Brand Tribes by Lim Leong

Run in? Run out!

2011-12-29T23:13:00.000+08:00

Running in a brand new car engine is prepping it for the long haul. The thousands of miles laid ahead, the real tasks, the real challenges.

Preparation is such an important stage of whatever we do or plan. Sometimes life takes a wrong turn and when we think we are ready, things turn to the wrong side; psychologically and even physically.

A recent family crisis took a real toll emotionally and not to mention financially. Luckily things turn for the better.

I thought my preparation for such scenarios are pretty well greased. I thought my 'engine' was run in for such a disaster. Surviving this taught me one thing which I want to share with you.

Like any brand, person or event. It is not how well 'run-in' you are but how to continue 'running out' of the situation. Not in avoidance but to take decisions you made in stride and continuing with it. Not to regret regret. Develop a 'running momentum' in dealing with problems that came and believe it that it will all work out. Move on each day for the next.

An analogy will be to not stopping after a major race like a marathon or Ironman is over but to keep going and training even if you have not signed up for another.

Cost of building the Singapore brand

2011-01-21T11:27:00.000+08:00

Singapore as a brand, in my opinion, is quite something. Small population, small land size yet with big achievements. Overtaking Malaysia in GDP and fastest post-recession rebound in Asia are some of the list of accolades. As a Singaporean born and bred here, I do have my moments when foreigners whom I met sang praises about our nation. However, I do have deep sentiments about this achievement. For everything what Singapore stands for today, there is a price tag to it. A rather substantial one in fact.

Economic Precedence
One of the top priority of Singapore's standing in the world stage is economic growth and it's growth resource; its people. Comprising of a growing migrant population giving us a hand in sustaining and growing our economic powerhouse. Long working hours, intensive price competition and productivity have strained family relations and time. Low birth rates and rising singleton numbers are the price Singapore needs to pay for this growth.

Mandatory Migrant Social Integration Period
As an effect to the first point on economic growth and falling birth rates, migrants are part of the answer to building Singapore as a nation and brand. Though slowing down in PR approvals, the substantial base of migrants are in the process of adjusting to the Singaporean culture of work and lifestyle. In the current stage, the Singaporean brand is also inevitably affected as this adjustment could take years and might change the way the brand is being perceived.

Erosion of Social Values
The perception of the efficient, well educated and economic productive Singaporean is a result of time spent away from building social ties. Less time for family and friends with a higher need for instant gratifications. Smoking, binge drinking and gambling have all risen in numbers. Number of divorces and singletons have also hit record numbers, not to mention low birth rates amongst married couples.

In the eyes of the world, we might be perceived as a world class city with a high brand equity. I am grateful as a consultant who does regional work occasionally. However, I am also very clear the price we have to pay in order to get there. The question is, are we willing to continue paying for it and probably raise the stakes higher for this brand?

Wait a minute longer

2010-07-04T00:29:00.002+08:00

We need to deliver fast, make customers happy FAST. Act fast, think fast and reward ourselves even faster. We are trained to think of the goal or gratification and not think about the process of getting there. The process is the 'dirty word'; long, arduous journey that might take a little longer than a minute to fulfill your goal. Add on the ups and downs in the process, some might not even take the first step at all! They enjoyed the idea of the goal and not the process. They want something instant and fast. Instant gratification at its best.

Today, Dr AR Bernard came and shared about processes, goals and getting to it. Each level of upgrade in our life goals is a series of stages and processes. We need to get through a stage before we get to a new level. A stage that is to be completed only through a process of grinding and moulding. Only through this, we get to ascend to the next level of higher attainment in skills and personal development.

I can relate this immediately to the way consumers today focus only on the end results and not wanting to know how to get there. They are 'sold' based on the end. Dr Bernard quoted an example of the abs machine seen on the shopping channel. The abs on the well toned man is the goal. The abs machine (you are paying for) became secondary because you are fixated about the end goal or result. You want to look good like him. Period.

Can we wait a minute longer to think about the process instead of jumping in on the goal? What about these?

1) Think about the purpose of volunteering before you sign up to give time and money to a cause?
2) Think about how you are able to make a comeback from failures before you start your own business?
3) Think about the training you need to go through before thinking of the Marathon or Ironman Finisher medal around your neck.

Delaying gratification or waiting a minute longer before you leech your eyes on the goal. Being goal oriented does not mean you forsake the process. Consumers stay with brands who are willing to take them from A to Z in a process or journey. Returning profitable customers are the ones who grow with your brand through a process and a goal in mind. Do this today, wait a minute longer to think about the process first before you fix on the end goal. It might save you alot of minutes in the long run.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Time for a migration

2010-05-24T12:29:00.001+08:00

Dear readers, apologies for not posting for the past few weeks. I am setting up a new WORDPRESS Blog at INGENS website. It can be found here at www.ingens.sg/blog.html. I do hope you continue to show your support.

As for this blog, I will continue to write on it but will take a new positioning. Stay tune for updates in June.

Leong

Why Simplicity Wins

2010-05-04T11:46:00.002+08:00

Today lots of information is fast spreading around and we live in a much connected world than 20 years ago. I am still not sure if my new iPhone makes my life easier or more complex. On average, we get exposed to heaps of data (ads, emails, junk), tools are invented to make information simple for us. A web page 'filter' like Readability is one good example. Readability allows web browsers to install a button on their web browser task bar and it discards away everything that is irrelevant to the main text you are reading. Doing away with ads, web banners, buttons and other links. You pretty much get a simple, black-white text article. You might first find this to be rather boring yet on hindsight, rather refreshing.

Do you crave for such simplicity in your life where it is more straightforward with less frills. Having less is more?

Interestingly, the trend is going the simplicity way. Fresh out of the financial crisis, consumers or tribes banded together and demanded a clearer, more transparent world. Brands are also recognizing this need. Some brands are striving towards being 'simple and transparent'. However, being simple is far more difficult that being complex. Anyone who presents information can attest to this. Having 10 bullet points in a Powerpoint is alot easier than summarizing it to a 6 word sentence and an image that tells the story. Yet the best presenters known today are known for being profoundly insightful yet simple at the same time. How? They painstakingly go through layers of complexity and refining it to make things simple for their audience to understand and spread the message. All these without losing the essence of the message. Here is George Whitesides talking about this topic in TED.

Simplicity wins not because it makes it easier for us to understand but also it allows the message to be digested and communicated quickly to other tribes. If you are struggling with simplicity, start examining simple things first. Look at its simple design and try to 'reverse engineer' why is it done this way? What is the intended purpose and end result? If you can come out with an even simpler solution to achieve the same result, you might be on your way to create something meaningful. Anyone wants to re-invent the ubiquitous PC QWERTY keyboard for a start? How many keys are unknown functionally to you and why is it there?

Be simple and win.

It is what it is. PASTA ALGAR from IKEA Food. Image from IKEA.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Renew, Refresh or Revamp?

2010-04-25T13:51:00.002+08:00

On the 24th April 2010, a tribe of 10 volunteers including myself went over to a one-bedroom elderly home for an Extreme Makeover. For 12 hours, we turned a one-room HDB flat inside out. Painting, repairing and fixing up new furnishing for a 80 year old Singaporean single male. He is without family and living with a friend in this flat. The purpose is to renew, refresh and revamp their living space. Cleaner, brighter and more livable.

Hardly, we get to see, touch and enter into the homes of the less privileged. Concealed out of our everyday lives, theirs is a world without LCD TV, heated showers and washing machine. Things we easily take for granted. Not to mention having a Personal Computer. The revamped flat which is about the size of my bedroom but it sure push us to the limit in terms of the details we need to take care of. Dead beat but definitely happy inside.

At some stage of our lives, we tend to seek renewal, refreshment or revamp. It could be internal or on the outside. Even an established brand seeks the same. The key is when and more importantly what do we do it for? Does the brand seek new meanings with new line of products? Or simply, it is time to refresh itself with a simpler look like what Pepsi did recently. Finding the purpose fuels the motivation to do it. Ours is simply to make an impact in a small way. Writing it, hopefully makes that effect a little bigger. I hope to dirty more sleeves in the future. My next pipeline is to promote road safety, especially within the cycling community.

No matter what is your choice, you need to stick to it and have a clear purpose with end goal in mind. If it benefits you, good. If it benefits a bigger cause, more than yourself. Great. You have outdone yourself. Quoting John Hope Bryant; "You can never go wrong doing good.".

PS. I will post pictures of the Before and After revamp sometime in the next 2 weeks. Stay tune.

Please leave your comments, if any.

The multi-million dollar Airline Brand Promise test

2010-04-22T14:18:00.004+08:00

Yes, that sounds expensive. That is the price that many airlines have to pay to test their brand promise in the recent Eyjafjoell volcano eruption that closed down the entire European airspace for a few days. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) put the overall cost to the airline industry at $US1.7 billion ($A1.83 billion): at its peak, said IATA, the crisis was costing $US400 million ($A431.69 million) a day.

Now the blame game starts within the airline industry but they neglected a bigger problem; did airline brands pass their brand promise test to their tribes or customers? Who is ultimately going to recuperate these losses? Not the airlines themselves but their customers ultimately. Those who buy the tickets, experience the on-brand flight services where it all comes as a package.

Thousands of airline passengers are left stranded, angsty and stressed up. Some airports look like refugee camps. Airline brands are tested for their competence and service delivery at the ground level even before passengers step on the plane. Yes, the branded airline experience starts way before that.

One brand did shine. Singapore Airlines gave awaiting passengers hotels and meals etc. Yes, it costs about S$10 million dollars to do all of these. That is not including another S$30 million lost through this crisis. SIA shares dropped but I reckon their brand equity has raised another bar. Reinforcing their brand promise of 'A great way to fly', SIA won over confidence and continue delivering their on-brand experience. I will not be surprised they will not only cash back the S$40 million quickly but also increase their brand tribe many folds. That is again adversity that leads to opportunity and success.

Please leave your comments, if any. Picture taken from ABC news.

What are the problems to solve?

2010-04-16T11:04:00.003+08:00

Problems abound. In fact, there are more problems surfacing than ready solutions. Solutions take time and effort. Creative solutions need dedication, design thinking and a strong purpose. More importantly, we also need to prioritise problems when the floodgates open periodically. Bjorn Lomborg gave his views on that in TED.

Ever once in a while, we identify problems that exists and turn them into a project. It could be a thesis you are writing, rebranding excercise or even a movement you want to start. You have teams or tribes who are interested to get their hands dirty. The result could be quite amazing. Solutions to solve cataract removal in India where cost of surgery can be reduced 100 times. Or Danielle Zurovcik, a doctoral student at MIT who invented a cheap hand-powered suction-healing system for use in developing countries. It uses negative suction to promote healing. You can read more about this amazing device that cost US$3 to manufacture which can potentially impact 50-60 million people in the developing world that suffer from acute or chronic wounds. This device is slated for testing in Haiti.

Think about your community or tribes today. What are the issues and problems do you think they are facing? How are you making change today?

Heres one. How many above 60 are living around you today. Have we spent enough time knowing them? Start with those around us first. If you are interested to engage them and want to know how to do it. Drop me a message.

Please leave your comments, if any. Picture taken from MIT news.

Higher Grounds

2010-04-13T12:48:00.001+08:00

There are higher education, higher thinking and higher grounds. Higher can mean more advance, more technical, more difficult and maybe even more irrelevant. However, one of the way to improve ourselves or a brand is to go higher. How high? High enough for us to guage what is coming next and strategize ahead. Knowing how the market might move and how consumers might react to it.

Why brands or businesses hire external consultants is to advise them why and how they should make that move. Consultants cannot tell the future nor have a crystal ball in their suitcase. Consultants are here to elevate you, gain higher ground of added advantage, create value and not make empty promises. End of the day, higher grounds can only be attained if foundations are firm. Foundations such as leadership, foresight and a solid dedicated team that rallies behind a common purpose. Take neccessary risks and learn from failures.

Here is Girl Effect, your chance to be at higher ground and be more than ourselves.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Resolve and Absolve

2010-04-12T12:52:00.002+08:00

Monday morning, I am at one of the major telco retailer to buy an iPhone. I wanted to change my current phone plan to join the iPhone tribe. I was told I could not do so as my current phone had contact with moisture as so says the red sticker at the back of my E71. I decided to live with my Nokia which had no major issues with my current needs. It still works fine. I left the shop empty as the customer service representative did not offer me any alternatives.

Reflecting back, I am disappointed. Seeing from both a business and consumer point of view. Why?

Through the eyes of a customer, there is no effort on the customer service representative to resolve my current need: Getting an iPhone and getting more business from me. Instead, they choose to tell me I have hit a dead end. I could not trade in and she did not tell me how much I need to top up to get what I want. I have to do the math myself?

As a consultant, I would have used the Resolve and Absolve model to empower each customer facing representative. Resolve the problem of the customer need as the top priority. If that is not met, little else really matters. Find out what is the tipping point (cost-benefit of not having the phone) and create value (opportunity cost of not having the phone).

Finally, absolve the customer need of not having the desired phone by showing alternatives. Ask: What could we do to make sure this customer walk out of the door buying something? Absolve the customer guilt of not getting the phone he wants. Probably it is a lot to ask for a young lady who just filling in during the holidays but generic good service is necessary not a luxury. So is a Green branded customer service that sets them apart from the Red and Orange telco brands.

