That packaging is smokin' hot

Here's my prediction in light of the Federal Government's ban on the use of colours and branding on cigarette packets - look out for significant packaging innovation in this sector.  When you are stripped of the usual ingredients - Branding, colour, logo, language - all you are left with is the packet itself to differentiate your product.

So where can we look for examples of product differentiation through packaging?
Drinks!
- The famous Coke bottle immediately springs to mind
- Alcoholic beverage manufacturers are prolific as any trip to the spirit's aisle will attest - Asolut! vodka,  Bailey's, Johnny Walker
- Wine bottles have been on the action too - the Rosemount square base bottle is one of the most striking
- Flavoured milk - Big M carton vs the plastic bottle Dare drinks

Next comes perfume - designed to be as beautiful as the scent to ensure that the whole sensory experience is consistent.

And how about Cars? The ultimate packaging differentiation between a transport that gets you from A to B

Of course the examples listed above are not subject to the no-branding restrictions the cigarette companies are facing. But the test is whether you can pick the brand without the branding.  Coke bottle without the label? Yes. Absolut! without it's brand? Yes (and a bottle worthy of re-use as a water pitcher if the local restaurant is any measure). Porsche without the insignia? Yes.  Prius without it's badge?  Yes - now that it has been established in market.  (For those who watch the animated series The Family Guy, Brian drives a car that by its shape is clearly a Prius). But how about Holden without the lion? Hmmm, no.  Ford? Same deal. 

It's not new to state that Packaging is a vital component of the product & marketing mix.  The task for us as marketers is to be clear about what role we what packaging to play.  Imagine your product is in the same situation as the tobacco companies - what would you innovate to ensure that yours is the product taken home by your customer?  And what are you waiting for?

Getting your customers on-board - lessons from the bus

The public buses in Melbourne seem to have at least one design improvement opportunity.  In order to identify which bus is going where, customers who are walking from the rear side of the bus have to creep up the side before craning their neck around the front of the bus to see the destination posted.  This strange dance is usually accompanied by a mild sense of panic that goes along with catching any form of public transport - fear that the bus, train, ferry will leave without you.  The fix is easy - post the destination on the side and even rear of the bus so that no matter the direction you approach, you can see the where the bus is headed.  In other words, communicate from the customer's perspective...literally.

Like most things, this doesn't at first glance seem like a problem sufficient to warrant a refit of the bus. But think about those extra 5 steps x number of people needing to confirm destination x number of stops x number of routes x number of days per year and you can quickly add up to a lot of inefficiency.  Not to mention the risk posed as unwitting customers step in front of the bus as it takes off. 

The lesson for marketers? Look at your product from every angle that the customer may use it.  Does it effiiciently communicate all they need to know or do the customers have to adapt their behaviour to understand how to use it?  If you are making your customers look at the front before they are ready to get on-board, you are not doing your job.

Traffic light button pushers

In a recent post (Elevating elevator multi-sensory behaviour) I wrote about the quiet chaos invoked when one of the sensory cues breaks down - in this case a "bing" that confirms that the elevator button has been activated.  But let's take it outside, to any street corner where pedestrians cross with the safety lights.  Why is it that some people feel that pressing the button repeatedly, and often with rapid fire technique, will speed up the light change?

The button itself usually makes a sound as you depress it - reinforcing that your action has been conducted. Some buttons even have back lighting to reinforce that you have completed your task. But these cues are simply acknowledging that you have pushed the button. What if I want to CONTROL the process?  What if I DON"T HAVE TIME TO WAIT 30 SECONDS BECAUSE I'M A VERY BUSY PERSON! Press press press the button and aha! The lights have changed! Proof that the more times I press the button the faster the lights will change.  And for those skeptics who say the lights would have changed anyway, that may be true but it would have taken soooo much longer. 

What's happening here?  People who must logically know that one push of a button is enough to set the system to change the lights are finding themselves repeatedly and earnestly reaching for the button.  People who must rationally know that the light system does not count how many button clicks it gets before making the change (8, 9, 10...yep, now I can change) keep pressing that thing like it's machine gun.  What's happening is a pretty simple reinforcement of behaviour. Do it once and it works, why not do it every time?  And why take the 'risk' that not doing it will mean that the lights won't change...ever? 

