Brands, are you really confident about the quality of your products and services? Are you certain that you could send your customers into your competitors’ arms, and they’d still come running back to you?
You’d better be. Welcome to the world of Ubiquitous Connoisseurship.
See, there’s a reason we made this trend #1 in our 10 Trends for 2010. With a resurgence in private label crashing into a year of restrained spending (and getting smacked around by the New Austerity), many brands were pummeled by consumers “trading down” in the past year. With the Good Enough Revolution in full force, many marketers are rightfully concerned about how they can win their consumers back.
Well, you could always throw down a challenge to your competitors. One especially startling strategy is the “Dis-Loyalty Card” pictured above, and created by London’s Prufrock Coffee. The shop encouraged their customers to try the joe at eight of their competitors, and rewarded anyone who completed the taste test with a free cup of Prufrock. That’s one bold blend, ain’t it?
Admittedly, that’s a bit out there for many clients. But, the lesson here is still relevant: the only way to avoid the price game is to play the quality game. And we’re talking about authentic quality here, not the one based on arbitrary quality indicators that are devised in lesser marketing departments. For instance, here’s a quick read from the Hartman Group that shows how brands with a heritage of high quality have held their own against the private label onslaught.
Assume that your consumers are smart, that they have access to information, and that they will resist trading down if you can prove to them that your product is worth the money. That last piece is all about educating them about your category and why your brand is the best one around.
And if you don’t have the confidence to pull that off, perhaps your brand deserves its fate.
