This document discusses how brands can focus on utility and purpose to better engage customers. It advocates that brands redefine their purpose to focus on creating useful products and services. It also suggests that brands identify opportunities for utility throughout the customer journey, including at friction points, and leverage APIs to drive new forms of utility. The goal is for brands to organize around their purpose and provide value to customers through useful offerings.
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USEF UL B RAN DS
BRAND UTILITY IS
NOT NEW.
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USEF UL B RAN DS
UTILITY IN
ECONOMICS IS
NOT NEW.
4. 4
USEF UL B RAN DS
THIS IS WHAT’S NEW:
A NEW ERA OF
BRAND UTILITY
5. Not only are 43% of UK online adults ignoring adver
companies are telling the truth in ads [FIG.1]. Today we see a more astute consumer
savvy to how brands use their personal information. With 87% of consumers not willing
to share their data for better advertising the supply and demand model is broken.
Thinking about advertising in general,
please indicate how strongly you agree
or disagree with each of the following
statements. % respondents who “agreed.”
[ FIG.1 ]
L E S S T H A N :
Of consumers trust
adverts or buy products
because of adverts
Base:
2000 UK online
adults
Source:
European
Technographics
Travel, Auto,
Media, And
Marketing
Survey, Q3 2013
W H E N A S K E D :
I am aware that companies use information
about me to send me targeted advertising
67
I am aware that companies purchase
and use my personal information
65
I don’t pay any attention to adverts
43
When offers are relevant to me, I don’t mind being
contacted by companies directly if I have opted-in
37
Adverts are a good way to learn about new products
35
I don’t mind receiving adverts from a company
that I like and have purchased from before
28
When offers are relevant to me, I don't mind being contacted
by companies directly even if I have NOT opted-in
14
I am willing to share information about my interests
to receive more relevant advertising from companies
13
Companies generally tell the truth in adverts
7
6
I buy products because of their adverts
10%
5
USEF UL B RAN DS
RESEARCH INTERVIEWS ACTIONS
PLAY BOOK
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USEF UL B RAN DS
REDEFINE YOUR BRAND PURPOSE
Play #1
USEF UL B RAN DS
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USEF UL B RAN DS
NOT PROFIT OR PURPOSE, BUT PROFIT THROUGH PURPOSE
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USEF UL B RAN DS
…organize the world’s
information and make it
universally accessible and
useful.
USEFUL
BRANDS
10. 10
USEF UL B RAN DS
…organize the world’s
information and make it
universally accessible and
useful.
USEFUL
BRANDS
BROAD EXPERIENCE
CLEAR PURPOSE
S E AR C H
G O O G L E
WAL L ET
AND R OI D
NE S T
Y O UT UB E
G O O G L E W E AR
G O O G L E M AP S
G M AI L
11. 11
USEF UL B RAN DS
…Build the best product,
cause no unnecessary harm,
use business to inspire and
implement solutions to the
environmental crisis.
USEFUL
BRANDS
USEF UL B RAN DS
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USEF UL B RAN DSUSEF UL B RAN DS
Build the best
product, cause
no unnecessary
harm…
USEFUL
BRANDS
use business to
inspire & implement
solutions to the
environmental crisis.
13. 13
USEF UL B RAN DS
… accelerate the advent of
sustainable transport by
bringing compelling mass
market electric cars to
market as soon as possible.
USEFUL
BRANDS
14. 14
USEF UL B RAN DS
USEFUL
BRANDS
… accelerate the advent of
sustainable transport by
bringing compelling mass
market electric cars to
market as soon as possible.
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USEF UL B RAN DS
FIND OUT WHAT THE
ORGANISATION THINKS
THE BRAND PURPOSE IS
TASKS & QUESTION S
16. 16
USEF UL B RAN DS
TEST YOUR PURPOSE
AS A CATALYST FOR
NEW PRODUCTS AND CX
IDEAS.
