Resolving brand contradictions for one of the oldest and most dominant footwear brands

The task : communication proposition development

The research approach : consumer subconscious interviews + contrastive semiotic framework for analysing data

The challenges:

• Uncovering the earliest impression (difficult to retrieve otherwise) of the brand and the most recent (consumers indifferent to the brand, hence a lack of interest in narrating details). 
• Ideating on future directions for a brand that has seemingly not changed in many years
• Uncovering metaphors for shoes to get to the emotional underpinnings of this category

illume research revealed:

‘Aesthetics’ dominate decision making & ‘comfort’ found wanting. The two considered mutually exclusive. The client’s brand & its sub-brands have products that offer dual-benefits but the brand does not celebrate this.

It stood for = Uniform = against the code of ‘fashion’ which consumers associate with the category.

Associated with childhood, but has an aura of an adult like world –  lacking color & excitement – a need to resolve this contradiction

The positioning space – ‘Feet-hugging footwear’

Resolving the dichotomy between comfort and style

The dominant code for footwear brands = fashion, style, expression and indulgence

The brand rides a residual code & talks the language of comfort, fit and value. 

Consumers seek a blend of the two but find these mutually exclusive. The umbrella brand has sub-brands that offer the balance between style and comfort. 

• An emotional concept – a shift from the cluttered realm of competing on physical attributes
• An abstract idea that has extendibility
• Reinforces the idea of the parent brand nostalgia
• Cues customised footwear – fit my feet perfectly.

*Other categories for which we used this approach :  A new luxury club, a mass luggage brand

Trend spotting for a global online magazine

Reshma is part of a team of global trend-spotters for ModelPeople Inc.

Here is a collection of her work cross-referenced from the GlobalCultureBlog

LIFESTYLE 

From spa vouchers to Chumbak t-shirts and pataka lampshades, people take A break from tradition - with some unusual festive gifting - Dec 2011

Tech savvy and earth friendly – talks about the resurgence of cycling albeit in a new avatar and the app-mania that gripped Bangalore - Dec 2012

Style trend – Global Desi – Sept 2014

CONSUMER GOODS

Brands like Micromax, TERI and Swach pave the way for a new price-value equation and demonstrate that frugal innovation needn’t equate cheaper production – June 2012

Thoughtful gifting in Bangalore – capitalizing on nostalgia, electronic love and frugalism – Dec 2013

PERSONAL CARE

The concept of engineered beauty and New masculinity codes in India - May 2013

Fast, fit and fun -  Personal care brands talking the language of quick fixes and multiple benefits – Feb 2014

FOOD AND BEVERAGE

Trying to fit-in -  Brands (Red Label, Britannia, Tibb’s Frankie, Sanjeevam & Sattvic)  capitalizing on the health frenzy amongst consumers - Sept 2012

Strapped for time; spoilt for choice – Urban Indians take to the internet to find them anything from unusual restaurant deals to cool weekend activities. March 2013

VALUES AND ATTITUDES

Be your own hero – emerging consumer values – self-assertion, spirituality and narcissism. Feb 2014

Two brands (Indigo Airline and Maruti) that connect with - the current generation of consumers straddle two worlds frugalism and consumerism – April 2015

Innovative confectionary : The adventures of Mr. Bean

The task – explore consumer perceptions around a soft fruit candy, test product prototypes and  develop communication ideas. In a nutshell – what kids thought about the humble Mr. Bean :)

What illume did…

We called a bunch of kids and gave them a lot of candies (all without its original packaging to eliminate any bias) and asked them to have fun with it. And fun they had…they played with it like marbles, tossed them around, made jelly bean alphabets and of course smelt, tasted, touched, poked, and tore them into two to explore its innards. At the end we gave them a plateful of assorted candy and empty paper cups and asked them to grab as many as they like to capture interest to purchase.

At the end of our research we concluded - it has to be differentiated from other strawberry candies – which were plentiful – strawberry being the favorite amongst kids.  The product  though looked very plain on the outside ensconced a pleasant surprise for kids on the inside – with multiple layers and oozing jelly. This was the product highlight   

illume recommended

• To give the shape a name
  
• Create a brand name that capitalizes the surprise – kids love surprises (who doesn’t) and the product naturally lent itself to one – no one could guess it packed three flavors and oozing jelly inside. 
• Kids loved calling it names – to describe how it tasted. We recommended – that the brand create an ownable descriptor  - by running a contest to get kids to come up with the most unusual but apt descriptor for its texture  – juicy, glossy, messy, fruity, gooey etc.
• Capitalize on the playability – create an eating ritual around it,  cute playful pack shapes to reinforce the fun element and communication imagery that featured the world of jelly beans or BTL promotions with kids creating jelly bean art were some of the other suggestions.

The meaning in the ‘fill it-shut it-forget it’ routine for a washing machine detergent user

The task: Identifying emotional triggers to position a washing machine detergent brand

The approach : individual subconscious interviews using specialist methods for exploring product sensorial and emotional payoffs

The challenges:
The window of interaction with the product – less than two minutes.

The target were the front loading users who had little or no involvement with the process.

Washing – a low involvement mechanical task that people would not register / would even be able to talk about consciously.

Illume research revealed:

Women’s brand imprints for detergents  went back to their own childhood when they saw their mother’s hand wash their clothes.  That also imprinted in their mind the proof of the product working and nostalgic connection with the brand. A new entrant would have to work on creating this connection with the next-gen consumer

The range of pay-offs that brands have focused on so far have largely been in one of these areas – liberation from the laundry task as necessary evil, mastery through the efficiency routine and family care through task integration

The positioning space – ‘Revitalize your external self’

An excerpt from the illume interview

‘Wearing washed clothes make you feel the same like you have just gotten out of a shower…so you feel very fresh, very energetic. The clothes make you feel fresh for a longer period of time. We have washing machines since it is very difficult to wash clothes everyday and to the perfection that you would like it.  If you go out for a whole day of work, you come back feeling all sweaty and tired in all the pollution. Feel very tired and exhausted. The clothes also have a certain odor.. The clothes also seem worn out. They have been through a lot the whole day...a lot of hard work. They are also very tired and wilted. The clothes also feel like they need a good wash. Like we feel like getting into the shower and the clothes also feel it. So one would want to get rid of the clothes one has been wearing so I would put it into the machine. And the next morning, like you feel refreshed…you get the same clothes back as if those were new. The clothes feel very rejuvenated and fresh and ready for another hard day’s work’.