Using Innovation to Reinvent and Outperform Existing Products

It is difficult to always be the first in line – especially when it comes to the new product line. Most businesses find themselves in an already saturated market. They need to fight-to-the-death to win over customers and beat competitors. And when your product seems hardly differentiated from your competitors, this is even more challenging! How do you succeed in this market?

Innovation is the key. While these products have existed for decades they are hardly true to their original form and technologies. While these enhancements are interesting to be seen on a larger scale, it is also fascinating to see improvements to smaller products.

Take for example a plain tennis ball. If tasked with trying to enhance a tennis ball, most people would be stumped. While not perfect, it is difficult for the untrained eye to see any way a tennis ball could be improved. But apparently there is a massive improvement that can be made, one that really does reinvent and outperform the existing good.

Tennis players may complain that regular tennis balls quickly lose their bounce after being taken out of the pressurised tube. And once out it was a steady and irreversible roll away from playability. But Pressureball, experts in restoring and maintaining bounce, made a tennis ball pressuriser to ensure tennis balls never lose their bounce. It can also be used to restore old tennis balls bounce! Compared with having to restock tennis balls every time they lose bounce, this company evidently used innovation to outperform existing products.

This innovative article was curated from Online Brands.

iPhone 6 Dumped in Beer!

No, the man who did this did not think his iPhone 6 looked thirsty. No, he is not an Apple hating extremist. And no, he is not mad. Or at least not entirely mad.

At first you think it’s another iPhone hater wasting money to show his disgust in all things Apple. But then this stupid stunt turns into a brilliant product demonstration for Reviveaphone.This guy has travelled to Australia just to prove a point. He bought some Apple enthusiasts front line spot to get the first phone. If the Reviveaphone was faulty then all of this would be for nothing.

But the phone lights up and works as it should. Leaving the 330,000 viewers interested in this product and amazed at the impressive product demonstration. No plain informercial would have the same reach or impact as this advertisement. It proves that product demonstration shouldn’t be limited to the mundane. And it proves it’s not flying around the world to dump a new phone in beer might not be as insane as it sounds!

Curated from Online Brands

Shop Till You Drop With Disappearing Floor

North Face in South Korea decided to take "shop till you drop" to a whole new level! In this retail stunt, shoppers were left on their own as the floor started moving below their feet. The only direction left was up.

As staff pull a leaver, the floor begins sliding away as shoppers have no choice but to grab onto the rock climbing walls or jump onto the mattress. A screen appears with the challenge climbing to the roof and jumping to catch a free jacket. Watch the video to see how participants manage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7CRMrR24Mo

Curated from Online Brands

Tricks Of the Trade For Marketing Trades

New Zealand is a service economy. In fact, most economies are increasingly service economies. Although products are all well and good, there is a whole supply chain of services used to create them. Not to mention the services required by homes and businesses to maintain products!

While you can market trades in the same way you would market products, a line does need to be drawn. The best chance service companies have is to focus on their benefits, tangible outcomes and company differentiation.

Benefits of the Service

Similar to product marketing, when trying to sell a service one needs to look beyond the service itself. While you may believe you are in the hairdressing industry, to the consumer you are in the social and self esteem industry. While you may believe you are in the building industry, one again to the consumer you are in the safety, comfort and aesthetics industry.

Take for example this company that sells and installs heat pumps in Hamilton. They do not manufacture heat pumps, rather they sell and install them. It is easy to see the marketing challenge that arises- if the company puts too much focus on just the heat pumps, consumers will be more sold on the brand rather than the service. Goldstar Heat Pumps solved this by targetting communications to both the product and the service provided.

Tangible Outcomes

When analysing service benefits, it is easier to target your marketing promotions. This is because benefits often relate to tangible outcomes. While businesses may prefer to showcase their employees working hard laying bricks or cleaning cars, consumers are often more interested in seeing the tangible result. Take for example this Waikato renovations company Roger Ramsey Building. They are displaying the houses built rather than the tradies labouring away.

Company Differentiation

This is another time where the service sector has the marketing upper hand. When marketing products, companies must put a lot of effort into fostering brand loyalty. But at the end of the day, most consumers accept that an apple is an apple. Whereas with services, companies can zone in on what makes their company unique. Because of the human aspect, services can differ greatly between companies. This allows companies to have a strong selling point on what makes them unique.

Information hacked from Online Brands.

Is Social Media a Passing Fad?

Social media has positioned itself quite well in the world today. It's not just a meeting place for youth anymore - a wide range of people are using it to communicate, collaborate and engage in their interests. Even business has started to play a vital role in it with pages for their brands to advertise and talk with customers. It's been a win-win situation. But is it past its best before date?

Social Media is Still Liked, Buzzed and Favourited

Some claim social media is still thriving and will continue to thrive. This may because of it’s unique selling point. Unlike previous communication tools, it it not just a means for people to communicate. Social media allows connections between individuals, groups and even businesses. It also allows individuals to create their own personalised online profiles and present their best selves – something which has not been possible with traditional media.

Abandon the Sinking SNS Ship

The second main perspective is that social media is on it’s way out and fast. This is because of stats that prove that social media, in particular Facebook, is growing old to segments. According to a study by Piper Jaffray, over one year Facebook use among teenagers plummeted from 72% to 45%.

It Might Not be Black or White

Digital death is not as absolute as it is in reality. This does appear to be a grey area. A third alternative which I would suggest is that social media may be slopping down but only in it’s traditional sense. Think of how far mobile phones have progressed. They now are more powerful than old computers! I would predict social media will become more commerce oriented. And we are already seeing signs of this.

Information curated from Online Brands.

Gourmet Jelly Beans and the Power of Positioning

Being a skeptic, I often find myself pressing the hard questions life throws at me. Like whether the jelly beans I saw advertised really are gourmet. Can jelly-filled confectionary really be considered gourmet? And even more importantly, do consumers believe jelly beans can be considered gourmet?

Online Brands holds the perspective that positioning really is in the consumers minds. So a business can try position it’s jelly beans as gourmet and a country could try and position itself as a pop culture center. But does this really matter when consumers position brands internally? In a sense, yes and no. It’s unlikely a consumer will eat The Jelly Bean Factory confectionary and claim the “berrylicious flavours” are distinguished and fine enough to be classed as gourmet.

However at the same time, it is likely the consumer suckered into paying $3 more for gourmet jelly beans will be predispositioned into believing the goods are high value. This will cause them to have amore positive experience and likely return for more.