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Designed to Sell - Retail Branding

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:38:12 +1300

In the three months to December 2011, New Zealanders spent over $17.5 billion at retail – a two percent rise on the same time last year. This despite New Zealanders having access to more online shopping options than ever before. As technology evolves and constant connectivity becomes the norm rather than the exception, we’ve taken some time to look at what’s happening in the retail sector in New Zealand to understand what it takes to succeed in retail.

The internet has changed the way we behave as consumers. Mobile technology, QR codes, intelligent databases and touch screen technology are all slowly creeping into everyday retail. Collectively, these developments are changing the way we make decisions at retail – allowing retailers to target products to audiences much more specifically and giving brands the ability to engage, inform and interact with consumers – at the point of purchase.

Both product brands and retailers must acknowledge that consumers are more sophisticated than ever and equipped with detailed information about brands and products. Consequently, when designing the overall brand experience, the challenge is to carefully manage your brand and how it is presented across different touch points and ensure these lead the customer to making informed purchase decisions. It’s all about thinking through the customer journey and developing an integrated pathway that takes advantage of our access to technology – along with creating a compelling product proposition.

In developing this experience we need to look at how we can integrate what consumers have access to online and use it to drive traffic in store. It’s for this reason that many of New Zealand’s leading retail brands including Countdown, The Warehouse, Hallensteins/ Glassons and Barkers have taken the step of developing an online channel. What these sites provide is a place for these retailers to integrate the online/offline experience and enable a higher sales conversion rate in store.

Brand’s like Qubic in Newmarket have taken this further – using their online presence as a mechanism to develop their own community. In doing, so Qubic’s well on the way for developing a reputation of a social destination for like-minded people – rather than a mere retailer. Within their store, Qubic have also consistently applied their brand across their store fit out, integrating a mix of displays that are designed to entice from a far, as well as carefully managed messaging that is designed to draw you in and keep you the consumer intrigued.

Telling a brands story at 3, 10 and 30 feet is incredibly important to engage the customer. Storytelling at retail is all about how you present yourself as a brand. Brands must be able to articulate their point of difference, tell a consistent message and capture the consumer’s imagination.

The Earthwise rebrand was a project where this approach has helped take the brand from selected niche retailers to supermarkets across New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia. When Earthwise first approached BRR, it was clear the brand had a range of products that performed functionally and cared for the environment. But for the brand to work in retail, the challenge was to position the product correctly and then tell the Earthwise story in a clever, engaging way that connected with the brand’s target market.

The Earthwise brand story balances heritage, innovation, tested formulations and an authentic commitment to the environment. In developing the new brand design, BRR carefully created a brand design system that merges natural tones and textures, a playful illustrative style and established icons – to tell the brands story in a unique style that Earthwise can own, while getting the necessary standout and appeal on retailer’s shelves.

Turning Farmers into Foodies

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:50:12 +1300

We're told that by 2050, from nine billion people worldwide, one billion will be unable to feed themselves and approximately 4.5 billion will be short of water. And that 1.6 billion people in Asia will displace 30 percent of productive land. At present one percent of the world agricultural resources are vanishing every year, a significant impact on the global productive capability to grow food.

In China it's more serious. They will need to feed 1.8 billion people by 2070. Their efforts to preserve agricultural resources are failing with 10 percent of the 230 million hectares set aside for farming already lost to the urban sprawl of China's new cities. Within 60 years half of China’s food requirements will be imported. What does this mean for New Zealand? Will more of the same deliver us golden years ahead as these facts suggest, or are we kidding ourselves?

The primary sector has to decide what kind of food product categories it wants to develop in the future, and go after them, building the appropriate strategies and structures. Just growing the milking herd from 4.8 to 6 million cows in the next 10 years is myopic, not to mention the effect it will have on our already polluted waterways. More of the same clearly won't get us there. And it seems the structures we have devised for these farming systems are bereft of innovation, making it impossible for them to engage in the value-added endeavours everyone writes about.

