Comments on: And stop calling me stupid

By: Davinder Jawanda

Davinder Jawanda — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:32:27 +0000

Effective branding can allow the provider to own the customer’s perception of the offering’s core value. For instance, lifestyle or purpose brands can obtain best of breed status because their core value is *perceived* as the most productive solution for the customer’s need. This dominant position allows a niche provider to expand the offering’s scope over time to effectively compete in new growth markets. The resulting threat to larger incumbents also allows the provider to position itself for a lucrative takeover by the incumbent.

By: Grant

Grant — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 19:16:52 +0000

Steve, thanks for the comment, I like the way you have crafted this but there is absolutely nothing about the WSJ article in question that suggests that the three wisemen mean to include “performance dimensions,” among them “aesthetics and associated meanings.” At all. No, I think these guys really are trying to awaken the monster of functionalism…and darn it, if we the villagers don’t do something we will soon have clients and students who insist on it as the new gospel. Thanks, Grant

By: rkleine

rkleine — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 21:20:51 +0000

grant – aside from being a century behind the curve, Christensen et al.’s greater sin is that they have (apparently to their oblivian)
rediscovered benefit segmentation.

http://www.gentleye.com/digito-society/index.php?p=389

By: MT

MT — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 21:05:55 +0000

I gladly suffer Phillistine status in return for an aligning. It so rarely happens to me. Thanks, steve! Care to comment on my nutshell “anthro of IP”
http://murkythoughts.blogspot.com/2005/10/anthropology-of-intellectual-property.html
Nobody else seems to want to.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 19:22:17 +0000

Yikes. I’m afraid I’m more in line with the Phillistines here, and I especially want to align myself with MT’s remarks above–a searching analysis of the “value drivers” of a particular product will often turn up subtle performance dimensions that are easily overlooked by a more superficial analysis. I would include among those dimensions aesthetics and associated meanings. Part of the “job” of an iPod used to be to signal hipness (obviously no longer possible given mass diffusion)–I think Grant protests too much.

Clearly, which drivers matter–the “tangible” vs. the “soft” ones–varies by product category or market segment. Since people can’t tell beer apart in taste tests, they must be choosing brands, to a large extent, based on associated social and private meanings. Advertising of the beer sort is basically a technology for attaching associations to objects. But not very many products or services are such pure examples of meaning manipulation. Customer perceptions of cleaning effectiveness and convenience heavily influence detergent sales, and customer calculations of total cost per seat affect software choices.

Finally, a niggling point about intellectual consistency. I thought Levitt’s notion of thinking broadly about what business you’re in and what the customer wants your product to do is pretty similar to the purpose-based product. If so, how are Christensen, et al contradicting rather than backing up this classical wisdom?

By: Mary Schmidt

Mary Schmidt — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:32:57 +0000

Funny you should post this – I was just writing a blog entry talking about Hamburgers and target marketing…McDonalds and 21 both sell hamburgers…which serve the purpose of ending hunger…but there it ends. A “brand” is everything you do – not just what your product (in theory) enables a customers to do. And, customers will use hammers (for example) for purposes the hammer makers never thought of…

By: Corante Marketing Hub

Corante Marketing Hub — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 08:24:15 +0000

Clayton Christensen misses the branding point

Corante Network contributor Grant McCracken dares to cry out “the emperor has no clothes!” regarding Clayton Christensen, Scott Cook, and Teddy Hall’s WSJ article of Nov. 29, “It’s the Purpose Brand, Stupid” (sub reqd): “To reduce the brand to ‘purpose…

By: Renee

Renee — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 08:22:52 +0000

Amen, Grant.

By: Corante Marketing Hub

Corante Marketing Hub — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 08:22:36 +0000

Clayton Christensen misses the branding point

By: CarolGee

CarolGee — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 23:37:31 +0000

Gray automatons march in lockstep; their perfect formation is certainly functional and gets the job of “here-to-there” done. But just give me a marching band with twirlers and flags and high stepping tuba players. I want what I buy to have some distinction, some artistry, some quirkiness, even. I join you in “look away and roll eyes.”