TASKS & QUESTION S
17. 17
USEF UL B RAN DS
IDENTIFY UTILITY AT THE EDGES OF
THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Play #2
USEF UL B RAN DS
33. 33
USEF UL B RAN DS
S I NC E 2002
E V E R Y AM AZO N
D E P AR T M E NT
UT I L I S ES
I NT E R NAL AP I S
NE T F L I X S P L I T
T H E I R E NT I R E
I NF R AS T R UC T UR E
I NT O AP I S
34. 34
USEF UL B RAN DS
UT I L I T Y
T H R O UG H
UNT APPED
AP I s IN
E XI S T I NG
D E VI C E S
Src: imore.com Src: mac.softpedia.com
35. 35
USEF UL B RAN DS
UT I L I T Y
T H R O UG H
E XI S T I NG
AP I s F OR
S P E C I F I C
S E R VI C E S
36. 36
USEF UL B RAN DS
OP E N APIs
T O L AR G E
S E T O F
UNK NOWN
D E VE L O P E R S
OPEN APIs
S M AL L S E T
OF KNOWN
D E VE L O P E R S
37. 37
USEF UL B RAN DS
IDENTIFY THE INTERNAL
TECHNOLOGY HURDLES.
WHAT MIGHT AN API
IMPROVE?
TASKS & QUESTION S
38. 38
USEF UL B RAN DS
UNDERSTAND THE
UTILITY YOU COULD
PULL IN
TASKS & QUESTION S
39. 39
USEF UL B RAN DS
P U R P O S E P E O P L EUSEFUL
BRANDS
P L AT F O R M
1. RED EF IN E YOUR B RAN D P URP OS E
2. IDEN TIF Y A UT IL ITY TEAM
3. UTILITY AT TH E EDG ES
4. D RI VE U T I LI TY T H ROU G H AP I S
5. PART I CI PAT I ON , N OT JU S T P E RS ON AS
6. S U RFACE I D E AS F ROM ACROSS T H E
ORG AN I SAT I ON
7. D E VE LOP A P E RI P H E RAL VI S I ON
8. IDEN TIF Y UN EXPEC TED UTILITY AN D
N URTURE IT
9. B UI LD US E F UL N E T WORKS AN D
PART N E RS H I P S
10. AD VERTIS E YOUR UTILITY
10 PLAYSTO EXPERIMENT WITH UTILITY
40. 40
USEF UL B RAN DS
SUMMARY
We have a book
It should be useful
You can get a copy;
jacob@383project.com
US EFUL BRAND S PL AY BOOK
John creative director and co-founder at 383
get to talk this morning about brand utility and how we believe Useful Brands are shaping new customer experiences.
Brand utility isn’t our idea.
In fact it’s been around for years;
Examples;
• The Michelin guide started in 1902. Useful tool to get people out and using the roads.
• ANWB > dutch equivalent of the RAC. Pre-digital version of google maps snow alerts!
• Card phones, personal favourite. Based on customer insight that people didn’t want to carry cash.
Utility in economics isn’t new either
We didn’t invent it…some 1.25m entries at last count
Utility affects willingness to pay higher amounts, determines choice, drives loyalty
So what is new?
what is new is that digital has enabled a new era of brand utility, delivered through rich product and service ecosystems.
digital services replacing physical ones (netflix)
physical objects being improved with digital (withings)
specific sectors like automotive being disrupted with new customer utility delivered through new types of infrastructures (tesla)
And more useful business models emerging (dollar shave)
this is what interests us, so much so we’ve been writing a book on it
so, the first play is all around brands ensuring they have a well defined purpose
purpose is not about sustainability or charity
stengel 50 > fast growth companies > found that all have a clear purpose that’s understood through the organisation
mission or values that go beyond profit goals
So, What makes a great purpose>
distilled down in to 4 key attributes
1) Breadth - lots of jumping off points
2) Catalyst for change - helps imaging new futures
3 & 4) Both actionable & inspirational - needs to drag you to tomorrow, but making it clear what you need to do today
Google are a good example of a purpose driven organisation.
All 4 attributes emerge
When purpose which is rooted in these characteristics it’s leading to broader product and service ecosystems, but with a clear purpose from each touchpoint
Patagonia, really interesting company
- How does their mission play out?
Purpose + breadth across BOTH marketing actions, and organisational actions
Guides through organisational change (setting up new ventures, that didn’t exist when the purpose was drafted).
tesla - another great example
- an actionable and aspirational purpose
open sourced their technology
meets the goal to accelerate the change they want to see
Time will tell if it works
Tasks
This task is about quick validation
What does the organisation think the brand purpose actually is?
this task is about testing the strength of your purpose as a catalyst for new products and cX ideas.