Fonterra's dairy machine has failed to increase the share value for its investor farmers over the last four to five years. Payouts are still the “residual” of what is sold less the cost of operations, which continue to increase significantly. Is this the solution? It seems Zespri's monoculture strategy is questionable in terms of risk management, backing that single profitable horse: the beautiful golden kiwi fruit.

Food innovation begins with the palate and an understanding of market niche opportunities for New Zealand produce. Currently a serious dislocation exists between “ foodie thinking” and the boardrooms of our primary industry sector companies. There's a sweet spot, which we call “masstige” (somewhere between mass and prestige) in a whole range of food & beverage markets across the globe, that we believe New Zealand could capture. This is where price is secondary to provenance, quality and inventiveness.

An innovation in the food industry particularly at the volume end requires new unbridled thinking and strategies to deliver new age products at the premium end of an increasingly westernised world. Getting there, means turning farmers into foodies and setting about major reforms in the related structures they currently support. Food technology is not an exalted career in New Zealand and we currently lack sufficient academic facilities to deliver real experts into our companies. We still don't have a “National Culinary Institute” with an appropriate voice of encouragement. We do not have a world-class Swiss equivalent “Hotel Management School”.

There is very little collaboration within industry sectors where economies of scale could seriously be leveraged into major markets. The enormous potential for New Zealand wine in India and China is currently being squandered as individual companies fail to work together or share brand ownership.

From a marketing and brand perspective, we observe almost weekly the limited product development, marketing and brand knowledge inside primary industry sector companies. There just doesn't seem to be the commitment towards the establishment of seriously competent marketing departments and an ability to attract talent with the right kind of food and innovation culture. Turning “Farmers into Foodies” means changing the nation's agricultural psyche from volume to value and commodity to niches, where our story and brands reach into customer hearts offering them that special flavour and taste of nature they are so removed from.

To achieve this golden food future for New Zealand it has to capture our hearts first before we can convince global palates.

Can the All Blacks Convert? How our biggest brand can capitalise on its success.

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:40:43 +1300

Following our coverage in the New Zealand Herald, National Business Review and Le Matin (France) during the Rugby World Cup, Rahul Sharma looks at the opportunities for the All Blacks following their world cup success.

Before the world cup kicked off, we said it was make or break time for the All Blacks. Now with the tournament all but a fond memory, we can look forward and contemplate where to now for this iconic brand.

In terms of a story, things couldn’t have been scripted any better. Despite a string of injuries the All Blacks rolled on, with a vengeance. With the tournament culminating in a nail-biting finale, which was capped off by the 4th first-five of the rank kicking the decider - providing a fitting finish to an epic fairy tale.

The win secured legend status for the squad in the mind of New Zealanders, the victory also cemented the All Blacks place as rugby’s most successful team, the sports biggest brand and potentially – the biggest sports brand in the world of 2011 – as highlighted by the All Blacks nomination for 2012 Laurens World Team of the Year Award.

In terms of measuring the exposure that the All Blacks received during the world cup there are some figures that stand out. As a tournament, the RWC truly came alive online and in the social media space. To get a feel for the extent of exposure on social networking sites, since 1 September the RWC2011 and the teams have gained more than:

185,000 new followers on Twitter
1.1 Million Facebook Likes, 621,000 new Facebook Fans, and 331,000 Comments
4.1 Million mentions on Twitter
The RWC 2011 official mobile application received more than three million downloads and resulted in over 350 million page views

Add to this the tournament is estimated to have received a cumulative global television audience of 4 billion and we start to realize the scale of the event and the extent of the exposure that the All Blacks received for themselves and New Zealand as a nation.

While the world cup victory means the All Blacks brand will remain in the upper echelons of sports brands for the next four years, the opportunity for the All Blacks brand is considerably larger. It’s matter of leveraging the exposure, the reputation and the mystique that surrounds the brand and using it to engage new audiences and building a fan base that potential sponsors simply can’t turn down.

