BRAND ASSET MANAGEMENT
The goal of the project is to experience Strategic Design Planning as a human-centered innovation planning approach and through this journey to reach the understanding of the basic idea of planning as a phase that precedes designing.
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts Design Management International September - November 2015 Tutor: Hans Kaspar Hugentobler Author: Akar Anil Sinha (akar.sinha@stud.hslu.ch)
PREFACE The intent of this report is to analyze 3M as a company from a Human centered perspective and to understand how planning as a process precedes designing. The report provides us with information of something valuable, new and makes us think about the why and what of it. It informs us that there is a broader view that exists beyond the solution itself where the framework of the same talks about the building blocks of “10 types of innovation”. The process of thinking around the “why and what” take place in the front-end of the innovation process which is unlike the traditional inside-out development as the traditional focus of design which deals with a back-end scope of refining the decision taken upon by others and of being in the service of marketing.
PREFACE
i
CONTENT Organization Brand Analysis: Brand Identity+Positioning Brand Portfolio+Architecture Brand Experience+Meaning Brand Gap+Utopia Brand Synthesis: Brand Project+Prototype
CONTENT
ii
“An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.� -Dee Hock
ORGANIZATION
NAME 3M SLOGAN Science. Applied to life. COMPANY DESCRIPTION 3M is a major American corporation that stands for Minnesota Mining Manufacturing. Headquartered in St. Paul/Minnesota in the United States, the company is a provider of global multi-technology and for the consumers, it is also known through its brands like Post-it and Scotch. The Group produces over 50,000 different products on the basis of 47 technology platforms and more than 25,000 patents. As a top company that caters to a wide range of technology, 3M specializes in six different businesses namely: Consumer and Office, Display and Graphics, Electro and Communications, Health Care, Industrial and Transportation Safety, Security and Protection Services. Business Industry Technology The general business activity and principal products or commercial enterprise of 3M are categorized as being part of the Technology Industry.
ORGANIZATION
1
TRENDS
The 3M (Switzerland) celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013. As a future initiative, the company plans that its products and solutions should be able to provide societal challenges and at the same time also contribute to sustainable development. Technology: 3M is a diversified technological company that has a global presence in all major markets. The different areas and the Group’s subsidiaries operate in research, manufacturing and marketing of 3M products closely. Values: The company plans to be the most innovative company and wishes to be the preferred supplier among the customers. Their idea of innovation is not just limited to the products but also to their entire approach to business areas , including the ones which are social and environmental concerns specific.
List of 3M products
1932 revolutionized the 3M abrasives market with the development of the first waterproof sandpaper.
1930 invented the young 3M engineer Richard Drew The waterproof, Scotch cellophane tape for packaging of grocers and bakers.
Everyday objects with a sophisticated design: The witty post-it Dispenser and Scotch Tape Dispenser 3M accents on every desk.
The Corporate Responsibility approach of 3M and their policies and procedures with respect to sustainability are directly linked to their fundamental corporate values.
ORGANIZATION
2
3M is not the kind of company which stays stuck on one thing, which is why they make everything from tape to high-end security gear. The company is diversified in such a manner that it makes products through five operating segments Industrial; Safety and Graphics; Electronics and Energy; Health Care; and Consumer. The products made by 3M are sold directly to the users worldwide through different channels of wholesalers, retailers, distributors, and dealers worldwide. As per reports, Industrial, its largest segment, accounted for about 34% of 3M’s total revenues in 2014. MAJOR COMPETITORS JOHNSON & JOHNSON BOSTIK SA Sika AG General Electric Co. Honeywell International Inc. Kone Oyj OFFERING PORTFOLIO Scotch® Adhesive Tape Post-it® Notes and Products 3M Command™ Strips & Picture Hangers 3M Scotchgard™ Fabric Protector Ultrathon™ Insect Repellent (3M sells multiple products but these are the top selling products)
ORGANIZATION
3
Brand Analysis
UNDERSTANDING BRANDS
As every company wishes to reach out to more and more customers, many big companies try to become a global brand. During this process, many of these companies look forward to using branding as a strategy, i.e a strategy which helps them communicate, to relate and sometimes to accept. Various mediums such as media, website, hoardings and other numerous channels are used to create the image of the brand in the minds of the consumers. Today, even a store or a space is used to represent the image of a brand or service, for example, FEDEX had got rid of all the chaos that was happening in the background to give the customer a view of what they wanted to see or what they had come for.
