Archive for the ‘Nuevas Tendencias’ Category

The other day I saw a tv ad from Nescafe (instant coffee brand owned by Nestle) that made me think for a while. The ad was basically explaining that the real cost per cup you had with Nescafe was only 5 cents and concluded with this statement: “Are you going to renounce to it? (just for 5 cents per cup). The following questions came to my mind: What is the real and perceived value that they have? Who are they competing with? Where do they want to position themselves? What has brought them to this position where they do not have a chance but to focus on the price per cup?

My thoughts brought me to other brands and the kind of approach they are following, and induced that eventually you can find these levels of value:

-       Premium Value

-       Optimal Value

-       Safe Value – Value for money

-       Reasonable value

-       Price value

Premium value would be attained when you go beyond what is expected and come up with a differential and appreciated value proposition, for which the customers are willing to pay a premium price. Brand Equity, Customer Experience and Differentiation play for them a key role and let the obtain premium margins and attain high levels of customer loyalty. In this category you can find Brands like Gillette or Nexpresso, that have reinforced their Branding and Positioning in spite of the crisis.

The next step would be Optimal Value, which is closely related to what is called Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). TCO is considering all the explicit and hidden costs involved in a product and service (such as maintenance for a car or the cartridges for a printer), and assures the best value performance and return in the long run. Emotional perceptions are now interlinked with rational ones, and the brand promise in this case states that if you take the brand, in the long run you will be doing the best deal. Commonly implemented in B2B, it can also be found in B2C scenarios. It is not as good as the other one for you are exposed to rational advances from competition, but also positions the brand in a high differential level if achieved. Examples of this would be Canon at Office Equipment and Toyota (prior to the production problem they are facing).

After Optimal Value comes Safe Value. Alhough they are close, they are different to me. The first one requires a long term approach and therefore a stronger faith than the latter, that bluntly affirms that in the short and mid term the superior performance is bringing the best value for money. Again, emotional and rational perceptions are interlinked, but the rationale overweights the emotions.  Safe value is the limit were a premium brand should play. For going beyond means playing hard on price. A good example would be found in P&G, that has launched a campaign for its product portfolio, that is certified with what they call “Safe Value”.

But the Value Spiral is merciless, and actually becomes a psycopath when recession comes. It pushes down every Brand irrespective of their awareness, market share or tradition. Being the only potential opponents real and perceived differentiation, combined with a consistent and innovative marketing mix.

Which are scarce resources in every industry, that has more and more brands pushed aggressively to the two lower layers: Reasonable Value and Value Price.

Reasonable Value is where Distribution Brands or Private Labels have traditionally played.  We have written quite a few articles about them and would like to raise one additional thought: What if the ones invading others space were not Private Labels but Premium Brands suffering the destructive spiral of value? What if the fault were not in the ambition of Private Labels but in the inability of Premium Brands to create real and differential value? Whichever the case, if you are in this layer you are in trouble. Because, when you are in the layer of Reasonable Value, price becomes a key element and people will always look to rationally get the most of what they pay. And in this context, Distribution has more odds to succeed.

And last but not least, you may find yourself thrown at the marketing hell of Price Value. For here you stop doing marketing in itself, and put all your efforts in providing with the best price, provided you come up with a minimum quality. An area, therefore, with no space for differential value, where finance and production people reign.

And where has the destructive spiral of value brought Nescafe? I will leave this up to your comments and online discussion, but to me, closer to Reasonable Value than they want to admit.

THINK DIFFERENT!!!

Ignacio Gafo

El tiempo pasa, inevitablemente. Y para nuestro horror y desconsuelo, arrastra a todo… Encontrándonos que viejas glorias, superhéroes y superheroínas de antaño, pierden su vigor, appeal y capacidad de movilización de masas.

Time goes on, no matter what we do. And  everything is subject to its effects. Even well-known icons and superheroes, lose their power, appeal and ability to touch and influence the masses.

Tomemos como ejemplo a Barbie, que ya ha cumplido 50 años…

Let us take the example of Barbie, that has just made 50 years…

Y sigamos por el bienquerido Piolín…

And let me follow up with the cute Tweety…

Nadie se salva de la quema. Ni siquiera nuestros omnipotentes superhéroes de antaño. Con Superman a la cabeza…

Noone escapes from its terrible effects. Not even the omnipotent superheroes. Starting with Superman…

Todos van cayendo….