In terms of earning potential the real opportunity for the All Blacks will lie in the ability to grow the sponsorship portfolio through the addition of a global, multinational sponsorship deal to compliment the relationship with Adidas.

The other avenue through which the All Blacks brand could continue to grow is through the approach to players themselves. As a sport – rugby is set to grow rapidly – with it’s inclusion in the Olympics and the development of the game in markets including North America, Eastern Europe, South America and of course Asia.

While rugby players’ salaries are dwarfed by their football-playing counterparts, there is significant capacity to leverage individuals on a larger global scale. Players like Nonu, Kaino and Dagg have the potential to become household names. When they are but alongside the likes of Carter and McCaw, the NZRU has the potential to help these individuals gain international contracts that will help keep them in New Zealand while providing a different form of exposure for the NZRU and the All Blacks brand.

There’s no questioning the resounding success of this years world cup, but we’ll wait and see what this means for the future and whether the All Blacks can build on the platform that they have established.

Sensory Branding

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:31:54 +1300

Businesses will go to interesting lengths to imbue their brands with emotional pulling power. One trend gaining momentum is the use of multi-sensory stimulation. Not that this is entirely new. The ‘pace and grace’ Jaguar auto brand has traded on it for years. Step close to a Jaguar and your eyes take in the graceful lines. Open the door and catch a waft of the Connolly leather. Trace your fingers over the sleek walnut dashboard. Hear that special, barely audible click as you close the Jaguar door. Short of actually licking the seats, every sense has been engaged.

Singapore Airlines has also been a long time, astute user of sensory triggers. While the lithely styled ‘Singapore Girls’ have taken the visual spotlight, a patented perfume with the unlikely name of ‘Stefan Floridian Waters,’ has subtly infused the hot towels, cabin air and flight attendants’ perfumes. The instantly recognisable aroma is an essential ingredient in their well manicured brand.

Researchers tell us that 75% of our daily emotions are sparked by smell, whereas over 80% of commercial communication is targeted solely at our eyes.

Researchers tell us that 75% of our daily emotions are sparked by smell, whereas over 80% of commercial communication is targeted solely at our eyes. This would seem to suggest that we are going to see more innovation on the olfactory front.

Joining a growing list of retailers who permeate their stores with more sophisticated scented triggers is London shirt maker Thomas Pink who has the aroma of ‘line-dried linen’ wafting throughout his stores. Not surprisingly, the trend has spawned a number of businesses with impressive sounding names who specialise in nothing but developing brand-friendly signature scents.

The world’s great perfume houses, of course, have always been avid users of the full sensory vocabulary. Patrick Suskind’s novel “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” contains an evocative description of one of the grand perfumeries in 17th Century Paris. “The owner, Baldini, an ageing perfumer, stands behind the counter wearing a silver, powdered wig and a blue and gold embroidered coat. A cloud of frangipani, that mysterious smell of the tropical isles, envelops him and he stands quite still as if in trance. It is only when the door chimes ring and the silver herons in the entrance spout violet-scented water that he springs into life, the cloud of frangipani barely keeping pace with him, and regales his customers with the costliest perfumes.” The techniques may have changed since those heady days but the desire to weave a little magic hasn’t.

Sound also constitutes an important selling ingredient. Boys, as we all know, like noise and some manage a smattering of discernment. The special throaty roar of Harley Davidsons, for instance, has countless baby boomers in salt and pepper beards doing Homer Simpson drooling impressions. Kellogg’s cornflakes are trying to register the sound of their apparently distinctive crunch. And the intro tunes of Microsoft, Nokia and Intel Inside are the inescapable melodies of our daily business lives.

