Brand Less Ordinary: PooPourri.com – Disrupting the Mundane Market

I need to know what you stand for. From the brand name down. You’re putting products out there to connect with your audience. Right? What do you think Jon Bon Jovi? “An angel’s smile is what you sell. You promise me heaven then put me through hell

Okay, I had to Google the lyrics to You Give Love A Bad Name, but I’ve got a feeling that Jon was staring at the rack of bottles in his shower when he conjured up the lyrics.

Don’t all the best ideas come when you’re in the shower?

Nivea would like us to believe that shower time is Happy Time. That’s the name of one of the series of shower products they put out. It sits nicely on the branded shelves alongside Nivea Creme Soft, Nivea Harmony Time… the list goes on, but you get the idea.

So. Happy Time. That’s a brand name you could have a lot of fun with, right? A brand where you’re telling your customer that it’s time to have some fun. To put a smile on your customers face as they start their day.

Let’s talk packaging. Most bottles will tell you dumb things such as ‘don’t squirt in your eyes’, ‘lather up on a sponge’, But here, we have Happy Time. Can you hear Pharrell Williams in the background? Well, Nivea, what’ve you got in store for us? To make the showering experience a happy time?

Brand Experience does not equal brand name

 

Oh. Caring bamboo milk? The scent of orange blossom? Maybe the brand marketers at Nivea don’t get out much, but really? That’s happy time?

The bottle in our shower is emblazoned with the message ‘NEW FORMULA’. Maybe it’s a formulaic approach to happiness. What do you think, Gretchen Rubin?

We’re putting out products that say one thing (the brand name) and deliver another (how that product makes us feel).

I’m not hear to dispute the success of Nivea and their branding. Clearly, when you inject millions into your budget, you’re going to see some reward.

I want small businesses to learn from what Nivea are doing here. In the content you create, the message you put out to your audience. Don’t say one thing and deliver another.

It’s time for a quote.

To build brands that mean something to customers you need to attach them to products that mean something to customers.” I love that sentiment from Clayton Christensen.

Like it or not, we’re all brand building. The CEO, the marketers, the customer service people. You can’t build a brand around a disconnected product. You’ve got to mean something. Represent something. Own that representation.

blue-ocean-coral

You know the real reason most households have a bottle of Airwick in the toilet don’t you? No, admit it, you do. It’s not to unleash (and I quote) ‘an exhilarating, fresh fragrance that captures a splash of blue ocean seas and coral flowers’. It’s to get rid of the smell of poo.

Trap-a-crap

Oh, the indignity. Using the word ‘crap’ in a brand name! What success could they gain from such controversial branding steps?

How does $1m sales in it’s first year grab you? Maybe the $15m sales per year they now earn.

How? By connecting and just standing for what you really are.  A product to mask the odours of crap.

It’s now 2 years old, but if you didn’t see the launch video – it makes for great viewing.

That’s right. 31 million+ views on YouTube. Beat that Air Wick.

Is it the innovation of the product or the personality of the product that has amassed such an audience of followers and buyers?

I’m thinking the latter.

This is what it means to be a market maker. To take your product (or your craft) and position it in line with your audience. To forget about the approach of your competitors. To do something with purposeful difference. To build a brand that connects. What better way to connect than to make your buyer smile? You listening Nivea?

How many businesses have the opportunity to put out a product called Happy Time?

IT Consultants? Neh.

Whiteboard Manufacturers? Maybe.

Think about how Nivea could own ‘Happy Time’. The connection they could build with their buyers. If shower time is meant to be happy time, shouldn’t they be asking their audience what makes them happy? It’s not the ‘caring’ bamboo milk. It’s the way that your product makes me (the consumer) feel.

That’s what being a social brand is all about. In this social world there’s such a huge opportunity to connect with your audience with your product at the core of that connection. It can start conversation. It can create loyalty. For Nivea, they can own shower time. It can help you understand your buyers a little better. It’s a powerful connection that so many businesses miss out on, happy time, or not.


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Ian Rhodes

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First employee of an ecommerce startup back in 1998. I've been using building and growing ecommerce brands ever since (including my own). Get weekly growth lessons from my own work delivered to your inbox below.

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