Self Brand Strategy No. 6:
Invent A “New Process” Or “Magic Ingredient”
By Catherine Kaputa, founder of SelfBrand (
www.selfbrand.com), a brand strategy company that works with people, products and companies.
This article is number six in a series covering ten brand strategies from the commercial world that people can apply to themselves to propel business success. The strategies are excerpts from Catherine’s forthcoming book, U R A BRAND! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success (Davies-Black Publisher, Hardcover, April 1, 2006,
www.urabrand.com
).
Creating a “new process” or having a “magic ingredient” is one of the oldest brand strategies. Some of the earliest brands were patent medicines in 17th century England that had special ingredients alleged to cure certain illnesses. One of the biggest in the United States was Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound for female complaints. (Females complain?) Sales jumped when Lydia’s picture appeared on the bottles, and she started using testimonials from “satisfied” women in the ads.
Today, the “magic ingredient” or “new process” brand strategy is used by a lot of technology products. Intel’s superior chip is its magic ingredient. And it helped Intel dominate the market with over 80% of the PC business since the 1970s. Intel made further gains in market share when it made another strong branding move and began naming its magic ingredients – “Pentium” and later “Centrino.”
The “New Process” or “Magic Ingredient” strategy can be used by people to propel business success, too. It works
well for consultants, doctors, psychologists, scientists, researchers
and other professionals where how they go about their work or
what they use can provide the value added.
The occupation of chef, for the most part, tended to be considered
rather mundane. Chefs were closer to working stiffs than sought-after
celebrities. That is, until some adopted this brand strategy
and the celebrity chef was born. Julia Child, James Beard,
Wolfgang Puck, Mario Batalli each built their business
strategy around a particular way of cooking (“new process”)
or the creative way they put together food (“magic ingredient”).
The celebrity chefs also adopted other branding tactics like
line extensions as they launched cooking empires with cook
books, multiple restaurants, cable television shows, and
food product lines.
While this strategy has been used a lot by entrepreneurs and professionals, it can be used by
any innovative executive or professional where a process or
procedure can be re-examined. In short, you develop a new way of doing something with your name attached.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 1, 2006 Vol.2, No.3
|
U R A BRAND
How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success.
By Catherine Kaputa with foreword by Al Ries.
Pre-order from
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
bn.com
In Bookstores
April 1, 2006
Click to find out more
Who We Are
Catherine Kaputa is a brand strategist, speaker and author. She is president of
SelfBrand, a marketing consultancy that works with companies and individuals
who want to unlock the optimum marketing focus and game plan.
Speaking and Workshops: Visit www.selfbrand.com or
BK Nelson Speakers Bureau
|
|
|
|
|
