Subaru Wins Big with “Love”

I had a chance to speak with Alan Bethke, the director of marketing communication at Subaru Americas.  He presented a fascinating overview of how Subaru grew its share in the highly competitive auto industry with only a tiny fraction of the investment of the competition.  Subaru has been the only auto manufacturer to gain share and grow volume in each of the last four years.  

A Different Consumer

After years of following the big automakers, stressing the marvels of automobile engineering and the latest accessories, Subaru saw its market share and sales going nowhere.  With only 1% share of the US market, there was little downside to trying something new.  Against the wishes of its dealers who wanted more features and lower prices, Subaru marketers tried to gleen insight by listening to what core consumers said about their relationship to the Subaru brand. 

 

Finding Consumer Insights That Lead to Strong Brands

Great brands and compelling marketing campaigns are created when marketers uncover "insights" that reveal consumers’ true needs in a product category.  

Marketers may stumble onto an insight (most do) or find one after deep observation of consumer behaviors and motivating beliefs.  Once found, the path to building a unique and competitive brand is much clearer. 

Please take a moment and watch my short video on the differences between simple observation and uncovering powerful consumer insights:

 

Keurig Shows How to Win in a Mature Market

How do you enter a mature market that has huge global competitors and carve out a unique and competitive positioning?

Ask Keurig – the maker of the now famous K-Cup coffee pods. While the coffee market was focusing on Starbucks fighting Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s or the latest upstart coffee shop, the Keurig company quietly built a brand that satisfied a real unmet need.

Pricing Strategy Lessons From Orbitz.com: Price Differentiation and Segmentation

Guest post  - By Patrick Campbell, CEO Price Intelligently

In an effort to capture as much cash from their customers as possible, Orbitz.com recently implemented a “big data” strategy where Mac users visiting their site were charged more than PC users, because their thorough analysis discovered Apple’s pilgrims had a higher willingness to pay. When the public discovered their strategy, outrage ensued with cites of price discrimination and a question of the legality of such practices. Yet, although charging someone on average $30 more because of the logo on their computer seems strange, Orbitz.com is actually following an exceptionally effective pricing strategy known as price differentiation, which harnesses and utilizes their differing customer’s varying willingness to pay.

The cold hard truth is, unless you are doing something similar to Orbitz in your own business, you are leaving enormous profits on the table. To recapture those profits and put the most important aspect of your business (your pricing strategy) back on track, let’s explore why you need to connect your prices with each and every customer’s perception of value, before looking at a few different levers you can use to segment differing price sensitivity.

 

Can Social Media Predict the Election?

The greatest marketing and branding show in the world is brought to us every four years in the months leading up to the US presidential election. Social media is playing a more critical role in influencing our decision for the our country's chief executive just as it is in campaigns hoping to influence our decision of which brand of car, laptop or box of cereal to buy.  In the case of a presidential election, social media's effect is greater due to the sheer volume concentration of messages by an entire US population focused solely on a single choice between 2 candidates.

Social media's role is evolving. While more and more of us engage each other on social media, we can now more accurately measure attitudes. Therefore, social media could be used to make pretty accurate predictions as to who will win.

Makes me wonder whether we shouldn't just close the loop and vote via social media.  Think of how much time and energy that would save.

How to Write an Inspiring Vision Statement

What is a Vision Statement? A “vision” is simply a picture of the future once an organization has achieved its goals and made a meaningful difference in the lives of those it touches.    

Corporate vision statements are typically uninspiring and ineffective.  Executives are often confused as to the purpose of the vision statement, as well as how it will be used. Many companies end up following a standard and predictable vision format as follows:

Our vision is to be the world's best company at (fill in category you compete in) in the minds of our shareholders, consumers and customers, creating sustainable advantage within  (fill in the benefit of using your product)  and helping people everywhere.

These statements lack creativity, direction and can’t hope to inspire anyone.

Companies should take a lesson from some of our country’s great historical leaders if they wish to inspire. Here are some good vision examples:

5 Steps to Finding Growth Opportunities

Most companies participate in mature categories,from a growth standpoint. Fighting the category trend to grow the brand is difficult in a mature category. Uncovering growth opportunities will be done so in very different ways than opportunities for brands in a growth category.  

The careful balance and application of five marketing tools can provide success for a business. The visual below applies to both B2B or B2C corporations and highlights the five steps companies must consider for planning purposes: