- Email: [email protected]
TechnoBrands: How to create and use “brand identity” to market, advertise, and sell technology products
BOOK
J PROD INNOV 1995;12:453-462
REVIEWS
award and the evaluation criteria [l]; Boyett’s very detailed, analytical evaluation of IBM’s successful application, the two follow-on site visits, and selfevaluation of this firm [2]; and Mark Brown’s excelPent guide specifically prepared to hands-on assist the team that has been deemed responsible for preparing the award materials for a firm [3]. Novices and experienced Baldrige appliers alike will profit from the use of Brown’s Baldrige-type, self-directed audit and Boyett, et. al.‘s candid insights [2]. I,. W. Murray McLaren School of Business, Francisco
University
of San
References 1. Reimann, C. The Baldrige Award and service quality. In: The Service Quality Handbook, D Scheuing and W. Christopher (eds.). New York: AMACOM, 1993, pp. 25-52. 2. Boyett, Sparked
J. et al. The Quality Journey: How Winning the Baldrige the Remaking of IBM. New York: Dutton, 1993.
3. Brown, M. Baldrige Award Winning Quality: How to Interpret Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria, 3d edition. White Plains, Quality Resources, 1993.
the NY:
YechnoBrands: How to Create and Use “Brand Identity” ’ to Market, Advertise, and Sell Technology Products, by Chuck Pettis. New York: AMACOM, 1995. 222 + xiii pages. $26.95. TechnoBrands by Chuck Pettis is a “must read’ ’ for a small but important target market. As the purpose of ;bchnoBrands is to expose readers to what influences purchasers of high-tech products, the primary market for TechnoBrands is (1) business owners or managers with engineering backgrounds and (2) engineers inYroBved in the management of high-tech products or brands. The premises underlying TechnoBrands are: (1) technological superiority is no longer an adequate basis for differentiating products; (2) brand identi.ty and customer-oriented benefits determine a product’s success; and (3) branding provides identification so that a product is more than technical specifications. know that, given technical Whereas “techies” specifications, most manufactured products can be treated as commodities, they find it hard to accept that purchasers of technology respond to brands. As an example of a high-tech product sold to assemblers who, in turn, sell products to other customers, Pettis cites computer chips. Based on the experience of Intel’s “Intel Inside” campaign, Pettis argues that all
MANAG
459
(from low-tech to high-tech) products can benefit from branding. Academics or professionals who either train or use such training will find TechnoBrands to be an easily read repackaging of the chapters that focus on brand and product management in an encyclopedic introductory marketing management text such as Phil Kotler’s Marketing Management [ 11. Whereas Marketing Management [l] considers management of consumer and industrial products and brands, TechnoBrands focuses on the management of high-tech (techno) consumer products and brands. By showing the similarities and differences between building low-technology and high-technology consumer and industrial products and brands, TechnoBrands is replete with examples of how and why such branding is as important for hightech consumer or industrial products as it is for lowtech consumer or industrial products. Following a discussion of what branding is and why branding is important, (for example, the set of products people consider is small), Pettis present six steps (the trademarked technobranding process) for defining, creating, and managing brand equity for technology-based products. These steps are: 1. Identify the questions that need to be answered and define the problem(s) to be solved. What are my objectives, what problems need solutions, and what questions need to be answered?
l
2. Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to understand fully who the customers are, how they perceive the brand and competitive brands, and the buying process. l
l
l
l
What are my customers’ perceptions about my company, my products, and my competitors? What are the demographics and what is most important
of my customer sets, to each set?
What product attributes and messages are most important when customers are ready to purchase? Where are my competitors
weak and vulnerable?
3. Define the brand, which includes positioning, brand associations, brand naming, brand symbol, graphic identity, taglines, and brand personality. l
How do we set ourselves apart from and make ourselves seen as better than our competitors?
J PROD INNOV 1995;12:453-462
460
MANAG
BOOK
How can we make it easy for customers to select and purchase our brands? How can I get my entire company telling the same story to all customers? 4. Develop a brand strategy and marketing communications plan to apply the brand definition to all customer relationships. How can we ensure that we become a finalist in the selling cycle? What is the best way to communicate our brand identity? How will we achieve our marketing
objectives?
What is the best mix of marketing tions?
communica-
How can we integrate relationships?
brand into all customer
5. Create and execute an integrated munications program. l
and build
marketing
com-
What symbols, names, characters, images, design, and “look and feel” best express our position and brand?
