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

Too Much of a Good Thing

In my April 22nd posting, I singled out J. Crew for its sparse but effective use of in-store signage. It managed to tease the shopper into paying attention to items otherwise easily overlooked. That is a rare accomplishment; most retailers are either mute and leave the customer to figure out everything on her own or else plunge into what I want to comment on today.

Too, Too Much to See

At the other end of the spectrum from J. Crew sits a prominent national bookseller. This retailer has signage hanging overhead to denote major categories and signage atop every aisle designating sub-categories or authors or clearance and subsets of pricing within clearance and prompts for products sold in the in-store cafe. 

On some aisles there are multiple category headers and on the end of every single aisle there is signage as well: a standard 8x10” text sign with either a white or red background. 

What is the end result of all this verbiage above all these shelves and around all these colorful products and down all these busy aisles? A complete lack of communication. A visually noisy silence. 

Too Much Telling Creates No Selling

Too much visual clutter shuts down the shopper’s ability to absorb anything. It all turns into white (and red and black) noise. This is compounded by the fact that the products themselves (books and CDs) have a high degree of color and a high degree of colorful text slashed across deliberately active designs covering all of their surfaces. Customers are left to form their own impressions and reach their own conclusions and to sell the product to themselves, not because of a lack of information (signage) but because of an overabundance of it.

Yelling, visually, just does not equate to selling.

--Timothy Cohrs

www.TimothyCohrs.com

A Brand Makeover—bags, signage, imagery, and naming

Apparel retailer Casual Corner and its sister chain, Petite Sophisticate, were faced with declining sales, declining foot traffic, and a decaying customer base. Management opted for a new merchandise mix to attract a younger female shopper with styles that went beyond office-only-wear. Then they needed a method to announce the change to shoppers.

The Shopping Bag—billboard or boredom?

Shopping bags can be great marketing opportunities for retailers. Bloomingdale’s created a buzz on the street and in the industry during the ‘80s and ‘90s with exciting, contemporary designs on its bags that changed frequently. Casual Corner, on the other hand, had for years used plain bags with a flat cream ground and gray logotype (see below).

 

To announce the new youthfulness and fashionability of the merchandise, I opted for a radically new look for the two brands’ shopping bags. It started with a fashion illustration that dominated the bag surface and then was highlighted by hot panels of contemporary color. The result was something shocking, new, and noticeable (see above). And these designs were echoed through garment bags, multiple sizes of clothing boxes, down to accessory bags and jewelry boxes as well. (The Green Tea Group, a sharp California design firm, created and executed these designs.)

 

In-store Signage—a lesson from Starbucks

Casual Corner relied in-store on 8x10" signs (white ground, red type) in plexiglas holders to speak to its customers. All it had to say was price point and percentage off. All of the signs looked exactly the same. Like the original shopping bag, in-store signage was another missed opportunity to make the chain have personality and be memorable.

 

I remedied that with a series of differently shaped and differently colored signs to denote first markdown, second, and clearance. Additionally, I took the signage out of the decades-old plexi holders and placed it atop tall black cones (for table and shelf displays) or on short black cones with an internal magnet (for metal rounders and t-stands).

 

Taking a lesson from Starbucks, which came up with its proprietary nomenclature for small/medium/large, I introduced a new system for announcing sales. First markdown was “A thrilling event”; second markdown was “Exquisite savings”; third markdown/clearance was “A stellar offer”. These differently hued and shaped sale signs were deliberately smaller than the previous 8x10” signs, and required the shopper to step physically closer to (and have a more intimate experience with) the merchandise and the signage to get the message; this was in marked contrast to being able to read 25 or 30 sales signs simultaneously, all the same size and importance, from any point within the store.

 The Face of the Brand—photography, props, poses

Bags and signage may set up a store experience, but nothing confirms an apparel brand’s positio

n to the shopper like a model in the merchandise. To alter the perception of Casual Corner (safe, office attire for my mother) I used fun props, active poses, outdoor settings, and even comic situations to make the brand seem fresh, alive, interesting, and compelling. In other words, the photography matched the new attitude of the new merchandise, the new bags, the new in-store signage. 

(More examples of ad materials are available here.)

--Timothy Cohrs

www.TimothyCohrs.com

Babies ‘R Us—46 car seats and nothing to sell you

Car seats are a complicated category. They break into groupings by baby age and weight, portability versus semi-permanent placement, color, fabric, price point, features. Riding on top of all that is the essential purpose of safety for the defenseless. Babies ‘R Us has a giant assortment of 46 car seats in its freestanding stores. It is an impressive assortment, and an impressive set of choices for the shopper. In order to make an informed purchase, the consumer needs something to help distinguish each of these beyond their physical appearance.

 

Babies ‘R Us provides a clean car seat display. But it contains no information beyond a standard product name/price sign that is the exact same size for every one of the 46 choices. Could one or two or three of these merit a feature presentation, perhaps with some explanation as to why each is the best for its age group or the best for its price or the best for its function of providing a safe ride for infants, toddlers, or children up to 60 pounds? Maybe there is a good/better/best story in each of these categories? Maybe there is an inventory issue and one or more of these needs to be highlighted to move product.

 

Babies ‘R Us leaves it up to the shopper to figure it all out, and with 46 to choose from that creates a lot of opportunity for sales to fall through the cracks. 

No telling means no selling. Here a great product assortment, probably an industry-leading assortment of car seats, is undercut by a lack of in-store marketing. Helping the consumer understand your assortment means helping your bottom line.

--Timothy Cohrs

www.TimothyCohrs.com