Brand innovation should be driven by customer needs in 2023- Professionals
By Zion Rufus
Some professionals have advised that this year, marketers should pay more attention to the needs of their customers and change drivers. According to them, successful brand innovation will not be about staying up to date on trends, but rather about understanding the needs and preferences of their consumers.
In his report on how ‘Innovate or die’ has probably become ‘Innovate and die’, Johnny Shaw, a multiple award-winning author revealed that today, the obsession of marketers with innovation has become so acute, that they risk forgetting to interrogate whether certain innovation is actually that relevant or powerful.
Where rebranding or “brand repositioning” has helped some companies to face the future, introducing novelty to existing product lines or processes, adapt to changing market trends and consumer demand, companies like Coca-Cola, Nissan, British Airways, MasterCard, Pizza Hut have had to reverse their attempts at rebranding as a result of unexpected outcomes.
Using the Bic pen which helped to change the pen market from fountain pens to ballpoint, and St. Louis Sugar, famous for its blue packaging, lion figure and simple carton as case studies, professionals have advised a rethink of choices between the coinage “Innovate or die” and “don’t fix it if it’s not broken” by focusing more on consumer-driven demand for rebranding.
According to CEO and brand builder, Tim Tierney, a blend of these two principles, applied at the right times, is a good recipe to follow.
For Jim Crookes, CEO, GSC Consultants Ltd “Keep it simple” and “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” are some of the phrases marketers need to revisit.
He said: “These are good old sayings which I believe stemmed from the Baby Boomer group and was passed down to the Gen X group. Bic has reportedly sold 100 Billion Pens since 1950. Today, Bic sells 20 million pens per day. Dare anyone tell me they don’t know what they are doing.”
The Bic pen (officially named Bic Cristal), was released in 1950 by French company Bic. By 2006 over 100 billion pens had been sold across the world. Currently around 20 million units are sold every day.
“I am personally attached to this precise design of Bic and I know I won’t be attracted to a new design, like so many other clients,” said Wessam Halawa, a business consultant.
“Bic has a wide platform of loyal customers who love this pen. So why would they need to change what is working perfectly.”
In his ‘Nigeria Brand Equity Series: St Louis Sugar’ on LinkedIn, Ony C. Mgbeahurike, Senior brand manager at Target spoke on what has helped St Louis Sugar enjoy monopoly benefits for over 3 decades as the only cubed sugar brand in Nigeria.
He revealed: “As a kid and an adult, I’ve never seen any promo by the brand, while other strong household brands like Milo (Nestle), Omo (Unilever), Peak (FrieslandCampina) etc. dominated the airwaves and billboards with all sorts of campaigns, St Louis sugar relied heavily on its strong customer loyalty, high base turns and a highly recognizable blue carton. It leveraged these insights to give consumers what they wanted by following the saying “don’t fix it if it’s not broken”, they didn’t mess with the product. They created and dominated the cubed sugar category.”
This year, aligning innovation with customer needs will help brands to maintain relevance, build competitive advantage, and ensure customer satisfaction, experts have agreed.
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