Sneak Preview
Branding 123
Build a Breakthrough Brand
in 3 Proven Steps
Product Launch 123
Launch a Product or Service
in 3 Proven Steps
Barry Silverstein
123 eGuides
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011, Barry Silverstein
123 eGuide is a trademark of 123 eGuides
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Thank you for downloading this free eBook. This special free 123 eGuide is a “Sneak Preview” of two new eGuides, Branding 123 and Product Launch 123. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form.
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Table of Contents
Excerpt from Product Launch 123
Branding 123: Build a Breakthrough Brand in 3 Proven Steps is an authoritative eGuide that offers small businesses with fledgling brands the opportunity to apply proven strategies and techniques used by the big guys.
Branding expert Barry Silverstein, co-author of The Breakaway Brand (McGraw-Hill) provides readers with a comprehensive yet simple plan to follow so they can (1) build a brand positioning statement, (2) build a brand identity, and (3) build a brand marketing plan. Specific examples and a wealth of additional resources are included. Written clearly and concisely, Branding 123 has everything you need to build a breakthrough brand.
Branding 123 contains information about:
- the rational and emotional sides of brands
- how brands are built to last
- how and why some brands become cultural icons
- how great brands break through
- the impact of globalization on brands
- brand successes and failures
- the difference between branding a company and a product
- building a brand position
- understanding the competition
- understanding the audience
- how to create a brand positioning statement
- brand differentiation
- how to name a brand
- how to create a brand logo
- how to develop a brand slogan
- brand packaging
- establishing a brand identity
- creating a brand marketing strategy
- using integrated media for brand promotion
Together, Branding 123 and Product Launch 123 provide small business owners and product developers with the information they need to brand their businesses and launch new products or services.
Do you think creating a breakthrough brand is something only really big companies can do?
Not true. The same branding principles employed by world-class marketers can be applied to any company, large or small, or any product or service.
This eGuide is intended to give you a jump start in building your brand from the ground up. It is designed around one thing: to help make your brand a breakthrough brand, because that’s what a brand needs to be to succeed today.
Before we get started, let’s cover some branding basics.
What is a Brand
Contemporary brands probably got their start with the Industrial Revolution. Once products were mass produced, it became more important to distinguish one product from another, and one manufacturer from another, especially if a product had competition.
A good example of this is Coca-Cola, invented in 1886, and Pepsi-Cola, invented in 1893. These products were very similar: They were brown colored, sweet flavored carbonated water with brand names that sounded alike. In the early days, even the typeface used to represent the products looked alike. (By the way, here’s an interesting historical note: The soft drink Dr. Pepper was actually concocted in 1885, a year before Coca-Cola was invented. But obviously, this brand did not have the same breakthrough qualities as Coca-Cola, which became and still remains the leading soft drink brand.)
From the earliest days, Coca-Cola was regarded as the “original” cola and attempted to distinguish its brand from Pepsi-Cola, at first by creating a uniquely shaped bottle. Even today, “Coke” and Pepsi continue to battle it out as the Number 1 and Number 2 cola brands. In the branding world, this huge fight has often been called the “Cola Wars.”
Today, the number of company and product brands is overwhelming. Tens of thousands of new consumer products are introduced each year. While some of them might be “brand extensions” – new products, but with the same brand name as an already existing product – many of them are given brand new brand names.
So a brand can be either a company name, like Apple, for example, or a product name, like iPhone. Sometimes the company brand name and the product brand name are the same, as in Coca-Cola (the company) and Coca-Cola (the product). But just as often, the product brand name becomes a kind of “super-brand,” the core of a series of brand names that might be called sub-brands. Some of the Coca-Cola sub-brands include Diet Coke, Caffeine-Free Coke, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and Coke Zero.
A brand can be represented by the name alone, but more often than not it is represented by a distinctive type treatment (logotype), or a graphic symbol (logo or mark). When a brand is marketed in a particular way that draws attention to it, it can achieve brand awareness – it is recognized by people – and it can develop a brand image – a way in which people perceive the brand (which could be good, bad, or indifferent).
High brand awareness and a very positive brand image may result in brand preference – that’s when a consumer prefers or picks one brand over another. Sometimes high brand awareness and a positive brand image can also result in a brand becoming a category leader – that means it becomes the top brand in a particular category, determined either by market share or by consumer brand preference.