6. Manage the brand continuously and track it through research to grow, maintain, and leverage brand equity. Assuming that the readers of the Journal of Product Innovation Management are interested in product development and management, TechnoBrands provides very little new information on the role of brands in the new product development process. In commenting on the umbrella effect of the brand name, Pettis shows how branding makes market entry easier. For example, he illustrates the expectation that computer “mavens” have with the name: Peter Norton. In terms of computer software, Norton is associated with utilities (for example, file recovery programs that work; that is, recover seemingly lost or corrupted files). Launch of a new Norton product is facilitated by the market’s predisposition that a Norton product is a better product. In effect, the brand is a promise in the buyer’s mind of a specifiable level of performance, service, support, and a willingness to stand behind what is being sold. Pettis also shows that brand equity can command a
REVIEWS
premium price. That premium, the difference between what the average customer is willing to pay for a firsttier product over a second-tier product, spells profitability for the first-tier product. He cites Compaq computers and Hewlett Packard laser printers as products with equity that is so strong that companies will have to spend massive amounts of advertising and other image-generating activities just to ‘ ‘catch up. ” In summary, except for the small target market cited above, TechnoBrands is an extended positioning statement for Pettis’ advertising and marketing firm. TechnoBrands shows how Pettis can help firms manage their high-tech products or brands. TechnoBrands is an expansion and application of a comprehensive introductory marketing management text’s chapters on product and brand management. For example, (1) Pettis presents a list of factors to consider in choosing a brand name. That list is great anecdotal support for the list of factors presented in Phil Kotler’s Marketing Management [ 1, p. 4521. (2) Pettis’ process for choosing a brand name follows the product positioning, target market identification, segmentation, target market selection, positioning process outlined in Marketing Management [l, pp, 293-3131. (3) Pettis’ list of factors to consider in packaging parallels the factors to consider in packaging a product listed in Marketing Management [l, pp. 457-4591. In effect, TechnoBrands is an excellent “infomercial” with just enough information so that the reader is inclined to call Pettis requesting that Pettis help that reader put into practice the (trademarked) procedures outlined in TechnoBrands. Alan B. Flaschner The University of Toledo
References 1. Kotler, Philip. Markering h4anagement: Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control (8th edition), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994.
Managing Imitation Strategies: How Later Entrants Seize Markets from Pioneers, by Steven P. Schnaars. New York: The Free Press, 1994. 294 pages. $24.95. One would expect that a book entitled, Managing Zmitation Strategies, would be about how companies should manage imitation strategies. This book, indeed, presents no less than 28 cases of successful imitation strategies.
J PROD INNOV 1995;12:453-462
REVIEWS
award and the evaluation criteria [l]; Boyett’s very detailed, analytical evaluation of IBM’s successful application, the two follow-on site visits, and selfevaluation of this firm [2]; and Mark Brown’s excelPent guide specifically prepared to hands-on assist the team that has been deemed responsible for preparing the award materials for a firm [3]. Novices and experienced Baldrige appliers alike will profit from the use of Brown’s Baldrige-type, self-directed audit and Boyett, et. al.‘s candid insights [2]. I,. W. Murray McLaren School of Business, Francisco
University
of San
References 1. Reimann, C. The Baldrige Award and service quality. In: The Service Quality Handbook, D Scheuing and W. Christopher (eds.). New York: AMACOM, 1993, pp. 25-52. 2. Boyett, Sparked
J. et al. The Quality Journey: How Winning the Baldrige the Remaking of IBM. New York: Dutton, 1993.
3. Brown, M. Baldrige Award Winning Quality: How to Interpret Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria, 3d edition. White Plains, Quality Resources, 1993.
the NY:
YechnoBrands: How to Create and Use “Brand Identity” ’ to Market, Advertise, and Sell Technology Products, by Chuck Pettis. New York: AMACOM, 1995. 222 + xiii pages. $26.95. TechnoBrands by Chuck Pettis is a “must read’ ’ for a small but important target market. As the purpose of ;bchnoBrands is to expose readers to what influences purchasers of high-tech products, the primary market for TechnoBrands is (1) business owners or managers with engineering backgrounds and (2) engineers inYroBved in the management of high-tech products or brands. The premises underlying TechnoBrands are: (1) technological superiority is no longer an adequate basis for differentiating products; (2) brand identi.ty and customer-oriented benefits determine a product’s success; and (3) branding provides identification so that a product is more than technical specifications. know that, given technical Whereas “techies” specifications, most manufactured products can be treated as commodities, they find it hard to accept that purchasers of technology respond to brands. As an example of a high-tech product sold to assemblers who, in turn, sell products to other customers, Pettis cites computer chips. Based on the experience of Intel’s “Intel Inside” campaign, Pettis argues that all
MANAG
459
(from low-tech to high-tech) products can benefit from branding. Academics or professionals who either train or use such training will find TechnoBrands to be an easily read repackaging of the chapters that focus on brand and product management in an encyclopedic introductory marketing management text such as Phil Kotler’s Marketing Management [ 11. Whereas Marketing Management [l] considers management of consumer and industrial products and brands, TechnoBrands focuses on the management of high-tech (techno) consumer products and brands. By showing the similarities and differences between building low-technology and high-technology consumer and industrial products and brands, TechnoBrands is replete with examples of how and why such branding is as important for hightech consumer or industrial products as it is for lowtech consumer or industrial products. Following a discussion of what branding is and why branding is important, (for example, the set of products people consider is small), Pettis present six steps (the trademarked technobranding process) for defining, creating, and managing brand equity for technology-based products. These steps are: 1. Identify the questions that need to be answered and define the problem(s) to be solved. What are my objectives, what problems need solutions, and what questions need to be answered?
