Branding & Product Design

Forgive me, this is more about product design than branding. Brand managers can do everything right but if they are not working with well designed products, their results may be less than hoped for. 

Product design can impact product appeal in several ways. First, the product can be aesthetically appealing or visually stunning. Second, the product may be unusually durable or sturdy. Third, the product may have unique functionality or ease of use. Fourth, the product may have ergonomic or tactile advantages. Fifth, the product may stimulate more senses than usual. All of this can result from superior design. 

To give you an idea of what superior design can lead to, here are a two very interesting links:

• 30 innovative products you did not know exist but are too awesome to miss
• 100 amazing futuristic design concepts we wish were real

Manage your brand well but encourage your organization to design unique or superior products. 

The Importance of Product

In large consumer packaged goods companies (houses of brands), the brand manager often manages product and brand decisions together. In branded houses, the product and brand decisions are often made separately. 

While products and brands are different - brands are the personifications of organizations and their products and services - products, never the less, are very important to the success of the brands whose names they bare. 

Witness the strength of the Apple or Tesla brands. They are based on high quality products with innovation, functionality and aesthetic appeal. Both also command premium prices and are in the luxury category. While a well thought through brand can increase the appeal of a mediocre product, it cannot completely overcome its deficiencies. As the saying goes, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It is still a pig."

Don't overlook the importance of the product or service itself when managing your brand. Deficient or sub-par products and services will tarnish the brand's image, while superior products and services will enhance its image.

Brands and Aesthetics

Whether one considers Apple’s iPod, iPad or iPhone or Ty Nant’s bottled water or the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic or Giorgio Armani clothing or the Relais & Châteaux hotels, aesthetics plays an important role in the appeal of those brands. Even the appeal of less upscale brands is often driven at least in part by their aesthetics. Consider Dove soap or the Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor or Hershey’s Kisses or the earlier version of the Hyundai Sonata that looked like a Jaguar. We sometimes help brand places. Aesthetics-related criteria rate high on residents’ reasons for choosing a place to live. Attractive neighborhoods and scenic beauty rate next after good job opportunities, low crime, affordable housing and good medical care as the top reasons people choose a particular place to live. Consider college and university brands. While many factors, including offering the right major, ranking high in selectivity, offering a competitive financial aid package, etc. contribute to brand preference, most college admissions offices will admit that once a potential student has visited the campus, the likelihood that he or she will attend that school increases significantly (assuming the experience was a good one). An increasing number of college ranking sources also rank schools based on campus aesthetics. Elon University has become much more popular in the past decade, at least partially due to its campus aesthetics. One final item of interest on building beauty into brands. Beautiful brands almost always command a price premium, generally making them more profitable than other brands in their categories.  You might want to consider how to infuse your brand with increased aesthetic appeal.

(c) 2014 by Brad VanAuken. Excerpt from Brand Aid, second edition, to be published December 2014.