Please leave your comments, if any.

A logo that tells you more

2010-04-08T10:44:00.002+08:00

A logo or Brand Mark design is one of the most visible visual identity a brand can have. Sadly, many companies CEO or brand owners consider this to be their only 'branding'. Little or no efforts to build a brand strategy or allowing the brand to grow internally/externally effectively.

The logo or Brand Mark does communicate stories or design cues to its audience. Hence, it is one of the first and important visuals a brand can have. Brand marks can be simply the spelling or word that consitute the brand like Google or Facebook.

Have your stories told...
One of the most interesting Brand Mark stories is Starbuck. How Starbucks is named after a character from the novel Moby Dick and the twin tail siren design is derived from a 17th century Norse Woodcut. If a brand has a story, why not tell it? Have storytellers within the tribe to romance about how the Brand Mark and name came about.

Subconscious mind play a role too
Our subconscious mind plays an important role when we look at Brand Marks. Depending on our individual experiences, culture and beliefs, Brand Marks communicate subconsciously to us. One of the forefront thinkers of subconscious research is Dr Zaltman who pioneered an elicitation technique to understand and decipher how our subconsicous thoughts are affecting our everyday decisions. It has been proven that 90% of our decisions are made sub consciously or without actively thinking about it. Hence, the choice of design cues are affecting our views of the Brand Mark beyond superficiously.

Design houses and brand agencies are offering brand design as part of the total consultancy package to clients. What they often fail to offer is the deciphering of meanings behind these logo beyond the surface. These are again cues which are controlled by culture, beliefs and values which their customers are residing. Sensitivity to such issues will allow the brand to grow, penetrate the minds of consumers today.

This is one of the original logo of Starbucks. Source Wikipedia.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Brand Empowerment

2010-03-26T17:29:00.002+08:00

To empower means to develop confidence in own capacity. This is powerful and liberating at the same time. A greater sense of drive, direction and purpose to achieve. To be Brand Empowered, the brand and its people behind it takes on a strong sense of purpose to deliver its promise to deliver a compelling brand experience. It is a catalyst of brand velocity and growth.

Today, branding activities actualize from the top but brand experience hardly filters down entirely to the entire body within the organization. A brand strategy takes care of the road map and action plan to make this happen. However, without the key ingredient of brand empowerment, the brand experience can waiver and become inconsistent by the time it reaches its customers.

Brand Empowerment should work on all levels. In a SME, it can be the boss who passes down a certain set of instructions to the staff. How to service clients and sell the brand. However, Brand Empowerment is more than that set of instructions. Here are the key aspects of Brand Empowerment.

Who owns the brand? Everyone does!
Everyone in a organization should be empowered to have brand ownership. This means all the staff are able to deliver the brand promise and effectively trained to do so. Think of them as different parts of a body (the brand) to move the body forward.

Advertising and Brand Delivery, do they align?
What do you communicate and what do you deliver? Is there a gap? Are the customers trying to tell you something? Do you even ask through a simple survey. Customers evolve, why should a brand keep still? Ultimately, if your customers are empowered by your brand, you attained a whole new level of growth. Social media takes brand empowerment to a whole new level. Brand spreads if customers are empowered to do so. Consider a brand platform as a starting point.

Customer Service, a powerful competitive advantage.
In my previous post, I talked about Branded Customer Service. In its essence, it is taking the brand promise and delivering to its customers in an unique, branded way. This can be achieved only if staff are brand empowered in the first place. This transfer can be done through proper brand training at the service front.

Brand Cues
Are there enough cues or touch points which your staff are able to communicate to customers? Do you give enough customers to talk, gossip and spread around? Too often, great brands are let down by lack of the 'long tail'. The tail that allows you to curl up the customers and let them have a reason to come back again. Look at your brand cues, what are those left to marketing which you can refresh, rejuvenate and reengage.

I will leave you with this.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Branded Customer Service

2010-03-18T11:09:00.008+08:00

A lot of brands are frustrated. They spent huge amount of money on advertising, branding and design, yet the brand promise fails to get across to their customers. A brand that claims "Our customers are number one" fails to train their staff to deliver this. Great products, great services but lousy customer service. Brands suffer erosion rather than positive gain.When a brand's communication and delivery do not gel, the brand fails ultimately. Brand value drops.

Once in a while, we hear good news about how customer service can lift a brand to new heights. Much more effective than the millions spent on advertising and branding activities. Nick's Pizza & Pub, Zappos, Ritz Carlton and Singapore Airlines. Zappos is worth US$1billion dollars when Amazon acquired it. Zappos spent $0 in mass media advertising before the takeover. That is a billion dollar worth of tangible brand value from delivering good customer service. I find it hard to argue that great customer service is indeed a key competitive advantage for brands, especially for those in Asia where customer service has a huge gap to fill.

Some CEOs realize this but ground issues are especially sticky to handle, they are helpless. The reach and management chain works against them. Meetings and boardroom strategies take priority. It is a slippery slope.

Branded Customer Service takes a new approach at helping brands achieve its promise and potential. Here is the alternative approach. Branding and branded customer service are taught to service staff, not just to senior-middle management. Having a branded customer service training that inculcates brand values and its essence to service staff. How to effectively translate, impart and deliver the brand promise to its customer through great customer service. This is beyond the courtesy greet or 'get-your-shoes-in-2-minutes' prompt service. It is taking the brand essence and effectively imbue it. Getting your merchandise into the hands of your customers in an unique and branded way. Challenging but the results are nothing short of remarkable.

To learn more about Training for Branded Customer Service, write to training@ingens.sg for more details. Find out how you can do it the branded way.

Please leave your comments, if any. Image taken from Zappos.

The design of endurance races

2010-03-17T17:05:00.000+08:00

In the second post of Design Strategy, I would like to touch on the design of experiences. Experiences which leaves a lingering and impactful memory on consumers who got in touch with the brand. The design of such an experience takes a lot of planning, brainstorming and proper execution. A well thought out design from start till end.

Events which I can personally relate to are endurance races like biathlons. Having completed a few over the past few years, I have my personal hits and misses.

For the 10th year running, the Singapore Biathlon is the longest running biathlon and the largest in Southeast Asia. I had the chance to relish this race experience on the 13th March 2010. There are high expectations on the race organiser to maintain interest amongst existing endurance tribes and new ones.

There are different areas of experience which can be streamlined to.

1) Design Themes for Comunication: The entire experience revolves around safety, sense of achievement and scale. These are the themes to reinforce its brand promise as the biggest biathlon in the region.

2) Design for Engagement: It is a qualification race. First timers have to qualify by swimming 50m in a swimming ppol for 1.5km under a certain timing. Lapsed participants have to go through this process if they did not race for two consecutive years.

3) Design for Emotional Branding: Medal and Finisher T-shirt. These are the main items for rewarding the well deserved biathletes whom finished the course. These items are badging products which form part of the loyalty towards the race or brand.

Please leave your comments, if any. Picture taken from SAFRA website.

What Design Strategy can do for a lifestyle furniture brand?

2010-03-08T11:14:00.002+08:00

The THE LIFE SHOP is a locally founded brand in the lifestyle category. In this category, they sell household items like furniture and even baby wear (LIFE baby). Their theme is New Asian. Part of its strategy is to define and sell this meaning to customers. Not everyone who walks into the store gets it but they are not targeting everyone. The brand is targeting mainly white collars who appreciate finer things in life.

For any Design Strategy, it is closely related to the brand and business strategy. It is a close relation that complements each other. What THE LIFE SHOP has captured is a synergy of the three. At closer look, let us investigate what a Design Strategy can do for a brand like this.

Clear Design Theme: THE LIFE SHOP had a clear design stance. It seeks to define new meanings of items that they sell rather than just being a channel or distributor. Most, if not all of their items are designed in-house. This consists of an eclectic mix of sofas, beds, sofas and household furniture.

Synthesis of Design Experiences with the Business: This brand is a close merger of design and all aspects of its business. From the painting of a lady to the coasters on their table, THE LIFE SHOP business merges the entire experience of their items with their brand identity.

Innovation Driven: The founders and merchandisers are constantly seeking new ways to innovate new designs. So as to constantly remain relevant to their brand identity and consumer climate. Last year, their LIFE baby sub-brand is one of the fastest growing in the challenging retail climate.

THE LIFE SHOP is on the foot path of brand growth regionally. It is not a bed of roses. As Asians become increasingly wealthy, competition for their dollar gets increasingly intense. Brands that do not have a clear brand identity or proposition fade quickly.

The demise of Barang Barang is a cautionary tale. Stellar growth but unsustainable in the long run. I do believe that a Design Strategy would have helped with its growth strategies.

Images and Logo taken from The LIFE Shop .Please leave your comments, if any.

7 Reasons Why Design Helps You Achieve Better Business Results

2010-03-02T10:12:00.000+08:00

1) Consumers go for experiences. Brands need to design compelling experiences that engage and connect with tribes. A sound Design Strategy helps you to achieve this.
2) We live in the age of design. Consumers today appreciate the heart and soul behind intelligent, emotive designs. They are willing to part good money for good designs. Your margins increase.
3) Great design sustains both the brand and business. Good design allows a brand to achieve breakthrough growth and market share. Apple designed the iPhone and reaped in billions. One single model.
4) Design communicates your brand value with high impact.
5) Design thinking allows you to innovate outside your business constraints.
6) It allows you to differentiate and gain greater competitive edge over your competitors.
7) A design-centered culture inspires people to work for you. Talents are attracted to innovation.

Please leave your comments, if any. iPhone image taken from Apple website.

Creating Design Strategies for businesses

2010-02-23T11:12:00.005+08:00

A brand is a manifestation of design experiences. So are the products, services and marketing communications such as packaging, corporate websites and advertisements. The glass of water with your company logo that you serve your clients is one of them too.

Following this line of thought, it is almost easy to conclude a Design Strategy sounds very relevant to any business. Yet, Design Strategy is relatively rare in businesses outside of the creative industry especially SMEs in Singapore. My guess is that this is a relative alien or new concept where the definition and benefits are not very clear. We need to know what Design does first.

Design in business is hard to define yet its manifestations abound. From the way the logo, brand, tag line and the experience it delivers, it is like a light bulb which produces light but you do not feel it is really there. Increasingly, design in businesses is getting a heads up as we know what it can achieve. Design grows a business and ensures its sustainability.

Razer which designs gaming mice and peripherals is a testament of good design and branding. Gaming and mice are both not new categories yet Razer managed to capture nearly half of gaming peripheral market share in a matter of years. This model above is one of the fastest wireless mouse in the market. By this design alone, it is remarkable.Razer understood the language of gaming tribes and dived in deep. Designing true experiences for gamers by gamers which is also its brand tag line.

The Strategy aspects talks about a plan or model which Design is road-mapped like a business strategy. Hence, Design Strategy is about utilizing design or design thinking to help businesses gain competitive advantage over competitors.

In the next 3 posts, I will investigate how Design Strategy can impact businesses with examples.

Please leave your comments, if any. Image taken from Razer website.

Challenging your belief or stance

2010-02-22T15:43:00.004+08:00

Beliefs are the makeup of our knowledge, views, culture and norms. As individuals or tribes, our actions are a direct translation of our beliefs. For example, you shake hands with another stranger as a belief of goodwill (I hope at least on your part). Brands try to shape your beliefs about them through advertising and other marketing activities.

It is a fact that we depend a lot on our beliefs and took it for granted. Questioning your beliefs can be fundamentally unnerving. Post September 11, it took a while for Americans to change their beliefs about homeland security. Beliefs are sometimes radically shaped by circumstance. Here are some beliefs that have been shaped over the last decade.

1) Commercialization of space travel. Virgin Galactic
2) Electronic books changing the entire publishing industry.
3) Consumers telling brands what to do.
4) You can make a living out of publishing your life online.
5) Designer office chairs that can cost up to S$2,000 each.

You can probably think of more.

Your beliefs or stance of the world is a powerful subconscious inner voice that guides and alters your decisions and actions. At the same time, altering these deep seated beliefs can potentially impact your lives. One of the most powerful result of changing your beliefs is to solve difficult sticky situations and problems. Relationships, careers and health. Taking a alternative discourse to solve them. In short, changing your stance for the better.

In the book Integrative Thinking, Roger Martin challenge readers to review and change your stance. Has it stifled your thinking and vision? If it is, probably time to reassess and think about reshaping it. Your own beliefs might be the single greatest barrier and tool for creative thinking. In the business world, changing stance can help deliver better experiences for customers or tribes. For example, if we change our beliefs that a hair salon can do more than hair related services, this business model will not look for other complementary services like pedicure and manicure services.

Engaging a coach might be a possible avenue. Here is Enrico Varella & Associates where change development is carefully shaped and mentored in the hands of experts.

Please leave your comments, if any.

How do we become more innovative?

2010-02-11T14:59:00.004+08:00

Aeron Chair from Herman Miller Inc.