Most innovative companies of the world
The ideal brand state BRAND ANALYSIS
5
Brand Identity+Positioning
BRAND POSITIONING The way a company fundamentally competes in the market makes a brand a concept. It is about how consumers recognize their brand and how it is used for their own benefits. A brand tells the story of success, service, authenticity, delivery, experience and how it cares for its respective consumer. It is a business concept while branding is one of the several important concepts that are used in marketing a business. Marketing is useful for helping any small business to develop and establish a brand and also involves the iterative communication process between a company and its customers.
Architecture
How it can be represented
Identity Customer Relevance
BRAND MATURE It is the way of communicating how matured an organization is how well do they develop theme around their brand. It is all about what they want to communicate and how they want to communicate.
Match
Connection Differentiation
Position
How to make your communication sharp Brand positioning of the company
Whatever brand does should do it well. - Increasing engagement. - Making relationship more important. - Satisfaction is not enough, look beyond it. - Retail can be branded as an experience.
BRAND IDENTITY + POSITIONING
7
THE FINGER TIP METHOD
Since the consumer has an upper hand, the traditional ways of marketing are being challenged now. It is now becoming difficult for marketers to dictate the needs of the consumer. The variety of purchase arenas as well as different kinds of packaging are adding to the complexity of the brand, as in the end the intent of the brand is interaction with the consumer. Once a brand identity has been set into the mind of the consumer, it can be difficult to alter it later. This is where brand fingerprinting plays its part. Just as the human fingerprint is an faultless method of identification, the same way a brand has its own essential fingerprint. In three ways: First, the fingerprint means an ever-changing knowledge base which is bigger than those involved. It recognizes all those - not just employees of the marketing team - who give or have given a brand its life.
Understanding a brand means in reality understanding a consumer who has the primary relationship with the brand. However, it is important that any form of information about the consumer is equal to useless unless it is in such a form that it can be read and understood by everyone involved in the process of brand development. It is important to recognize that,like the people who buy them, brands are not natural risk-takers. And just like consumers, some brands have a midlife crisis and need major treatment. Others are born again re-founded on some new insight or trend.
Second, fingerprinting identifies where the brand is in relation to the numerous external influences that surround it. Third, it allows a benchmark to be set against which all aspects of a brand’s development can be measured during any process of change.
BRAND IDENTITY + POSITIONING
8
Here No where N 1) Symbolic A M 2) Material E 3) Behavioral
Everywhere
Refers to the space that the brand has captured in the consumers mind.
Space Symmetrical
Position
Body
Asymmetrical 1) Play with the past. 2) Treat the present. 3) Appeal the future.
Company Identity
BRAND IDENTITY + POSITIONING
Project
What Brand says
Respect Ignore
“I AM” “YOU ARE” “WE ARE”
Tell what the company wants to do in the future.
Time
Advertising Industry Product Brand Norm Social/ cultural All normal at once
Association with product is like:
Norms
Relations
What People think
Observe the way they communicate and what people perceive out of it.
9
Here
3M as a brand identity is very well composed and is very attractive at the same time. If it was a material it would be very rigid and glossy at the same time. But there is no human connections to the brand.
3M has had a long history of producing manufacturing good and now they use state of the art technology methods to drive there production. They always strive for producing more and more innovative products in the future
No where Everywhere
Space Symmetrical
Position
Body
BRAND IDENTITY + POSITIONING
I AM a technology driven company.
Asymmetrical I deliver. I make.
Time
3m respects and abides all the norms and conditions set by the law makers. It is accepted in advertising, industrial purposes, product manufacturing and branding.
3M products are everywhere but nowhere. They might have a very brand recall but of their products not of their name.