People Think and Feel About Brands
This is an important concept in building a breakthrough brand: brands have both rational and emotional appeal. People think about brands, but they also have feelings about brands.
The rational aspect of a brand is the part of the brand that appeals to a consumer’s rational mind – the brain, the head, the thought process, whatever you want to call it. The emotional aspect of a brand is the part of the brand that appeals to a consumer’s emotions – that person’s heart and soul – how that person “feels” about a brand.
If a brand appeals to a consumer on both a rational and emotional level, it has a very strong chance of becoming a memorable, long-lasting brand. Brands that accomplish this often achieve category leader status.
How does a brand appeal to both the rational and emotional sides?
Basically, the rational argument for a brand involves conveying sensible, practical facts in the brand’s marketing messages. Depending on the product, it may be facts such as saving money, protecting the environment, or offering high quality.
The emotional side is quite different, however. Typically, to evoke emotion, a brand has to make a compelling case or paint a picture that creates a certain feeling. Instead of facts, the emotional side of the brand deals with benefits and feelings – things that make the consumer feel good. Often a brand will lead with the emotional aspect because it has higher impact (and it is less rational) so it might create a desire on the part of the consumer to purchase the brand. The rational aspect is then used to support the purchase decision.
A good example of how the rational and emotional sides come into play in brand marketing is the way Miller Lite beer was first marketed in 1975. At the time, there was no other light beer, so Miller had to find a way not only to promote the beer, but to actually introduce a new beer category. The branding message, or slogan, the company came up with was: “Tastes Great. Less Filling.”
Let’s analyze that slogan. Notice that it really embeds both the emotional and rational appeal of a light beer. You might say that “tastes great” plays to the emotional side, because great taste is what connects emotionally with most beer drinkers, while “less filling” could be interpreted as a rational message, implying that a Miller Lite beer drinker would be subject to less bloating and, potentially, would avoid weight gain (which for some people is a very emotional issue, too!)
Miller Lite’s branding strategy worked. At the time of Miller Lite’s introduction, Miller was the number four brewery in the U.S. By 2004, the Miller Lite brand helped Miller rise to number two. Miller Lite created a revolution as other beer breweries started to produce light beer brands to compete with Miller Lite.
Brands that are Built to Last
In July 2009, BusinessWeek magazine reported on the “Top 25 Healthiest Brands,” based on consumers’ perceptions across six categories. Here’s what is striking about the report: 15 of the top 25 healthiest brands are over 50 years old, and 8 of them are over 100 years old. The century-old brands include such well-known names as Campbell’s Soup, Black and Decker, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Whirlpool.
There is no better proof of a brand’s lasting power than its ability to appear on a contemporary list of top brands and yet be over 100 years old. In fact, the five century-old brands mentioned above are generally regarded as not only healthy brands, but leaders in their categories. They all have high brand awareness, largely positive brand images, and generate a high degree of brand preference.
How does this happen? For the most part, a brand that is built to last becomes known for particular company or product attributes that are valued by consumers. Consumers get to know the brand and come to depend on it to deliver the same quality, day in and day out, year after year. Some brands are even “passed down” from generation to generation, either literally or figuratively. Consumers rely on, prefer, and eventually demonstrate loyalty to the brand, not only by purchasing it repeatedly, but telling family and friends about it (and today, via social media, telling lots of acquaintances about it). In a sense, they become “brand fanatics.”
When this happens, a brand works its way into the daily life and lifestyle of the consumer, and it can even become a cultural icon.
Brands as Cultural Icons
Can a brand really become a cultural icon? Oh yes. When a brand is so tightly woven into the fabric of many consumers’ lives, it becomes part of the culture.
Before the digital revolution, there was one company that was so well-known for its ability to make copies of things that its name became a substitute for the copying process. In offices all around the world, you would hear bosses tell their assistants, “Make a Xerox of this.” The company name “Xerox” was at risk of becoming a generic term because it was so widely used.
The same thing happened to a particular brand of tissues that represented the entire tissue category: “Could you get me a Kleenex?”
When a person says, “Please get me a Coke,” they may be referring to any kind of cola soft drink that’s available, not just Coca-Cola.
