YOUNG MARKETERS ELITE 4 - ASSIGNMENT 1.2

Minh Hoang - Thai Hao - Cong Dung - Minh Chau

CONNECTING WITH CONSUMERS

Nowadays, having a good product or service is far from

enough. It’s not about WHAT people buy, it’s WHY

they have to buy ours. A brand strategist had better

give the consumers a good reason to buy, one that is

unique and different from others who offer the same

product/service.

A good salesman makes consumers buy ONCE.

An attractive promotion makes consumers buy TWICE.

But a well-established relationship makes them buy

AGAIN & AGAIN. Without this relationship, it’s just a

war of price and promotion.

OVERVIEW

There are several ways to establish and maintain a relationship with consumers. In this paper, we are

about to analyize 5 bases of a good consumer relationship:

- substance: the ability to stay true to what we promise

- usefulness: the effectiveness of a product/service

- meaning: the emotional/spiritual value

- value: the added value, tangible or intangible, we offer to consumers

- significance: the transformative/greater impact of the product/service

1. Substance

Substance is the ability to stay true to what we promise. It’s the core of the

promise. We can not execute the promise to consumer if we don’t have the ability

to do that. It looks like “A Singer” has to have a “Voice” – the core of being

sustaining a real singer. As we seem singer who doesn’t have a voice – but

he/she uses other tools like dancers, scandal, body to be famous often does not

maintain the sustainable success

1. Substance - Example

Iphone:

With the “core” hardware – run

with the exclusive OS. And it

create an wonderful interaction

between hardware and OS so it

always run stably without lagging

So it can easily demonstrate for

their promise “Simple”

Bphone:

An Unstable hardware and

software make it rapidly boycott by

consumer because the brand can

not keep their promise

So it can easily demonstrate for

their promise “The World No.1

Phone”

2. Usefulness

A product/service’s usefulness is its ability to meet a certain need or solve a

problem of the consumers. Usefulness is also about the convenience and

enjoyment in product/service experience.

In today’s cluttered world, usefulness is also about the ability to ease the pain of

decision making for consumers. They don’t have to weigh the pros and cons of

various products, instead, they will simply go for the one with greatest usefulness.

2. Usefulness - Example

Tiki is considered as one of the leading sites in terms of online shopping. The usefulness of Tiki can be

seen in:

- The variety of items: On Tiki website, an online shopper can find almost anything they need

ranging from a book, shampoo, a smart phone to a top-up card. Spending hours browsing through

the stores to find something is now outdated.

- Rating and testimonials: Tiki had great effort to build rating and testinomials for each product,

which is much more impressive as compared to Lazada or Adayroi. This special feature on Tiki

becomes a great source of reference for the next shopper who intends to buy that product. More

than that, it also helps to build trust towards Tiki’s credibility.

- Product’s image and information: Tiki uses the actual image of the product with detailed

information, not only helping consumers in decision-making but also building Tiki’s credibility.

- Fast delivery: Not only offering free delivery for a certain basket size, Tiki also offer 24-hour

delivery for those who cannot wait any longer for a new item.

- Various payment methods: online payment and cash on delivery

- Always-on promotion activities that create more value for consumers/shoppers

3. Meaning

Meaning is critical in building trust as well as love of customers for a brand. But to

do that they have to keep their brand promise to create credibility, confidence on

customers in a long time.

Besides, it is Brand metaphors operate at a much deeper and less obvious level

than surface metaphors. You may not be consciously aware of them, but as soon

as they’re pointed out they become obvious.

3. Meaning - Example

Dove - The house of true beauty

"Beautiful" is not defined by shape, measurements, color skin - but only when you feel you are the most

beautiful. Honest. Unique. Authentic.

When using dove, consumer feel gentle, feminine and simple because they will think that this is the true

beauty.

4. Value

Following by the

research of BAIN &

COMPANY there

are 30 “elements of

value” categorized

in four kind of

needs that help

Brand make a

good connecting

with consumers:

functional,

emotional, life

changing and

social impact

Tangible

Intangible

Value

People expect to resolve their

functional problems

People pay for it

BUT

For What they experience and what they care about

Functional : What does it

do?

Emotional : How does it

make me feel?

Life Changing: How does it

help to change mylife

Social Impact: What value

does it bring to the society ?

4. Value - example

Functional : What does it

do?

Emotional : How does it

make me feel?

Life Changing: How does it

help to change mylife

Social Impact: What value

does it bring to the society ?

Functional : It helps my height grow,

improve brain and resistance for my

health

Emotional: Friendly, fun, Cute,

Close to end-users (childrend) – the

image send the message “mắt sang

dáng cao”

Social Impact: “Vươn cao việt nam”

funds has run from 2013 to now? It

helps to bring milk to poor children to

help them grow

Life Changing: Every Childrend

always want to explore the new

outside the world so VNM brings

hope to them

5. Significance

According to Oxford Dictionary, significance is the importance of something,

especially when this has an effect on what happens in the future.

A brand with significance can be understood as one that leaves greater impact,

surpassing its functional or emotional benefit.

5. Significance - Example

Trung Nguyên with ‘the life-changing books’ (Tủ sách đổi đời)

In 2014, Trung Nguyen had an initiative to give away free portable books for

young coffee goers. Those books were famous names in youth empowerment

genre. Trung Nguyen’s vision was to initiate a wave of change in Vietnamese

young people, inspire and empower them to contribute to the society.

The initiative created big buzz in the market for a while. However, it did not sustain

in the long run. In this case, we learn that significance is not among the priority is

connecting with consumers. The top priority of a brand should focus on the

product/service itself and make sure that it has substance, usefulness, value and

meaning to its consumers.

Analyze

- Value: its popular, and easy for use.

- Substance: its important, and when we have any product, must have substance. Its like fuction benefit. If we dont have

it, this product no need appear

- Meaning: dont use it when brand staring or no long term in market. Use it when brand is big and influential. At this

time, this function benefit of product is familiar. Brand want to new. So they connecting with meaning

- Usefullness: easy for find, but hard for do

- Significance: this so hard, but when your brand use it for connecting => so WOW if success and you can control

customer by significance weapon.

In past, people think successful people use expensive pen

(feature is pen in pocket man). But now, although have

more expensive pen but its not necessary and people cant

discern what pen is expensive of fake => people dont care

In past, people think rich people use creadit card (for

storage money. But now creadit card is popular => people

dont care

Its true but still false. (special in VN market). But we view

in true angle: In past, people think rich people use luxury

watch, so they care but now, apple or samsung watch

appear that have more feature. => People dont care about

luxury watch like Vespa.

In past, people says nothing about chair, television and

cell phone until expensive products have more function

benefit like Smart TV or Iphone. So people impress

and they think what people in good life (more money)

can owned it. Ex: owned Iphone is hierarchy

=> This explain same like smart watch in bottom table.

We must have great vision and strategy to be able to

reasonably create revolutionary products, have stegament in

market and make people say a lot about this.

The easiest way is find things what people don’t care, then

make a product have BIG function. For cunsomer WOW and

think: “This stuff can get these breakthrough features ??”

Conclud

e