In Advertising Age’s The Point freelance writer Dale Buss calls design the new marketing black. Design isn’t new. Marketers have been helping to design products to sell products, to gain a competitive advantage, to stand out at the point of sales, or to gain consumer attention for all time. Packaging design, label design and product design are all ways we marketers have fought to gain a competitive edge.
What’s different is the way we now use design.
Previously design helped us create a functional difference. We needed to create a product benefit or attribute in an attempt to differentiate one product for its sea of competitors. Often the brand’s USP was design. “The Quicker Picker Upper” – Bounty’s difference, its reason for being, was its design. The product had the ability to pick up more moisture because of its design. Functional benefits derived from a design feature gave consumers a functional or rational reason to connect with a specific brand.
But in the end, what ever we do as marketers, it has to be relevant and compelling. Design does not work on its own. New designs have to resonate with your customer in a way that satisfies a specific need. Their need, not ours. For ultimately, your customers own your brand, not you.
The new marketing black to me is the innovation marketers are bringing to the job everyday. The way they are looking at every tool in their arsenal and using them more effectively than ever before. The new marketing black is the insight we gain from consumers and how we now translate that insight into actionable strategies that truly differentiate one brand from another. The new marketing black is marketers’ ability to ferret out and utilize what best bonds customers to brands. Those emotional connections that allow us to sell more stuff to more people for more money.
Now that we understand that functional and rational brand connections are not a strong as emotional connections, nor do they help drive a price premium the way an emotional connection can, marketers are changing the way they use design. The brand experience is the key today because experience helps to emotionally bond a customer to a brand. Design today therefore is focused on enhancing brand experiences. Motorola has designed a slimmer mobile phone, Dyson has created a vacuum that won’t clog, and the airlines have used design innovation to make a flying experience more enjoyable.
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