Project
What Brand says
Respect Ignore
Norms
Relations
What People think
They want to talk about the convenience and the versatility of their products. SCIENCE APPLIED TO DAILY LIFE The customers of 3M experience the brand through its wide variety of products and services. The brand talks about innovation and does deliver as promised. 10
“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.� -Jeff Bezos
Brand Portfolio + Architecture
The Brand Portfolio The total collection of trademarks that a company applies to its products or services. Each make or brand within a business’ brand portfolio might be registered under applicable trademark laws and can represent a valuable asset to a company that is often actively promoted to potential customers. The Brand Architecture Brand architecture defines the different levels within your brand and provides a hierarchy that explains the relationships between the different products, services, and components that make up your company’s portfolio of offerings. In case of 3M Over the years 3m has managed to create various products and are the home to several front end and back end brands. They have strong support of their in house R&D department, Innovation Lab and which help them churn out innovative products yearly. Brand Relationship Spectrum. This graph helps us in seeing how closely products are attached to their brand and which brands function well without the support of their product. It is surprising to see that their front end brand have maximum separation. Brand Extension Is a tool that helps us describe what kind of market do 3m products cater to. BRAND PORTFOLIO + ARCHITECTURE
13
BRAND RELATIONSHIP SPECTRUM
Maximum Integration
BRAND PORTFOLIO + ARCHITECTURE
Maximum Separation
14
“Branding is marketing and networking. It’s net marking.” - Jarod Kintz, How to put out forest fires with your naked body
Brand Experience + Meaning
EXPERIENCE ECONOMY OR TRAJECTORY ECONOMY
There has been a shift in the value creation when it came to branding and marketing in todays scenario. The entire journey from a commodity to becoming a product has been an interesting one.
Experience Products
Commodity: Are the entities that are raw or unprocessed goods. Goods: Any commodity that is processed and up for sale. Products: The instance when goods get a title, they become products. To enhance the experience of any brand, companies today have started looking at touch points and how they can tap most of them to reach to newer markets.
Service
$2- $10
Goods Commodity
75¢-1.5CHF 5¢-25¢ 1¢-2¢
Graph explaining transformation economy.
Touch points of the brand. BRAND EXPERIENCE + MEANING
17
DIFFERENT TYPES OF BRAND EXPERIENCES
Archetypal Mythography This type of brand meaning requires the strategists to cosmologies. The meaning managers must put the brand into a context that everybody relates to the story. Along with time, 3M has projected itself to be a company centering around technology and innovation. Whenever any 3M product is purchased by a consumer, the feeling of purchasing an innovative product is felt by the consumer. Cultural Biography This category of brand meaning helps the brand to historicize, know where the past was and where the culture changes and how one can adapt to the changes. 3M was born as a small-scale mining venture in 1902 has slowly grown into a global powerhouse whose products improve the daily lives of people around the world. When the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co, i.e. The 3M started more than a century ago, the five founders had a simple goal: to harvest a mineral known as corundum from a mine called Crystal Bay. However, the mine didn’t produce much corundum, but it surely led to the birth of the spirit of innovation and collaboration that forms the foundation of today’s 3M. The fledgling company turned to other materials and other products, building up sales little by little. Technical and marketing innovations helped the company in climbing up ladder of success. . Today’s 3M is responsible for 60,000 products used in homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and more. BRAND EXPERIENCE + MEANING
Everyday Ethnography This branch requires the managers to contextualize and make familiar yet conclude a strange understanding about everyday behaviour of the people and see what affects them. In case of 3M, the famous story of the invention of POST-IT’S is very relevant to this category. There were in reality two accidents that lead to the invention of the Post-It note. The first was by Spencer Silver. According to the former Vice President of Technical Operations for 3M Geoff Nicholson (now retired), in 1968, Silver was working at 3M trying to create super strong adhesives for the use in the aerospace industry in building planes. Instead of a super strong adhesive, though, he accidentally managed to create an incredibly weak, pressure sensitive adhesive agent called Acrylate Copolymer Micro-spheres. The second big feature is that the adhesive is re-usable, thanks to the fact that the spheres are incredibly strong and resist breaking, dissolving, or melting. This adhesive did not interest 3M management as it was seen as too weak to be useful. It did have two interesting features, though. The first is that, when stuck to a surface, it can be peeled away without leaving any residue.
18
So after 5 years of constant rejection for the adhesive and another seven years in development and initial rejection, Post-It notes were finally a hit and have since become a mainstay in offices the world over, today being one of the top five best selling office supply products in the world.
Symbiotic Choreography This part ask the managers to customize their product according to the customer requirements. Its about customer relationship management (CRM) at every level. Meaning managers apply this in order to tailor it to the individual brand.
Utopian Cartography This type requires the manager to have a clear understanding on consumer desire. The meaning manager must anticipate on the future culture, world views and ethos of the brand.
Moral Geography The last and final category compels the manager to Evangelize, co-create and find the essence of the product. They need to build a story around the products that they sell.
