Abstract
Seth Goddin in his book “Purple cow” claims that today’s buyers do not have time to watch advertisement on TV and seek out the best products among the good ones. To get the customer’s attention today, one needs to produce amazingly good products, which will easily stand out on the store shelves—Purple Cows. The author argues that the consumer will not be able to walk past the purple cow, without noticing it.
Such an argument might seem very unrealistic, however, the concept described above really works. And the goal of this essay it to provide more argument for and against such a theorem, so everyone can decide for himself, whether it is a product that matters, or maybe a brand name.
Key words: Branding, product, quality, sales
Polemics about the expediency of investing in brand management and advertising has become more acute during the last couple of years. Marketing professionals cannot come to a compromise, whether successful and recognizable brands are built on successful products, or on beliefs.
I am a devotee of the first theorem, and completely believe that successful brands can be only built on successful products. Around fifty years ago advertising was a very powerful instrument, and I will dare to say that it was the main tool that influenced sales. TV ads, street banners and advertisement in magazines and newspapers were the only source of information about the product, and the more a customer saw the brand logo, the bigger was the chance that he would buy the product. However, time has changed, and in the Internet era things do not work this way any more. With the existence of such sources as YouTube, Hulu, OnDemand, Netflix customers have an ability to filter the information they are offered, so the influence of an advertisement has abruptly decreased, and quality of the product has become the best selling tool.
There are scores of examples that will prove as well as disprove the theorem, and let’s start with the one, proving that the theorem actually works. The company we will talk about is Apple. When Steve Jobs was the CEO of the company, Apple was always different from other companies due on account of high-quality products. Most of all Jobs loved his products, and all the attention was paid to them, to every tiny detail. Product is the main trump of the company, as through it, as through a distinguishing glass, a customer perceives the brand. Of course, Apple also invests in advertising, but it also focuses on the product itself. (Except of the advertisement campaign of 1997 “Think different”) And even if the company stops investing in advertisement, it will not loose its customers, as the product quality will remain the same, and all the loyal customers know about it.
In order to disprove the theorem, let’s take a look at the
Procter & Gamble Company back in 1946. At that point they had launched a new brand, producing laundry detergents – Tide. The product itself was not revolutionary at all, however the investment of 21 million dollars on the advertisement campaign, in two years made the brand number one among the competitors. Moreover, the effect of the campaign was so tremendous, that even now, in 21st century Tide detergents have not lost their popularity.
The question why do most of the companies focus more on branding rather than on developing successful products is at the same time simple, and rather complicated. Simple it is, as even a first year marketing student understands that if the product is of a high quality, it will generate a humongous WOM communication, and the sales will torrentially rise. However, if everything was is so simple, why don’t all the companies focus on the product quality? This is a rhetorical question, and every manager has to find his own answer for it, depending on his own situation. As a marketing executive, I would recommend all the manufacturers to focus on the product; on it’s design and UX. And if the product corresponds to the consumer’s needs, it will sell itself.
Reference list
Edson, J. (2012). Design like Apple seven principles for creating insanely great products, and experiences. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley
Godin, S. (2004). Purple cow transform your business by being remarkable (Electronic ed.). New York: EPenguin
