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Branding And Marketing
Designing a successful product in today’s market is unfortunately not just about getting the design
and functionality of the product spot on, of equal importance is that your product appeals to the
Consumer so they favour your product over the competition.
There are many cases where far superior products are outsold by a competitor’s product because
they have identified a particular look, feel or colour scheme that appeals to the target audience, and
ensured this is fed into the design process from the onset influencing the finished product.
Considering early within the Design Cycle how a product is going to be marketed and what type of
brand you wish to build is key as the product you design must reflect this so a coherent product and
marketing campaign can be rolled out and the consumer can buy into your brand.
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Once you have decided to develop an idea, design and then manufacture a product it is key before
you progress to understand who you intend to sell your product to, and to understand what they will
be looking for in your product, as failure to fulfil this could leave your product sitting on the shelf.
Certain products favour a set demographic and in turn that demographic favour certain things from
a product e.g. the design brief for a briefcase for an affluent business person would differ greatly
from designing a set of inline roller blades for a teenager, which would then differ from designing a
sun lounger for a mature consumer.
All products need to be fit‐for‐purpose, but each have a set of specific criteria that need to be
satisfied and portrayed, be it elegant and sleek looks for the briefcase, chunky and striking colour
scheme for the inline roller blades, or comfort and tranquillity for the sun lounger.
Know Your Competition
The large majority of new products on the market fall into a certain product group and market
sector and it is likely that there will be competitors, some of which could be well established brands
with market share.
Identifying early on in the Design Cycle who those competitors are is vital and reviewing their
products closely can provide a good indication of what the current market is looking for in a product
and a free source of market analysis which can be exploited improving the chances that your
product will be well received on launch.
Finding those products that convey the brand image that you aspire to build can also be beneficial,
as you can identify key elements, such as colour schemes, material combinations, styling and feel of
the product, and use this as the basis of your product development, and using the time and energy
saved to make improvements and carve out your own product identity.
Market Trends
A well-engineered product that looks great is a strong combination however they are not timeless
and catching market trends is vital to ensure you product sells, and is why most brands have a
continual product development cycle, tweaking their products every 6‐12 months to keep up with or
set new trends so every effort must be made to identify emerging trends, using focus groups with
your target audience and getting there feedback and input on your product early can be extremely
beneficial and reduce the chance that of launching last season’s big thing.
Make It Aspirational
Marketing gurus have long sold the virtues of marketing products that people aspire to own, as a
premium can be attached to them which in turn generates more profit.
This is where branding comes into its own, where all the factors such as product, packaging and the
marketing material need to work together to generate a brand or life style that your target audience
can buy into.
For example, a loaf of bread in plain blue and white packaging labelled “Value Loaf” would be
perceived less aspirational than a loaf named “Finest Loaf” in olive green and gold packaging even
though there could be nothing to separate the quality of the product inside.
At every price break, even in the low cost high volume market sector, there are subtle ways of
adding value but you need to set out the complete strategy early and if you do not have the
expertise or knowledge in a particular area, then outsource it to experts with a track record of
establishing well-known brands, and design the product, packaging and marketing material
accordingly, and at each stage, test the water, with regular reviews and focus groups, and make
changes if necessary, as the customer is king, and they will determine whether your product is a
success or not.
Assess Your Budget
Unfortunately not all companies bringing products to the market have huge marketing budgets, and
if you are one of the unlucky ones, you should come to terms with this early, and cut your cloth
accordingly, as there are things you can incorporate into the design of the product to reduce the
need for downstream cost e.g. if you have identified you cannot afford packaging and a marketing
campaign, you can design your product such that the outer casing is sufficiently robust that it can be
transported without the need for packaging, and also carries the visual impact and branding features
on the product itself, and even point of sale (POS) features such as stacking feet or hanging eyelets
can be incorporated at the product design stage.
If your budget cannot stretch to a marketing campaign, such as in store promotions, media content
or adverts in trade/local press then you are going to have to make your product work harder on the
shelf by designing the product to be visually striking or include a strong colour or material
combination which will get the attention of the consumer, and give your product some aisle time.
Know Your USP
Working on the basis that your new product should have a Unique Selling Point (USP), something
that would differentiate your product from the competition, then it is imperative that the consumer
is aware of this, and it is something you need to promote and display at the POS so that the
consumer chooses your product.
If it using fresh ingredients, then the products should promote this, if it has innovative features or
the latest technology then this should be conveyed clearly to the customer, which can be done with
the marketing material and packaging, and once the brand is established then your USP will be
synonymous with the brand, and you can relax on the initial hard emphasis.
Make A Market
People in general are loyal to a brand and unlikely to try anything new, which is great if you are the
established brand they have bought into, but frustrating if you are new to the market, however, it is
not a closed shop, otherwise those market leaders would not continue to spend thousand each year
to keep their brands at the top.
A way to steal a march on the competition is to open up a new market for your product or convert
an existing audience.
For example, drinks companies compete in a very saturated market where the consumer will favour
a few types of drinks, and stick with a couple of brands, and Kingfisher identified this early, and knew
their product would make little impact against the established brands in pubs, so they identified a
niche and focused all their marketing and branding activity to expanding their product within Indian
restaurants, and have made their product synonymous with having an Indian meal, even changing
the drinking habits of the consumer during the meal, so through analysing the route‐to‐market early
on Kingfisher were able to create a market for their product and through a clever marketing and
branding campaign were able to close the door on the competition at the same time.
Therefore, by taking an activity such as the branding and marketing of the product and placing it at
the beginning of the Design Cycle it can influence the Design Process, reduce risk and improve the
chances of your product being a success.