3M as a brand has always prioritized technology and innovation as their two strong poles for the future. With the help of their these two strengths, they also strive to venture in the unexplored area(products and markets). Brand Iconography This category of experience challenges the manager to tangiblize and evoke all the senses. As is said, “All senses are important to make a better design and it should appeal to all the senses�. As 3M relies more on the earlier factors, it helps them to overlook this category. But all the products they design are soothing to all the senses and thus are easier to use and this makes them more acceptable.
BRAND EXPERIENCE + MEANING
19
Brand Gap + Utopia
BRAND BUILDING
Adjusting and readjusting are the main criteria’s for creating a brand. It tells us about what we want achieve and where we would want to be. There are sometimes certain gaps that we worry about when we build a brand. Content strategy plays a vital role after the brand gap has been identified because it is useful in understanding how a brand as a concept or a business can innovate with time. An experience focused shift is important if such a concept is to be pitched. A radical vision for the company is important for determining and thus achieving extreme possibilities in the future.
Brand Gap
Where we want to be ?
Branding is all about how a story gets told. Where we are ?
BRAND GAP + UTOPIA
21
STEPS FOR THE NEW CHANGE
To create the new face of the brand certain steps are followed they are as follows: 1) Framing the Brand Purpose. This tells us that brands are about people and the passion the brand should posses required to be what they want to be and what they want to achieve. Brands are extremely emotional and relevant towards their target audience. 2) Creating the Brand Concept. Here, We learn that future brands talk more about engagement and experience. They function as platforms through which people can participate with the company, empowering the gain more and more. 3) Resonate the brand story. Brand resonance is about story telling and at the same time relevant to the real time. It helps the consumer to engage at a crucial movement of during and beyond purchase. Customers often relate more with the brand story than the concept. 4) Clustering the brand solution. This type of change helps the brand to create a platform for a wide range of products and services with a significant space to innovate products, services, business models and more. This change is one of the best suited match for 3M
BRAND GAP + UTOPIA
5) Enabling the brand experience The brand experience is enabling people to achieve more. Adding value beyond the products and providing advice and support of the brand through life. 6)Connecting the Brand Relationship Brands facilitate relationships between people who share common purpose and passions. This enabling role builds a community or movement of advocates. 7) Extending the Brand Range Brand extension follows customer adjacencies, and this increases the brand value. 8) Optimizing the Brand Portfolio Brand architects are responsible in building around bigger ideas, are more efficient to support and more effective in cross selling, and building brands that mean more. 9) Impact the Brand Value Brand performance is measured by its added value to customer and business over time.
22
A distinctive appearance and a simple set of characteristics lead to an extremely flexible brand. -Woodrow Phoenix
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
Here
3M as a brand identity is very well composed and is very attractive at the same time. If it was a material it would be very rigid and glossy at the same time. But there is no human connections to the brand.
3M has had a long history of producing manufacturing good and now they use state of the art technology methods to drive there production. They always strive for producing more and more innovative products in the future
No where Everywhere
Space Symmetrical
Position
Body
Time
3m respects and abides all the norms and conditions set by the law makers. It is accepted in advertising, industrial purposes, product manufacturing and branding.
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
3M products are everywhere but nowhere. They might have a very brand recall but of their products not of their name.
Project
What Brand says
Respect Ignore
Asymmetrical
Norms
Relations
What People think
One of the most innovative and consumer centered companies in the world.
We care about our consumer and we strive to make their lives more easy and comfortable with applies science.
The customers of 3M experience the brand through its wide variety of products and services. The brand talks about innovation and does deliver as promised. 25
To observe a change in the company, it is necessary to focus on the “Project“ and the “Position“ phase. This also helps in determining the real gap. Challenge/ Gap: Customers are aware of 3M products but are unaware of the brand or its purpose. Brand Utopia: Acceptance of 3M as a innovative brand in the eyes of consumer.
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
26
BRAND UTOPIA
What consumer should see PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
27
Here, the main idea is to distinguish 3M as a consumer friendly company such that the consumer is aware of what the company is about. For instance, 3M as a parent company still remains unknown among consumers.
3M Consumer
Nutrilite’s ad campaign is one of such example where they show how they care for their consumer and their respective needs.
Where they are
Where they should be
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
28
NUTRILITE AD CAMPAIGN
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
29
The ad campaign for Nutrilite is an example where they show how they care for their consumer and their respective needs. In one of its advertisements, it talked about how much they care for their consumers and how dedicated they are towards innovating new products. It is thus highly important for the consumers to see how much the brand cares for them When looked at the 9 types of change, the company resembles a lot with “Clustering the brand solution� and as a consultant to 3M, I would suggest them to showcase their portfolio and offerings.
