"Only with strong brands is the price secondary"
Sandro C. Principe, Managing Partner and CEO of BBDO Consulting Zurich, on the uniqueness of brands.
Sandro C. Principe, Managing Partner and CEO of BBDO Consulting Zurich, on the uniqueness of brands.WW Mr. Principe, the value creation potential of many brands has clearly not yet been exhausted. With your study, are you only
Self-promotion?
Sandro Principe Of course, the results of the study also legitimize the existence of companies like BBDO. Today, high investments are made in brands and their maintenance. In general, brands are becoming increasingly important. As a specialist in brand consulting and communication, the study helps us to find out where individual companies and sectors stand in this respect.
However, the study gives the communications industry a poor report card: Their job is to position brands clearly - but there is no visible success.
This can certainly be seen as a sign that the communications industry has not yet managed to achieve more. However, this also has to do with the fact that brands were previously seen as one aspect among many. Today, brand management is understood more comprehensively. In addition to our analyses based on detailed customer and market data, the findings of brain research, for example, are already being incorporated into brand strategies in order to exploit brand potential even better than before.
And yet your work is not getting any easier: there are more and more brands. How can they still be made distinguishable?
The number of products and therefore also brands has recently
has actually increased dramatically. This is one of the reasons why interchangeability continues to increase. In addition, customers are behaving more rationally than many would like. However, it is now possible to clearly position a brand. It is crucial that a company focuses on its target group and communicates its brand accordingly across all
contact points can be experienced congruently.
However, it is very difficult to position a soap or shampoo against hundreds of equivalent products.
Marketing certainly varies in difficulty depending on the industry and product. It can therefore be a realization that not every product needs a brand. This is also shown by the commercial success of the many white label products.
Then only the price counts.
Consumers behave in a hybrid way, according to the motto: Denner today, Rolex tomorrow. Where the customer has no other decision criteria, the price-performance ratio is the only thing that matters. Only very strong brands manage to make price a secondary consideration.
Interview: Patrick Steinemann
Self-promotion?
Sandro Principe Of course, the results of the study also legitimize the existence of companies like BBDO. Today, high investments are made in brands and their maintenance. In general, brands are becoming increasingly important. As a specialist in brand consulting and communication, the study helps us to find out where individual companies and sectors stand in this respect.
However, the study gives the communications industry a poor report card: Their job is to position brands clearly - but there is no visible success.
This can certainly be seen as a sign that the communications industry has not yet managed to achieve more. However, this also has to do with the fact that brands were previously seen as one aspect among many. Today, brand management is understood more comprehensively. In addition to our analyses based on detailed customer and market data, the findings of brain research, for example, are already being incorporated into brand strategies in order to exploit brand potential even better than before.
And yet your work is not getting any easier: there are more and more brands. How can they still be made distinguishable?
The number of products and therefore also brands has recently
has actually increased dramatically. This is one of the reasons why interchangeability continues to increase. In addition, customers are behaving more rationally than many would like. However, it is now possible to clearly position a brand. It is crucial that a company focuses on its target group and communicates its brand accordingly across all
contact points can be experienced congruently.
However, it is very difficult to position a soap or shampoo against hundreds of equivalent products.
Marketing certainly varies in difficulty depending on the industry and product. It can therefore be a realization that not every product needs a brand. This is also shown by the commercial success of the many white label products.
Then only the price counts.
Consumers behave in a hybrid way, according to the motto: Denner today, Rolex tomorrow. Where the customer has no other decision criteria, the price-performance ratio is the only thing that matters. Only very strong brands manage to make price a secondary consideration.
Interview: Patrick Steinemann