In the touch and feel domain, marketers are inclined to adopt sneaky tactics. In supermarkets, long regarded as the front-runners in merchandising inducement techniques, they have clever ways of modifying your speed. For instance, they place slightly smaller tiles in the more expensive aisles so when you push your trolley over them, they click faster, making you think that you are going faster than you are. So you slow down and spend more time there.

the line between encouragement and manipulation is getting blurred and it’s likely to become more so

As you can see, the line between encouragement and manipulation is getting blurred and it’s likely to become more so. When you hear of casinos getting big lifts in pokie profits from their gambling (sorry, gaming) patrons by exposing them to a particular musical diet, you wonder if the line’s been crossed. When you learn that grapefruit juice suppliers in the States now have to alter the taste of their juice to match the more familiar genetically-altered taste of supermarket grapefruit, you wonder where some of this is headed. To be fair, there are many legitimate businesses looking for a sensory edge. But if they’re looking for a piece of sensory real estate they can claim as their own rather than a whiff of fresh bread outside the bakery, there are some hurdles to leap over.

From a registration perspective, the exponential growth of global competitors seeking trademark protection means the traditional methods of distinguishing your brand are now constrained. It’s scarcely surprising then that companies are looking to sensory branding as a way of protecting their identity. The sensory components – how the product smells, is shaped, sounds, feels and tastes – are known as ‘trade dress’. To be trademarkable, you need to have clear proof that your trade dress is distinct and legitimately yours. No easy feat.

So like it or lump it, sensory selling is here to stay. As American poet Diane Ackerman succinctly puts it – “We live on the leash of our senses.”

Ralph Lauren

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:01:22 +1300

I loved Ralph Lauren's reply to a fashion journalist when in launching his fragrance Safari it was discovered that that Ralph had never been to Africa. His reply to the cynical journalist was “My Africa is better than Africa”.

In a single phrase it speaks volumes of Ralph Lauren's brilliance in building a global fashion brand, which has captured people's imagination. Clearly he doesn't sell fashion; rather, he sells little pieces of an ideal world. And, just whose world does he wish us to occupy in buying the clothes and furnishings he designs.

The Great Gatsby is Scott Fitzgerald's demolition of the American dream, exploring the social friction between the up-and-coming and established elite. Gatsby lives a fabulous yet ultimately superficial life. He creates an imaginary picture of himself, no more real than Superman. Put very simply, Jay Gatsby lives for the American dream but has European sartorial sensibilities. It's a description which fits many well-to-do prep school dandies, but what makes Gatsby style so great is his use of colour and his attention to even the finest of details. He not only dresses in the dapper suits of the era but he makes them his own with the charming combination of daring pastels and naïve earnestness.

It's this invented Gatsby that we are so taken by. We empathize with his charming naivety and we admire the fact he can carry it all off in a Candy cotton pink suit. He makes things cool. You will find echoes of Gatsby everywhere in the world courtesy of Ralph Lauren as his admirers live vicariously through the Lauren Fashion story. Those upstate Long Island languid afternoons around the tennis courts in the Teddy Roosevelt era of the 1930s continues to be capture customers season after season with his enduring brand.

Despite a global recession his shares have seen a 38% increase throughout this previous year. The strength behind the continuing earnings growth lies in Ralph Lauren's image as the premier “American” luxury brand.

Psychic Premiums In Brands

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:57:45 +1300

For many of us the gentle slide backwards goes unnoticed as undeveloped nations with cost advantages trade increasingly in our type of commodities. Our reaction is to throw on more fertiliser, build more efficient meatworks and carry on with a vengeance.

Yet why is it when I look in my fridge I read Yoplait or Gervais on the yoghurt pot, for which some French or Swiss company collects a royalty from one of the most advanced dairying countries in the world: New Zealand? New Zealand has only three global brands that we can call our own: Anchor Butter, Canterbury Clothing and Steinlager. There are others such as New Zealand lamb, kiwifruit and even the New Zealand image itself which have never been managed.

We’d all like to think this is New Zealand’s debut decade during which we will add lots of value to products. However the view persists among many of our businesses that enough money, machinery and deal-making will do this for us. We have not, as yet, learned how to optimise product values. Too many of our products are old-fashioned, poorly presented and, as such, fail to reach the price premiums they should.