When it comes to delivering something overnight, people often say “FedEx it.” In fact, that’s one of the reasons Federal Express eventually changed its brand name to FedEx.
All of these brands were category leaders, but they also became cultural icons, because they actually worked their way into our everyday vocabulary. Some brands are so iconic that they become what Kevin Roberts calls Lovemarks in his book of the same name. Roberts, CEO of ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, says in his book, “Consumers are becoming more and more attracted to where the Love is. Every Lovemark, whether it’s a breakfast cereal, a shoe, a car, or a country, must both love and respect consumers and the world those consumers live in.”
Remember what we said about the emotional appeal of a brand? The ultimate emotional appeal is when a consumer loves a brand. That is a very emotional reaction. The kind of emotional reaction that happens with iconic brands like Apple, Nike, and Starbucks.
People who buy Apple’s products don’t just like the brand, they love it. Those buyers are among the most loyal brand followers. Many of them can’t wait until Apple releases its next product.
Nike has engendered the same kind of brand fanaticism. Nike lovers will pay a premium price for shoes or athletic gear branded with the renowned Nike “swoosh” logo. They’re the athletes who live by Nike’s slogan, “Just do it.” The Nike swoosh, by the way, appears on much more than the company’s product line – Nike strikes deals with sports teams and leagues to emblazon its logo on every player’s uniform and sometimes around sports stadiums.
Starbucks may not have invented coffee or the latte, but it capitalized on the coffee craze by making it hip and contemporary. During Starbucks’ expansion years, it wouldn’t be hard to find the Starbucks logo on storefronts within blocks of each other in larger cities. (That expansion has since come to a halt because of declining revenues driven by tough competition and global economic conditions.) A Starbucks enthusiast “couldn’t live” without a daily stop at a Starbucks store.
How a Breakthrough Brand Breaks Through
Great brands – the category leaders, the cultural icons, the ones that stand out – share some of the same characteristics. In their book The Breakaway Brand, co-authors Fran Kelly and Barry Silverstein talk about the things that make a brand stand out, or break away from other brands. They say that a breakaway brand:
- Positions itself effectively against its competition
- Creates a counter-position to successfully compete against a category leader
- Continuously innovates
- Connects with its audience
- Establishes leadership.
Positioning
“Positioning” is a term first popularized by the book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Ries and Trout made the argument that it was the way a brand was perceived by a consumer – or positioned in his or her mind – that led to that brand’s success.
Ries and Trout used the classic example of Hertz and Avis, two rental car companies, to explain the concept. Hertz was the undisputed category-leading brand, so in 1963, Avis came up with a campaign it called “We Try Harder.” The campaign acknowledged that Hertz was the category leader, but positioned Avis as “the other” rental car company. In effect, Avis expanded the category in the mind of the consumer to two companies – a “category of two.” Now the prospective car renter would think of Hertz and “that other company that’s trying harder to get to number one.” Avis successfully moved into the position of number two rental car company, second only to Hertz, and it has been hard to displace ever since. This campaign was a clever way to create a counter-position to Hertz, the category leader.
Innovation
Brands that continuously innovate stand out. John Blasberg and Vijay Vishwanath of the consulting firm Bain & Company talk about a Bain survey of 524 brands in 100 categories. They write in their article, “Making Cool Brands Hot” (Harvard Business Review, June 2003) that “winning innovators cropped up in high- and low-growth categories and among brands that were new and mature, big and small, premium and value, leaders and followers.” In other words, it was these brands’ innovation that set them apart, regardless of any other factors.
You can find innovative brands in any product category. Take Southwest Airlines, for example. When most other airlines were doing the same or similar things, Southwest differentiated itself by continuously innovating. Southwest pioneered the concept of low-cost air travel by offering the lowest fares. They used less expensive secondary city airports, did away with seat assignments, trained their staff to be friendly and funny, and offered service on nice jets. They have continued to innovate by going against the industry: When virtually every other airline started to charge for checked baggage, Southwest promoted the fact that it still accepted bags without any fees.
Connecting with an Audience
Brands that form a close tie with an audience stand out. Disney is an example of such a brand: It not only connects directly with its primary audience, children, it also connects with the child in all of us. Disney uses superb customer service, combined with an emphasis on fun and magic, to make everyone feel like they’re part of the Disney family, whether they are visiting a Disney theme park, watching a Disney television program, movie or live show, shopping for Disney merchandise, or traveling on a Disney cruise ship. Disney uses its many characters to make an even tighter, emotional connection with children.