Look around and you will see people of all walks of life behaving in ways counter to logic because that's just how we are (refer Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely) Of course it doesn't mean there cannot be improvements to everyday experiences like traffic light crossings.  How about a count down timer that is enacted when the button is pressed?  I've seen timers that count how much time you have left to cross the street, but how about knowing you have 10 seconds to wait before the lights switch?  It will also help to cue whether the person across the street has already pressed the button.

For marketers the lesson from the lights is that the more cues the better.  Reinforce that your customer has completed whatever task is required of them - Order complete message; Acknowledgement that their competition entry has been received; a reference number when dealing over the phone - confirm, confirm, confirm that they have completed their action otherwise they may keep pressing the button.

Elevating elevator multi-sensory behaviour

One of the elevators in my building at work has a faulty button so whenever we swipe our security passes and push "8" the light goes on but there is no "bing". Push the button for any other floor and the "bing" reinforces that the magic elevator has recognised our request.  If you want any proof that multi-sensory cues are important, just observe the body language of people who have not their button push confirmed - does any of the following sound familiar? Re-pressing the button. Repeated glances at the button. Nervous toe tapping as the targeted floor approaches. Heightened anxiety.  Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?  After all, the worst that can happen is you go to another floor and have to try again. And it is ridiculous - it is irrational.  The innocuous absence of a "bing" can change your experience of an elevator trip. 

In his book Brand Sense, Sensory Secrets Behind The Stuff We Buy, Martin Lindstrom talks about the importance of such sounds as the ding heralding the arrival of an email in your inbox and the sound of a car door closing.  If you have a Mac computer you will no doubt be familiar with the unique...how do I describe this...vrrrr pop! that accompanies actions to close Apps. The iPod click wheel, the Nokia ringtone (which was, whilst recognisable, more a negative than positive for the Brand because it was connected to work...), tell us that sounds are vital to cue and/or reinforce behaviour.

Back to the lift in my building.  Three of 5 senses are generally employed in the button scenario.  Touch - pushing the button; Sight - a light to indicate the button has been activated; and Sound - the 'bing" to reinforce the button's action. Thankfully for now, Touch and Smell have been left out of lift button pushing (but not always out of the experience of lift travel unfortunately). As soon as the Sight or Sound cues are absent, the system breaks down and we all get a little uncomfortable.

So what is the lesson from the elevator? People subconsciously seek multi-sensory reinforcement of their behaviour and when one of the expected cues is absent, performance is sub-optimal.  Think about your product or your marketing message - what cues are you setting up for your customers and are they reinforcing the desired (purchase) behaviour?

Yo-Yo 3: Marketing getting craze-y

In the two earlier articles Yo-Yo 1: Crazes happen because people herd and Yo-Yo 2:  Crazes come in two forms: Tsunami style and Mexican wave we covered how herding behaviour underpins Crazes like Yo-Yos, polished floorboards and iPhones, and that Crazes can be classified as either Giant Waves or Mexican Waves depending on their momentum and direction. If we agree that getting a mass of people to do something is good for business, let's now consider the role of marketers in starting a craze and/or surfing one.

Recall that Coke deliberately sent track-suited tricksters to my school to incite the Yo-Yo craze, an example of a Giant Wave, all consuming craze.  Clearly this was a marketing strategy to influence young minds to the positive qualities of Coca-Cola. But what did they do to ensure it worked?

Coke made sure that
- they selected representatives we would be influenced by (ie they were cool)
- the skill/activity was accessible to the mass
- the Craze itself was talkable and tangible
- they supported the Craze with related messages in market so that wherever we turned the Coke promise was consistent and reinforcing

What about a Mexican wave? Whilst the elements to start the craze might be the same as a Giant Wave it's the momentum that's the difference. Take iPods.  Someone to influence the market? Steve Jobs. Something tangible, accessible and talkable? The iPod's portability and distinctive whiteness made it a highly visible talking point.  Related messages? The launch by Steve Jobs on stage in his black top and jeans is key to influencing early adopters to purchase and carry his message to market. Aided of course by the famous and distinctive iPod posters which highlighted the product's whiteness.  But the momentum...