Until we understand that we have to “pamper the prosperous” worldwide, this lacklustre economy will continue. In moving our products and services from commodity to niche, we are entering a globally competitive arena. Product innovation and design quality are the ultimate values in commanding premiums. To achieve this we need new relationships with the design world. The current gap between business and design is enormous. Commercial people are terrified of designers and the designers often believe they belong to some precious artistic community. As long as designers fail to think strategically about their client’s product or service positioning problem, they will continue to be humbled and kept waiting in foyers.

Beyond utility factors there are many less tangible benefits that brands can offer such as joyful design, consistent quality, sophistication and a healthy image. These can help differentiate products or services which are otherwise similar. Nationality can be a potent weapon as a brand value. But still many New Zealand companies have difficultly in coming to grips with this brand element.

It’s tough for designers in New Zealand to get paid for the intellectual part before they sit at their drawing boards to begin the physical part of design, yet they must think strategically and attempt to solve brand positioning problems in a global context. It’s their skills our economy so desperately needs to innovate and celebrate product and service values through the medium of design. The designer/client relationship needs work on both sides to forge a new understanding. Business has to see virtue in designed product values. And designers must stop being stylists and create their own imprints; be themselves.

Designers can lead business in a new, value-added celebration of nationalism.

Ralph Lauren is America’s first star designer to turn the rest of the world onto clothes which are not merely clothes, but little pieces of an ideal world. Phillipe Starck is very French, very zany perhaps, but certainly unique. Both these designers are passionate about their products and have reached deeply into their nationality for inspiration. Above all, they are both very commercial. Designers can lead business in a new, value-added celebration of nationalism. It’s been seen in Denmark and Sweden, even more recently in Spain.

Enormous psychic premiums could be discovered in everything from mineral water to agricultural machinery, from furniture to homeopathic deer velvet. But we need design understanding and brilliance to exploit them. James K Baxter wrote so beautifully of his New Zealand in the ‘60s: “These unshaped Islands, on the sawyer’s bench wait for the chisel of the mind”, and it seems after 30 years, it’s still the case in so many things.

Redefining Your World: How to sell green products to everyone

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:54:32 +1300

Natural, green, ethical. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've heard it for a while now. In many ways the collective sustainable consciousness could not have come at a worse time. Economies are reeling, countries are in a period of unprecedented change and households are fighting just for survival. Amidst this turmoil, a small New Zealand business has embraced the challenge to innovate and redefine themselves in the marketplace.

Earthwise is not new to the idea of creating a plant based product; in fact it would be hard to find many businesses whose origins date back to 1964 from this very ethos. The genesis of the Earthwise story is Tom Robinson who began creating his nature-inspired solutions while working on farms in Northland.

Like many of today's leading thinkers Tom started by talking directly to his customers, giving local hippie communities plant-based products created in his back yard. Tom became known as the 'course he can' man experimenting with plant-based formulations for use in growing orchard plants and promoting the benefits of nutrient-rich soil. What resulted was an explosion of demand for each of Tom's formulations and a philosophy passed onto Tom's family who work at Earthwise today.

Earthwise quickly became a trusted name, and Tom became known as a pioneer of organics in New Zealand, renowned for his talent of fusing nature's genius with his innovative spirit. "From the start, Dad was adamant that any product that carried the Earthwise name was going to work, was going to be as natural as possible and was going to be safe," says Tom's son Jeremy Robinson (Earthwise Production Manager).

At a time when other brands are looking for ways to tell their new green story, Earthwise has an old story that many people are yet to hear. This year Earthwise embarked on a project with BRR to reflect this in an authentic way in new design and packaging. "The key was to retain the authentic heritage of the company while updating our design. The first part for the process was to go out with the BRR team into the marketplace, investigate what was happening in-store and in people's homes," says Kim Smith Marketing Director at Earthwise.

There is a commonly held misperception that green equates to expensive and compromise in terms of quality and we wanted to change that

"We soon discovered the strategy had to deliver a systemised approach to our range that was easy to understand with appealing design. There is a commonly held misperception that green equates to expensive and compromise in terms of quality and we wanted to change that," explains Kim.

