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Early takeaways from Corona

Reading about Corona in the very first week of class, the case solidified some of the fundamental concepts of branding that I am taking away. Corona exercised discipline in making their cognitive associations clear and simple through their marketing — fun, beach, sun. It is so clear that for our graduation class trip to the BVI, our boat unanimously voted on our beer of choice for a whole week of beach and sun — CORONA. There are other beers of a similar type but Corona stands out as the refreshing beverage for a chill day vacationing. While this may seem simple and easy to achieve, I actually learned in our class that it takes work to create and maintain these brand associations. Companies must consciously exercise discipline in intentionally positioning their brand. As I walk away from this class, I will continue to reminisce the lessons and frameworks we learned as I chill and sip my Corona.

#2023MITSloanBrandingSB

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Branding Discipline -- Insights from Burberry

The Burberry case spoke about how this brand rose from the ashes by cleaning up its shop and exercising discipline around limited licensing, limited product offerings, higher pricing, and tighter distribution. Focusing on the long-term, the brand took a step back to establish a strong foundation for what the Burberry brand will stand for today and in the future. They decided to marry the classic with contemporary, to hold on to their heritage while appealing to younger customers and introducing seasonal, fashion-forward pieces. This was a tough balance to strike, yet one that the company managed to deliver by establishing a solid core brand image.

Putting this in light of the HBO Max rebrand which our team is exploring for our branding lab project, I have read that changing the name to "Max" and dropping the HBO brand is a conscientious effort by the brand to protect its image as Discovery+ programming is being consolidated in the same platform. However, customers seem to be unhappy with this rebrand, as they are concerned that the rebrand would mean a decline in quality and loss of the prestige HBO stood for. Given this backlash, the company will have to manage their image during this time and assure customers that the HBO content and programming remains, and that the value they embraced for many years is still there. Perhaps this could be a special tab within the platform that highlights HBO content for users? Or a curated page/profile within the platform that people can enter. Either way, there are ways for the platform to preserve this experience for users. They may also consider highlighting this feature through an ad.

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Friction in the wake of streaming services consolidation -- HBO Max to "Max"

As @brandingguru mentioned in their earlier post, our team is looking into the recent rebranding of the streaming service HBO Max to Max. Behind the rebrand is the consolidation of Discovery+ and HBO Max programming, which will now house additional reality TV content from Discovery and kids content from Warner Bros. The goal is to provide an option for every member of the household.

As we discuss introducing friction in the user experience, I wonder if this consolidation means "good friction" as we are providing more choices of programming for audiences. It also allows families to consolidate their subscription to this new giant umbrella brand -- "Max".

That being said, I also look back at the many nights I lie in front of the TV trying to decide what show to watch on Netflix. Couple that with my SO's own preference, and the endless scrolling through the many choices can easily eat most of the time we have to watch an actual show.

So now I actually wonder, does this consolidation mean good or bad friction? Yes, we give more agency to customers in deciding what show to watch and catering to their preferences, but this easily leads to analysis paralysis and choice overload. I hope to shed light on this as we continue working in our group project.

#2023MITSloanBrandingSB

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Above and Beyond Air Travel

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has set itself apart by calling itself a service company, rather than an airline. Service is who they are -- their soul and lifeblood, deeply ingrained in their culture. Air travel is their mere means to deliver that service and showcase who they are. By establishing their operations around this superior service ethos, they were able to establish a strong competitive advantage.

Reading the case reminded me of my learnings from my Management of Services class. Companies like Singapore Airlines are able to build a virtuous cycle of growth and success because their commitments are backed by empowered employees and robust operations. By offering a prestigious and coveted job for the Singaporean Girl, SIA is able to onboard the best talent, passionate about their career and proud of the work they do. They then build on this by providing rigorous training for employees during the onboarding process and throughout their careers at SIA. They then empower these employees by giving them the latitude to make decisions that are best for the customer and recognizing their efforts. They also have hierarchical structures that ensure visibility of each employee, encouraging employees to grow within the company. All in all, SIA does not only offer competitive pay rates, but also meet employees' desire for meaningfulness, personal growth, belonging, achievement, and recognition. By taking care of their employees, they, in turn, take care of their customers.

Operationally, they made a conscious decision to maintain the most modern fleet across the industry, not only for branding purposes but also for practicality. These newer plans ran more efficiently and required less maintenance, while also positioning SIA as a go-to company for aircraft suppliers to sell their most recent models with huge rebates. In managing their contractors, SIA maintains the same levels of expectations by setting up bonuses for meeting targets (compliments on food served in-flight, meeting time targets for baggage unloading) and penalties when these targets are not met. They are unafraid to say no to opportunities when they go against their values. For instance, they withdrew from IATA when membership in the organization meant compliance with rigid rules that held them back from delivering exceptional service to their customers.

In summary, the SIA case reminds us that service is a strong competitive advantage when the branding is met with strong operational execution that delivers. SIA has done this by empowering their employees, streamlining their operations, and creating a vicious cycle that allowed them to grow and reinforce these building principles. Lastly, they were unafraid to say no to things that detracted from their values.

#2023MITSloanBrandingSB

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Informed Marketing with Market Research

Reading about Market Research, I am reminded of my earlier days in a biotech startup. The quantitative experiments described resembled what clinical trials meant for us -- a test of efficacy and hard data proving that our product made a difference. The sample size "powers" the study, in that larger trials provide stronger conclusions but tend to be more costly. Some in my industry would even say, "Design the study such that you don't rely on statistics", meaning have a very strong data set such that the statistics do not influence the conclusion. But this is a luxury at best as it would require much more patients, or in marketing terms, consumers and subjects willing to participate in the experiment.

A newer concept to me is qualitative or non-experimental data collection through individual depth interviews and focus groups and the strength of this type of information gathering. While these are more subjective, given that the interviewer plays a significant role in unearthing information, these methods yield information that may otherwise be more sensitive to ask in other forms. They are also "less threatening and more natural" allowing participants to share information that is highly valuable in the exploration stage of a company.

I look forward to applying these tools in our Branding lab project. #2023MITSloanBrandingSB

[tonilearnstobrand]

Informed Marketing with Market Research

Reading about Market Research, I am reminded of my earlier days in a biotech startup. The quantitative experiments described resembled what clinical trials meant for us -- a test of efficacy and hard data proving that our product made a difference. The sample size "powers" the study, in that larger trials provide stronger conclusions but tend to be more costly. Some in my industry would even say, "Design the study such that you don't rely on statistics", meaning have a very strong data set such that the statistics do not influence the conclusion. But this is a luxury at best as it would require much more patients, or in marketing terms, consumers and subjects willing to participate in the experiment.

A newer concept to me is qualitative or non-experimental data collection through individual depth interviews and focus groups and the strength of this type of information gathering. While these are more subjective, given that the interviewer plays a significant role in unearthing information, these methods yield information that may otherwise be more sensitive to ask in other forms. They are also "less threatening and more natural" allowing participants to share information that is highly valuable in the exploration stage of a company.

I look forward to applying these tools in our Branding lab project. #2023MITSloanBrandingSB