Attract more Design Centers, less Business Centers. Design leading businesses.
Build a proper Art School. Uplift the notion of being a designer. We need design maestros.
Brand innovation as a culture rather than an approach. Creativity is never an algorithm.
Gather tribes to promote innovation, TED.
Put a designer in every business meeting.
Design thinking with T-shape employees.
Encourage Validity over Reliability. Take risks. Fail forward.
Advocate design consultancies.
Government to rally in.
Involve the SMEs.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Battling Adversity

2010-02-08T12:36:00.005+08:00

Today, I received news that a fellow triathlete Enrico Varella is involved in an accident during one of his 230km training ride. He is knocked down by a taxi and suffered some minor fracture, bruises and cuts. Being a fellow cyclist, such news came eerily frequent as we increasingly spend more time on the roads than average recreational cyclists. Fortunately, he is all right and will be back on his feet pretty soon. Being a multiple time Ironman Finisher, I believe he can dig deep to battle this adversity.

Adversity is a rather discouraging word. It is sometimes call The Dip, the deep valley and dark tunnel that creeps into our lives. It can happen in the worst of times, it hits us like a car from the rear. Fast, unexpected and shocking. Enrico's accident comes 25 days before his 9th Ironman race in Taupo, New Zealand. This is his second return to Taupo after his first ' half bake' attempt due to weather changes which significantly shorten the race. No fault of his.

In times like these, we can't help but wonder what can help us overcome adversity? Tribes who share the same passion and love for sports, movements, visions and brands certainly make this a lot easier. They offer the support, insights and encouragement to help fellow tribe members make it through. The barrage of well wishes and support he received is a testament of this.

Enrico, get well soon! - From your ENR tribe.

Brand Success Factors in Singapore

2010-02-05T11:18:00.007+08:00

1) Boldness and being remarkable. Take a leap of faith and be bold in their offerings. For example, I noticed nearly all local optical shops look and feel the same. Where is the differentation here? If customers cannot find the tipping point, only their shop appearances and price matters.

2) Design matters. Design their own line of products to innovate and differentiate themselves. Design gives a huge competitive edge in brands. More importantly, they need to harness design thinking to solve their business challenges.

3) Customer Service or User Experience. Singaporeans have a huge gap to fill in this aspect. No brand experience is complete if staff are not trained to deliver the critical human touch. Stop talking Singapore Airlines, be Singapore Airlines.

4) Building a Brand platform. We are talking about customer engagement here. Brands should think about serving customers beyond the store. How can brand engagement START after customers END their purchases with them. Start them thinking about the next 3 visits. As the marketing mantra goes 'It's always easier to retain than to get new customers'.

Please leave your comments if any. Image taken from Nanyang Optical Website.

Test-bed for innovation?

2010-02-04T11:26:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I read an article about turning Singapore into Asia's consumer-business hub. Mr Heng Swee Keat, a member of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) elaborated on recommending setting up several consumer insights, marketing and branding bodies to support testing new products in Singapore. He argued that given Singapore small market, we make an ideal test-bed to try out new products for different Asian markets. Adding on that we have a common culture with the rest of Asia with a good grasp of Asian consumer psyche.

I cannot help but think that the focus on innovation creation should be the focal point first before we position Singapore as a test-bed.

The key challenge lies in innovating products by Asians for Asia. Taking our understanding of Asian culture through consumer research and fuse the insights with creative design. Supported by marketing and branding that can resonant with Asians. Testing though important, should be part of the entire creative innovation process.

Can Singapore have an innovative culture? That is when we get the ball rolling.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Mastery or Originality? Do both.

2010-01-29T20:11:00.012+08:00

In the book The Opposable Mind, Winning through Integrative Thinking by Roger Martin. There is a section on Mastery which is counting on one's skill and experience to attain a certain level of competence to complete a certain task. And Originality which is about creativity and creative thinking. Both can be nurtured through the grinds of failing forward and experimentation. The more we try, the more we fail and also succeed.

Martin argued that the way to go is to have both Mastery and Originality combined in order to create breakthroughs solutions. What a revelation! Let’s apply this on branding.

Brand managers are always faced with the constant need to seek new ways to position their products to continuously maintain relevance to consumers and stand out from the crowd. These managers probably have the qualifications and experience to do so. Commissioning rigorous market research and sifting through these data and charts to make the most informed decision. If anything goes wrong, there is the research report to fall back on. It’s safe.

On the other hand, branding may dive straight to Originality. Creativity that stems mostly from intuition. Such creative elements are then mostly left to the creative folks.

Notice the problem? Products fail to take off because of either extreme inclinations.

What results is a polarisation of either overly rationalisation or abstract. Are we able to combine the two? I sure hope so. A new breed of MBA courses that include design thinking modules are already in place. Hopefully to produce design thinkers who are capable of tapping into analystics and creative thinking at the same time.

What about you and me? Time to start?

Please leave your comments, if any.

Our obsession with being remarkable

2010-01-24T18:34:00.006+08:00

In a recent event I volunteered at Ngee Ann Secondary School, it involves making lanterns by students and elderly. In total, 800 over lanterns were made to break the Singapore Book of Records. Overall, it's good fun for the 100 odd elderly who enjoyed themselves on a rainy Friday morning.

Today, records are continuously being made and broken. It lies in being 'the most' in something. We have an obsession with that notion of remarkability. We celebrate, honor and applaud those who attained it. Till someone better knocks them off their record.

Can someone build a taller sky scraper? Or a bigger Ferris Wheel?

Brands today are having a hard time standing out. Why? Too many brands say the same thing or nothing at all. Hence, tribes switch brands because they have a hard time deciphering what is the real difference.

There is hope for brands who seek otherwise. They are the outliers who define new meanings for consumers. Nintendo Wii do not challenge Xbox and Playstation for better graphics and fingers-only gaming. Wii takes on movement gaming and became remarkable. Today, Wii has more game titles than PS3 even though they are a later entrant. Wii can be argued to be the best in experiential gaming.

In the art of being remarkable, here are some of my thoughts.

1) Recognize that you need to be remarkable to win.
2) Winning everyone over is not going to work. Winning over those that matters to your brand matters more.
3) Innovation is a culture, more than a mission.
4) You do not need to be a million dollar company to become remarkable. Being remarkable can make you worth millions.
5) Think what can you give first rather than what you can receive. Service attitude counts. Think Zappos.

Please leave your comments, if any.

The meanings behind

2010-01-17T15:15:00.007+08:00

Saturday was another COPE Saturation visitation to Toa Payoh households and dropping leaflets door-to-door. We are informing the elderly of an up-coming CNY activity. Saturations are labour intensive and time consuming. It involves patience and leg power (not every floor has a lift stop). We want to inform all elderly living across 12 HDB blocks.

Saturations also allow me to observe many gates and doors of HDB households. Yesterday brought me to the doorsteps of about 210 households. From the months of Saturations I have done, a total count of about 1500. None really stood out in their designs but I made some interesting observations.

Each of these gates represent a variety of different design patterns, materials and shapes. What draws me to them are the different modifications that majority of owners made to their doors and gates. For example, one would attach plastic panels at the bottom third of their gate to keep dirt out. Another would use a mesh to keep the pet dog from getting too adventurous. Another plastered the entire gate with clear plastic panels to keep flyer distributors like me out.

What I found was that each of these owners have attached different personal meaning(s) to their gates. The variations are rather astonishing. Their chosen and after sale modifications reflected their own taste, culture, religion and personal messages.

As a consultant, who is advising my clients on their brands and products, this is the exact perspective of attaching meanings to products which I would like my clients to position their offerings. A milk brand should not be just claiming it has high calcium and low fat (like everyone else). Perhaps a graceful way of aging?

The challenge I pose to gates and door manufacturers, does your design brief specifies 'salient' constraints like corrosion-free, stainless steel and 5 years warranty? Or are you looking at meanings that represent culture, family security, comfort and longevity etc? If it is the latter, you will have designed them quite differently. Also, be able to innovate new designs that differentiate yourself from competitors.

Please leave your comments, if any.

What makes me come back for more?

2010-01-12T11:21:00.003+08:00

Repeat visits to your regular salon, restaurant and telco tells you that they are doing something right. You are loyal to them. You are part of their tribe, so they think. Are you?

Lets take the scissors test.

A) Hair Salon A cuts your hair without busting a hole in your pocket. It is your regular.

B) Hair Salon B serves you tea and then cuts your hair, and charges you a little extra. You tried them once, and had nothing to rave. You did not return since.

C) Hair Salon C remembers their customers' name and takes a picture of them when they are done, so that they remember their hair color and style. They charge a premium for it. Their customers swear by the entire experience. C encourages customers to blog, tweet and talk about their new hairdo and experience. You heard about it from their regulars, but have never tried their service before.

Hair Salon C ensures that their customers are deeply engaged to the brand experience first. Brand engagement is hard to quantify, especially with emotional engagement, but it is entirely possible. There are metrics which measure the degree of customer-brand engagement. In the qualitative department, visual metaphorical interview techniques are powerful tools that probe into the subconscious mind.

Unfortunately, many service providers are deeply concerned more about getting new customers, and not worry too much about their current tribe. When is the last time you were pleasantly surprised by your own favourites? In the coming months, IDA Singapore will remove the contractual lock-ins from telcos. Consumers are going to be faced with 'What makes me come back for more?'. What will be your answer?

Please leave your comments, if any. Thank you Enrico for your editorial inputs.

Overlooked brand touchpoints

2010-01-06T10:11:00.003+08:00

Brand touchpoints are the spoke persons for your brand. They are like the models on a catwalk that show off what you stand for as a brand or designer. You are at the back stage feeling nervous. You should be.

Consumer tribes are increasingly nit picky about what they see and experience from brands. Every single piece of news, blog, ads, voice and presentation you gave, they scrutinize and comment. Lets take an example of something functional which brands overlooked.

'Functional' touch points like ticket stubs or airline tickets get you past that door and to your seats. There is usually little innovation or attention being paid to them. Here is an attempt to change an airline boarding pass to an experience. Do airline passengers keep their boarding passes? Yes, if they want to retain fond memories of that flight or journey. Certain airlines gives discount to tourists if they keep their stubs, ugly stubs.

The good news is, they take note if you do something remarkable about these touch points. The bad news is, being remarkable takes more than merely good design. Its about designing experiences.

Image taken from Tyler N Thompson website.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Are you tune in or tune out?

2009-12-31T00:47:00.002+08:00

One of the senses that switches on most of the day are our ears. Its probably the first to be awakened. Occassionally, we all got woken up in the middle of the night by loud noises. Listening is second nature but active listening is not. Hear me.

Active Listening is an asset today. Everyone wants to speak, tweet, update status, make noise but alot less people wants to actively listen in. By Active Listening I mean to absorb and empathize. As an experiment, lets do a recap of the conversations you had today. How many conversations can you re-tell, not recall? Your memory is your testament of active listening. We tune out when we stop active listening.

The price to pay for tuning out often can be hefty. First to collaspe are relationships. Marriages break up, partners going seperate ways, board members share heated exchanges. Most of it point towards the inability to listen and solve problems by either parties which became indifference.

Tribes today wants to talk and be actively listened to. Brands need to understand that your tribes want to be engaged in a conversation. Retweets were invented because its a response after active listening. Its a 'we hear you and now listen again' to someone else.

Companies really need to start tuning in. Activate their active listening and deploy resources to engage tribes in a conversation. By that, I mean to empathize where they are coming from and respond professionally. A 'we hear you' response to 18% of your customers could be more important than the same 18% who complains about your pricing.

Active Listening = Absorb + Empathy. It could save your next relationship, professional or personal.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Design in branding

2009-12-28T12:40:00.009+08:00

It takes more than good design to deliver a great brand. Branding has a whole spectrum of stuff like staff training (internal brand alignment), store experiences (brand experience), choice of communication medium (where tribes are listening), crafting the messages (brand story) etc. Tribes buy into the entire brand story, not just the cover of the book. It is important to realize that design can evolve but the essence of the brand should remain engaging and relevant.

It is so easy for us to get mesmerized by great designs and the rest of branding gets lost in the glitz. Why? It is far easier to sell what we can see and touch. Humans (and clients) are after all visual driven.

Here are two interesting products I came across which has elements of design for branding.

Fixa sells tools for the kitchen. Its brand name talks about getting things done while its packaging shows you the result. Fixa communicates that it 'fixes' food into their end state (ready ingredients). All that in its brand and packaging without hard selling. To the Nordic folks who created this, clever!

Ecolean is a Swedish company that designs and manufactures eco-packaging. Designed to be light and thin, when flattened, the packaging weighs less than 14g each. It is also metaphorically shaped like a pitcher, complete with handle and spout. Ecolean allowed their clients to brand themselves with eco friendliness. What a story to tell the others. Chinese FMCG brands are lapping these up rather quickly.

Bottle designs are a great way to be creative about branding. We can all recognize Absolut Vodka tribes with their empty bottles around them as badges of fun and wild parties. Here is a concept of Samurai Vodka bottle design.

I reckon you will agree this SAMURAI Vodka packaging looks pretty neat. Will it fly like Absolut with a successful brand? Maybe. Only if it has worked hard like Absolut to focus on its branding. Absolut has invested a huge amount of time and effort (lots of $$$ too) in brand communications and parties to resonate with the young and hip tribes.