What resulted was a new brand strategy for the company simplifying their portfolio of brands, along with a suite of sales material purposed for new distribution channels. "Retailers are thrilled with the range. Stores have gone from stocking a few of the old range to the full Earthwise Home range." Kim explains. "At this point we're getting hassled for sales meetings so the rebrand has certainly opened up our global and local distribution channels."

The All Blacks Brand: Does success hinge on one event?

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:19:38 +1300

With the Rugby World Cup less than three months away the pressure on the All Blacks to win is building towards its four yearly climax. As the tournaments perennial favourites and as hosts, the All Blacks brand is set to receive significant exposure. So, how will this exposure impact the value of our largest brand? And, what happens if we don’t win?

The All Blacks brand has played a significant role in representing New Zealand – from the haka, to the colour black and establishing the nation’s emblem of the Silver Fern on the global stage. The fact that it still enjoys the loyal following amongst New Zealanders is a reflection of the brand’s ability to uphold a set of values that New Zealanders are proud to stand behind. But it’s only in the last 25 years that the All Blacks have evolved from our most well known representative team into a truly global brand juggernaut. So what are the factors behind this transformation and what does the future hold?

Throughout the world, and across different sports codes, the rise of professionalism coupled with the commercialisation of recreation has changed the way in which sports are perceived and consumed. As the balance shifts from building a successful team to commercial profit targets, the adaptation of business principles becomes crucial to the management of sports teams and the brands that they build.

When you look into the value of the All Blacks, or any other major sports team brand through a commercial lens the key to the value of the brand is it’s ability to deliver repeated success and winning on the big stage. This success leads directly to creating a legion of loyal supporters – committed to the brand and it’s cause. When you look at the supporter’s base of the most successful sports brands it’s the Manchester United’s, New York Yankees and Tiger Woods (pre‐marital mishap) that lead the way in terms of attracting an audience and therefore the TV ‐ rights and sponsors dollar.

In the case of Manchester United – you are talking about the biggest brand in world football – valued at approximately $285m(US), and the most successful team in premier league history with over 19 Premierships and 11 FA Cups to their name. Estimated to be valued as a club at $1.83bn (US), the team has lucrative deals with Aon (£23m) and Nike (£20m) annually. While the brand is undoubtedly based on the team’s sustained success in the Premier league and across Europe, of particular relevance is the way the brand has used this success to endear itself across the Asian continent – which is home to half of the team’s core sponsorship base.

the All Blacks brand has been built on a legacy of greatness established by those who have worn it previously.

Like Manchester United, the All Blacks brand has been built on a legacy of greatness established by those who have worn it previously. It is this commitment to excellence and sustained success that has earned the All Blacks its revered status and element of mystique that makes it such an attractive marketing proposition. This is the very element that Adidas has identified as means to leverage the brand a grow rugby as a market and position itself as the leading brand within this particular sport. It is because the All Blacks have been able to sustain a winning record in excess of 75 percent since 1884 that drew Adidas’s into its initial multimillion‐dollar apparel contract in 1999 and extended in 2008 to 2019 for approximately $20m (€ 12.5m) – making it one of the longest sponsorship deals held by Adidas.

Starting with Adidas’s investment in the brand and taking in the brands additional sponsorship arrangements, broadcast rights contracts, gate takings, merchandise sales and player values, a conservative estimate of the All Blacks brand is between $190m and $220m dollars. In terms of other sports brands, this puts the All Blacks in the same league as the likes of Chelsea FC, Juventus and the Boston Red Sox. But the question remains, how will the brand fare if it looses on home soil or win the World cup again at home?

The Indian Cricket team provides a captivating case as it has only recently established itself at the top of cricket’s pecking order. Like rugby in New Zealand, cricket enjoys a religious devotion in India. But it’s the team’s recent success at the highest level ‐ that has catapulted the team from Bollywood’s poor cousin, to the marketing vehicle of choice in terms of endearing a brand to the nations burgeoning middle class. Both Manchester United and the Indian Cricket team highlight the importance of success at the sports highest level.