l
2. Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to understand fully who the customers are, how they perceive the brand and competitive brands, and the buying process. l
l
l
l
What are my customers’ perceptions about my company, my products, and my competitors? What are the demographics and what is most important
of my customer sets, to each set?
What product attributes and messages are most important when customers are ready to purchase? Where are my competitors
weak and vulnerable?
3. Define the brand, which includes positioning, brand associations, brand naming, brand symbol, graphic identity, taglines, and brand personality. l
How do we set ourselves apart from and make ourselves seen as better than our competitors?
J PROD INNOV 1995;12:453-462
460
MANAG
BOOK
How can we make it easy for customers to select and purchase our brands? How can I get my entire company telling the same story to all customers? 4. Develop a brand strategy and marketing communications plan to apply the brand definition to all customer relationships. How can we ensure that we become a finalist in the selling cycle? What is the best way to communicate our brand identity? How will we achieve our marketing
objectives?
What is the best mix of marketing tions?
communica-
How can we integrate relationships?
brand into all customer
5. Create and execute an integrated munications program. l
and build
marketing
com-
What symbols, names, characters, images, design, and “look and feel” best express our position and brand?
6. Manage the brand continuously and track it through research to grow, maintain, and leverage brand equity. Assuming that the readers of the Journal of Product Innovation Management are interested in product development and management, TechnoBrands provides very little new information on the role of brands in the new product development process. In commenting on the umbrella effect of the brand name, Pettis shows how branding makes market entry easier. For example, he illustrates the expectation that computer “mavens” have with the name: Peter Norton. In terms of computer software, Norton is associated with utilities (for example, file recovery programs that work; that is, recover seemingly lost or corrupted files). Launch of a new Norton product is facilitated by the market’s predisposition that a Norton product is a better product. In effect, the brand is a promise in the buyer’s mind of a specifiable level of performance, service, support, and a willingness to stand behind what is being sold. Pettis also shows that brand equity can command a
REVIEWS
premium price. That premium, the difference between what the average customer is willing to pay for a firsttier product over a second-tier product, spells profitability for the first-tier product. He cites Compaq computers and Hewlett Packard laser printers as products with equity that is so strong that companies will have to spend massive amounts of advertising and other image-generating activities just to ‘ ‘catch up. ” In summary, except for the small target market cited above, TechnoBrands is an extended positioning statement for Pettis’ advertising and marketing firm. TechnoBrands shows how Pettis can help firms manage their high-tech products or brands. TechnoBrands is an expansion and application of a comprehensive introductory marketing management text’s chapters on product and brand management. For example, (1) Pettis presents a list of factors to consider in choosing a brand name. That list is great anecdotal support for the list of factors presented in Phil Kotler’s Marketing Management [ 1, p. 4521. (2) Pettis’ process for choosing a brand name follows the product positioning, target market identification, segmentation, target market selection, positioning process outlined in Marketing Management [l, pp, 293-3131. (3) Pettis’ list of factors to consider in packaging parallels the factors to consider in packaging a product listed in Marketing Management [l, pp. 457-4591. In effect, TechnoBrands is an excellent “infomercial” with just enough information so that the reader is inclined to call Pettis requesting that Pettis help that reader put into practice the (trademarked) procedures outlined in TechnoBrands. Alan B. Flaschner The University of Toledo
References 1. Kotler, Philip. Markering h4anagement: Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control (8th edition), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994.
Managing Imitation Strategies: How Later Entrants Seize Markets from Pioneers, by Steven P. Schnaars. New York: The Free Press, 1994. 294 pages. $24.95. One would expect that a book entitled, Managing Zmitation Strategies, would be about how companies should manage imitation strategies. This book, indeed, presents no less than 28 cases of successful imitation strategies.