In my opinion, brand consultants are not to be just focusing on design to wow clients. That is akin to decorating a nice bubble; beauty with no substance. Dubai? They must seek to be clever architects that fuse creative design, market research and marketing to deliver branding as a holistic process. Tribes are attracted to complete brand experiences, not simply aesthetics.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Time business

2009-12-26T16:38:00.002+08:00

Beauty and wellness businesses like FIL and Spa Botanica in Singapore are doing well despite the downturn. Besides the experience they provide, the owners themselves are brands for their businesses too. They are in the business of looking good but what is driving their business is the demise of pastime. Hear me.

Its rare to hear people say I am doing so and so to pass their time. Even kids complain about the lack of time. Pastime is dead. If you are in the business to help people past their time, its time to relook it. In our increasingly busied and hurried lives, we need to make time to do something.

These are some of the businesses leveraging on such a need.

1) Consultant to arrange your messy home, you lost that ability over time.
2) Walk your dog because you do not have time to feel guilty.
3) Spa businesses: relax and look good. Makes you feel good over time through spa packages.
4) Club Med. Helps you escape your own time trap.
5) We drop off your car when its ready. I can't waste anymore time on public transport.
6) GPS. Getting lost is a waste of time.
7) Laundry services outside gyms. I do not want to waste time doing more laundry.

By the way, I am still waiting for number 7 outside of my gym at Suntec.

Seen any opportunities that revolve around time management recently? Helping your consumers save time will make them happier than you think.

Please leave you comments, if any.

Prototype is the new 'try'

2009-12-24T14:53:00.004+08:00

Prototyping is a launch and learn technique. Business in Beta talks about this. Essentially, we want to learn from a series of prototypes in order to get closer to the desired solution. Here is my story for the local bus company for a better service experience.

The X'mas mood is on full swing and shoppers can't wait to give and receive presents. Me too. Taking public transport is a wise thing to do. Problem is, alot of us share the same thoughts. I took a snapshot of the Bugis bus stop where I missed my bus. Heres how my bus can go right past me when it is just 2 meters away from me.

I cannot see which is my bus when they all arrived and lined up this way like train carriages!

The only clue to me is there are about 3 buses lined up with their side mirrors hanging out. How do we try solve this?

Can we put in bus numbers on side mirrors? Lets prototype this.

Install a series of energy saving LEDs that works on all AM/PM conditions (Thank you Audi) at back of these mirrors. One look and you can tell bus 33 is here even when the buses are lined up. It also makes it more prominent to guard against accidents.

This idea can be brillant, stupid, mediocre or plain dumb. Thats not the point. The point is that the journey of uncovering great brand experience or service is foremost recognizing the problem. Then learn through a series of trials and errors. Adopt fail forward attitude that works to find the best solutions through a series of failed prototypes that gets us closer to the final solution. Each prototype is a step closer to that great idea.

When will you finally get a great idea to make tons of money?Only when you waited long enough for people (your customers) to accept or reject it and tell you about it (did you even bother to ask?). Finding out the whys and iterate your prototype from your previous experiences.

Make prototyping your new try.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Patience is a key ingredient for success

2009-12-24T00:34:00.001+08:00

Today marks the birth of INGENS as a registered company. INGENS means "remarkable, extraordinary" in latin. It is a starting milestone of my dream. Primarily made up of researchers and designers to deliver branding solutions to clients.

Lots to do in the coming weeks to set up the ground work. Domain registration, innovating methodologies, resourcing, organisation chart, business development, having fun etc. I truly realise what it means to build something from a dream or vision. Today is a flag off from the starting line. How long did I wait for this? A couple of years. Compared to director James Cameron, mine is a short wait.

James Cameron faithfully waited 12 years before realising AVATAR on the big screen. What are your dreams? Has it been realised? If not, I hope it is in the making...like INGENS is to me. But unlike a film, building a company is a process not an event.

Do watch AVATAR. I find it to be more effective in educating environmental protection than the recent Copenhagen Summit 2009. It is clear who needs to be educated if any form of change is to take place, you and me. Tribes (no pun intended) who care to start green (or blue for our ocean friends) movements, not policy makers. I have not eaten shark fins for the past 16 years, its a start.

Please leave your comments, if any. Movie poster taken from IMDB.

Happiness (x) & Pleasure (y)

2009-12-21T11:13:00.008+08:00

x is different from y. I labeled them clearly.

Happiness(x) is an inward state of mind. You seek happiness by doing things that make you happy. Having happy surroundings, happy people, happy things and hopefully we get to be happy? Not really. You can have all the right 'ingredients' for happiness and yet you may not feel happy at all. It has to come honestly inward. Someone in a super fun Christmas party may be feeling very unhappy inside and tries very hard to feel otherwise. You cannot feel happy and sad at the same time. Happiness is ultimately an inward process which you seek to attain. What makes someone happy differs from people to people.

What about pleasure(y)?

Pleasure is transient and it does not equate to happiness. Pleasure is an event not a process. Humans get bored easily over events therefore they don't really last. Good food, nice looking companions, nice clothes, cigarettes and sex. These are fleeting, pleasurable things. Is your happiness defined as a series of pleasures?

Christopher Gardner (Will Smith) in the movie "Pursuit of Happyness" defines happiness as not being poor? Money is the idol here, not happiness. I say his love for his son is the real happyness.

Are the brands you surround yourself gives you pleasure or contribute towards happiness?

Christmas is 4 days away. Festive shopping is at its peak now. I hope the gifts or brands you choose are all conduits of happiness and not momentary pleasure.

Happy Christmas.

Please leave your comments, if any. Movie Poster taken from IMBD

Apply Opposing Thinking

2009-12-17T15:19:00.003+08:00

One of the most intriguing and difficult task from the use of Design thinking is having opposing thoughts to reside in our mind at the same time. Diversity and Singularity. Hot and Cold. North and South. Pulling us in different directions, our minds are forced to work somewhat illogically but it is where innovation and creativity will occur.

When it comes to branding products and services, the same opposing thoughts can be applied to challenge and change status quo. Why? Why fix something when it is not broken? Rather the question is, why have we not challenged the status quo. Then go on to create Purple Cows like the Sound Sticks II speakers.

Some 5 years since it was first launched, it is still seen around today. All speakers of equivalent age were already dusted off display shelves. What is their magic? Harmon Kardon understood design thinking of having opposing thoughts. Sound Sticks only has circular shapes, air cushion stands, totally transparent as opposed to the conventional speakers which are square/rectangular, sharp edges, opaque or quite simply...boring.

Lets take the Bao which is a popular snack bun commonly found in Singapore and apply this form of thinking. Conventionally, the safe way to rebrand this snack would be just to create new fillings with fancy names, contemporary logo designs with new shopfront image. However, they still look the same as the $1.30 ones I got from AMK Blk 233 coffee shop. It is still boring and unremarkable. Does not make you stop and take a second look. Probably for a short while.

If we are to apply opposing thinking, the new Bao would look rather different. In its size, shape and the way it is delivered to customers. Mini baos served on a stick like satay, odd shaped ones, long ones filled with whole shrimps, filling on top of it, above it, underneath it etc. A new Bao concept.

Will the existing tribes or loyalists protest? Maybe but brands today are not here to please everyone. Being safe is risky. Being mediocre is mediocre at its best. It gets us nowhere.

Please give your comments, if any.

Market Research versus Brand Research

2009-12-15T17:06:00.002+08:00

Many of my clients are confused over the two, and when to use these services. There are numerous Market Research firms out there that offer market research services that guide and inform clients to make the best decisions. Most of the time, solutions are not provided; recommendations, at most.

Brand Research is more specialised and focused – mainly, qualitative measures to achieve the desired depth, and it is the understanding of how tribes (or potential ones) perceive brands. The Brand Strategist will then use these insights to craft brand-positioning strategies. In this case, the Brand Strategist comes out with a solution for the client. Action-ability is the essence of brand research; it is engineered for a solution.

Be it a Brand Book or even a Design Brief to architect a new brand experience, the brand researcher needs to have an exploratory mindset when designing the research study; and later on for formulating recommendations. As such, a brand researcher needs to engage his exploratory and integrative mindset more than a typical market researcher who analyzes and reports findings. If we argue about who provides more value, it really depends on what a client is really after: to inform or to invent?

Please leave your comments, if any. Thank you Enrico for your editorial inputs. Much appreciated.

That little knife on the road

2009-12-15T00:45:00.003+08:00

2009 is drawing to an end. A new list of resolutions will encapsulate those who plan for the new year; I am no exception. In fact, I am planning for each new day, week, month. etc. For any resolution-builder, I hope that you spend more time thinking about each 'to do' item than your holiday plans. It is amazing how many people spend more time detailing their holidays rather than what they should achieve for the whole year. I am also guilty of this - I try to lessen it each year. I argue that the most important ingredient is not the list but the righteousness or commitment to make it right.

Fact: If righteousness is not in it, it is actually not worth putting it in. We know we want each resolution to be right because we are going to be tested for it: A commitment that this is the right thing to do.

Let me explain by telling the story of a little knife lying on the road last Saturday morning. It is a fruit knife that was dropped by one of the passing vehicles. It stayed harmlessly on the road, 10 meters away from where I was sitting at the bus stop. The possibilities of this little blade doing damage was real. It could have flown into somebody's face from a passing vehicle, or it could have punctured a car tyre and sent cars into accident spirals, etc.

If I chose to ignore it, it would have stayed there until something happens. If anything would have happened at all, God knows. The light turned red for the oncoming traffic before I picked the blade up and threw it into the dustbin. Did I do the right thing? Maybe. But my purpose on wanting to do the right thing was certainly within me, and I am tested my commitment that very moment.

Example: If you want to be more charitable in 2010, your mind will automatically seek the moments where charity encounters are present. Just like when you commit to see more of the colour red, your subconscious mind will automatically seek them for you. You will see more red.

Your resolution item, whatever it may be, is not entirely important. Why? It may change, deviate or be taken away. And the best is that you can write a new one if you want to. However, the commitment behind it is so much more important: Have the skills to self manage and self correct. The discipline to make the decisions each day to get closer to each goal. Only if you make the commitment to do that, then your list becomes an absolute possibility.

The same goes for brands and tribes that you made a commitment to, collectively by themselves or to their customers. They too will face a time where their values will be tested - a knife on the road moment. This begs the question: will you pass the test?

Please leave your comments, if any.

Soft Power in Branding

2009-12-09T17:04:00.002+08:00

The term Soft Power refers to the ability of getting what you want through co-option and attraction. This is as opposed to Hard Power which is the use of power through coercion and intimidation. Soft Power is mostly used in politics to gain attraction to the leaders' intent for the party or government.

The use of Soft Power dates back to ancient Chinese Philosopher like Lao Tsu in the 7th century BC. Joseph Nye from Harvard University later wrote a book in 2004 titled Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics to further develop this concept. Today, Soft Power is used widely in political and diplomacy actions all around the world. Canada has used Soft Power to brand itself to the world using these Soft Power traits.
1) Co-opting and inclusion
2) Validation
3) Respect
4) Attraction
Read more about branding Canada here.

How does this concern us as consumers and brand consultants? Is Soft Power the new Art of War? Maybe.

The recent downturn and crisis has made consumers reflect about their attitudes towards consumerism. Studies have shown that consumers now look deeper into the background, values and intent of brands more so than ever before reaching for their wallets. Our value system has since changed immensely. Humility and respect for one another moves further up.

Brands today should realize that their products and services are viewed quite differently. Tribal engagement besides tangible rewards should also take into account how to gain validation, respect and attraction. Successful branding should take Soft Power strategies into serious consideration. Are your co-brands sharing your same value to engage and respect for your tribes? Do they share the same values with you first even before the brand?

Soft Power I believe is the next important tool which brands can effectively harness to gain stronger emotional connectivity with their customers and stakeholders.

Please leave your comments, if any.

The Charity Brick Tribe

2009-12-02T13:45:00.004+08:00

100 over volunteers. 10.30pm to 6.00am. Thousands of Lego bricks were being sorted into 2,300 identical Lego fun packs to needy children and elderly in the wee hours of 2nd December 2009. The Charity Brick Tribe did their best to complete the task within the time window but still did not manage to pack all of it. Sore fingers and Panda eyes. The Tribe was tired but happy. Youngest tribe member is at the age of 6. City Care is the organizer for these volunteers.

We Are One is truly a unique charity event that MediaCorp and LEGO has jointly organized to raise funds for the Community Chest. For every $2 donated, a brick is added. If you are one of the thousands that supported this cause, I would like to give my thanks to you. You made a difference.

In the business of giving, there are always amazing tribes being assembled quickly. ERA agents form a 16-men team to help out in this event in the span of 24 hours. This is an excellent example of how flash mob are also formed virally. I was told that this ERA team did it through only one person who made a few calls. Amazing.

Right after the event, we all parted our own ways with handshakes, high-fives and picture taking. Like a Lego design, the tribe is quick to form and disband.

Question is, how do brands continuously engage their tribes for their cause and movement? Could there be a dedicated engagement program in the brand strategy that solely measures and looks after customer interests? Banks are infamous for such programs. They know it is far easier to keep a customer than to convert new ones.

Going beyond service levels to improve customer retention, tribe engagement is as much an art as it is science that is geared towards long term brand building. To Lego, you just earned another reason for keeping me as a customer.

Official news link here.

Please leave your comments, if any.