Establishing Leadership
Google is a brand that, in a relatively short period of time, has established itself as the undisputed leader in Internet search. In just six years, Google attained $1 billion in revenue; it took Microsoft sixteen years to do that. Not only did Google build the world’s most popular search engine, the company actually does everything mentioned above: Google has positioned itself as the leader, continuously innovated by improving its search capabilities and adding new products, and it has gained a loyal following by connecting with its audience.
The Globalization of Brands
One of the most significant developments in business in recent years has been globalization. Businesses large and small have benefited from a “shrinking world” and the ability to sell goods and services to people in many countries, especially via the Internet. This reality has led to an influx of foreign brands in U.S. markets. For example, you probably recognize the names Hyundai, Kia, LG, and Samsung. These are all Korean companies with strong positions in the United States. Globalization has also caused U.S. companies to think more about how to build brands that can work on a global scale.
Global branding is filled with challenges, not the least of which is cultural and language differences. Here are a few examples of branding blunders brought on by companies who didn’t fully understand the complexities of global branding:
- When Chevrolet introduced its model, the Nova, in Latin America, it failed. Why? Because “No Va” means “no go” in Spanish.
- When Kentucky Fried Chicken tried to translate its slogan, “Finger Lickin’ Good,” into Chinese, the translation was less than desirable: It meant “eat your fingers off.
- When Schweppes Tonic Water was introduced in Italy, its translation in Italian turned out to be “Schweppes Toilet Water.”
- When Electrolux, a Swedish vacuum company, tried to translate its Swedish slogan into English for the United States market, it turned out this way: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
While you may not have aspirations to sell globally, you should be aware of the impact your brand can have on global audiences.
Colossal Brand Successes and Spectacular Brand Failures
Successes
Brand successes and brand failures come in all shapes and sizes. One of the objectives of this eGuide is to help you learn enough of the basics about branding so that you can maximize your chance of creating a successful brand and minimize your chance of brand failure.
Brand success is usually measured by the criteria we discussed earlier: brand awareness and brand preference. From the brand marketer’s perspective, it’s pretty easy to tell if the brand’s successful just by looking at its sales compared with its competitors.
The most colossal brand successes will usually involve not just leading in a particular category, but actually starting a category. Earlier, we discussed Miller Lite beer – a brand that was responsible for starting a category.
Arguably, one of the most successful brands in modern history is Apple’s iPhone. The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, and therefore it didn’t start the category – but the iPhone was a game-changer in the category. Why? Some of it was because of cool features, like its intelligent touchscreen, which removed the need for a physical keyboard, like the keyboard on the Blackberry. The real game-changer, though, was the iPhone’s huge and continually growing library of applications.
Another incredibly successful brand that pioneered a category was Toyota’s Prius. The Prius wasn’t the first hybrid car, but it became the most popular, best-selling hybrid car. The Prius brand created a new perception for the hybrid car and made it widely accepted, forging the road for other manufacturers to introduce hybrids.
Failures
Brands don’t always succeed, even if they are the product of companies with marketing expertise.
One of the most famous brand failures was the product commonly referred to as “New Coke.” In the 1980s, when Coca-Cola was in the midst of a heated battle with Pepsi, the company decided on a fateful decision: to change the flavor formulation of Coke. When it was introduced to the marketplace, however, loyal fans were outraged that the company would mess with a tried and true product. “New Coke” quickly became such a disaster that Coca-Cola was forced to bring back the “old” Coke, re-naming it “Coca-Cola Classic.”
Another remarkable failure was Ford’s 1950s Edsel. Despite thousands of suggested names, then company head Henry Ford II decided to name the car after the company founder’s only son. The problem was the name had no meaning to anyone. That was just the beginning of the car’s problems. It had a laughable design, features that the public didn’t want, poor quality, and to top it off, it was too expensive for the marketplace. The Edsel died a miserable death.
