Creative Matters: Differentiate Or Die
Why A Unique Voice Is Essential For Tech Brands to Grow
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If you work in the tech or the manufacturing industry you’ve heard it many times: The path to riches and fame is called positioning. Find your niche, the Blue Ocean, and establish your firm as the place to go, the thought leader you can’t bypass. It’s what eliminates competition and guarantees premium price tags.
What makes a company or a product stand out?
For us as branding specialists it’s always an interesting discussion about what makes a company or a product stand out, and how to approach this. After all, consumers tend to gravitate towards products they know and can rely on (Btw, same applies to investors or B2B situations). It’s engraved in our DNA as survival mode, triggered by the “Lizard Brain”: the wild berries we know are very likely not toxic, and a cave we are familiar with won’t get us in conflict with a dangerous animal looking for lunch. Why risk uncharted territory when you can imitate features or benefits of an incumbent brand.
Finding the right balance between familiarity and freshness
That’s how the conventional thinking goes. However, here’s the opportunity. We also know of a phenomenon as “brand fatigue”. As much as consumers like and trust the brands they know, they are also hungry for “new & exciting”. The trick is to finding the right balance between familiarity and freshness.
A challenger product that enters the arena with nothing but freshness tends to get not much more than its “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” if at all. Unfamiliarity is the enemy here. People are reluctant investing money into unproven solutions. The same challenger brand, however, who presents itself as a proven solution “with a twist”, has a much better chance to attract attention and even charge a premium. Good examples are Dyson vacuums, recognizable household items, just equipped with better technology and outstanding design. Or Roomba, another vacuum cleaner, that serves in a Jetson’s like manner.
In contrast to that, most other vacuums are commodities that differentiate pretty much by price only. Too much familiarity (=trust) and only very little innovation (=excitement).
Understanding this explains why some products or services never really rise much above commodity level and some become superstars that generate long lines outside its stores (Smart phones vs iPhone)
“…you are playing too safe here. I’m asking you: Do you want to be perceived as bold or nice & safe? Nice and safe never conquers the world. It pays the rent but not much more. Bold is what creates Apple products, what makes people wait in line for hours in the rain. Bold is cool. It is the moon shot that actually takes a man up to the moon… What makes things cool? Jeff Bezos said it in his amazon.love manifesto: ‘Risk taking is cool. Thinking big is cool. The unexpected is cool…’ So, don’t give me shit about safe. Go bold or go home.” — Marc Posch
If you want to be outstanding, you have to stand out
For tech brands to become premium brands, to stand out, it is essential to find and hone their unique voice, and a message that goes beyond features and functions. It is key to understand the importance of a bold brand story, and about the appeal of attractive design that not only informs but mesmerizes, too. It pays to be outstanding. Now go!
Have a nice day. Yours, Marc Posch
Out in print now: “The Million Dollar Brand — Building A Million Dollar Brand For The Information Economy. A Step-by-Step Manual.” By Marc Posch, Creative Director, and Brand Consultant. To order click here
Opus Brand Consult, Los Angeles, Munich, Paris. We are a team of creatives, thinkers, and developers, known for helping emerging tech and manufacturing companies to disrupt, stand out and grow. With our experience, deep industry expertise and all the collaborators to make it happen, we inspire success.
Contact: 213.341.1642. Or visit marcposchdesign.com. Thank you.