PS. I made a private art piece for someone special.

Who is in the dream team?

2009-11-25T14:10:00.003+08:00

We want the best team in the world to achieve amazing things. Be it sports or business, its all about putting talented people together and making it collectively. We know '1' is an extremely lonely number and unsustainable in the long run. No successful leader I know or read about can do everything themselves. They usually have a dream team rallying behind them.

A brand dream team is hard to assemble but does not excuse us from having one. Talents are out there, we just need to find them. A dream brand comes from a dream team. The key is first to identify the roles in this dream team. Here is my list in no particular order of importance or ranking. Each role is like a table leg supporting the table (brand). I doubt even the most multi-talented amongst us can encompass all of these skills.

1) Story Teller - People love listening to stories. All great presenters are great story tellers. Any brand has a story to tell its customers that romances and captivate them. This role takes on crafting and communicating a brand story which delivers the impact needed to drive its products and services. The Story Teller is an advocator of customer engagement.

2) Experience Designer - This role handles all communication and customer facing experiences. Working closely with the Story Teller, this person takes care of the details to communicate the brand to customers. They prototype experiences or image how it feels like to be living and breathing the brand. The key is to deliver that experience to customers from multitude of angles. From the way the packaging feels to how it is disposed or re-cycled. This role creates multi sensory platforms rather than visuals to translate the brand promise to an acutal experience.

3) Design Researcher - Someone who has a passion for life and people. They are not marker researchers who get stuck in an office all day and claim they understood 'what is out there'. This person listens and observe before asking questions. Like a dry sponge with child-like curiosity, consumer behaviours are recorded and analysed by them. They constantly take notes, beam down ideas and cross pollinate them to feed brainstorming sessions. R&D folks love them.

4) Brand Strategist - This role takes on a T-shaped design. Left-right, they deal with the breath of issues that encompass market sentiments, trends and competitors. Top-down, this person handles strategic branding to details like pricing and market channels to penetrate. This role is a fusion of a brand management and marketing with a dose of creative thinking.

5) Brand Orchestrator - The boss (fiend or friend, the team decides!). The visionary or realist who reports to the business stakeholders and to manage the team's performances and results. Primarily, the brand owner who assembles and orchestrates different members and rally them behind the brand's vision. This role pull all available resources to ensure the dream team work in optimization. Being a juggler and hurdler who also surmount difficulties in order to attain what the dream team must accomplish. The dream itself.

I would also like to acknowledge this fantastic book Ten Faces of Innovation for inspiring me to write this post. Read it to know what are the different roles and design thinking to build a truly innovative culture in your organization.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Judging brand values

2009-11-23T16:11:00.005+08:00

Perceived brand value is highly subjective for individuals. Consumers decide the value of a product or service with your brand. Paying $6 dollars vs 90 cents for a cup of coffee exemplifies this. Advertising is to communicate that value to your target consumers and convince them that it is worth it.

I am forced to assess my own brand value and take a good look at myself recently. A 'man in the mirror' moment. Drawing up various value assessment list for myself. It also leads to me think how brands are measured? By ratings, sales or profits? A popular convenient store brand recently advertised its list of 'Most Wanted' brands. What is it based upon I wonder?

One way to measure brand value is by how much value it adds to its customers. Here are 5 brands I picked.

William J Bill Clinton Foundation (Social)

Operation Hope (Financial Literacy)

City Harvest Church (Religious Faith)

Al Gore (Environment)

Martin Luther King Jr (Human Rights)

Each of these brands touch on the lives of thousands and some up to millions of people.

They are not the Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE and Nokia (Top 5 Global Brands 2009) we know of. These brands above may worth less in monetary value but I believed they exceed at providing intangible brand value.

What amazes me are the tribes that followed these brands. Their faith and belief in these brands are best spoken through their massive actions to ensure success and longevity in these brands. Case in point, Martin Luther King, Jr’s speech “I have a dream” has generated near to 8 million views on You-Tube today. It is first recorded nearly 50 years ago. Dr King’s movement paved the way for the first Black president in America today. Ideas that turn into a brand which became a movement, they eventually outlive the brand themselves. Tribes who follow movements are hardcore loyalists. They talk about the brand movement in the most passionate way and help spread ideas. That’s how they really grow in their intangible value.

I found that they have these three common traits.

1) Authenticity. Authentic brand always prevails. It is backed by something real and solid.

2) Passion. Passion will fire your work ethic. These brands show interests in others? They are light beacons of inspiration and passion to their brand facing followers.
3) Servant-leadership. Leadership branding that understands this; in order to lead, they need to serve others first. They understood that serving their tribes will only make them higher.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Embracing rituals that matter

2009-11-19T19:42:00.005+08:00

Rituals are behavioural routines being performed during product or service interactions. The way we queue up in food courts and boarding of buses are Singaporean's societal rituals. We have rituals of tapping EZ link cards on buses. We also have rituals of blowing out candles on top of Birthday cakes and then making a wish. In fact, no one did explain to me the rationale behind it. Some rituals can be so ingrained in consumers that it has already altered behaviour subconsciously. Let’s take a closer look at some other advantages of doing so.

Reinforces brand promise

Apple invented the click wheel as their de facto iPod navigation. Apple can keep adding new menu functions for new models but this ritual of ‘round the wheel clicking’ remains at the heart of it. It has become an integral part of Apple’s iPod identity. A knock off iPod which tries to copy their product experience will need to try a lot harder to mimic the same product experience. In a way, distinct rituals prevent copying of brand experiences. Ritual sort of adds on an additional experience trademark to products. A brand that innovates in rituals actually gains more in the long run. If properly aligned with the brand promise such as Apple’s design simplicity and intuitiveness, the click wheel ritual further reinforces it.

Successful brands do have a few rituals to compliment their entire brand experience. The McDonald’s value meal arrangement on your tray and their staff asking you about upsizing your meals are all part of McDonald’s brand ritual. If McDonald’s somewhat remove them, the McDonald’s experience may seem somewhat incomplete. Or simply observe how Starbucks train their staff on pronoucing drinks to each other behind the counter when you place an order.

Up play differentiation

Rituals also play an integral role on brand or product differentiation. It can vary according to their variety of products offered. Case in point, Rolls Royce (RR) revived its 20th century rear hinge, coach style doors for their latest Phantom models. Of course, it is a much more advanced version than the past model with on-the-go, self-locking mechanism to prevent ‘suicide door opening’ situations. Coupled with a compelling product story (Phantom’s doors open this way because …) which compliments this vehicle model specific ritual makes the Phantom even more differentiated from other car brands. Phantoms are now known not only for its high quality and price but also for how its door are opened.

Rituals are not random and should have a specific purpose. Certain rituals can be back sliding agents to brands. Think about the last time you had a confusing experience with a brand. They are evidence of poor ritual planning or none at all. Hence, one of the merits of doing market research or observation studies is to uncover and scrutinise rituals to deliver impactful brand experience.

What are your brand rituals? Do they further add value to the brand? Time to speak to your brand consultant?

Please leave your comments, if any.

Brand Usability

2009-11-11T16:43:00.003+08:00

Websites and products are frequently assessed for their usability. Usability essentially measures if the product fulfills its intended purpose. Usability testing measures how your customers perceive different aspects of your product from packaging, user manual and the product itself. It can be summed up as a measurement of user experience for your products.

Why usability? Products need to be able to perform and fulfill its intended purpose. Usability testing enables your to measure if that purpose was achieved or not. Imagine Apple iPhone which looks visually great but making a phone call is painfully challenging. We know that is not the case. In fact, most would agree that iPhone not only looks great but also a highly usable communication device.

What about usability for brands? Is your brand usable to your customers? How can we measure that? They can be seen through these lenses; Recall, Visibility and Accessibility.

Recall
Brands that forms top of mind recall stands out and win. It’s a fact that they occupy a territory with their target audience. Hurray if you are one of these brands like Coke, Starbucks or McDonald’s. Most brands or underachieving ones need to work a lot harder to attain this status. However, that does not stop your brands (underdog ones too) from achieving top of mind recall. A highly usable brand is one that is easy to recall, stands for something (aligns with your customer's needs) and memorable.

Visibility
Is your brand easy to locate or navigate to? Does your brand have the right visibility, in the right channels where potential tribes congregate and engage? Not only brands need to think about having the right visibility, it must also think about how easy is it to locate your brand in the shortest and most convenient manner. Be creative about using social networking and viral tools to your advantage. Being heard is challenging but not being heard is far worst.

Accessibility
Are there ready channels which your brands can be conversational? Do you have a brand story which your customers are able to share and talk about? Can your brand be summed up in 10 seconds on what it stands for? Are your product benefits clear? If not, time to revisit this aspect of usability which makes your brand accessible or conversational.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Brand Differentiation - A banana story

2009-11-08T19:36:00.010+08:00

This is a story of a banana I bought in Gold Coast Australia while I am holidaying there. Its a fruit that we commonly find in fruit stores and supermarket. Ordinary and nothing remarkable. Wait, there is more about this common fruit.

Upon closer examination, you will notice the tip of it is colored in red. It is actually red wax. All the ends of it in this bunch have been given the same red color treatment. Simply, this fruit producer has applied a sort of brand differentiation technique. To think that other fruit producers mostly brand their produce using tiny stickers or wrappers around their products, this brand of banana has taken another route to try something different and yes, remarkable.

This is a purple cow initiative in a market where products need to be presented in their natural state (fruits are foremost scrutinised for their freshness and looks) but yet seek to achieve differentiation. A challenging balance. Has your brand achieved differentation? If in doubt, probably its best to conduct some market research with a touch of branding creativity. Time to go bananas over brand differentiation.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Merits of Brand Flexibility

2009-11-05T17:18:00.003+08:00

How flexible is your brand? Is your brand able to meet changing consumer needs? Is your brand still relevant to your customers today? Is your brand shrinking or growing? These are probably burning questions brand managers and owners face. The best way to measure brand flexibility is survival-ability.

Brand flexibility is not about changing brand proposition because of changing trends or tastes etc. A brand needs a grounded promise. Brand flexibility is not changing that core proposition. Will Starbucks ever set up a dedicated juice bar counter during hot summer months? Quite possibly but selling dark roasted coffee is what Starbucks as a brand stands for but they are flexible enough to incorporate non coffee (fruity blends) and seasonal treats in their product mix. Toffee nut latte during Christmas period is my absolute favourite!

Brand flexibility is about staying relevant in order to survive tough compeition.

A defeated tune
Sembawang Music Centre is bringing down its shutters after years in the retail mall scene. Sembawang sells music just like That CD Shop and Gramophone but the latter two survive despite declining CD sales. These survivors have their own ways of selling music. Gramophone takes on a mega store approach that sells CD, DVDs, Blu-Rays, earphones, speakers and even PC accessories. Gramophone recognizes consumer needs for a one-stop supermarket shopping experience. Whereas, That CD Shop fuses sexy (strictly all female sales team) with their own private label music called High Society. That CD Shop builds their own discerning music followers (High Society Tribe, complete with a dedicated website), who appreciate their handpicked compilation, complete with in-store eye candy. Unfortunately, Sembawang failed the flexibility test to evolve. 'Neighborhood-style' music stores simply cannot cut it in retail malls anymore.

Inflexible brands expect customers to listen and follow. What if customers don’t? Tribes get disbanded to join others because there is always another one round the corner that feels and looks better. Profit goes where your tribes go. SMEs in Singapore are more vulnerable. On the bright side, SMEs do have lighter feet to make relatively fast turnaround or brand revamps. Big brands are huge oil tankers, takes longer time to change directions. Being small might not be all that bad.

Is your brand tuned for flexibility to relate and adapt? Building flexible brands start with integrative thinking with your customers. Be relevant; be flexible in your branding.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Apply Design Thinking to Branding

2009-11-04T23:12:00.008+08:00

Design thinking and branding are two different yet related concepts. Both are ways to solve consumers’ needs and wants. Their synthesis could result in an impactful way of how we look at branding and achieve brand differentiation. Branding is a way to tell customers about products and services; what brands stand for and why do they matter to customers. It is ultimately about creating and managing perceived value.

Design thinking (IDEO) is an approach that involves exploring diversion thinking (think multiple ‘what ifs’), prototyping and storytelling before arriving at the solution. There are actually much more than this and I only extract the essentials for this post. Design thinking is a highly collaborative and possibilities-first way of solving problems. It is about bringing ideas and experiences to life through story telling. This approach is on the way to enhance business processes, health care and even social problems. I am a fan of design thinking and branding. So why not combine the two. I believe this synthesis will elevate innovative thinking in brands. Try Change by Design by Tim Brown on design thinking approach to find out more.

Here is my attempt to combine the two.

One the star qualities of design thinking, is the visualisation of ideas or prototyping to bring out the essence of solutions proposed. For example, if IDEO needs to design a new surgical tool (Pic B), this is how a quick prototype (Pic A) can be assembled to get a feel about the shape and form factor. Primitive yet it tells a powerful story. Hold it and you know what this idea is about. Further discussions formed around this prototype are a lot more impactful.