In a Mexican Wave the product craze is pushed forward - ideally with the market's own momentum but often with marketing's support. iPods were picked up by early adopters before trickling (at great speed relative to other products) to other influencible market segments. The energy comes from referral - implicit or explicit- and mass comes over time.

Contrast this with a Giant Wave - the early adopters are the market - it's all or nothing because the time period is condensed.  Mass comes immediately or not at all. For this type of craze, the marketing is more intense because all bases must be covered together for a finite period.

In the case of a Giant Wave, it is harder for competitors to get a slice of the action because by the time they have geared up, the craze might be over.  Mexican Waves on the other hand are susceptible to competitor activity as they try to steal the momentum that has been generated.

So for those in marketing, the key elements of Crazes seem to be mass behavioural change and momentum, summarised in the table below.   Central to the work we do is who we influence and how - but that will have to wait for another post - for now I have to go and find my Yo-Yo.

-

Train Greeter is priming gold

My train station has introduced a Greeter - a person who stands on the platform and greets everyone as they board the train. This has a couple of obvious benefits for the commuters
1. gives us a readily available source of information about schedule changes and
2. assists people who are less familiar with the train travel process

So what's in it for the train company?
I dare say the validation of tickets will increase -  Whilst the Greeter is not there to check every ticket, it is surely harder to avoid the validation process with a smiling Greeter standing in front of you.  The power of shame!

But the beauty of this Greeter is how he is priming commuter behaviour.  He is placing us in a positive frame of mind, forcing us to interact with him in a humanised way.  I'll bet this will reduce the likelihood that we will become angry and resentful of the invariable delays and more forgiving of the train system. Well, a bit anyway!

And the lesson for marketers? Don't underestimate the human experience and how a business/Brand can prime the minds of customers for a better experience, particularly when times are tough.

For more on priming behaviour, check out Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational.

PS The morning after I posted this piece my train was cancelled and the Greeter was nowhere to be seen!  Metro trains have a way to go to make life better for their commuting population,

Yo-Yo 2: Crazes come in two forms: Tsunami style and Mexican wave

In the post “Crazes happen because people herd”, I mentioned that fundamentally all crazes are alike in that they compel a group of people to behave a certain way for a certain period of time. Crazes have both a sense of momentum and of conclusion.  Think about Yo-Yos as they completely take over every recess and lunch time in the school yard, before being quickly and unceremoniously replaced by the next big thing,   Same with the Macarena – who can believe it swept the dance floors worldwide before disappearing to the shame file?  

But there are also key differences between crazes.

In some crazes, there is a sense that it has come from nowhere and swept everyone along in its path.  It feels like wherever you turn people are involved. Then, the craze recedes and is replaced by something else.  This is the Yo-Yo type of craze that I refer to as a tsunami or “giant wave”. Giant wave crazes have a sense of singular direction (to the shore ie crashing onto the target market), power (you are decidedly either in or out of the craze) and impermanence (just like the tide, the craze will recede).  I also lump longer term crazes (trends) like polished floorboards in this category. For a number of years now, those in the market to renovate a house/buy a house/sell a house would have seen how floorboards have had the edge over carpet. Ditto for stainless steel appliances over whitegoods. 

In other crazes, there is a sense that the market itself has created the momentum with one group stimulating the craze across another. Instead of a singular direction, these crazes move laterally across a market, more like dominoes, until their momentum finally tapers to nothing.  These crazes I refer to as “Mexican waves” because they are contagious and rely on group perpetuation. An example of this craze would be iPhones where influential early adopters generate the first wave of craze before other segments make the purchase.  I would also classify Zumba the new fitness craze as a Mexican wave because it started in one gym and has gradually spread to your local fitness center. 

Now importantly, whilst you are in the midst of a craze you are probably not aware of it being either a Mexican Wave or Giant Wave style craze because to you and your influential peers, it probably seems all consuming.  When I was learning to Yo-Yo, it seemed my whole world (ie school population) was part of the contagious magic.   

So the distinction between Tsunami and Mexican Wave crazes is probably not important for those involved, but I believe it can be important to marketers.  Why? Because knowing how to stimulate a mass audience to meet your objectives is central to what we do.  And that’s the subject of the third article in this series which focuses on the role of marketing in starting and riding crazes.