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Burberry

Bravo led an impressive transformation of Burberry in her first 5 years at the company, wrangling in detrimental licensing agreements and winning over new customers while also retaining traditional Burberry buyers by introducing a more disciplined set of products and new sub-brands. It seems that she found the sweet spot between lifestyle and luxury brands for Burberry (with Polo and Coach at the lower end and Armani and Gucci at the higher end), but my concern is that the fine line she is walking is precarious in the long-term. As part of Burberry's efforts to win over new customers, the brand's strategy was to split into a variety of sub-brands, some of which seem to be sliding closer and closer to "lifestyle" territory, which has the potential to weaken the brand cache of Prorsum, Burberry's highest end brand. It's possible that customers who primarily shop Burberry's luxury line would be hesitant to continue purchasing from Prorsum if this line gets conflated with Burberry's more affordable options.

Relatedly, Burberry's renewed popularity and their signature plaid print also act as a double-edged sword. While the recognition and desirability of Burberry clothing undoubtedly signals that Burberry has reached a new, wider audience, it is also at risk of increased counterfeits and, as the case so delicately put it, alienating core customers thanks to adoption by "non-target customers". What this line about "non-target customers" immediately brought to mind was what I vaguely recalled as the popularity of Burberry prints among "chavs" (a derogatory term typically used to refer to working class Brits and that denotes a certain style of dress); a quick Google search confirmed my suspicion with a Daily Mail article that didn't mince words:

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6071585/Burberry-finally-shakes-chav-check-reputation.html

Another article cited the picture below as a watermark moment for Burberry's brand image going in a different direction than they intended - when soap star Daniella Westbrook was photographed by paparazzi in a Burberry look, and whether or not the outfit was authentic a snobbish response was evoked from Burberry and its traditional customers. Burberry was suddenly much less aspirational and "aristocratic" when anyone from any background could buy it, or a buy a counterfeit version:

Source: https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/15660/chav-burberry-subculture

Burberry showed up in American pop culture around this time too, with an iconic look from Mean Girls below (the skirt paired with the "Royal Punk" t-shirt perhaps a nod to the Burberry's association with the British monarchy):

The Mean Girls look is perhaps slightly closer to the youthful “cool” that Burberry was going for at the time, but is still creeping into American mall fashion territory, which is decidedly NOT what Burberry was targeting. I think the character might even be holding a Coach purse, aligning Burberry with a brand that it tried to position itself above! For Bravo’s next 5 years, I’m curious if further brand discipline was required (such as the reduction of some of the more affordable brands and many SKUs that were proliferating) to strengthen Burberry’s standing as an esteemed luxury brand. Less plaid (or less overt plaid) might also help differentiate between authentic Burberry items and the many imitations in circulation.

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Polytrack, the future of horse racing!

By applying Rogers’ Five Factors to the four proposed products from the case, I feel that Polytrack has the highest likelihood of fastest product adoption. Below is a breakdown of Polytrack's strengths according to these criteria:

Relative advantage - in my view, Polytrack has the best relative advantage to existing products. Although it is expensive to install, it results in fewer horse injuries and euthanizations and more horses competing in the field, which can lead to better economic outcomes for those participating in the industry. It is also weather resistant, meaning that after a rain storm the track will be ready to use again sooner. The only downside is that it seems to produce slightly lower race times, but this seems to be far outweighed by the advantages in terms of horse health, racing field, and track maintenance. Plus, it doesn't look very different than existing track materials! As more tracks adopt this material and horse owners/racers see its advantages, adoption should become faster as Polytrack becomes the norm for racing.

Compatibility - Polytrack doesn't look very different than existing track materials, and offers better performance in terms of holding up to bad weather and reducing animal injury, making it strong in the compatibility category. The one issue is that it seems to cause slower race times, but perhaps further product innovation can reduce this con that may be incompatible with horse racing.