Pic A: Prototyping the tool

Pic B: Final product

Lets apply design thinking to branding. For example, a mock up corner of a new Food Republic theme, complete with empty stores but with applying authentic thematic design elements. All these to test out the new brand experience. The idea is to simulate and test the brand experience through immersion and participatory thinking. Clients can also take part in this exercise and go through their ‘consumer’s experience’ together with designers and brand strategists. Ideas are added and/or refined along the way in this prototyping environment. The end result is a brand experience that is closer to reality and what the customers will go through.

Design thinking has essentially allowed branding to be lot more experiential driven, exploring innovative solutions that could not be thought about on paper or on computer screens. Critically, experiences are assessed, discussed and gauged at the pre-launch brand design stage.

Market research has taken a stab at such new product development (NPD) work through conducting surveys and focus groups. The missing ingredient I discovered has always been the lack of brand/idea immersion or letting the ideas play a role in consumer lives. Hence, the insights gathered tend to lack depth. A brilliant idea may lack the legroom to fully reach its full potential and risk getting buried rather quickly before it can see any light.

Additionally, diversion mindset (‘what ifs’ come first) from design thinking is also another powerful tool to elevate brand differentiation in the current fiercely competitive landscape. We want our brands to be Purple Cows.

“A Purple Cow, though, that would really stand out. The essence of the Purple Cow -- the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows -- is that it would be remarkable . Something remarkable is worth talking about, worth paying attention to.” –Seth Godin

Purple Cows are remarkable and worth talking about. Design thinking can help you achieve that.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Re-Branding Traditional Chinese Medication (TCM)

2009-11-02T17:09:00.001+08:00

One of the first things that came to my mind when I recalled a recent TCM store visit is that it is filled with Asian tradition. The smell of herbs, dried goods and bird's nest etc. A store experience which somewhat brought back the memories of herbal remedies; prescribed and brought back for preparation. It seems to have little connection or relevance with me today. I am quite sure some of you may agree with me. However, there is a successful outlier that stood out from the rest which made a renewed connection.

One of the home grown Singaporean TCM brand had undertaken a rebranding journey. Productizing their tonics and herbal remedies yet retaining their traditional TCM values. Its red and white logo that can be found all over Singapore with even their own specialist clinic at Paragon Medical Centre. It has already expanded to different parts of Asia today. I will not be surprised to see this brand at international airports all over the world in the next few years.

This is indeed a fine example of successfully branding a truly Asian, traditional product and service. The challenge for the brand is to continously evolve and remain relevant to the needs of their customers. For example, they have reduced sugar bird's nest for the health conscious.

I firmly believe there is hope for Asian brands to shine with the potent combination of market research and sound brand strategies. I sure hope to see more in the list with Singapore Airlines, Banyan Tree and Breadtalk.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Power of observation

2009-10-31T23:25:00.007+08:00

Observation can be an extremely useful skill. Seeing is different from observing; they are distinct. Observation goes beyond just merely using our eyes to make sense of things, people or the environment. Observatory eyes question and probe consumer actions. Hence, people may see same things but draw different conclusions depending on which technique you use.

Good news is we can all be trained to become keen observers. Keen observers usually have the upper hand of situations. Imagine yourself deciphering more of any given situation instead of simply glazing through them. You would have thought about questions and answers ahead of others. The mind is already in forward thinking mode with an advantage.

In market research, its everyday musing to know what is going on in the market place and most importantly, how consumers behave and why. It’s an intriguing, interesting world out there that constantly changes. For some, it is a livelihood. Anthropologists have been observing people’s behaviour for years. Making notes and hypothesis on human behaviour, they are the observation experts. This profession has even spun off ethnography research which is applied in market research where focused observation entails a large part of it.

How about if we apply this to marketing?

Ivory Tower Marketers

Ivory Tower marketers plan, strategize and hold meetings. They spend a lot of their time in office doing this very often. Too often in fact. I call this Ivory Tower marketing; up there and losing touch with their customers. Dedication of their time knowing and understanding consumers by walking the ground is absolutely crucial. If one loses touch with consumer needs, no amount of marketing budget will work. If so they decide to engage a market research firm to survey it, splendid. However, we know such requests seem frivolous for today's lean marketing budgets. The most effective choice will be to just simply apply observation techniques on their customers.

Let’s do a simple seeing vs observation experiment taken from IDEO social innovation toolkit. I highly recommend this to aspiring social innovators doing R&D. Social innovation is talk of the town today. Hope it stays this way with initiatives like SIP.

What are your observations of this person dressed in yellow and pink?

Seeing: This lady dressed in yellow top and pink pants is hanging her clothes at her back alley. A person is walking towards her.

Observing: This person (gender unsure, could be a guy with long hair?) is holding up a pole in the air, very close to some clothes on hangers. This person is dressed in yellow vest and pink pants, standing in an alley and someone is approaching her.

Some of you might be quick to point out that she is just hanging her clothes. Her upright pole is a tool to help her achieve that. Try looking at the picture again. Can we really make that conclusion? Our associative minds will be quick to note this down; Upright pole + clothes at back alley = clothes hanging.

For all we know, she could be using this pole to poke something, signal to someone and a hundred different other possibilities. We can’t simply conclude she is hanging clothes. Did we observe the end of the pole? Again, observatory eyes are ready with questions and probes without quick conclusions.

My point is that observation takes more effort but its worth it. We need to question ourselves and the subject to make better sense of situations. Best way is to expand the frame of this picture or simply ask this person.

Try turning your vision around by observing instead of just seeing. Your world around you may be alot more interesting that you think and that is where opportunities are. For example, I observed alot of Singapore MRT commuters do not like the in-betwen carriage space, here is my account.

Please leave your comments, if any.

You can't shut me up; Conversation 2.0

2009-10-28T10:38:00.008+08:00

Face it, we live more densely together today compared to 20 years ago yet we are having less face to face time with your neighbors. A study from Hebrew University states that the volume of electronic communications is inversely proportionate to geographic distance. In short, we have more Facebook interactions, tweets, emails to individuals that are pretty close in proximity. In fact, we all know it is far easier to connect with one another today than ever. I call this Conversation 2.0 where we talk electronically but still close by physically to start tribe movements.

Today, brand tribes are powered by Conversation 2.0. Brand huggers who will help us spread the word about our products and services digitally through their real world experiences. The challenge for brand owners is how to manage it? There are blogs, forums, tweets, instant messaging etc to sieve through.

Readers make their own conclusions and can choose to participate in this Conversation 2.0. What they compliment or bad mouth is also pretty much left entirely up to them. Consumers are empowered with Conversation 2.0 to collaborate, lift or sink brands. The crux is consumers trust fellow consumers or tribe members more than brands’ themselves. Brands who think they can stop them still live in Conversation 1.0; top down, one way street. Consume and goodbye(keep quiet if its bad). FACT: Brands can’t stop consumers from talking positively or negatively. Attempt to stop negative PR could possibly lead to tribes that form against the brand. Brand tribes work both ways like 2 sides of a coin.

There is hope for brands who want to be in the upper hand.

Brand owners can actually monitor Conversation 2.0 using available tools. Here is one that sieves through Conversation 2.0 and make some sense out of it. The key is to realize its power and use it to position brands. Consumers today demand no nonsense products which they either shun or shout about. The in-between is getting thinner everyday. Inward looking brands are probably with the best potential to succeed and lead tribes successfully. Bottom line, recognize the power of Conversation 2.0 and love your tribes, they may be the ones who pull you out of the reds rather than your board members in the near future.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Sensory Branding

2009-10-24T16:19:00.002+08:00

Sensory branding has not really taken off in Asia yet. I believe there are huge potential for Asian marketers who can tap into their customer's senses to brand themselves more effectively. Break out from the clutter to be remarkable.

Some the brands which use this technique to brand themselves, intentionally or not, are around us. Think about the distinctive smell of KFC's famous fried chicken or over the counter Famous Amos cookies. Each of these brands have tapped into our sense of smell as part of their branding. Some might argue this is less important compared to how it taste. Own a winning recipe, own a winning taste. I agree but I believe some passer-bys are 'caught by the scent' and walk right into buying something. These brands have succeeded in owning a state of our mind through our sense of smell before actual purchase. Time to rethink where to point the oven's exhaust fan? Away from the crowd or into the crowd?

The point is, sensory branding if explored and used effectively, can be a powerful tool for brands who are thinking hard of reaching out. Today, consumers are buying into experiences and winning brands should be potentially tapping into as many of their customer senses as possible. Integrate that as part of their brand strategy.

Cinematic experiences too. A jacket that allows you to 'feel the movie'.

Can a photography studio explore other ways of branding their photo taking skills beyond using sense of sight? One that does, usually becomes remarkable and in turn successful.

Please leave you comments, if any.

The 2 wheeler challenge

2009-10-20T23:57:00.008+08:00

Segway® is a rather remarkable product. A mobility device that seeks to redefine the way we do short distance commuting like walking. Some argued Segway® can replace in-city driving. Inventor Dean Kamen aims to redefine the way we get around to cut down congestion and carbon footprint. Segway® is also pretty intuitive and usable. In all, it has the hallmarks of a successful product.

Question is why no mass adoption yet? Sentosa had some to allow tourist to move around but more as a tourist thingy. Vivio City had even demonstrated this inside their mall. Paul Blart made it fun in Mall Cop.

I believe there are two challenges which Segway® has to overcome.

Fundamental consumer behaviours take a long time to interrupt. Humans are hardwired to walk though significantly reduced due to modern conveniences. Walking is harder to interrupt because of how fundamental and subconscious it is to us. Compared to gaming like Tap Tap Revenge, the challenge for the game developer to interrupt you to play it is a lot easier. Reason being gaming does not potentially interrupt any major behaviour of ours.

Lack of category association. New products in new categories get consumer confuse. What is it? Where and how shall I use this? Will I look stupid on it? The first cars were called horseless carriages for this reason. A hybrid Honda is still a car, it is easy for us to buy into the idea of a modified, green car. Hybrids are still in our car category which we can make association quickly.

However, that is not the case for Segway® where associations are missing. Segway® needs to help consumers out. Probably, they should try ‘standing electric bike’ (at least I gave it shot). Probably easier than the official; 'self-balancing, zero emissions personal transportation vehicle: the Segway® Personal Transporter (PT)'. A standing electric bike is easier for me to spread the Segway® idea. Take a cue from followformation which is for twitter newbies to get them started on the concept of online following; an intermediary step might be needed here.

Sure hope to use one of these in the near future. I still hear how cycling is bad for men's health.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Why should brands look inward first?

2009-10-19T23:16:00.002+08:00

Inward in this context does not mean self brandishing. Rather, inward here means ability to self reflect and build strong foundations for the brand.

Brands are measured in areas of awareness, resonance, impact and sales (profitability). These factors often form the benchmarks of brand research today. Indeed, they are important for the measurement of brand success in the marketplace. However something is missing here which overlooks four major success qualities for brands to go a lot further.

Leadership – Great leaders lead great teams. Great teams = great brands.

Tenacity – A purpose-driven belief than can weather hard knocks. Passion fuels their purpose.

Integrity – Ability to do the right thing when tested.

Giving – Social responsibility. Giving always start with an open hand not a close fist. Which one will your customers rather hold?

I argue a brand’s ability to achieve greatness will depend on these inward qualities. The leader of an inward looking brand appreciates longevity and tenacity. Can the team rally behind the leader when stormy weather closes in? Bad product reviews, drop in consumer confidence, declining profits etc. Storms WILL eventually come so do not wait to react before it hits. Enron is an example of a skewed outward looking brand for its stakeholders, employees and customers but we know a weak wall breaks down over time. Short-termism is extremely tempting compared to a marathon which is long and arduous. The high road is always the tougher one but pays to prepare.

Avoiding the pitfalls of hurried and myopic decisions to have short term gains, inward looking brands are with better foresight. Inward looking brands may be giving up some immediate opportunities instead of having it all now but they spend time to work on what truly matters which are the insides; the team behind the brand.

An inward looking brand always prevails with slow twitch muscles for the long runs. How are those legs for your brands today? Maybe its time to reflect and change.

Please leave your comments, if any.

The coolest tribe around

2009-10-17T00:42:00.009+08:00

YAMI Yoghurt is arguably one of the most successful, soft serve, take away yoghurt brand in Singapore. It delivers not only consistent products but also continous innovation in its range of localised flavours.

More importantly, YAMI marketers had started their own tribe or ardent fans which rank in the thousands today. Yes, they are possibly the 'coolest' tribe around in Singapore; The YAMI tribe. Here are more examples of their marketing strategies using some of the concepts I mentioned earlier like Brand Platform and Consumer Stardom. Drawn from their very own tribe influences to promote the brand!

Brand Platform: YAMI FaceBook Page, YAMI Twitter and even a recently launched YAMI Times for e-coupon cutouts and deals. A multi platform approach that singularly point towards creating buzz and talk for the brand. All these without spending tons of money on ads, ads, ads. Good job.

