Splendid
3 Comments Published by Frank Lane July 9th, 2007 in Alignment, Differentiation, Execution, Focus, Packaging, Spot OnIt’s about time to send some Killer Brand Kudos towards SPLENDA.
Splenda introduced into a category of chemicals with a “made from sugar” differentiation, a more natural, or at least less artificial formula in an artificial category without harping on either claim, focusing instead on “made from sugar so it tastes like sugar.”
The brand’s march towards market leadership has been hindered by their own inability to make enough of it to serve all customers. One of the big reasons all diet colas are not yet made from Splenda traces to Splenda’s continuing capacity issues. They add capacity and the market soaks it up.
Their alignment is very tight. Everything that they do is in Spenda yellow. Every consumer packette now carries a sweet saying, such as “If only everything were this sweet,” or “The packet holds the key to sweetness,” or “Caution; May result in extreme happiness. Sprinkle at your own risk.”
Just a very strong example of Focus, Alignment and Linkage (although of the three, linkage is the weakest to the name, and actually stronger to the color). Waffle House waitresses tell me that customers ask for the “yellow” stuff.
SPLENDA is a great example. Not only did they do it right, but they pulled it off at a time when most would have said, you can’t compete with NutraSweet – the dominant brand prior to SPLENDA.
Today, SPLENDA is the category’s dominant, Killer Brand. I have been impressed with every aspect of their execution: Positioning, Product, Naming, Brand Identity, Packaging. Even their introduction at premium-pricing helped reinforce their outstanding claim. Then, they delivered upon it in remarkable fashion.
I agree with Josh. In order to establish a brand, you must keep uniform in your marketing and presentation. With so many “copycat products” following suite after an innovative product or idea comes out, you have to be able to still compete with your competitors in giving your customers something easy to remember, believe in and have access to. Another note: you want to keep in mind that you have to create a GLOBAL brand identity. With the internet opening up purchasing power throughout the world, you want to keep your brand unified so that it is not confusing to different countries where messages about products can carry different meanings based on culture, race or income. That’s why it is more bankable if you can keep your product’s brand simple and accessible, thus appealing to a greater customer base and guarantee continue product success.
Farrah Nayka Ashline
An often neglected channel for syndicating content articles is to place them in Rss or atom feeds. This one strategy alone may bring you a lot of referral traffic to your articles on a regular basis.