Mega Brands in Dire Need of Darwinian Instincts
Aside from other attendant challenges occasioned in the wake of the economic doldrums that are currently being witnessed globally, one other critical challenge facing established businesses and brands world-over is the ruthless onslaught of grossly unfair competitive and unethical practices, a scenario which only underscores the ‘dog-eat-dog’ jungle our contemporary business environment has come to represent.
For many recognized brands, this detrimental offensive manifests in the form of proliferation of multiples of cheaper and unbranded/generic parity products in the same category as well as outright counterfeiting and creation of cheap imitations of considerably lower quality. For an instance, I almost wept for the Finnish guys at Nokia when I stumbled upon a different shade of the N96 just few days back …. More like the ‘chi-N-ese’ series (Pun deliberate!).It appeared exactly the same design and outlook until I scrolled through the menu. In the event you’re in any doubt about the extent to which this ugly trend has gained a foothold, just one visit to ‘Otigba’ and its precincts (our own celebrated ‘Silicon’ Valley!) will surely convince you to have a rethink!. These deplorable sharp-practices across many sectors continue creating colossal dents in fortunes of established brands, sparing neither brand equity nor profits in the long-run.
The trends highlighted in the foregoing paragraph underline the reasons why proactive and forward-looking businesses or brands place imperative premium on marketing innovation as a tool with tremendous potential to successfully navigate the murky recessional waters that threaten to shipwreck many brands.
Innovation could, among other objectives, prove to be very critical for the purpose of creating new products from scratch, spinning off brand extensions (completely new offerings leveraging on known brand names) or mitigating the incidence of counterfeiting.
The forgoing brings to mind a particular definition of marketing which I’ve come to appreciate and from my perspective. It succinctly captures the very essence of the science of marketing. It’s credited to Philip Kotler, and he outlines it thus: “Authentic marketing is NOT the art of selling what you make, but instead, knowing what to make. It is essentially the identification and understanding of consumer needs and the creation of relevant solutions which deliver satisfaction to the customer, profit to producer and benefits to all stakeholders in their entirety”.
The above interpretation by the renowned marketing guru captures the pertinence of the innovation process as far as effective marketing is concerned. Innovation, as it were is clearly the very lifeblood of successful marketing.
One key lies in being able to identify noteworthy stimuli from the market that are capable of having implication on brands and carefully exploring ways of exploiting these favorably and translating them into meaningful initiatives that can give further leverage to the brands in the marketplace.
In reality, it appears to be easier said because a typical innovation process can be painstakingly topsy-turvy. It involves a remarkable degree of commitment and equally commensurate devotion of resources and even at this, success is not altogether guaranteed, as many products that have gone through years of researching and repeated testing have still been known to have failed eventually.
Essentially, it also requires a considerable degree of co-creative input and collaborative effort across different strata/job specifications in concerned organizations, in a possible instance, a joint drive involving both product strategy and consumer marketing units. Ideally, ever before any meaningful brand development can take place, there will be a need to study the models and work through fundamental issues such as long-term business, operating and organizational strategy. These are key elements in the innovation process and only after these have been put into proper perspective can the stage of brand development and communication follow.
It is also expedient to mention that the process of marketing/brand innovation is really a continuum, as new and dynamic insights are wont to emanate every now and then which can provide valuable impetus that will be useful for shaping product strategy and other specific elements like taste, color, ingredients, composition, packaging et al.
In a sense, the innovation process can be likened to a wide funnel through which lots of ideas and insights are tumbled into before being carefully filtered out. To underscore the many intricacies involved in brand innovation, as one reputed marketing strategist put it, “in a lot of instances, there might appear to be an opportunity in the market, but the onus lies on the ‘innovator’ to ascertain whether there is a viable market within that opportunity”.
The brands that’ll survive and retain or accentuate crucial equity through this period of economic recession are those that relentlessly explore and chart new courses premised on remarkable consumer and market insights. The stories of brands that have successfully re-invented themselves even against intimidating competition lend ample credence to this. A very apt example in our local environment is a Harp, the lager from the Guinness stable which has successfully re-invented its essence through years of investment in innovation manifesting in three label changes and successive improvements in taste. These efforts have paid off, standing Harp in better stead as far as the competition against market leader, Star is concerned.
The foregoing readily brings to mind Charles Darwin’s celebrated theory of natural selection, propounded in 1859. In this highly competitive contemporary marketing environment, only the fittest will survive and stay on top …. Those, who can innovate, that is!
Tomi Ogunlesi, a professional member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) is presently an account planner in Strategy and Business Development at BatesCosse, Lagos.