Consumer Stardom: You can find these YAMILebrities displayed at their counters featuring their very own tribe members. She looks pretty hot in such a cool tribe. :)

Picture taken from YAMI Yoghurt FaceBook Page

I have got a small request. Can we have YAMI yoghurt that does not look like a regular soft serve ice-cream? Some innovation please? If YAMI can reinvent their unique way of serving YAMI yoghurt, it will surely be another remarkable product like the cone pizza. Same product but different delivery, worth taking another look. Let YAMI tribe followers have more things to talk about the brand and hopefully spread the word. YAMI's future looks promising in the days to come, scoring in brand engagement.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Pushing the Reset button

2009-10-15T11:06:00.008+08:00

John Hope Bryant is an American financial literacy, poverty eradication activist and above all, a leader of giving hope. He is recently here in Singapore for the Social Innovation Forum '09 and has given a short address to City Harvest Church. He has touched on how the current economy is not a ‘crisis’ but a reset instead. I would like to share how this thinking implicates our current value system and its impact on how consumers view brands around us.

Pushing the Reset button
This economic ‘crisis’ has affected the lives of billions in these 2 years. Word has got out that we are on the recovery path. If we are to purely look at numbers, probably too myopic. The fundamental issue is of power and character imbalance that led to where we are now. All it takes are a group of self proclaim ‘leaders’ who made a series of wrong decisions for themselves. A tipping point of wanting too much and lack of justly character to self correct. This is a fundamental problem of social values that need to be reset which we know is a lot harder to tackle than simply numbers. In Singapore, we are not spared from this harsh reality on our value erosion; rising divorce rates, education scams, underage promiscuity and abandonment of elderly parents. A reset of our values should be in order.

Taking John’s way of love leadership may be an answer to address this reset. Could it be first using love to strengthen and correct our fundamental values? I guess there is only one way to know, try it out!

Resetting brand perspective in the marketplace
Brands that take the brunt of these value scrutiny especially financial institutions have to take the first move to communicate their plans for this reset. Threading back investors and consumers in this process is a tricky process. Surely, consumer perception in their belief of trust and empathy will evolve because of this situation. It will thus filter down to the choice of brands we use tomorrow. Are brands willing to step up and communicate their stand in this reset? Those who do so now will reap the rewards in the days to come.

Picture taken from NTUC Income website.

Please leave your comments, if any.

Ordinary to extra-ordinary

2009-10-14T15:09:00.006+08:00

In the current marketplace where a lot of products are trying to get our attention, it is easy to notice there aren’t a lot of those that really make us excited. Just today, can you name 5 products or ads that sort of leave a deep impression? Chances are, minimal or nothing. The challenge for successful brands is to either stand out or be reminded of all the time. It’s survival not luxury. One of the reasons you are constantly reminded of Starbucks is because it wants to become your ‘third living space’. Your home, your workplace and you guessed it…Starbucks. They are trying for the state of coffee brand ubiquity. At one point, Suntec shopping mall alone has three. Starbucks? McDonald's? See the connection?

We know the Starbucks way is very, very expensive (McDonald’s too). Unless you have millions, chances are most of us needed to get around it or just keep reading this post.

These days, we just have too many things to mind and too little time to take it all. Research has proven that an average working adult will be exposed to hundreds of ads each day. The brain can’t handle all these ‘noise’ and we automatically start to filter or ignore. This instance, ignorance is bliss for our sanity sake. I do that all the time. From any marketer, it’s their worst nightmare. The only other way is to shine through winning design experiences or be simply extraordinary.

Take a look at this device on the left. Most of us would be unable to guess what this is or what it does at first look. Is it a lamp or even a star trek collectable? The moment you ponder, you stick around (much cheaper and more effective than 5 seconds of TV ad space). It is a bladeless fan that sucks in air and throws it out at very fast speed to cool you. It’s called the Dyson Air Multiplier, retails from US$299.99 onwards. Yes, it is just a fan and works exactly like one. Turn it on, close your eyes, you probably can’t tell the difference from a regular bladed one. However, if you put the Dyson along with the other fans in a store, it will be outstanding. I even want one myself. I should have written this before my 30th birthday. For more information on the Dyson fan, click on this link.

Picture taken from Dyson website.

Lets recall a recent trip to a hair saloon. Remember how they always try to sell us hair products? How about doing so while saloon customers are horizontal, staring upwards, having their hair washed. These customers can only look upwards at the ceiling (unutilized ad space) and that is where they should be placing their hair product ads! Throw in some sales talk from the hair stylist; I am sure hair care product sales will go up. What customers get is instant gratification of the products being advertised to them at the same time. Ordinary service, extraordinary effort to increase sales.

One of your brand consultant goals must always be to allow your brand or products to be nothing short of stunning. Keep your eyes on not only appreciating extraordinary things (hard to ignore) but also keep a lookout for the ordinary (try not to ignore) and make it extraordinary.

The key aim; reinvent the ordinary that upscale product or service experience. Create a brand tribe (Bladeless fan fans) that follows it and start profiting.

Please leave your comments if you have any.

How to give your ideas traction?

2009-10-13T23:37:00.003+08:00

You have a great idea about a business, product or service experience. Whats next? Who is willing to listen? How do I get started on forming my own tribe? Boomz.

Thinking ways to give your idea traction can be either a pit-stop that can stall your great idea or super charge it. Viral collaboration may be your answer. Get your idea out there and watch it grow collaboratively with others who share your passion.

Some of the famous examples like Linux and Wikipedia started from an idea and sparked off massive viral collaborators to fill in the expertise for the idea, all via online. Some of the principles behind its success are these.

1) Openess of idea and purpose. Is it clear and everyone knows what is it about? For Wikipedia, its about sharing knowledge. Whats yours? State your purpose clearly and why you are forming this tribe?
2) Build a platform for your ideas to spread and allow tribe members to talk to each other and not only to the leader or idea initiator.
3) Make your results visible. If your idea is clearly having an impact, tribe members want to know what is going on. If you have a great cake that tastes great, show your customers smiling. Consumer stardom or consumer engagement always work for your brand or idea.
4) Last but not least, brand leadership. Without this, the future is pretty gloomy.

No step, no traction
We are not lack of ideas. In fact, they are everywhere. Everyone can come out with some. But are you an idea initiator and penetrator? Willingliness to take massive action for your idea(s) is always the hardest. The platform is already out there. It cost you nothing to start something. If you never start, its 100% failure. Try what if before the buts that stops you in your tracks. No step, no traction.

Talk is really really cheap. When will be your next movement or a remarkable cake idea?

Please leave your comments, if any.

Part 2: Leadership Branding for the Franchise Model

2009-10-11T21:22:00.008+08:00

I will take a few minutes to talk about renaming this blog. I call it 'Brand Tribes'. It is written for you and if you like what you read please share it (@LimLeong) amongst your own network . If you dislike this, hope you come visit again. Now why Brand Tribes?

A brand is a symbol, a name and logo that represents a product or service. A tribe is a rather 'ancient' word to describe a group of people who got together because an intent or idea they believed in. There is also a tribe leader who leads and manage the tribe or brand owner. Today, brand tribes are groups of consumers or people who follows an idea, cause or brand with a high degree of engagement. These groups are the ones who talks about your brand and in turn, makes them extremely rewarding to have. Both from profit point of view and brand building too. You want to have them. In fact, I believe that is the strongest way to define brand loyalty.

Brand Tribes is a movement to help brands form their own tribes. Brand Tribes intent is to get deeply connected tribe followers (consumers) who follow the brand that provides them with compelling experiences. At the same time, elevating the brand owner to be a successful tribal leader that leads and grow the brand. Read about Tribes by Seth Godin.

Back to the Leadership Branding for the Franchise Model; success factor for replication.

A franchise model works like this. Locate franchisee, build store, manage store and sell. Branding, I hope is not pass on like a manual. Does the franchisee really get it? I believe the brand owner bought into a 'yes' during the pitch. I sure hope its not just about the figures and a big smile.

Oftentimes a franchise model main challenge is controling replication. How does the brand owner ensures that the brand remains true to its brand foundation? How to really control the same standard of brand experience etc. Quoting one of the most successful brands out there that has tackled replication successfully; McDonald's. They applied brand leadership in their replication model (they bought back all their franchise).

The largest fast food chain McDonald's are a little different from country to country today yet having the same quality standards and taste. Realising the importance of cultural needs and their differences, the brand needs to evolve without losing its 'McDonad's brand experience'. Credit to their emphasis on staff training.

More importantly, a large contributing factor goes on to passing down their leadership qualities which ensure the success of the mother brand in different geographic regions. Ensuring proper brand steward training with these right qualities to create the same great level of customer experiences from Norway down to Australia.

Thanks for reading and for more insights on leadership. Read this blog by Enrico Varella who is a tribe leader on this topic. This concludes my 2 part Leadership Branding series.

Please leave your comments.

Part 1: Importance of leadership branding.

2009-10-10T00:01:00.002+08:00

Why brand leadership and not the leader?

Time. A brand can outlive its leader. Its about brand legacy. A great brand may thrive through a set of leadership qualities and has higher chance of survival as a leader does not live forever.

"Leadership matters more because it is tied not to a person but to the process of building leaders." -Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, LEADERSHIP BRAND. This pretty much sums it up nicely.

In another analogy, quoted by the book, it is not about branding a person (a particular great mum) but motherhood (her great leadership of love, care and values). What this mum is about to hand down has far greater positive effect than herself which has limited timeline. Yes, reality is that I only have 40 over years of shelf life, maybe shorter. A brand life span might be a few times longer, if the sucessor is a great leader of course.

Hence, for any given brand to sustain itself, great leaders must realise that they too must develop a process and system to sustain and permeate their brand leadership qualities. Oftentimes, you see the wise sage hand holding board meetings and making sure every detail ticks. It is pretty Asian in fact. It is the same with certain political parties.

In the business context, success replication of a brand like franchising should take on leadership branding rather than just 'photocopying the brand'. Thinking the brand experience can be applied anywhere. How wrong can that be! I will touch on this in Part 2: Leadership Branding for the Franchise Model.

Do leave your comments if you have any.

How to market yourself using a brand platform.

2009-10-08T01:01:00.005+08:00

"Leong, you gonna tell me its about branding again right?" Partially right.

However, a person who solely brands him or herself may not be enough. In the context of the current job market, the skills of marketing yourself to employers becomes an ever more important skill. If you do not stand out, you do not stand a chance. Here are some tips from a branding platform point of view.

Creating a brand platform
A brand platform communicates about you and works for you only. It is on 24/7, 365 days. It never stops. It is a virtual representation of you (or your brand) that never sleeps. What is that? It is basically a set of communication tools. Think of them as your personal sales agent. They speaks about you and what you stand for. Be it a LinkIt account which profiles yourself, a blog or FaceBook profile. Monster and JobsDB are some of the pioneers of creating that platform for job seekers and employers alike to hook up with one another. Nothing wrong with that except that a rather 'template approach' makes you look like yet another job seeker. If you want true differentiation, you need to work a little harder.

Video, Blog or build your own website
These are basically medium which you easily use to market yourself. They are no longer confined to big corporates or brands with deep pockets. When you start spreading ideas about your skills and capabilities, you are bound to get noticed. Spread your ideas, what you do, what you are good at etc. An idea is only as good if someone knows about it and accepts it. Share smartly and this platform will work even harder and more effectively for you.

To sum it all up, a brand platform for yourself or your products/services can be achieved by:
1) Choosing a suitable medium to begin with and it can be multiple (FB, Twitter, Web page, Blog). Some marketers call this integrated marketing.
2) Branding (Communicating your brand intent/personality or what you stand for)
3) Keeping an open communication or conversation with your target audience

Essentially, you are already creating an experience for your prospects or employers before arriving at the door. Isn't that worthwhile with a little investment of time that goes a long way? Make it go viral and it cost you nothing except your time.

If you think this blog is useful, share it with someone. Please leave your comments, if you have any. I would also like to credit Seth Godin on his platform blog which got this started.

Next posting will be on branding leadership. Stay tune.

Defining the Silver Experience

2009-10-03T01:36:00.003+08:00

The Silver market has been increasingly talked about. It has even become a key political agenda in face of rapid aging societies in the world. Notably, this segment of individuals are born between 1946 to 1964. The Pre-65s or simply Silver segment. So what makes them the talking point? Simply because of their sheer numbers, in the hundreds of million worldwide and billions in net worth going into their sunset years in a short span of this decade. They are also the parents of Gen X and Ys.

This blog is written for the benefit of brands or owners who like to reach out to them by providing great Silver experiences. Also to highlight some of the potential challenges they may possibly face.

The Silver Experience should revolve around these push factors;
1) Simplicity
2) Communication that encompass comfort, value and trust
3) Mental and Physical Well Being
4) Accessibility

Simplicity
The key driver for having simplicity as a desired experience is mainly due to Silvers need to down-shift, not disappear. There is clear distinction between the two. The Silver generation has seen one of the most significant changes of post-war modernization are still hungry to learn and adapt to the society. They will be quick to jump at you for dismissing them as 'behind times' or backwards. Their life experiences are brewing with an enormous amount of information and knowledge, waiting to be tapped. Today, some brands targeted at them may be too overwhelming and considered to be 'complex and unapproachable'. A clear and simpler way of communication is thus desired that communicates sincerity and trust is more desirable. Perhaps sharing is a better term to use for them rather than teaching or educating them about a brand or product. A softer, simpler approach please.