A third spectacular failure was in the 1970s, when Sony introduced a video recording system it called Betamax. While it featured great sound and picture quality for a home recording system, it had a few fatal flaws: it could only record one hour at a time, the machine was expensive and perhaps worst of all, the technology was proprietary. It didn’t take long for competitors (mostly Japanese companies competing with Sony, another Japanese company) to align themselves with a technology called VHS. Soon, lots of companies were making VHS recorders, while Sony was the only one making Betamax. By 1988, Sony had to admit its failure and introduce its own line of VHS equipment, but by that time, it was too late.
The Difference between Branding a Company and a Product
Let’s consider for a moment the difference between branding a company and a product.
To keep it simple, we can say most consumers think about brands as representing products, not companies. That’s because a brand is something a consumer can touch, feel, evaluate, and purchase. But in many cases the company brand that stands behind each product is important, too.
We mentioned Nike earlier. Nike is a good example of a company brand that almost supersedes the importance of a branded product. While Nike has a range of products, many of which have their own brand names, the company has such a strong brand name itself, and such high brand recognition through the “swoosh” and the slogan “Just do it” that the product brand name is secondary to the company brand name. This isn’t always the case, but it certainly seems to work for Nike.
Apple, on the other hand, has managed to develop both a strong brand image for its company, and a strong brand image for its branded products, in particular the iPod and the iPhone. One of the reasons this has been possible is because Apple has a strong sense of branding that applies to both the company and its brands. You can always tell an Apple product because of the way it’s designed. It is sleek, uncomplicated, contemporary minimalist design, allowing the technology to speak for itself. Apple’s corporate image is much the same. The “i” family of product brands that Apple has developed is closely identified with the company: iMac, iPod, iPhone and, most recently, iPad.
And then there are products that are such strong brands the company brand name is almost irrelevant.
Here’s a question for you: Who makes the BlackBerry smartphone? BlackBerry is such a strong, dominant brand that most people have no idea who makes it.
Do you know? Give up? It’s a company called Research In Motion, also known as RIM, headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
To Learn More
Articles
“Make the Logo Bigger: 10 Rebranding Disasters,” Bianca Male, MSNBC (April 16, 2010)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36398773
The 100 Best Global Brands 2009
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0917_global_brands/index.htm
Top 25 Healthiest Brands
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/07/0723_healthiest_brands/index.htm
Many articles about branding, including profiles of leading brands:
Books
Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands – Kevin Roberts (Powerhouse Books, revised edition, 2005)
The Breakaway Brand, Fran Kelly and Barry Silverstein (McGraw-Hill, 2005)
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout (McGraw-Hill, 2000)
Brand Failures, Matt Haig (Kogan Page, 2005)
Think About This
Think about a brand you know and love. Ask yourself:
- Who do you think is the primary audience for the brand?
- Is the name of the brand effective, and why? Is the logo (if there is one) effective, and why?
- What are the rational and emotional appeals the brand has for you?
- How does this brand compare to one or more of its competitors?
Product Launch 123: Launch a Product or Service in 3 Proven Steps is an authoritative eGuide that helps small businesses with new products and services launch them with minimum risk.
The eGuide focuses on a proven 3-step process that explains how product inventors and developers can (1) research and uncover markets for their products, (2) create and market test a working prototype, and (3) create a launch plan that successfully brings the product to market. Specific tactics and techniques and a wealth of additional resources are included.
Written clearly and concisely, Product Launch 123 is a “quick start” guide to launching your product or service.
Product Launch 123 contains information about:
- what product launch failures tell us
- how to protect your intellectual property
- patents, trademarks and copyrights
- what to do before a product launch
- how to research your market
- size and scope of market
- prospective buyers and specific characteristics
- market conditions
- SWOT analysis
- where to go for market information
- using primary research
- surveys, focus groups, interviews, and observations
- how to create a prototype
- the production triangle
- hard product prototype, soft product prototype, service prototype
- getting help with your prototype
- why a prototype is so important
- how to market test your prototype
- testing market acceptance prior to a launch
- controlled market testing
- how to bring your product to market
- the importance of the business plan
- developing a launch plan
- using integrated media to launch your product
- using marketing ammunition for your product launch
- raising capital for producing and launching your product
Together, Branding 123 and Product Launch 123 provide small business owners and product developers with the information they need to brand their businesses and launch new products or services.
