Brands Delivering Utility

We want more value from brands. That doesn't mean discounts. It means that we are looking for brands to deliver more than products with benefits. Kraft is doing it via their iFood Assistant app. They are providing a useful application for the iPhone for which folks are willing to pay a buck. Weber Grills offers community, utility and valuable information via Weber Nation which  extends the Weber experience for the brand and gives customers a new form of value beyond the grill perfomance itself.It's easy to see on teh surface how strategies like these build loyalty.You can bet that both organizations have modeled out purchase data to demostrate ROI.

Whether it's utility, information, entertainment or community, brands feel the pressure to deliver more value to their customers and deepen a customer relationship that goes beyond traditional marketing and simple email-driven CRM efforts. They are also discovering that these additional values drive word of mouth beyond what their core product can do by itself.  

Geico Gets Useful

My insurance company - Geico recently released their iPhone app, the Geico Glove Box. I originally chose Geico as my auto insurance provider without much thought. In retrospect, I wish I had investigated word of mouth about their service. I got lucky. Their service has been good on those few occaisions I have needed them.

Now, I get their app. Two things I give them credit for - that they even tried to create something useful is a great move. And the app really seems useful. I can call roadside assistance straight from the phone. They feature a taxi-service finder that's obviosuly geo-based. I could connect to my account and make paymenst if I wanted to, and they have a complete contact directory based upon the context of my situation.

This trend will grow. Every brand should be asking themselves how they can deliver value across these four categories. Some may find like Nike did with Nike+ that they create something far bigger than a supporting value. They may find that they discover their true business or at least the next evolution of that business.

One question about process: should brands find their additional value around the core, sustained brand values or "this year's positioning" meant to drive a single campaign? There is probably no right answer. Most brands would still create a marketing campaign based around a big, brand or marketing idea and then explore how utility, entertainment, information or community might support it.  

But what if they started by asking the value question first? What if that drove the "big idea" thinking?

Comments

[Promotional Products]

Everyone should be asking themselves: If Geico is going this way, shouldn't we too? That company never ceases to amaze me... A Gecko, a caveman, a stack of bills with eyes; these guys cant miss.

[Neha Shah]

Lots of insurance companies have created iPhone apps, it's not just Geico. State Farm, Progressive, USAA, Nationwide, AMFAM, and Liberty Mutual to name a few.

[Ryan Moede]

Great post - always good to see more examples of brands incorporating useful services into their marketing mix. Helge Tenno also has a great lineup of companies moving beyond the screen to see how digital and the physical can intersect to provide more value: http://www.180360720.no/index.php/archive/the-physical-augmentation-of-digital-services/.