When is a Brand Not a Brand?

The First Mover Syndrome

A week or so after the inauguration of President Obama, I was invited to a party in celebration of the event. The host said she had TiVo-ed the star-studded celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, the inauguration itself, and all of the highlights of the various balls and galas that were televised; she was going to have it all play back during the party.

TiVo, as many of you will know, was the first mover in the digital video recorder field. Its hardware and subscription-based service were in advance of anything the various cable providers were able to offer. That's an absolutely great place to be if you're selling a consumer electronics product.

The Generic Product Pitfall

When I went to the inauguration party, my friend did indeed have the historic moment and the hoopla surrounding it playing in the background on a very large, flat screen TV. What she did not have was TiVo. Instead, she had the premium cable box from her cable provider which came with its own DVR (digital video recorder) function.

To her, though, she had TiVo. That was because to her, and tens of thousand of cable subscribers, TiVo has become synonymous with digital video recording devices of any make or manufacture. TiVo has become, in a word, generic; it is a clear victim of its own success as a first mover in its market.

Still in Advance of its Competition

TiVo itself, however, has not ossified during the decade since its introduction. It has kept evolving and improving-- adding partnerships with NetFlix and Amazon to create vast on-demand movie libraries as well as with Rhapsody for music downloads and offering web access and internet searches as well.

The unfortunate thing is that very few consumers have any idea that what they perceive as a generic DVR maker is in fact leading the convergence of web/computer/music/movies/TV right now. Why exactly is that?

A Silence in the Stores

TiVo's presence in the dominant electronics retailers (prior to Circuit City's demise) was, to be polite, low impact. The most noticeable presentation I found was an endcap with a little TiVo logo atop a TV, two identical comparison charts (TiVo features vs. cable features), and a box or two of the products (see right). From here it was all downhill-- all the way to simply having the boxes on aisle shelving with no product explanation and no brand call-out beyond the packaging itself.

When I asked a Best Buy sales associate to help me understand the differences between the two TiVo versions and cable, I was told to not waste my money on TiVo and instead to stick with premium cable and its built-in DVR function. Yikes!

The Demands of Retail

Retail is an unforgiving medium. If you enter your product into it quietly, create no external buzz, give consumers no reason to consider it in the store proper, you can be absolutely sure your boxes will collect dust instead of sales.

If, on the other hand, you do create a ripple in the consumer consciousness, if you do drive shoppers into the stores for events/information/giveways, and if you do create a presence in-store that is commanding and authoritative and consistent with your brand, then boxes fly off of the shelves.

Three Could-have-been Options for Retail

I hate to see good products underperform at retail for a simple lack of presence. TiVo falls into that category handsomely. What follows are three options for in-store TiVo presentations that take the endcap and show what could be done for this brand starting from three different, product-focused, strategic points of view. Each solution presents a slightly different aspect of the TiVo story: 1). its brilliant transformation of the TV set into a suite of entertainment options; 2). the control it provides its subscribers over entertainment options; and finally 3). the abundance of entertainment options that TiVo brings together.

1). Brilliant

This in-store program uses an arch over the aisle to connect two endcaps containing a large display of TiVo packaging and a live TV hook-up that demonstrates the product in action. The headline reads "Oops, we just made TV brilliant" and that claim is supported by visuals and text that flank it. The visuals are two swirling whirlpools containing logos for NetFlix, YouTube, Amazon, TV programs such as "Lost", and musical notes. The text panels read: "Search cable, NetFlix, YouTube, music, sports, and so much more" and "Catch your favorites on a TV, laptop, or handheld." It is hard to imagine consumers missing this in-store spectacle or failing to take away the salient features of the product from it.

2). Control

Here is a simpler, single endcap presentation with a slightly different message. Whereas the archway above proclaimed TiVo's brilliance in transforming the way entertainment is received and consumed, this presentation focuses on the control TiVo gives its users over their chosen entertainment. The headline is set in a hyperbolic font that matches the claim it makes: "Imagine The Power." The subordinate claim and tag are in a friendlier font that undercuts the hyperbole of the headline: "...to summon music, NetFlix, YouTube, TV on command./Yep, that's TiVo." This is a simple declarative presentation linked to a large screen TV and set above a display of TiVo product packaging.

3). Abundance

This endcap example focuses on the abundance of entertainment options that TiVo consolidates and controls for its subscribers. The headline on the blue panel reads "Pretty much everything filmed, sung, shot, or tubed is waiting for you on TiVo." The tagline for this program reads: "If it's out there, you've got it." This is a focused set of simple statements proclaiming the wealth of entertainment TiVo provides. The little advertisement next to the type panel displays George Clooney from the "Oceans" movie series and Keifer Sutherland from the television show "24" with the headline: "Get Ocean's 11, 12, 13 and 24." Beneath the TV set shown here on the endcap are shelves of brightly hued TiVo product packaging.

You Could Argue...

You could argue that the headlines and taglines in these in-store marketing proposals could be tweaked and adjusted, probably endlessly. But what can't be argued is the impact that each of these display options would have in-store and the improved presence that any of these three, however tweaked and adjusted in tone and text, would create for the brand.

It is not difficult to proclaim a product's merits in-store. But it is difficult to watch a product of merit do no proclaiming in-store and, in effect, write off retail and its power to reach and influence consumers.

When is a brand not a brand? When it abdicates responsibility for what it stands for and leaves its brand equity to the mercy of the shopper's memory and the whims of whatever associations the market tosses its way.

--Timothy Cohrs

www.TimothyCohrs.com