Brands have been diluted because there are so many of them. Consumers suffer from glut of choices. The result is consumer stress and confusion, said Peter Sealy, author and adjunct professor of marketing at the University of California, yesterday at his keynote, “The Power of the Brand.”
Over the decades, marketers have been adding more and more choices to brands, Sealy said. Some examples: there are 13,000 mutual funds on the market, 69 items offered on the menu at McDonald’s and 47 flavors and sizes of Crest. People can’t keep up with all the decisions they must make with so many choices before them. “We’ve reached the [breaking] point,” he said.
The solution is what Sealy and his co-author of the book, “Simplicity Marketing,” call the Four R’s: replace, repackage, reposition and replenish. Replace is when a company adds a new brand. Sealy said it should take one away. Repackage is integrating elements of two products into one, such as developing one device to perform all the tasks a cell phone and a Palm Pilot do separately.
For example, Sealy said, Apple Computer did a good job of repositioning when it pared down its 30 computers to the current four: iMac and iBook for consumers and G4 and PowerBook for businesses. And AT&T practices simplicity marketing with its one-rate plan.
Southwestern Airlines doesn’t offer a lot of amenities, but delivers low-cost, on-time service.
The Internet, particularly as Fortune 500 companies adopt its use, is a great simplicity marketing tool, and will result in some Fortune 500 firms beating dot-coms, Sealy said. Ford plans to pit itself against online auto sellers. And four major airlines have formed the Orbitz group to take on Priceline.
Such marketing moves allow companies to “become the customer’s partner in stress relief,” he said.
Network