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
30
Conceptualization
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
31
STORY LINE
To communicate the idea of innovation, 3M could hire an Ad agency that helps them in creating an ad campaign on Innovation and its relation with 3M. The campaign should be telecasted across several part of the world in different languages. The key messages could be 1) How innovation enhances lives. 2) How 3M takes innovation seriously 4) What does 3M provide to its consumers.
The scripts of the ad could be: In this faster world technology and innovation play a vital role to enhance our live. Build it. Grow it. Maintain it. And Nurture it. At 3M we strive everyday to make products that not only enhance our consumers lives but nurtures it for better living. With our belief in the importance of innovation and technology we are able to Deliver. Build. And Care. For our customer. 3M SCIENCE APPLIED TO LIFE.
PROJECT + PROTOTYPE
32
Conclusion
Every company has to change its vision periodically to align with consumers mindset. The meaning and relation to technology and innovation could be established well if 3M aligns its vision to the same. 3M had a rich heritage of innovating products and converting them into brands. But in the process of doing it they lost their own brand recall. 3M is one of the most innovative brands in the world. There consumers are spread across the world. To cater to such a large mass, the brand should surely tell them 1) Who they are? 2) What do they do? 3) What does the consumer mean to them? Through this campaign 3M could make a lot of market presence and help customers to witness the “3M EXPERIENCE�
CONCLUSION
33
IMAGE SOURCES
http://www.scoop.it/t/top-selling-products-from-3m http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/competition.3M_Company.9482ec04f6818b42.html http://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/ http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-portfolio.html#ixzz3oq1scrTz http://www.sxsw.com/sites/default/files/news/image/3M%20 lounge%20logo%202.jpg http://image.slidesharecdn.com/3mpresentationrobertoandrscastillozavala-140827162130-phpapp02/95/3m-leading-through-innovation-1-638.jpg?cb=1409156534 http://www.supergrit.com/images/photos/3MPICS/AUTO.jpg http://www.me.umn.edu/alumni/images/threem.jpg http://static1.squarespace.com/static/503bc0b1e4b0591e17bd54fc/t/51b64793e4b0198e90f784b9/1430290248228/3M+Innovation +Center+Dubai+-+Interactive+Wall http://static1.squarespace.com/static/503bc0b1e4b0591e17bd54fc/t/51b64526e4b0b5fb90796186/1430290256356/3M+Innovation +Center+Dubai+-+Experience+Center http://payload153.cargocollective.com/1/0/11433/5360668/3M_21 28%202.JPG http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/ PRNA/ENR/FX-PH94543-20131009-2_10s.jpg http://solutions.3mae.ae/3MContentRetrievalAPI/BlobServlet?lmd=1295872867000&locale=en_AE&assetType=MMM_Image&assetId=1273675908680&blobAttribute=ImageFile https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-d8Cs_b2WqQw/UB8ymiP6FJI/AAAAAAAAUbM/WX7Xf1530h4/s720/DSC_5664.JPG
http://www.industryweek.com/site-files/industryweek.com/files/ imagecache/large_img/uploads/2014/11/3m-delft.jpg http://www.3m.com/wps/wcm/connect/17a78793-90df-439eb9ec-af3d8ca5265e/081115_SS_EdibleGarden-Thumb.jpg?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=17a78793-90df-439e-b9ec-af3d8ca5265e http://weknowyourdreams.com/image.php?pic=/images/nature/ nature-02.jpg http://thespiritscience.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/nature5.jpg http://floridapolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/technology.jpg http://static1.squarespace.com/static/51c71bd4e4b01f34284e6112/t/56359bc0e4b0ef5e7b3fc3cc/1446353856077/o-BUSINESS-TECHNOLOGY-facebook.jpg https://www.google.ch/search?q=3m+products&espv=2&biw=1440&bih=801&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_ AUoAWoVChMI0eSvxtj8yAIV6mtyCh33QgrI#imgrc=VKIBCjaVjKbumM%3A https://www.google.ch/search?q=3m+products&espv=2&biw=1440&bih=801&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_ AUoAWoVChMI0eSvxtj8yAIV6mtyCh33QgrI#tbm=isch&q=gru&imgrc=bYzufLqzFlAuEM%3A