While the overall winning percentage in enviable, victory for South Africa or Australia will give either team considerable clout in terms of claiming their place as the greatest rugby nation and subsequently the strongest rugby brand. While the All Blacks brand will receive some protection from the fact that Adidas’s deal is valid for 10 years, it is the ability to attract the suite of supporting sponsors and the broadcast rights dollar that will see the All Blacks brand dented in terms of earning power and there is a real chance that All Blacks as a brand follows a similar path as Brazil’s football team.

Brazil is the most successful team in FIFA world cup history, having amassed 5 wins since the tournaments inception in 1930. Across the globe the yellow jersey has symbolised excitement, enthusiasm and excellence that all other teams aspire to. Yet, the teams inability to perform and feature at the final stages of recent World Cups has seen a decrease in the equity of the brand ‐ as evidenced by Nike’s latest sponsorship deals which sees the company spending considerably more on the brands of Manchester United, Barcelona and even the French national team.

if the brand fails to perform, everything else is just window dressing.

Dr Mike Lee, Senior Marketing Lecturer at The University of Auckland Business School agrees “The bottom line of the matter is that behind every symbolic and/or experiential offering of any brand (whether it’s a product, service, or sports team) functional performance is the basic requirement. Sure there is a lot of intangible value associated with the All Blacks jersey, it is a classic symbol of understated Kiwi ruggedness with a subtle touch of flair. This is reflected in the ‘sophisticated’ and ‘exhilarating’ style of game play the All Blacks bring to the field, which is distinct from the gruff tenacity of the Wallabies, the highly pragmatic defence of the Springboks, or the chess like strategy of the English team.

But underlying all these ‘traits’, if the brand fails to perform, everything else is just window dressing. Ferrari is another prime example of this, sure that brand offers very distinct symbolic and experiential benefits but bottom line is that the core function of the product has to be delivered, in the case of Ferrari this means getting from A to B very quickly. Competitions, especially high stake ones, are the best ways of showcasing a brand’s ability to perform. So the Rugby World Cup will be the biggest test for the All Blacks since 1987”.

The next stage in the evolution of the All Blacks brand lies in the ability to attract global companies to enter its stable of sponsors. A victory in this years world cup will cement the All Blacks brand in the highest echelons of the worlds sporting brands. A loss on the other hand could see the All Blacks enter the forlorn territory of sporting bridesmaids like Arsenal, The Mets and The Baggy Green.

This material article draws on an ongoing research project about the All Black Branding. It was written by Rahul Sharma and Julian Smith, BRR Ltd and Professor Rod Brodie from the Marketing Department at the University of Auckland Business School.

The Name Game

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:04:31 +1300

When it comes to finding the right name for your new business, product or service, the Oxford English Dictionary is both too big and too small. Too big in the sense that you can’t hope to traverse every name option in it and too small in the sense that countless businesses worldwide are looking for exactly the same descriptive words that you are or have already pounced on them and claimed them for their own.

For the uninitiated, the issue of naming can seem such a straight-forward and pleasurable procedure at the outset. But they quickly learn that this is not a task for the faint-hearted. What makes naming a more daunting challenge is the series of hoops you need to jump through before you end up with a useable one. And it’s not always an issue of scale because small businesses can grow into bigger businesses and diversify.

YOU CAN GIVE IT A GOOD START IN LIFE BY SELECTING THE APPROPRIATE NAME.

So, any name selected initially needs to bear the future in mind. Even the smallest enterprises and product lines should be registered to secure the investment put into them over time and to avoid being landed with an unwelcome lawsuit from someone who believes you are trampling on their lawful naming rights. It is this prerequisite that presents the largest hurdle for most people looking to secure a name.

But before we arrive at this particular obstacle, its worth reflecting on what the desirable characteristics of a name should be. If you’re considering a new business name, this will be the leading edge of your brand which will, given careful nurturing, accumulate a distinct value over time. You can give it a good start in life by selecting the appropriate name. There are few hard and fast rules about the types of names to use and circumstance will often dictate the most appropriate.