Interrogate: Imagine that overnight the market for your brands current products is eroded. Does your existing brand purpose provide enough scope to add new products or services to the ecosystem?
play 2 Utility at the edges of the customer journey
this is a play is specifically about the experiences and products that a brand offers it’s customers.
again, we looked for key themes that emerged from research and interviews. What are the common things we’re seeing at Useful Brands?
1) CX at the centre > place CX at the centre and it finds more ways out
2) New tools. Better customer view > new utility
3) Upshot of this. Experiences before technology
organisations are now much better at using customer journey mapping to identify quality of experience and empathy.
here’s an example from lego
at 383, we use similar tools a lot to interrogate customer journeys and figure out where they are broken, or could be improved.
lots of different ways of doing this
Example from audi of a new car share scheme they’re testing.
You can imagine the conversation here
> Map the customer journey to buy a car.
> Customers are getting lost to car share schemes. > Develop car share scheme with audi cars.
- Getting journeys in to moveable pieces helps discover new ideas.
- Use one set of cards for utility, services and features.
- Use the other for channels, physical touchpoints and places where customers are found.
- Sky moving record to twitter. (a good example)
TASKS
find ways to log areas of customer fiction to see if they’re places you could affect.
Ask several people from different areas of your organisation to begin to note down unmet needs or friction points they believe exist for customers.
After a few weeks of information gathering, narrow the list by identifying which needs specially intersect with the areas your brand purpose says you should offer utility.
What new things could be introduced by your brand to affect the customer journey in these areas?
Identify where competitors are intercepting through utility: List your competitors products and services. Where along the customer journey are users being offered differentiating experiences? How would you define the purpose behind the way they are looking to build customer utility? What threat does this represent to customer interactions with your products?
A quick aside.
ads disguised as products
-no one want’s the weather from their shampoo company, they want it from the met office.
- Please don’t disguise ads as products.
Amazon Dash. Meet real needs.
Why is this hardware when every person has a phone?
play 3
not average price index > Application programming interface!
when it comes to utility, APIs can be incredibly powerful innovation tools
- this emerged in our research too
So, what the key areas where our research and interviews showed brands were driving utility through APIs?
1) Firstly, becoming API centric internally can give you a huge re-use and extensibility advantage
2) Secondly, Useful brands are really starting to realise value from finding smart ways to bring APIs in
3) And last, Useful brands also have strategies for releasing APIs out.
(Netflix defined strategies for Large set of unknown vs Small set of known).
Importance of internal APIs
Great leaked email from a now Google employee about Amazon’s militant transition to becoming API centric
Bezos basically said ‘all teams must provide their functionality as an API to all other teams’
Service oriented architecture.
Literally any internal system or communication has to be built as if someone externally was going to consume it.
WHY? reusability and extensibility.
Everything talks to everything. Technology can be reused and repurposed. New things can be easily plugged in.
Basically very smart.
Netflix do the same.
Entire infrastructure split in to APIs
And to make sure the service architecture is good, they have another tool (they call chaos monkey) specifically designed to try and get the systems to fail.
Bringing APIs in
Utility people carry with them
Starbucks mobile card accounts for 16% of all transactions
another quick example
Some of the most useful parts of the airbnb experience are delivered on top of other people’s APIs (twillio)
Lastly, releasing APIs out
Facebook connect and Google Products … incredibly successful way of getting traction in thousands of other places around the web
- Nike example… allowing select partners to do interesting things with your data but in a controlled way.
Identify the internal hurdles and think about what data points or services might be improved by an API.
Hotel examples
- Tackle the cheap cost and high gain opportunities first.
The last API task, is about imagining what you could pull in.
what are people hacking together already (ifft example)
what APIs are customers carrying with them?
what other APIs carry data on your customers?
So, that’s a whirlwind tour of three of the plays in the book, as mentioned there are 10 in total.
If you’re interested in driving customer utility we think that the tools and tasks we’ve developed for each are a great start.
so if you want a copy,
you can email Jake at jacob@383project.com