Here’s a fun and funky startup! A great example of niche marketing and power branding
LittleMissMatched, www.littlemissmatched.com
They’re a great example of finding a pocket of opportunity in a hugely saturated market. I don’t profess to be a branding expert, but thought I’d take a crack at giving you all a bit of branding by Wendy.
Funky socks, 134 in total (packaged in 1,3, or 7’s) all designed in bold patterns being mismatched, designed for girls in the 8-14 yr old segment. A key to their success lies in the branding – and believe me, these folks understand branding.
What these guys get about branding is that it’s NOT just about having a catchy name and logo – it’s a tool that extends across all aspects of a company -- from product design, to packaging, to distribution, customer service, shipping, etc.
Check’em out. www.littlemissmatched.com
Are you fully exploiting your brand – here’s “A Bit of Branding” to help you answer this question.
1. Brand Personality – If your brand was a person, what personality would you want it to have? Litlemissmatched wants quirky and fun - what’s yours? Doesn’t matter if you sell computer chips (ie. Intel has personality), CRM software, or emergency response systems – your brand personality needs to make a connection with your market. And consistency of brand personality builds traction.
Think of the personalities of companies like -- Yahoo!, Amazon, and of course the IPOD.
Look closely at the personality of your own brand – what message are you sending? Is this personality being carried consistently to the market? Does everyone in your company know what the personality is?
2. Brand Values – what do you want your brand to stand for? Honesty, Strength, Responsiveness, Magical, Innovation, Robust, Quirky, Whimsical, … Define 2 or 3 values in order of priority. This should be what customers value and not necessarily just you.
3. Brand Name & Brand Marks – the name and the marks are the visual part of the brand. The personality and values from above help you to create a more effective brand name/mark. The best of breed players invest time to do this exercise and you should to. Use your name and marks to stand out from the crowd.
Need some ideas – some of my favourites are: FedEx, Blackberry, Google (now a verb for searching!!), Monster.com, and of course littlemissmatched!
4. Where’s the Beef? Think Whole Product – look at how the brand promise from above is being carried out across your whole company and product -- the packaging model (1,3,7’s) of littlemissmatched reflects the brand, customer dialogue - the use of a blog to dialogue with customers on future products, etc.
Are you packaging to fit your customer segment, or packaging to suit your company’s cost envelope? No doubt you need to manage costs, but are you extending your brand through your packaging?
There's lots more punch to pack in to a brand, but let's start with these tips for now. Let me know if you 'd like to chat more about this. I'm open to doing some web seminars on certain topics so pass your suggestions along to me.
Enjoy!
Wendy Kennedy
author/advisor/lady with the flipcharts
So What? Who Cares? Why You?
for a model of branding built across the marketing mix, retail and the company:
www.buildabear.com
it just opened in ottawa. it is a model of marketing worth going take a look. it is hard to leave without a bear!
Posted by: julien | July 18, 2005 at 10:08 AM