Excerpt from Product Launch 123
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
(Thomas Alva Edison)
Edison’s statement above pretty much sums up what it takes to launch a product or service. You may think you have a great idea -- and maybe you do -- but the biggest problem with having a great idea is, as Edison implies, that the idea itself is a very small part of what makes a product launch successful.
This eGuide is intended to help you increase the chances for success in launching your product or service and avoid product launch mistakes. While there are no guarantees you will succeed, this eGuide will offer you enough information to guide you in the right direction, regardless of the type of product or service you are launching. However, this eGuide is designed to offer a quick overview of the product launch process, not an in-depth description. That’s why you will find numerous additional resources listed in this eGuide. It is strongly recommended that you review these articles and books.
A Few Assumptions
Before we get started, let’s cover a few basic assumptions that will help us stay on common ground.
1. This eGuide assume that you have already established, or intend to establish, a business entity that will be the creator of a product or service. This eGuide is not about establishing a business, although it is quite possible that you intend to start a business around a product or service. The distinction is important, because there are different requirements for starting a business, but this eGuide will concentrate on launching a product or a service, not on starting a business.
2. It is assumed that you already have an idea for a product or service. This eGuide is not about the creative process associated with coming up with that idea, but rather about the process for launching a product or service that has already been conceptualized. This is also not a guide for inventors who want to create and patent a product and let someone else bring it to market.
3. In general, the basic process for launching a product is the same as for launching a service, but there are some important differences between a product and service that should be taken into account. A “product” means a discrete tangible item. It could be any item made from “hard” goods, software, or an e-product of some kind. A service is a discrete item as well, but it tends to be less tangible and include more components than a single product. With a service, the end user usually doesn’t buy a physical thing (although a physical thing might be provided with the service or as a result of the service. For example, selling an online service that helps the end user create web pages is still a service, but it results in the creation of a website).
It should be pointed out that a modern product is often launched with service in mind. In other words, you may be launching a product, but you know you will also need to provide customer service for that product. To keep things simple, though, let’s assume a product launch means the launch of just the product itself.
4. Launching a product for a consumer is different from launching a product for a business user. This will be addressed in the first step of this eGuide.
Let’s Get Started
It’s very natural for you to get excited about an idea you have for a new product or service. This excitement and enthusiasm fuels innovation and can result in breakthrough ideas. It can lead to the creation of divisions within existing companies, or it can be responsible for the birth of new companies. The fact is many small businesses are founded around new products or services.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that new products have an enormous failure rate. In his book Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation (fourth edition), Robert G. Cooper writes:
“The hard reality is that the great majority of new products never make it to market. And those that do face a failure rate somewhere on the order of 25 to 45 percent. For example, our studies indicate that new products currently have a success rate of only 60.2 percent at launch, up only 1 percent since 1997 and up 2 percent since 1990.”
Why is that? While there are many reasons a new product might fail, product launch experts Joan Schneider and Julie Hall, in an April 2011 article in Harvard Business Review, write:
“The biggest problem we’ve encountered is lack of preparation: Companies are so focused on designing and manufacturing new products that they postpone the hard work of getting ready to market them until too late in the game.”
Look at that statement again and notice the words: “they postpone the hard work of getting ready to market them…” Over and over again, you will hear about a product’s failure not because it was a bad idea, but because the launch of the product was flawed. Yes, even big companies who should “know better” are guilty of this fatal mistake.
So how do you maximize your chances of having a successful launch and minimize your chances of a big-time fizzle? How do you “get ready to market” a product or service?
You’ll see that the three steps in this eGuide are centered around product marketability, not product development. They are:
1: Research Your Market
In this first step, you’ll learn that any product or service will only be as successful as the market that exists for the product or service. In fact, experienced product developers will research a market well before they finalize a product idea because they know that even the greatest product idea will fail if there is no market for it.
2: Create and Market Test Your Prototype
Once you determine there is a market for your product, you’ll take the next critical step: Creating and market testing a prototype of your product. This is a step that a surprisingly large number of people who launch products miss. As you’ll see in this step, a prototype is essential because it is a working model of your product or service. Basically, a working prototype proves your product or service works. A prototype also gives you something tangible you can use to test the market you uncovered in Step 1.
