, sight, touch.
Brand awareness results when a brand is recalled without any assistance. According to surveys by Interbrand, Coca Cola has remained the number one brand in countries throughout the world, including Germany. When people are aware of a brand, the product tends to be purchased more.
Brand image and value comes from a brand being simple and consistent. One message is usually told and repeated.
Like the brand strategies before it, experience ideas succeed when a brand differentiates from its competitors. This occurs when the brand position makes is obvious that it is not the same as others within 30 seconds.
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