Why self-confident brands earn respect

I’ve just finished reading Elen Lewis’s excellent brand biography Great IKEA! – A Brand For All The People and it’s made me think about the fact that there are successful exceptions to the “you-must-be-customer-centred” rule of marketing.
Look at IKEA and the way it has relentlessly tried to convert the world to its taste in furniture.
That was reflected in the UK by its infamous “Chuck out the chintz” advertising campaign — which told people they must abandon their traditional taste and go instead for the Scandinavian style they sell.
Similarly Sony has throughout its history been pretty relentlessly product-centred, arguing that consumers can’t tell it what to make as they don’t know what they’re capable of making. Instead they create products and try to education customers about why they need them.
So why have these product-centred bastions succeeded?
I’d argue it’s because brand buyers respect the principled stand these firms take — staying true to their belief that they have great products we’ll want in our lives rather than pandering to our ever-changing whims.
Similar-but-differently, Innocent Drinks sticks to its guns over its core principles like quality and healthiness of ingredients, ethical sourcing, recycled packaging etc while also being a prime example of a customer-led organisation – asking customers which of many possible recipes they should introduce next.
Ditto Starbucks and McDonalds — although they’re good examples of “glocal” brands, which modify their product range for local tastes, they both stay true to their core principles for their core products.
All of the above are strong, self-confident, “authentic” brands. And that’s something brand buyers respect, partly because it strongly differentiates them from the many brands which will run after the latest craze just to get extra sales. What do they stand for? Who knows?
Unlike them, these brands are leaders, not followers and that gives them sustainable competitive advantage while they keep staying true to their brand values.

Ethical is the new organic.

Almost exactly two years ago, sitting on the bus to work, I wrote the phrase “Ethical is the new organic” in my little black “ideas” notebook (everyone should have one – think how many great ideas you’ve forgotten because you didn’t write them down at the time!).
I was reminded of that semi-prophetic phrase when I read a Guardian article today about Marks & Spencer announcing that in future it would source all its own-brand tea and coffee from Fairtrade sources.
Similarly, Top Shop are sourcing clothes on a Fairtrade basis, Sainsbury’s T-shirts and Asda baby clothes.
Why are they suddenly doing this? To try and cash in on the “ethical premium”, gain some competitive advantage over their competitors and get some ethical “halo effect” on their brand.
For each of these converts to the cause of ethical consumerism the advantage is only going to be temporary and partial the for the following reasons:

• Exactly as with the introduction of organic fruit and vegetables and free-range eggs in British supermarkets, the early adopters will only harvest competitive advantage with ethical consumers until their rivals catch up by doing the same, if only so they’re not left behind – as with the introduction of engine-cleaning additives in petrol by Esso. Once they’ve all caught up, it’ll be the norm and new sources of competitive advantage will have to be sought to stay ahead.
• Many ethical consumers, while applauding the fact that these firms have acted well, won’t buy from them just because of these actions. They will recognise that these firms are just indulging in “bolt-on” ethical sourcing purely for reasons of commercial gain. If they’d been genuine believers in Fairtrade, like the Co-op, Innocent Drinks and Starbucks, they’d have made the switch years ago. But they didn’t. Not until it gave them something back which they needed.

So, while many customers will be convinced to buy these products as a result of this move, the hardcore ethical consumers will stick with the brands which are, and always have been, true believers in the ethical consumer cause. And which continue to lead the way.

That’s sustainable competitive advantage and it can’t be faked with a Damascene conversion.