In this evening’s brand management class, we discussed a mini-case that talked about a (made up) shampoo called “La Shampoo” and what could be done to help its slumping sales. The possible options were 1) cut prices, 2) start a new branding campaign, 3) sell it as a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner, or 4) do something else (like postponing action to do more market research). Since this was a brand management class, #2 was the correct answer.
The case in question was a purely contrived one. And since case writers don’t always have creative writing chops, such cases have many distracting features. The name of the shampoo was the big distraction for me. Supposedly, this name was chosen by the company in order to evoke “European mystique” in the customer’s mind. Because of the lame name, I thought it sounded like it was more of a generic product. You know, like going to the store to buy a pizza and the box it’s in says “Pizza.” “La Pizza” is no better.
Of course, marketing is all about knowing your potential customers and paying close attention to their perceptions and decision making products. Thus, I put myself in the shoe’s of those folks I know almost as well as myself, my friends. Unfortunately, most of them would think that it was a product geared toward Hispanic customers (despite the Eiffel Tower photograph on its bottle). My friends are either racist, stupid or quite possibly onto something. Maybe replacing the Eiffel Tower with something South-of-the-Borderish and adding colors reminiscent of the Mexican flag would be better considering the changing demographics of the United States. Then, instead of going for a mystique that your customer might not share, you’re going for a reality that the population to which you are marketing is changing.
Anyway, I held back my commentary on the dumb name in class. I was already at my “silly observation” limit for the night. Luckily there is no such limit on this blog.
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