pardi98

[pardi98]

The importance of Diffusion

This post was a summary of the class of Difussion, a topic which I found particularly intriguing when thinking on product inventions.

We don't have the crystal ball. But we can use behavioral analysis and product-based factors to understand how inventions will diffuse with some chance of success.

We don't have control over people, but we can control our creations, our product and analyze what will affect the increase of rate of adoption. So lets see the main factors:

Relative Advantage: a) What is the Mix of Costs and Benefits ? b) Timing of Costs and Benefits ? c) Ability to Quantify Costs and Benefits d) The Certainty of Costs and Benefits

Compatibility: At what point you need that compatibility ? Watch out if violates rituals or social norms.

Complexity: Complexity in Concept vs Complexity in use. How much you need to train people to use your product ?

Trialability: How easy is for them to try it ?

Observability: To what degree how others use it, enjoy it and social proof can affect me ? Is there a multiplier ? What can you do to increase observability ?

What are the weaknesses of your product in your category ? How can we simplify it ?

How can you make sure your customers are loyal and have agency ?

Use ECSIT

Economic Capital: Fine to start, but not sustainable. Is a race to the bottom. Who can give me the best price ? Beware to compete only in here, because is dangerous.

Cultural Capital: Rituals, Lifestyle,Beliefs,Mission. Knowledge of the Brand. Harder to differentiate.

Social Capital: Social Network & Ties. Social capital makes me feel special because I have a community, I promote it and I'm influential.

Information Capital: Enable better decisions. Make your customers smarters. Treat your customers with respect and make them smarter.

Temporal Capital: Efficient and Timely anticipatory action. "You saved me time, but also anticipated my needs, I didn't have to tell you"

How much Value of Exchange are you giving ? This creates Agency on your customers, which gives advocacy, which results into diffusion.

Avoid Commodification by going beyond mere utilitarian value.

#MITSloanBranding2024B

[pardi98]

We like magic, but we prefer truth

As a kid I would love magic. It was this sense of surprise that pushed my into videogames and eventually into the field of technology.

Since Im working on my startup ideas on how to use technology - AI caught my attention. One of the biggest questions that I had was, how we are going to live with this technology and how we make it safe for everyone ?

Human like Human

We humans, prefer humans over any other living organism(except dogs :) . But, we love magic. AI is like magic. You don't know whats happening, and suddenly, instantly you have infinite knowledge in seconds. After reading "Human favoritism, not AI aversion", this let me thinking on how this technology can challenge human behaviors associated to quality and branding.

If we use AI without saying anything, we perceive the content as high quality - it feels like magic. We almost want to believe that person is special. Like watching play Messi, you don't believe he is human, he is a magician. But, when you listen to him, he trained thousands of hour kicking that ball. But we prefer to not see that, we prefer the seconds of magic as the ultimate answer. It feels as if AI is doing the same, if we don't see the billions of parameters, and only the content posted by a "human", it's like magic. "This person is a genius".

But, we are humans. If we know that something was purely AI generated then the trick is over. We naturally feel as if its like cheating - we perceive a smaller quality - But still better than the best human.

The truth

Luckily, there is a another case. If we are informed of the use of AI, we prefer the quality when it enhances a human, and not the other way round. This makes sense.

We were discussing this with our small group of friends. One was trying to write a poem for San Jordi, a long tradition of exchanging a rose for a book . Every year MD(@mdern) sends a poem to her syster to celebrate this tradition - no exception.

She would deeply reject the use of AI to write down the initial ideas. It needs to start as human. But on the other side, another friend - Agus - didn't care if AI was used to improve that initial idea as long it came from the heart. That makes sense. This is reflected in the study as Augmented AI. The content is human, but AI is the magic that makes it 100x on grammar, order, suggesting framing and so on. We replace the UX, but the content start in our mind.

Branding

I think we are going to a world where truth and human value will be the ultimate value for brands. They will need to defend this with big amount of resources. Because if not, they will fall in the trap of AI commodity and loose its human favoritism. Branding is nothing more than our deep human connections with a family of words, and being human is the new connection that brands will need to push to differentiate from the rest. I hope this happens !

Playing Mario as a kid with my great-uncle

[pardi98]

Not all data is oil

Data is the new oil. All FANG companies have earned a tremendous power and value because of the data they have collected for the past 20 years. In this context, understanding the power of data in the context of CX becomes crucial. One of the key steps of DDPE, is Deconstructing and Describing. In both steps there is data extraction and a customer journey map. But the real question is:

Who is the customer, what are their needs and which data should I use?

Classic, go into a meeting and you will hear something like "our target customer are millenials that like to eat Avocado" - WRONG. This is the superficial example of data that isn't oil, but rather sand. It will break your CX motors and take you to wrong decisions.

So watch out, not all oil has the same quality. If you use demographics and superficial data points, you won't end with a deep connection that affect the Heuristic of your customers which ultimately creates a brand experience that is unique to your brand.

You want enriched and insightful data points, who is that user ? Is he a junior person ? Is he afraid of something ? What are their needs ? How do they prefer to interact ? You should ask these deep questions and deconstruct, you cannot have a black box of your user. Look for these gaps to describe your user. When you find them, address the gaps and see which are the unknown unknown. In this case you will have an opportunity to improve your CX.

#MITSloanBranding2024B

[pardi98]

Black & Decker: Though professionals want, "hard tools"

In the professional power tools market, Black & Decker faced a significant branding challenge that starkly differentiated it from competitors like Makita.

Despite its longstanding reputation and pioneering history in power tools, Black & Decker(B&D) was perceived as a joke among a "hard segment" of professional tradesmen, primarily due to its strong association with consumer-oriented products. This perception was not just about the quality of the tools but extended to the brand's overall positioning - "Im a tough pro"

This view was reinforced by word-of-mouth, where even in settings that provided equal opportunities for brand exposure, such as retail shelf space, BD products were overshadowed by competitors. The brand struggled to shake off its consumer-grade image, and its attempts to appeal to professional tradesmen were often met with skepticism. The use of similar color schemes for both consumer and professional-grade tools (black or charcoal grey) further blurred the lines between segments, making it challenging for BD to differentiated identity in the professional market.On the other hand, Makita carved out a strong, personalized niche for itself among professional tradesmen, not just through the undeniable quality of its tools but also through strategic branding elements like color differentiation and targeted word-of-mouth. , Makita cultivated a brand image that professionals proudly associated with and recommended to peers.

This creates an interesting reflection: There will be always competitors that can create the tool, faster or cheaper(unless you have a barrier of entry which is huge), but ultimately if a brand can lock in a status: "I'm a professional worker" where my tools reflect my status to which I belong, that is a major differentiation of any brand. In this case BD, had the tool, but not the status pros were looking for, ultimately the power of belonging triggered a more powerful response.

#MITSloanBranding2024B