3: Bring Your Product to Market
Only after you research your market and create and test your prototype will you be ready to bring your product to market. This is the final step of launching a product or service, not the first step. But the product launch itself is actually just the start of a journey. While bringing your product to market marks the end of the product launch process, it is not the end of your product development process. Once you launch a product you should be committed to a process of continuous refinement so your product is always the best it can be and remains competitive over time. This is why product developers who make products that last in their markets come out with “new and improved” versions.
As you go through the three steps in this eGuide, always remember that there is a “before” and an “after.” What comes “before” Step 1 is the conceptual idea for your product or service and product development. What comes “after” Step 3 is more product development, and more specifically product refinement, based on what you learn from your market.
In effect, the modern product launch process should be market driven -- because for a product to be viable, there must be enough people who want to buy it.
What Product Launch Failures Tell Us
Studying product launch failures can help to protect product developers and marketers from making the same mistakes. Of course, each product has its own unique attributes, and market conditions fluctuate, so it isn’t a good idea to look at a specific product launch failure and apply it directly to your own situation. Nevertheless, learning from others’ mistakes -- mistakes even big companies make -- can help you avoid them.
Here are three major product launch failures that can teach us some lessons:
New Coke
In the 1980s, when Coca-Cola was in the midst of a heated battle with Pepsi, the company decided to change the flavor formulation of its flagship product, Coke. In effect, Coca-Cola seemed to want to move the flavor closer to Pepsi. While the company did market research on the new flavor and results were generally positive, Coca-Cola underestimated the furor the move would cause. When the product was launched, “New Coke,” as it became known, was panned, especially by loyal fans who were outraged that the company would tamper with a tried and true product. “New Coke” quickly became a product disaster of such historic proportions that Coca-Cola was forced to bring back the “old” Coke, re-naming it “Coca-Cola Classic.” The New Coke product was eventually abandoned.
Segway
In 2002, Dean Kamen, a renowned inventor who holds over 440 U.S. and foreign patents, introduced a two-wheel electric vehicle to the transportation marketplace called the Segway. There was tremendous buzz about the product even before its release, and some $100 million was invested in developing the product. When the Segway came to market, however, the public was underwhelmed. Perhaps the Segway was ahead of its time, or maybe the product couldn’t live up to its hype, but the interest paled in comparison to the sales projections. The Segway was odd looking, it had technical problems, and it was expensive, averaging around $5,000 each, depending on the model. Touted as a vehicle that would revolutionize travel, the Segway flopped, selling less than 30,000 units in six years. It still exists, but is sold only for specialized usage. TIME magazine named the Segway one of “the ten biggest tech failures of the last decade.”
Sony Betamax
In the 1970s, the Japanese company Sony introduced a video recording system it called Betamax. While it featured great sound and picture quality for a home recording system, Sony decided to do something that turned out to be a fatal mistake. Because Sony thought they had invented something that was unique in the marketplace, the company made Betamax technology proprietary. Sometimes keeping a technology proprietary is a good idea, but in this case, Sony misread the market for video recorders. Competitors, mostly other Japanese companies, came out with products that all standardized around a technology called VHS. Soon, every company was making VHS recorders and players, while Sony was the only manufacturer making the Betamax system. By 1988, Sony had to admit its failure and introduce its own line of VHS equipment, but by that time, it was too late: other companies had already dominated the VHS market.
An Important Word About Protecting Your Intellectual Property
Although it is not the subject of this eGuide, your idea, product or service is valuable intellectual property and it should be protected. Protecting your intellectual property is essential so someone else doesn’t steal your product idea. This does not mean that someone else cannot come up with a similar competitive idea. It does mean, however, that you can protect, within reason, the unique qualities of your product or service.
Some basic information is provided here, but it is recommended that you do further research and, if appropriate, consult legal counsel.
The most common way to protect a product is to patent it. You do this by applying to the federal government for a Patent.
A patent is defined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as follows:
A patent is an intellectual property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.
Three types of patents exist, according to the USPTO:
Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof
Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture
Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
For further information about patents, visit: http://www.uspto.gov
Note: A major overhaul of the patent system called the “America Invents Act” was just signed into law in September 2011. Many significant changes have been made to the patent process and the authority of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been increased. Anyone seeking a patent should be sure to review and understand the implications of this legislation.
There are two other forms of legal protection that are relevant to protecting certain aspects of products and services:
1. Trademark
There are two basic kinds of trademarks, a trademark and a service mark. They are defined by the USPTO as follows:
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.
