Question

Topic: Branding

New Product Marketing Materials

Posted by Anonymous on 4/22/2008 at 5:45 AM ET 2750 Points
Marketing a new product in Europe
A bit of background first. The company I work for is a manufacturer of products for the H&S industry. When I arrived to the company 4 years ago, the marketing activities where very limited and disjointed. There were not cohesion within the marketing materials, and to cut a story sort, basically it was a mess.
For the past four years I have concentrated in building the strength of our brand internationally across markets and geographies and have developed our key value propositions and communicated it to the market in a consistent & effective manner using a range of integrated marketing campaigns.
During my first year we redesigned all our literature, marketing collaterals & website to bring a consistency of style in all our product ranges, and make sure that when campaigns were running across different geographies the image of our brand was consistent with messages and visuals.
Our route to market has always been a network of installers of our systems & partners who we work within the industry.
We have a new product which we are about to launch in the European Market in May. This product is already being sold in the USA market through an exclusivity agreement with a distributor and our agency designed at the time a range of marketing materials branded specifically for this distributor in the states.
The target market of this product in Europe is a Distributor base, major end user customers and new specialist PPE distributors.
My problem is that our agency has used the American design and changed the colours to make it our own. The design clashes with the designs of other collaterals we have for other product ranges.
I have tried to put an argument to the agency why this approach is incorrect. The materials they designed for the American distributor were branded for this company specifically, and yes they were very impactful, and worked. Our agency wants to keep this impact, and argues that the materials can be used by the distributors in Europe to promote the product by having as well their logo and use them as their own material.
I think this approach will damage our brand image and the work I have been doing for the past 3 years. Our directors seem to accept what the agency has proposed (I must clarify they are close friends!), but I don’t approve, and I would like to put a strong argument against it, so your opinion and expertise in this matter will be really welcome, maybe I am wrong? And the agency is right?
Look forward to your comments and advice.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by ilan on 4/22/2008 at 7:00 AM Accepted
    I am at a serious disadvantage here, because not like you, I can't see the designs and make a sound judgement...
    But my advice would be to do a visual brand audit, put together all the materials that were created during the period you worked so hard to create, and analyze the effectiveness of those materials VS. other graphic solutions. Do it in the presence of all decision makers, including the directors and the agency. Try to convince everybody at the same time.
    You must be honest with yourself.
    The fact that your directors are close friends with the agency will stand against you no matter what. When you say "I don't approve" I don't know if you can say it from a position of power and authority.
    Since you are a manufacturing company, and rely on distributors, have you consulted with them? have you had the chance to talk to them and get some opinions from them?
    I would think they are very important in the decision making process here, since they have direct contact with buyers and your end user.
  • Posted by adammjw on 4/22/2008 at 7:09 AM Accepted
    Maria,

    If I may ask what preciselywill be the difference, if any between the way US sales is organized compared to the European sales channels? Here you use the exlusive distributor.Will you use a master distributor for all European countries or different ones for each country?
    Do the branding materials provided for your American distributor include your brand visuals or not? Is it in any way contradictory to all the integrated materials you have created so far?
    Just to get the ball rolling a bit and realize the underlying factors.

    Adam
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/22/2008 at 10:07 AM Accepted
    Test it (independently). Right now, it's your thoughts against the agency's. But what the company cares about are results. If the American colors work better in the new market, then you'll need to adjust your marketing materials over time (again!). If the American colors don't work, then the agency needs to address it.

    You're right that consistency is very important. However, it's important to make sure that you back the winning design, whatever your prospects think it is.
  • Posted on 4/22/2008 at 1:04 PM Accepted
    If the new product is totally different than that of your other products, it 'might' justify a different look in the marketing collateral. For example, if you only sold hardware products before, if the new product was software and you intended to produce other new software products – a new line of marketing collateral would be helpful to help differentiate the products.

    However, if it is similar to current product line - then by all means, you must have your usual brand imaging, that you have worked so hard to create and maintain – used in the new material. If you don't …your brand will become diluted.

    Testing is always incredibly helpful, if you have the time and option as the other posters stated.
  • Posted by joshuacrumbaugh on 4/22/2008 at 2:10 PM Accepted
    Branding is very important and I understand your concerns with launching this product without redesigning the artwork. Have you tried redesigning the marketing materials and then making your request. You may get what you want more quickly by doing the job first and then taking it to them.
  • Posted by melissa.paulik on 4/22/2008 at 2:38 PM Accepted
    Lots of interesting advice so far. It sounds like you know what needs to be done but aren't sure that your arguments are going to be convincing. If you have the budget, you might consider buying a second opinion from a different agency.

    For a couple thousand dollars you can have someone who lives branding walk through your dilemma and help you develop your argument. At the end of the day, you might even change your mind about what needs to be done based on their advice.

    I've done this many times. I don't always take the second opinion. But, at the very least, it really helps me think through critical decisions that are going to have a lasting impact on my company.

    Best of luck to you!

    Melissa

  • Posted by darcy.moen on 4/23/2008 at 9:29 AM Accepted
    Why fight what's working? All too often, personal emotion over-rides the factors causing success. Just as your superiors are influenced by their friendship, are you being jaded by your emotional attachment to your previous efforts?

    As has been said: test the new materials. If they are generating better results, more sales, more profits, well, the cash speaks for itself, roll with it.

    But, same holds true for your previous efforts, if they out perform, they should be the standard.

    No harm having different materials for different markets. I worked for a company that was based in Germany. This company had "Americanised" their products brand names for use in the North American market, including all promotional material. The competing company also based in Germany did not change anything for the US market. The competing company released a product called FreshClean P. In Germany, the product name made sense, in North America......well, modecorum shall be exercised in this forum. My point is: marketing messages should match the native environment in which they are used. If different colors, different logos, even different brand names are used, so be it. Results are what matter, and are at stake. Keep your eye on the prize and do what one must to achieve success.

    Darcy Moen
    Customer Loyalty Network
  • Posted by Levon on 4/23/2008 at 11:15 AM Accepted
    Simply create a sub-brand out of the existing brand for the European market. The sub-brand can take on its own colors - its own look - its own identity -- it can be its own product. It can be everything Europeans want it to be -- courtesy of the experts at the Euro-agency -- tacky, loud and cheap! The branding progress that you made with your company brand in North America can still retain the values and equity you placed into it. Simply isolate the two.
  • Posted by EnvisionTheNew on 4/24/2008 at 6:32 PM Accepted
    As they used to tell me so often when I lived and worked in Europe, not everything that comes from the US is good!

    For the long term, you need a filter against which you can judge all creative. It needs to capture as closely as possible the essence of your brand attributes without confining you to a narrow look or limiting possibilities.

    The creative Director at Starbucks has taken this approach. After reviewing a sampling of everything that was ever produced, they settled on five words that captured the brand. These are

    Hand-crafted
    Enduring
    Artistic
    Sophisticated
    Human

    Any campaign or collateral or materials that do not conform to at least three don't make the cut.

    This creates a framework for decision-making in advance of all future projects making it easier to develop a consensus. Once you have a tried and tested framework, it becomes predictive of what will work and won't work in your collateral design.
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