Complexity - Polytrack seems intuitive to use; although the exact formula is not general knowledge, the fact that the material includes wax coating and some softer plastic materials is easy to understand and helps users appreciate why Polytrack is water resistant and easier on horses' bodies.

Trialability - trialability is somewhat low for Polytrack because it requires an entire racetrack to experience. Perhaps if Polytrack invited potential new customers to test Polytrack installed elsewhere it would improve their trialability strength.

Observability - Polytrack's innovation results are visible to anyone who closely follows horse racing or races themselves. Those who watch can see the much improved statistics in terms of animal health, and those who ride on the track can literally feel the difference. An observer can also see the reduced muddiness of a Polytrack course after rain, and notice the slight difference in color of the material. On the cons side, observers can also see that horses who run on Polytrack are not quite as fast.

  I would apply these learnings to my branding project by considering how MIT Sloan can better package its innovations/"product" in terms of supporting socioeconomic diversity through the Roger's Five Factors framework. For instance, our initial research indicates that observability is currently low, and improving this factor might help MIT Sloan's overall brand and "product adoption" (a.k.a. expanded applicant pool and Sloan enrollment) when it comes to this area.

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Utilitarian Flying

In my experience as a recreational flight passenger, I often am in a position of choosing utility over all else. How can I get from point A to point B for the lowest price in the least amount of time? Traveling for business school trips and personal adventures where I'm footing the bill means that utility (and the price for that utility) are top of mind. In many ways, for me air travel in economy class is a commodity good, and my expectations for customer value beyond the functional purpose of the flight are low. However, as I’ve had the opportunity to fly more often, I’ve noticed myself developing slight preferences among different airlines even as I profess to choose flights strictly based on utility. Competitor airlines I’ve flown with have apps of varying quality (from the “barely functional” to one that provided me a real-time map through the airport with walking time estimates for my connecting flight), complimentary snacks and beverages versus an airline where you couldn’t even get a soda for free, and different ways of communicating about new travel requirements related to Covid and verifying medical documentation (how this is managed has either greatly reduced or increased travel stress at the airport). 

All of these extras provide customer value (or highlight a lack of it) beyond just transportation, and have gotten me thinking more critically about which airlines I would prefer to fly when I am no longer a student and price isn’t the primary determinant of ticket purchases. As someone going into a career that might involve a fair amount of travel, I have also been asked the question of which airline rewards program I would potentially prioritize for business travel - something I have never been in a position to consider in the past, but which now presents so much potential customer value that my peers (and many travel points bloggers!) strategize about it. Websites like Nerd Wallet and The Points Guy have turned assessing this customer value into a lucrative business (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/travel-loyalty-program-reviews). Rewards programs generate material value to their customers while also building brand loyalty and enthusiasm that keeps customers coming back even when they could fly more cheaply elsewhere.

Interestingly, Singapore was slow to adopt a rewards program and instead focused on best-in-class customer service that went above and beyond industry norms and built them a loyal customer base. This allowed them to woo and retain premium (business and first class) passengers, who provided the majority of their revenue. Customers on Singapore Airlines refused to accept anything less than the best, meaning that Singapore set expectations for their employees to provide service that was “120%” effort. In a way, having such high customer expectations set Singapore up to be held to higher standards than its competitors, but also helped keep the airline from becoming complacent in its efforts to provide that premium customer experience. Singapore’s ability to innovate in terms of customer service while also making strategic decisions to expand their flight routes and maintain a young fleet helped them combine convenience with luxury to become a trusted and preferred travel brand.

