By Barbara Bacci Mirque
On the second day of ANA’s AFM conference we heard from not one but two companies who manufacture household cleaning products. The first one I will write about is Method, whose core brand value is to create a happy and healthy home. Founder Eric Ryan told the story of this challenger brand. Their belief is that they do not worry about share of market rather they focus on share of culture. They have created a movement around the in home environment which they sum up as “aveda for the home.” What they do is also good for the environment but that is not in their advertising – that is what they believe in. Their entire operating philosophy centered around this movement is embodied in how they run the company. They carefully hire like minded people then turn their employees loose as brand ambassadors – any employee can talk to the press. They create advocates not consumers as they focus on a smaller audience who they serve well. They consider their elegant packaging to be media and in their view they do not make the mistake of separating out product design from the product. Eric feels great packaging inspires great merchandising and to him design and creativity embody leadership. One of their core principles is to brand from the inside out and everything is a touch point, including their trucks and their office. One of the more interesting tidbits he imparted is one of their seven “obsessions” or core values is “to be weird.” Weird is about creating differentiation and an aura of authenticity that cannot be replicated. Food for thought for all of us is to think about how great marketing efficiency starts before you ever get to marketing and that mature categories are not always as mature as one might think.
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