A real word or combination of real words has the benefit of being easy to relate to and readily understood. However, real words that are both positive and descriptive tend to be in very short supply. This is especially true if your company and its products are going to compete in multiple off-shore markets. Try for a little originality and avoid using over-worked metaphors. Depending on your business or products, wit or humour can work, but it can also wear thin if you are not careful. A massage centre known as ‘Nice to be Kneaded’ or a computer consulting firm called ‘Rent-a-Nerd’ will probably stand the test of time.

Another class of words is made-up or auto-suggestive names. These are names like ‘Microsoft’ and ‘Ziplok’ which are a combination of meaningful word segments known by linguists as morphemes. Alternatively, they can be respellings such as ‘Snax’. Auto-suggestive words are not quite as self-evident as real words and therefore require more communications effort but they are also free of pre-conceptions, which can allow you to build fresh ideas around your company or product. The obvious combinations will probably have been swooped on already internationally but a more imaginative combination could yield a positive result.

A simple, effective example would be ‘Italiatour’ which is self-explanatory, with the use of ‘Italia’ instead of just ‘Italy’ as a flavourer and sound enhancer. On the other side of the coin, the name ‘Flixx’ for a general movie hire chain seems superficially clever but possibly ill-conceived because of the potential connection to X-rated films. You could, of course, use your own name or names but this doesn’t give you much of a head start in describing what you do or what makes you different and better than your competitors.

There are some absolutes in the naming game. Firstly, and most importantly, the name needs to be distinctive in your market sector. Chances are you’re familiar with the names, products and brand positioning of your competitors, so the territory you occupy with your name must stand apart from these. Ideally, it should be connected to your own distinctive brand positioning in your market and/or say something about the specific benefits your company or its products deliver to clients.

We would certainly encourage all prospective companies to go through a brand positioning exercise because determining the essence of your business provides considerable clarity of direction, including on naming issues.

In the absence of a brand positioning, you should consider perhaps half a dozen reasons why a potential customer should select your company or products over your competitors and a further three to five distinct personality traits of the business. Build a list of all the real names that come to mind from these attributes and also some auto-suggestive options.

Next comes the whittling down process to around ten names by applying the following desirability factors: Visual and oral appeal - How well does it look and sound? Does it roll off the tongue nicely? Is it easy to pronounce? Will it complement other visual aspects of the brand? Growing Room – is the name flexible enough to cater for future growth of the business or its product range? Some might argue that Rentokil’s sortie into pot plants is not the best of name associations. Web Friendly - is a similar domain name available? Language – is the name free of negative connotations in other languages?

Having whittled the number of options down to around 10 or fewer, it pays to write them individually on cards and see which, after a few days, continue to resonate. Another useful test is to expose the options to a group of people for critiquing who have had no involvement in either the company or the naming process (e.g. a focus group).

Next in the name clearance process comes the critical trademark search. Some inner fortitude is required here because some or all of your carefully chosen names are sure to have been grabbed already and therefore can’t be registered. Remember, there are up to 45 trademark classes or classifications (depending on the market) which your company and its products can fall into. So you need to ensure you examine and make the application for the appropriate class or classes. It is possible to search trademark databases in New Zealand and many large markets, however, while this can be useful for an initial screening, we would suggest employing a specialist patent attorney to verify it. Not cheap admittedly, but a lot of money and effort can go down the gurgler if you get it wrong.

And a final thought if you’re in the food business and intent on embodying a company or product name with regional roots. The EU is increasingly pressing for exclusivity in naming of foods that are processed and prepared in a given geographic area using recognised know-how. We are all familiar with the champagne wrangle but this is getting down to the basics. For example, last October the European Court of Justice ruled that Feta cheese was a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin). Columbian Coffee is also in the pipeline, so this will be an interesting area to watch.   As you can see, naming is a strenuous obstacle course but hopefully the end result is a robust name you can proudly call your own.