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Dar un codazo

Reading the nudging article has confirmed something that I think I already knew - I am constantly nudged and am highly susceptible to nudges. One frequent nudging experience is in Duolingo, the language learning application. For example, sometimes, after completing a lesson in Duolingo, I’ll receive an “XP boost” reward where I’ll earn bonus points for any additional lessons completed in the next 15 minutes. Being the sucker for gamified applications that I am (did you know that Duolingo has a leaderboard?), this keeps me using the app for longer, racking up points and grabbing every booster nudge that I can. They also track “streaks” (days in a row that you use the app), and when you are close to “losing” your streak the app will send you a push notification nudging you to preserve your hard work. This usually prompts me to open up the app and do another Spanish lesson. Most significantly, Duolingo’s nudges turned me into a paying customer. I got so wrapped up in racking up points and rewards and leveling up with their nudges that I ran out of patience to sit through advertisements between lessons and paid for a subscription for a year... Duolingo’s nudges are the only thing keeping my Spanish skills hanging on by a thread!

The nudging article also raised several more meta questions for me - are certain people more susceptible to nudges than others? Does awareness of nudges change the way that you respond to them? Are some personalities more receptive to external nudges versus self-imposed nudges, or does context matter more? Perhaps this is where testing comes in - taking a “test and learn” approach to something like in-app nudges in Duolingo would likely be a very effective way to quickly identify what works and iterate, whether the goals are things like increasing app usage time or converting free customers to paid. I’m curious how much of this testing they’ve already done, because clearly something is working!

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Black & Decker - Brittney Joyce

In the early 1990s, Black & Decker (B&D) was struggling in the professional-tradesmen segment of the power tools market. Despite having strong market share and brand perception in both the professional-industrial and consumer tools segments (20% and 45%, respectively), they struggled at only 9% market share with tradesmen. In a sense, their success as a brand in the consumer segment seemed to be hobbling them with tradesmen. B&D sold a variety of successful and well-regarded products in the consumer space that extended far beyond power tools, including household appliances and tools such as vacuum cleaners and coffee makers, contributing to the perception of their tools as unfit for commercial use amongst tradesmen and instead better suited for personal home use. They also had little differentiation in the visual branding of their commercial tools from their consumer tools; consumer tools were black and their commercial tools were charcoal gray. Many of their competitors also utilized black or charcoal gray for their consumer tools but differentiated commercial tools with bright, distinctive colors, further strengthening the association of B&D power tools with consumer use rather than commercial. In fact, this lack of color differentiation led to some cases of tradesmen purchasing consumer tools for use in commercial contexts, which inevitably led to the tool failing and a reinforced negative perception of the B&D brand in the segment. Finally, B&D, despite producing power tools of comparable quality to competitors in the tradesmen segment, was perceived in the second-lowest quality tier by tradesmen customers, whereas Makita and Milwaukee were considered to be of the highest quality. With these factors in mind, it is unsurprising that Makita was outselling B&D 8 to 1 in an account giving them equal shelf space.

Although one would expect B&D to perform similarly in the professional-industrial and professional-tradesmen segments, the role of expert distributors such as W.W. Grainger and those making purchasing decisions likely led to the difference in performance between these two segments. Distributors acted as an objective third party with the expertise to recommend specific tools and brands depending on the customers’ needs, lending additional credibility to B&D as a commercial power tools provider. And because tools in this segment were purchased and owned by companies rather than individuals, less individual bias was brought to the table when making a buying decision. Relatedly, workers using company-owned tools on company jobs may have avoided the stigma that tradesmen using B&D tools might face on the job, where brands seem to be an extension of their own professional reputations (see, for instance, the quotation about being “laughed at” on page 10 of the case for showing up with a B&D tool). When considering the three options to strengthen their market share in the professional-tradesmen segment, it seems clear that option 3 offers the most opportunity to capture more market share because it addresses some of the major issues with B&D’s brand perception amongst that segment; DeWalt does not have the same association with household appliances that B&D does but rather earns surprising respect and regard in the market, and adopting an industrial yellow color would clearly distinguish it from the prevailing consumer color scheme and plant it firmly in the camp of professional power tools. One challenge would be encouraging adoption of a “new” brand in a market where tool purchases are somewhat infrequent and expensive and brand loyalty appears to be high; doubling market share within 3 years seems ambitious.