harrisonbacon

[harrisonbacon]

Burberry: Here to Stay (and keep you dry!)

#Burberry’s competitive positioning is indeed #sustainable over the long term, because they’ve made the decision to occupy a particular medium #luxury segment while committing not to be on the cutting edge of fashion, but rather to create enduring, #timeless styles that are updated to reflect changing trends. To that end, cutting the number of #SKUs by about 75% allowed them to take control of their product portfolio and ensure a cohesive brand image.

Burberry’s strategic decision to stand by its goal of providing distinctly British apparel that oozes “sporty, functionality, and protection” is in stark contrast to some of its more gaudy, showy competitors like #Gucci. As a result, Burberry has created a defensive wall around the intersection of luxury, #British-ness, and functionality that the brand occupies.

#MITSloan2022SBrandingB

[harrisonbacon]

Four Products, Five Factors

When evaluating the diffusion prospects of a new product, I’d like to think of Rogers’ Five Factors as a set of dimensions across which to measure the new product. For this reading, let’s take a look at the four products in the case and evaluate which factor might cause the most problems for each product.

Sliced peanut butter may run into seriously problems related to #compatibility—potential adopters have been approaching their sandwich-making in a fundamentally different way, and may be wary of an “out-of-the-box” solution for an ingredient that is such a staple of the American household. The collapsible wheel runs into an issue of #RelativeAdvantage—perhaps it will serve a niche group’s needs, but at what cost? Is the increased portability worth such a hefty price? The high-end jigsaw puzzle might also run into issues of relative advantage—how is this puzzle so superior as to command such a high price? Hint: it probably isn’t. Finally, the new thoroughbred turf product is likely to run into compatibility issues—that is, it is trying to penetrate a market steeped in tradition.

As we approach our own project regarding Tinder’s brand, we will need to be sure that our proposal does not prove incompatible with their current customer base. It must have a tangible relative advantage over previous versions of the app and needs to be sufficiently simple to adapt to. Trialability and observability should hopefully be non-issues given how accessible and widely diffused the app already is. 

#MITSloan2022SBrandingB

[harrisonbacon]

Perception = Reality for Wine and Dating Apps

It seems that #wine consumption and the experience of the consumer is greatly impacted by the #perceptions of the consumer with regard to the wine--especially the wine’s regional origin. Evidence of this fact was shown in the case; the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 demonstrated that even the most sophisticated wine critics could not distinguish #Californian wines from #French wines, and yet French wines had a far superior reputation and the ability to market themselves at premium prices. 

#Dating apps likely follow a similar pattern--when someone is deciding which app to use to accomplish their #relationship (or lack thereof!) goals, perception of the app may outweigh the practical usefulness or quality of the app. In the case of #Tinder, we need to change that perception, and in my view, one of the most likely touch points to achieve that change is the user sign-up process. Tinder could incorporate profile elements during sign-up that signal the app’s broad capabilities for achieving multiple types of goals, rather than being simply for hook-ups. An example would be incorporating a feature similar to #Bumble’s “What are you looking for?��� question, which shows an icon representative of the user’s response on their profile for potential matches to take into account. 

#MITSloan2022SBrandingB

[harrisonbacon]

Sound Data Collection & Analysis - Crucial for #BrandingLab

For our #BrandingLab, a significant component in success will be the successful collection and analysis of #primarydata. In order to collect this data, I can imagine that we will employ the method of the #questionnaire. It will be critical to put careful thought into determining what questions we can act in order to gather actionable data from our respondents, and do this end we can use a #pretest to ensure we are not launching a faulty survey. We will also need to be careful with our #sampling method—i.e., ideally we will employ probability sampling to the extent possible, so that we are not unnecessarily biasing our sample and resulting data. This may require extra effort, as oftentimes the easiest ways to collect data points use tactics that lend themselves to nonprobability sampling (e.g., standing in a particular spot on campus and interviewing passerby). Finally, we will need to ensure that our sample size is sufficiently large that we will have relatively narrow confidence intervals for our predictive estimates.

As important as the questionnaire design and execution will be our analysis of the data itself. We can reproduce the data using graphical displays, we can analyze the interactions between multiple variables, and we can attempt to draw broad (and useful) conclusions from our analysis. All of this will require #discipline to ensure we are not allowing bias or faulty methodology to impact our analysis. 

#MITSloan2022SBrandingB

[harrisonbacon]

B&D Needs Just ONE Sub-Brand

Don’t drop the B&D brand name entirely, and don’t create a jumble of sub-brands assigned to a bunch of groups of #SKUs. Let’s do something in the middle: create an overarching sub-brand for the Professional-Tradesman segment. The sub-brand idea (”Option 2″) presented in the case was a good thought, but let’s not get carried away with a million different sub-brands! This one new sub-brand could be called something like “Dura-Pro” strongly branded, with the smaller sub-text “by B&D” and should have its own logo and color scheme to clearly distinguish it from the home-use line of products. The home-use line is clearly dragging down the Tradesman segment product line with misconceptions of the line lacking durability and quality needed for professional use. This strategy can be seen used by major brands like Hilton, where they have sub-brands for various segments (at the macro level) under the parent name (see https://www.hilton.com/en/doubletree/). 

By creating this distinct sub-brand, B&D can retain what users in the #Tradesman segment already give B&D credit for (easy service and standing behind its products) while building an image of #durability and #quality that the home-use line of products has stolen from their Tradesman product line. B&D’s mere 9% market share in this segment, along with their high 25% SG&A expenses, represent a large opportunity to achieve both top-line and bottom-line #growth. #MITSloan2022SBrandingB