A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.
It’s also important to understand the various trademark designations: “TM” for a trademark, or “SM” for a service mark are used when you claim rights in a mark. The mark does not have to be registered with the USPTO to be able to use TM or SM. Only after a mark is registered with the USPTO and you receive notice of that registration can you replace the TM or SM with the registered trademark symbol: ® .
You will often notice legal copy in “mice type” at the bottom of ads or on the backs of brochures that reads “[Brand name] is a trademark of [Company name],” or “[Brand name] is a registered trademark of [Company name].”
For further information about trademarks, visit: http://www.uspto.gov
2. Copyright
Copyright is defined by the United States Copyright Office as follows:
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.
When it comes to products and services, you can copyright works related to the product or service, such as marketing plans, advertising copy, television ads, and physical brand packaging, but you can’t copyright a brand name, brand logo, or brand slogan. For those, you use trademark protection.
Copyrights are generally indicated as © or Copyright, followed by the date and the name of the entity doing the copyrighting.
For further information about copyright, refer to http://www.copyright.gov.
Finally, What to Do Before the Launch
Before moving on, you might want to take a few moments to think about ways to improve your chances for success before you launch your product.
Nielsen, a global leader in market research, has developed “12 Key Steps to Consumer Adoption,” a process based on tracking 600 product launches and testing 20,000 concepts. Nielsen makes specific recommendations for what companies should change before launching a new product. The process includes five stages: Salience, Communication, Attraction, Point of Purchase, and Endurance. You can view a chart and read more about the process here:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/countdown-to-product-launch-12-key-steps/
To Learn More
Articles
“Discovering the Best Business Ideas,” Dave Smith, Inc., Feb. 23, 2011
http://www.inc.com/articles/2011/02/discovering-the-best-business-ideas.html
“Why Most Product Launches Fail,” Joan Schneider and Julie Hall, Harvard Business Review, April 2011
http://hbr.org/2011/04/why-most-product-launches-fail/ar/1
“How Five Unheard of Products Rocked the Market,” Inc.
http://www.inc.com/ss/how-5-unheard-products-rocked-market#0
“Where Most Product Launches (But Not Apple’s) Go Wrong” Julia Kirby, Harvard Business Review blog, April 5, 2010
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2010/04/talking_ipad_with_ladies_who_l.html
“Countdown to Product Launch: 12 Key Steps,” Nielsen
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/countdown-to-product-launch-12-key-steps/
Books
New Product Development for Dummies, Robin Karol PhD, Beebe Nelson (For Dummies, 2007)
The New Launch Plan: 152 Tips, Tactics and Trends from the Most Memorable New Products – Joan Schneider and July Hall (BNP, 2010)
Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation, Fourth Edition, Robert G. Cooper (Basic Books, 2011)
One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work, Stephen Key (McGraw Hill, 2011
Think About This
Think about recent product launches that you consider to be successful. Ask yourself:
- What was the market for each product?
- What do you think are the primary reasons the product succeeded?
- What evidence is there that the product has been updated/improved to remain relevant and keep up with its competition?
Barry Silverstein has over 30 years of experience in branding, advertising, and marketing. During his career, he has helped scores of technology companies, financial services companies, and small businesses launch new products.
Silverstein is currently a branding/marketing consultant and professional freelance business writer. As a branding/marketing consultant for the Small Business Center associated with a community college in Asheville, North Carolina, he helps small businesses with their product launches.
Silverstein was a Senior Vice President at Arnold, a top 20 U.S. ad agency for 3-1/2 years. Prior to that, he was president/CEO for 20 years at Directech, Inc., a $5 million award-winning New England direct and Internet marketing agency that he founded. He also worked in brand and creative management for Epsilon, a leading database/direct marketing firm, and for Xerox as an advertising copywriter.
Silverstein writes extensively for Brandchannel.com, the world’s leading online branding forum, as well as for numerous national websites, blogs, and select business clients. He is author of Branding 123 (123 eGuides), co-author of The Breakaway Brand (McGraw-Hill), author of Business-to-Business Internet Marketing and Internet Marketing for Information Technology Companies (both published by Maximum Press), and author of three small business management books in the Collins Best Practices series (published by Harper Collins).
His website is http://www.barrysilverstein.com.
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