Your Guide To More Strategic Advertising
Do you have U.S.P.?
Does your product or service have a U.S.P.? If you don't, you'll probably offering your product or services to your market based on purely pricing and distribution. A situation that should be avoided because your competitors can easily out price you; resulting in loss of market share.
Many products in Cambodia fall in this category unfortunately. However in the past, many products managed to survive because there weren't many competitors then. Today as the economy is improving and people in general are better informed, a product need to offer more than its basic function in order to be competitive. We are talking about USP, the Unique Selling Proposition.
And it's not just simply making a claim for your product that does hold true. A USP is an advantage your product has over the competitors besides the price. It could be a function that is unique to your product. It could be benefit that only your product can offer better compared to your competitor. Or it could be an image you hold. Whatever it is, it separates your product from the multitude of me too products in the market.
A few decades ago it was easier to identify the USP because then the manufacturing industry were very secretive and everyone guarded their manufacturing secrets with their life. For example, Coca-Cola & Pepsi Cola had their unique formula when producing their soft drinks. McDonalds had their secret recipe for their meat patties in the BigMac. Petroleum giants like Caltex had their super engine cleaning fuel formula. Citroen cares guaranteed that their cars can never overturn if you make a tight turn or they'll replace it with a new car.
But today, manufacturing secrets are not so secret anymore. Production's main goal is to produce cheaper and make maximum profits. China's economy grew with double digits for more than a decade based on the fundamental concept of producing ever cheaper goods.
So where's the USP in today's products or services? instead of physical uniqueness, many products today offer different image to suit the target market. Just look at the beer or cigarette industry and you can see a clear distinction in imagery. Just for illustration sake, take Tiger Beer which is sold above US$1.50 in the supermarket in Cambodia. On the same shelf we have Lao Beer which which is selling for US$0.50. On purely product cost, does it actually take more than twice the cost to produce Tiger Beer than Lao Beer? Obviously the answer is no. They both use water s their main ingredient and added malt, hops for taste. Many of these ingredients do not contribute a significant difference in cost. So why do consumers pay double for a product that is more a less similar in production cost. The answer boils down to imagery. A Tiger drinker only want to be seen or feel that they can afford more expensive product, something that gives a false sense of gratification and are willing to pay for it. Advertising plays an important role in creating this point of difference in imagery. The same goes for 555 cigarette over lets say a Red Eagle cigarette. Does the tobacco actually cost 4 times the price to produce. Obviously no again. So what we can see in these products are clearly not entirely physical product difference but really the difference in perceived imagery.
Today's USP are more often Unique Status Proposition. So for our brands or services we should strive to create this USP of imagery to set our products apart from the others and hope that it'll hold for a long time to come. The power to do this and maintain it is through good strategic advertising.
By Richard Chiew B.A. (Canada)
Managing Creative Director of Adfocus
Reference
Does your product or service have a U.S.P.? If you don't, you'll probably offering your product or services to your market based on purely pricing and distribution. A situation that should be avoided because your competitors can easily out price you; resulting in loss of market share.
Many products in Cambodia fall in this category unfortunately. However in the past, many products managed to survive because there weren't many competitors then. Today as the economy is improving and people in general are better informed, a product need to offer more than its basic function in order to be competitive. We are talking about USP, the Unique Selling Proposition.
And it's not just simply making a claim for your product that does hold true. A USP is an advantage your product has over the competitors besides the price. It could be a function that is unique to your product. It could be benefit that only your product can offer better compared to your competitor. Or it could be an image you hold. Whatever it is, it separates your product from the multitude of me too products in the market.
A few decades ago it was easier to identify the USP because then the manufacturing industry were very secretive and everyone guarded their manufacturing secrets with their life. For example, Coca-Cola & Pepsi Cola had their unique formula when producing their soft drinks. McDonalds had their secret recipe for their meat patties in the BigMac. Petroleum giants like Caltex had their super engine cleaning fuel formula. Citroen cares guaranteed that their cars can never overturn if you make a tight turn or they'll replace it with a new car.
But today, manufacturing secrets are not so secret anymore. Production's main goal is to produce cheaper and make maximum profits. China's economy grew with double digits for more than a decade based on the fundamental concept of producing ever cheaper goods.
So where's the USP in today's products or services? instead of physical uniqueness, many products today offer different image to suit the target market. Just look at the beer or cigarette industry and you can see a clear distinction in imagery. Just for illustration sake, take Tiger Beer which is sold above US$1.50 in the supermarket in Cambodia. On the same shelf we have Lao Beer which which is selling for US$0.50. On purely product cost, does it actually take more than twice the cost to produce Tiger Beer than Lao Beer? Obviously the answer is no. They both use water s their main ingredient and added malt, hops for taste. Many of these ingredients do not contribute a significant difference in cost. So why do consumers pay double for a product that is more a less similar in production cost. The answer boils down to imagery. A Tiger drinker only want to be seen or feel that they can afford more expensive product, something that gives a false sense of gratification and are willing to pay for it. Advertising plays an important role in creating this point of difference in imagery. The same goes for 555 cigarette over lets say a Red Eagle cigarette. Does the tobacco actually cost 4 times the price to produce. Obviously no again. So what we can see in these products are clearly not entirely physical product difference but really the difference in perceived imagery.
Today's USP are more often Unique Status Proposition. So for our brands or services we should strive to create this USP of imagery to set our products apart from the others and hope that it'll hold for a long time to come. The power to do this and maintain it is through good strategic advertising.
By Richard Chiew B.A. (Canada)
Managing Creative Director of Adfocus
Reference
- cag magazine, Issue No. 24, April 2006-May 2006, p. 43
