Cracking the Brand Growth Code

Subconscious brand preference, more than a millennial obsession with direct delivery.  Gillette take note.

Podcast and Transcript from Knowledge@Wharton

MARKETING

Cracking the Code on Brand Growth

The battle for business growth does not take place on the internet or on store shelves. Rather, it takes place in the subconscious mind of prospective customers, whose purchasing decisions are more malleable than many brand leaders realize, write Michael Platt and Leslie Zane in this opinion piece. Zane is the founder of Triggers, a growth strategy company that has helped Fortune 500 firms with brand-building initiatives for 24 years. Platt is a professor of marketing, psychology and neuroscience at Wharton. He leads the school’s Neuroscience Initiative.

When Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin launched his now famous YouTube video in 2012, no one imagined that it would cause earth-shaking tremors under razor behemoth Gillette. But it did. The tongue-in-cheek style video explaining the Club’s many virtues had a seismic effect. The day it was released, the brand’s website crashed from huge traffic. Within 48 hours, 12,000 orders were received. A few years later, Unilever bought the Club for $1 billion.

Most analyses of the Dollar Shave Club’s success conclude that it accomplished this feat because of millennials’ obsession with direct delivery, the founder’s comedic flair, or its bargain basement prices. We say it was something much deeper. In fact, Dollar Shave Club rose to prominence because it employed the formula we have discovered to be the key to changing subconscious brand preference: the expansion of a brand’s positive associations in customers’ memories to the point that it becomes an automatic, involuntary choice.

While some marketers have called this startup’s success an anomaly, we have found that the opposite is true. Every brand, whether a startup or an established household name, has untapped growth potential and the ability to become the automatic choice of more consumers.  ... " 

3D Print Your Own Razor Handles

Nice idea that sounds fun, now engaging will it be?   How will the ads bring up this concept? Personalization certainly.  I have worked with Gillette.

Gillette Lets Consumers Make 3D-Printed Razor Handles  By CGT Staff  

Procter & Gamble's Gillette has introduced Razor Maker, an online assortment of products whose handles can be customized in a choice of 48 three-dimensional designs and seven colors.

The handles will be produced at Gillette’s Boston facility using stereolithography, a technology developed by 3D printing giant Formlabs, to hold either Mach3 or Fusion5 ProGlide cartridges. They will be sold via a dedicated razor-maker.com website and manufactured in limited quantities. Orders will be shipped within two to three weeks.

"Historically, 3D printing has been involved in the development or manufacturing for products people interact with every day. But consumers have had little interaction with 3D printing itself," said David Lakatos, chief product officer at Formlabs. “These new custom razor handles are the next step toward changing that dynamic.”

“Gillette is in the business of helping men look, feel and be their best,” said Pankaj Bhalla, director of Gillette & Venus North America. “That means giving them grooming options that not only meet their shaving needs, but also match their lifestyle, look and budget.

Prices start at $19 for a partially 3D-printed handle with black, rubberized grip; a fully printed handle is $25. Chrome handles are $39 and $45, respectively. Text can also be added to the design. Each handle comes with one razor cartridge. Customers can order four additional cartridges for $15. Color choices are black, white, red, blue, green, grey and chrome.   ....  " 

Procter Uses Simple Text for Razor Reorder

Addressing  the Razor blade club competition.  Procter's Gillette is using a simple text for order and replenishment.  How does this compare with approaches like Amazon Dash?  Other automated replenishment methods?

In Bizjournals:
Procter & Gamble Co. revealed today that it has launched Gillette on Demand, which will enable consumers to order razor blades with a one-word text message.

The Cincinnati-based company (NYSE: PG) said Gillette On Demand is the brand’s first direct-to-consumer service. Orders are shipped straight from Gillette facilities to men’s doorsteps in about two to three business days  .... " 

P&G Razor Innovation

In the HBR Blog.  How consumer innovation for Gillette is moving to the far east.   Matches some other speculation I have heard about how other innovation work is moving to the centers of populations and thus new markets.