Often the difference between a good product or service and an average product or service is image and design, but the third essential is great creative. “Great creative” is an advertising term used to describe how well the product’s message is communicated to the target audience. Great creative is also about creating perceptions. For example, in the 1750’s the German peasants were subject to price fluctuations and even famines when the wheat crop failed. King Frederick wanted to make life better for his people so he tried to introduce the potato into the market. While I am sure King Fredrick used image and design, the introduction was not a success. The peasants found the potato revolting and refused to eat it. So King Frederick rebranded the potato as a ‘Royal’ vegetable and said that it was for the royal family only. Guards were placed around the royal potato patch to make sure the peasants knew that these potatoes had value. The guards were given orders to ‘guard the potatoes, but very loosely.’ It something is of value, you guard it. Because of the perception of value—the peasants made off with as many potatoes as possible and as a result the potato became a staple in the diet of the German peasants.
What did King Fredrick do?
He used ‘great creative’ to re-introduce the brand. He used social media and Word of Mouth advertising to communicate the perception of value of the potato. And for this the German people were able to ward off famine and Frederick became know as ‘Frederick the Great’—for his great creative of course.
Perceptions work.
Image and design and great creative produce desired perceptions. All value we place on an item is perception. All value is perceived value. How do we draw value from perceptions? Theodore Levitt wrote about marketing intangible and tangible products. He said, “Everybody sells intangibles in the marketplace, no matter what is produced in the factory.” He went on to say that to sell an intangible service like banking, cleaning, and accounting you needed to use tangible –design. FedEx stands out for using tangibles—strong graphics, clean trucks, easy-to-use forms. With tangible items like cars, boats and lawnmowers you need to use intangibles to sell them—service, brand.
You sell the product differentiation. Often a package is helpful for a tangible item to carry the branding and illustrate the intangibles. Tiffany box projects value.
We work for a client who sells sand. We do a better job of selling sand that is packaged than sand that is sold by the truckload. The package adds value—perceived value. The consumer can see uses for the sand. They can learn about the qualities of the sand and they receive a promise, “pure washed and clean silica sand.”
Packaging is the container—whether it is for a product such as a $100 shirt or a proposal for a new lab for an industrial plant. Packaging adds to the perception and the value.
I purchased a hand made shirt. I did so for the experience. Perception—hand made should fit better; therefore make me look better, feel more professional and more successful. The shirt did in fact fit better. I did get nice compliments about how well I looked the single time I wore it. I didn’t feel better and because of the buying experience I didn’t like the shirt anymore. When I made the purchase all of the necessary details were carefully choreographed—measured my neck, sleeve length and even shirt length, I selected the type of cuffs, collar, color, and fabric. They took care of everything. I was told that it would take about two weeks before the shirt would be ready. Great, I expected a $100 shirt to take some time to be custom made. Two weeks later they called and said that the shirt was ready and I could pick it up. My expectations were to come to the shop and have the sales person bring out a fancy box with a fine label on the top, and then the sales person would open the box and pull back the tissue to reveal this beautiful creation. Nope. He brought out a hanger with a droopy shirt hanging on it and he slipped it into a bag and told me thank you very much and come back when I wanted to order some more shirts. My perception was that I had spent $100 on a shirt that was really not much better than the discount shirts selling for $18. And the discount shirt was packaged better. I have never liked that shirt. I don’t wear it. It’s because of the perception created by the buying experience not meeting my expectations.
Advertising helps us help our customers with their perceptions but it is just part of the experience.
Ogilvy Used Eyepatch As Differentiation For Hathaway
David Ogilvy, legendary copywriter who detested art directors and ‘graphic gimmicks’ created one of the all time great ‘design’ (graphic gimmicks) with the patch on the Hathaway shirt ad. The ad sold out all of the inventory in New York in just 6 days. It proved the power of design.
Great products are often differentiated by design. Good design may be the easiest way to make your service or product different from the competition. Good design is creative packaging.
Ken Gasque is a brand developer—a professional marketer with a design background. Ken works with small companies and Fortune 500 companies who recognize the need to differentiate their products and services in a cluttered market. Ken is a highly visual, outside-the-box-thinker on advertising, branding and marketing. Ken writes a blog and lectures on brand and brand development. To learn more, visit www.Gasque.com