Brand Communication - Comfort, Trust and Value
These 3 traits should form the basis for any brands communicating themselves to the Silver market. Each of these trait is a requisite for the next and creates strong emotional bonding. To engage them is to open a door for them to step into you. A permissive approach. Brand X need to build a level of initial engagement with them, making them feel comfortable letting you in. This is followed by slowly building trust or bridges to communicate the benefit of the product and service that you are providing. Lastly, showing them the value of using your brand will round off the whole engagement process. It does not stop here. Like any brand, this is a continuous process of engagement, never once off. However, building a platform to create the initial outreach is crucial and the hardest. If this platform is not built, nothing else really matters. Brand owners need to think really hard how to create the initial outreach. The challenge lies in recognizing the diversity of many segments and getting their attention.

Mental and Physical Well Being Needs
Possibly one of the highest priority in their list of needs and wants from research is the subject of wellness. The success of health care products and services which take care of their well being are milking the most from this need. Spin off industries such as travel, self improvement courses etc are the result of addressing this. Be it a Silver cosmetic brand that exclusively takes care of aging skin or a travel agency that appreciates the slower pace of Silver tourists. Brand owners should take a closer look to refine some of these products and services, it is probably a lot easier than inventing something completely new. Or how about cooking classes that involves both the grand parent and grand kids? The possibilities are out there.

Accessibility
The pace and complexity of today's life may intimidate some of them. Feeling disconnected or overwhelmed, they turn to the next most accessible means. Yet, brands are slow to adjust or worst, turn a blind eye on them. Leaving them out completely. Good example of adaptation to allow this Silver segment into their brands such as Baidu123 which creates a search engine just for the elderly. Large fonts and special interest categories (based on research of most searched words by this segment) are within reach. Again, it reinforces the importance of accessibility. More research can be done on how this segment process information. Next, using User centered design thinking can be applied to create compelling solutions for their needs. For a start, travel brochures and instructions should consider making their fonts bigger. Next, call your friendly brand consultant. Here is one that is specialised for this market.

I hope to see their lifestyle improve over time with great experiences. From the social responsibility angle, giving your time to reach out to them can be extremely fulfilling for you too! Do write to me at leong.lim@gmail.com if you are interested to know how you can make a difference. Click on COPE to find out more. Hear from you soon.

What can being plain and simple do for your brand?

2009-10-01T23:21:00.004+08:00

You probably know some of them pretty well. Muji, UNIQLO and even some FMCG brands found in supermarket have taken into it. Plain, simple without the thrills and spills of loud and colorful designs. Did our sub-conscious mind just hit the refresh button (F5)? What can we learn from this?

Plain can be a platform for promoting consumer self expression!

In my previous blog, I wrote about consumer these days wanting to self express. Having a plain brand fits here. Consumers are able to mix and match their own style to create their own. Consumers are self branding with no brands. Their combination is only limited by their creativity. Are you allowing your customers enough room to create? Probably you did. Do drop some hints, Asians customers need bigger nudges on creativity. This has again given opportunity for SKIN companies who are pimping up your 'plain looking' laptops and mobile phones. DELL has recently gotten into skin designs too.

Simple is the new LOUD
Lets imagine this scenario. Say you are scanning your eyes through the supermarket shelves trying to pick up your pack of BBQ Pringles for your stay home movie tonight. You are busy hunting for it. With Pringles trademark design, you probably can find it with an eye close if not for the clutter of other chips fighting for your attention with their fanciful packaging. While your eye sweeps, you chance upon a plain packaging that stood out from the rest. Minimal graphics, lots of white space, simple and plain colors. A 'relief from the shelve 'fireworks'. You may not pick it up and buy it but it may have successfully 'eye park' you for extra 2 seconds as compared to other brands just because it is plain and different. Kettle Chips is one good example of applying this principle. Even their packaging material feels different and premium. Nudie from Oz is another good example. Plain to them means simple, fresh and higher prices.

With these principles in mind, doing less visually might just be doing more for your brand. Other sensory dimensions of the brand might need to compensate for this. Kettle Chips did so with its packaging material and premium pricing. Bottom line, your customers still need to get the intent about your brand, if not plain can mean plainly stupid. Differentiation might not be as hard as it seems. Consult your brand consultant for some insights and ideas. It might be not as complicated as you think. Think different.

How to leverage on consumer stardom.

2009-09-24T20:49:00.001+08:00

The thing about You-tube and consumer self expression has been pretty well established with the growth of social networking. You saw the VISA dancing guy in different countries, Susan Boyle etc. You probably can name a few more. The fact is that normal people like you and me have a stab at becoming 'stars' is not fantasy. The internet has provided the right medium to do so easily.

Question is, how can brands leverage on this consumer trend? Making your customers feel like a star for them to express their individuality and tastes is not far fetched. In fact, you should do it as a brand owner. To allow your customers to express themselves in their desired form (good or bad) and at the same time creating an unforgettable experience, why not? Look hard and probably the opportunities are around. A dose of creativity helps. Here are my observations.

A recent trip to a popular local KTV chain has prompted some opportunities for such consumer stardom. First, my congrats to them for having a wonderful intuitive, all-in-one remote to select songs and even food at a few button presses. For the song belters who are totally into giving their best shot holding the microphone, why not bring it one notch higher. Having a mini platform stage, mini stage light and a voting system from the audiences (yes, your teasing friends). Quite sure this will create a different experience and a differentiation from competitors.

What about retail? A local, immensely successful shoe chain can also leverage on it without spending more than their frequent renovations to refresh their store experience. Women love shoes. Its about how many brand X can sell to them. Having a proposition of affordability without sacrificing quality and design hit the right spot. On average, I notice local women will try on average of 3 pairs before buying X number. Say 3 is the most desirable, 0 is worst. But it is not a lost cause if you know how to turn it around. How? Have a dedicated shoe corner with the right mirrors and lighting for the women to whip out their camera phones (most got one) to take pictures of the 'considerations'. They can take it back and ponder, think, imagine, fantasize or better, show their friends, post it online etc. Bottom line is, it creates pre-purchase intentions and word of mouth for that brand. You can imagine what happens next? Probably a few more purchases. What does it cost shoe brand X? Not much but an elevated shopping experience with possibly more return visits. If brand X is afraid of shoe copies, they have not understood the concept of continuing innovation. Pity.

Car test drives. Perfect for consumer stardom again. What about having a mini film of you test driving the vehicle you always wanted. Car brand Y could have these delivered to you after a few days of testing driving in a nice 'Thank You for visiting and testing our vehicles' card, enclosed a mini-DVD of the footage of you driving that hot hatch. No sales? Car brand Y just added value to the brand by elevating customer experience using consumer stardom. Some months down the road, that customer would still be talking about it I reckon.

I can think of a few more but lets leave it here for now. Please feedback or comment if you want to.

How Asian technology brands stay ahead.

2009-09-16T00:44:00.001+08:00

Speed to market. Yes, that is their strategy to roll out products faster than their competitors. Their speed to quickly churn out many products at a rate that is unmatched by other European or American brands. Their strategy involves gaining market share by rapidly flooding products with new models every 6 to 8 months.

How is this speed-to-market affecting market research? Definitely. The traditional design research which involves understanding user needs, creating new concepts and rolling them out has been shortened significantly to meet market needs and capture market share (top priority now). Being the number one market leader by sales figure speaks the loudest.

Many designers are rolling out concepts quickly and hoping that one of the many models will wow the consumers. Not your typical European brand product life cycle. Are consumer needs measured? Probably but I suspect not really in-depth. You would probably agree some smart phones look really alike to each other. Speed to market is killing innovation. Do we really need a crystal keypad from LG? My take is that Asian brands are not aiming for a big leap in innovation but a series of refinement till they get it right. I hope not at the expense of consumer needs and wants.

Please don't make me look at the back of your monitor?

2009-09-15T00:30:00.001+08:00

Yes, we all don't like the back of it but how often customer service experience are exactly like that. Have a look around telco customer service counters and travel agencies, you get what I mean. The crux of the problem really lies in having business process taking over customer service. Service reps are more concern about filling out their forms or looking for the information you want rather than looking in your eyes (you, me, customers) and engaging you. Reps should be spending more percentage understanding your needs, chit chat, engage you to make you feel special etc. Deep down, we all want to be noticed and talked to.

There is nothing wrong with business process. In fact, without it, things will be messy and even chaotic. However, we need to be mindful that flexibility needs to be exercised by employees. Wait a minute, where is the floor manager? Perhaps in the back room performing one of his business process?

To attain better customer experience, there are a few ways. In the case of over the counter service like travel agencies, the monitor could be shared rather than back facing the customer or enquirer. This way, there is a common ground which both parties are engaged. What is there to hide anyway? Destination, price? Not happy, click or next destination. I am sure this potential customer is more than willing to tell you his/her plans for the next trip. Great starting point for conversation.

Another is to let the employee not be blinkered by these processes. Training them well is crucial as they are the interface or frontline with the customers. Bottom line, don't let the front or back of a PC monitor (business process) hinder great customer service experience. Flexibility is key.

Bonding with clients over hardship?

2009-09-11T10:07:00.004+08:00

One of the challenges of modern day client servicing is to keep to clients interested and constantly engaged. In today's marketplace, clients come and go quickly. Sometimes it may just catch you off guard. How do we maintain these relationships? We hardly get to ask them how is their experience with you until something happens. Sometimes it might be too late if its negative. Especially so in the Asia culture where we tend to keep to ourselves.

The way to get around this, in fact is to create compelling B2B relationships with them. Delving deeper into the client relationship which is not much different from your social relationships, end of the day they are still people. We sometimes draw the line too quickly. There are no excuses these days, companies big and small to not engage your business partners.

We all know how some hardship really digs deep into us. They are both memorable and compelling, at times life changing. I still have not gotten over how my uncle Eddie looks like in his last days. It reminded me how fragile life is and how important it is to lead a healthy life. We all long for certain hardship experiences to stay away or kept as reminders. They are powerful markers in our memories.

However, hardship with positive outcomes produce the same memorable and compelling effect. An example would be doing community work, participating sporting events together like a triathlon or marathon etc. I know of a certain design agency that trains and compete together with their clients in a triathlon. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/fast-company-staff/fast-company-blog/radical-collaboration-triathlons-are-new-golf

These experiences are hard to forget, going beyond great boardroom or killer presentations (yes, they are still important). They create solid anchor points for both your clients and you.

So the next time you are deliberating on how to engage your clients. Try doing hardship stuff together where the experiences truly bind. Hope you can leverage on these to create great business and personal relations.

Leong

Why don't Singaporeans like to stand in between MRT carriages?

2009-09-11T00:41:00.003+08:00

MRT move millions of passengers daily. Cheap, reliable and fast. However, the train experience could be better improved to accommodate more passengers per trip and being less crowded. How?

Solution: Move more passengers in-between carriages.

The connecting segment between train carriages are great to accommodate more passengers. However, the experience is unstable and unwelcoming. All test subjects of an earthquake simulator would rather get off that thing double quick time. So would I! This segment of the train certainly feels like one. Small, unstable and awkward. Not a very pleasant experience at all.

Applying design-experience thinking can possibly deliver more pleasant. Heres how.

First, you need to make some fundamental changes. Having stability for the passenger gives a sense of security for them. Have handrails above their heads will definitely encourage more passengers to move in. Currently, there is none at all. Many are forced to touch the ceiling. I am one of them.

Second, that space is great for advertisers to put in their ads and messages. Passengers are 'locked in' that space, let them have something to look at or solve. Ever wash your hair in the salon and forced to look at the ceiling? If I am the owner, I will put my products up there! Same principle for patients in hospital being forced to stare at the ceiling when they are lying on the bed for treatment.

Third, implement a more stable platform for the passengers to stand on. Currently, not many can balance on the metal plates after a tiring day at work.

Great Design, Winning Experience

2009-09-09T17:31:00.004+08:00

As a market researcher by training and profession, I have the chance of testing and researching on a number of products for my clients. Very often, clients are at my doorstep with design prototypes (unfinished products) wanting me to validate and improve their offerings. Over the years, I have conducted studies which range from chocolates to petroleum. I would like to take this chance to share some my personal thoughts with you on how to attain winning products for your customers.

Product experience matters.
A great product experience delivers impactful emotional branding. It is far easier and cheaper to retain a customer which has a pleasant experience with you before than finding a new one. Pleasant experience form deep emotional bonds between your brand and your business. It is priceless. Look for the ‘experience architect’ in your business. They are the ones that closes their eyes, holding the prototype in their hands and imagining what the customer will feel when they use their products or services. Design experience, it matters.

Purposeful design that meets a need is fundamental.

Many products are created for the sake of bringing in sales or ‘it’s already in the pipeline’. Too often, designers design for the sake of fulfilling project requirements and not knowing what is it designed for. Has the product lost its initial purpose? Do designers know why customers need them in the first place? Do they need another 10 TB drive that stores more media? Or do we need one that integrates all your media files that you have and make them ubiquitously accessible to make their lives easier? Sell your product benefits by first having a strategic purpose and meeting the needs of your customers.

Be open about your innovation. Involve your customers. Customers talk, be it to you or to each other. Point is that customers talk. With the prevalence of internet and social networking tools, you can stay in your rabbit hole and they will still be talking about you or your products. Why not make them talk to you and become your asset by integrating product research with them? Lego Factory is created for that purpose to integrate customers into their product design.

I hope you go on to improve your offerings for your customers and great product experience for them.

Please leave your comments, if any.