All of them are falling…

El infatigable Thor…

The unrestful Thor…

El supernatural Hulk…

The supernatural Hulk…

Y hasta el incombustible Batman de la mano de Robin…

And even the unbeatable Batman, hand in hand with Robin…

No podemos vivir con las mismas recetas. Lo que de siempre ha funcionado, está perdiendo efectividad. Necesitamos nuevos mindsets, nuevas habilidades, más flexibilidad y capacidad de adaptación. Por que sino, lo que le ha pasado a estos personajes, no sólo le va a pasar a nuestras Marcas y Servicios; también nos pasará a nosotros…

We cannot live up with the same recipes. What used to work, is not doing so anymore, it is losing its effectiveness. We need new mindsets, new abilities, more flexibility and capacity to adapt. Because it we lack them, what has happened to these icons, not only will happen to our Brands and Services, but to ourselves…

Por lo que los que escriben mandan un deseo: QUE TOMEMOS ESTE AÑO COMO UNA GRAN OPORTUNIDAD DE EVOLUCIONAR, DE CRECER, DE ADAPTARNOS Y, SIN PERDER NUESTRA ESENCIA, SAQUEMOS LO MEJOR DE NUESTRAS MARCAS, SERVICIOS Y NOSOTROS MISMOS.

Thus we make a wish for 2010: THAT YOU TAKE THE NEW YEAR AS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO EVOLVE, TO GROW, TO ADAPT AND TO BE ABLE, WITHOUT LOSING YOUR ESSENCE, TO TAKE THE BEST FROM OUR BRANDS, SERVICES AND OURSELVES.

Ora en versión renovada…

Either with a renewed version…

Ora en versión disruptiva…

Or with a disruptive one…

Un fuerte abrazo  y FELIZ 2010  a todos.

Kind regards and all the best for 2010.

THINK DIFFERENT!!!

Carmen, Roberto, Manuel y Nacho

You might not be aware of it, but these symptoms are becoming pandemic…

Is Innovation the most repeated word in your strategic plan?

Do you keep on telling your friends the great amount of new products that your company has been launching these years?

Are you shifting salary incentives in order to get fast distribution for the new products?

Are you significantly reducing investment in core brands to finance new products?

In case you have answered “yes” more than three times to these questions the diagnostic is crystal clear. You suffer from “innoflation”

Last year more than 250.000 SKU´s were launched globally accordingly to Mintel Company. Given the rise of store brands and the decrease in loyalty towards traditional brands it seems that something is not working…

Where is the value? It seems companies are eager to innovate but are failing to create value, even more I would say, sustainable value.

If I ask you, how would you rate your innovation plans in the last years… what would you answer?

Probably most managers will start to explain the huge amount of activities they have performed. They will blame distributors’ dominance, lack of resources, and company politics or market saturation as causes of new products failure. However, how many managers will ever question about the WHY new products were launched instead of the WHAT they launched?

The WHY is the medicine to your pain. Don’t innovate just as the “flavor or ingredient of the month”, you’ll get sick of “innoflation”.

The medicine for it is in the WHY. WHY you innovate,  WHY consumers or customers will shift from their current brands to yours.

Probably innovation today demands more substance and less politics.

Like real life

Have a good week

The crisis is making us become innovative + break paradigms we have been trustung for many years. This applies to the Company as a whole, and to Marketing specifically.

When thinking about the new paradigms to be adopted, I concluded that the two main ones in terms of difficulty and relevance were:

1. Putting the customer first
2. Working on a real partnership basis

We have been discussing for long about putting the customer first. I will not extend here for I have spoken about it extensively. But do not forget to question yourself once in a while about who is really driving your preferences + behavior + decissions. Even historically customer centered companies like P&G have lost their focus, and had had to implement drastic changes to get the customer back!

Losing attunement with the customer will surely bring in disastrous results in the mid term. You will certainly decrease your sales + lower your margin + lose your brand appeal. It is relatively easy to identify and usually results in dramatic organizational changes. On the other hand, working on real partnership basis, is more tricky, for it yields long term results and once you realize you need it, it can take you a significant amount of time and resources to attain it.

The latter is the consequence of two key forces: Continuous specialization + the growing scarcity of resources. The continuous specialization means that you cannot be the best in everything you do. It is very likely that someone else will specialize in something and will be able to deliver it better than you. So unless, you focus on what is really important to you, you will be good but not excellent in your performance, and will die at a slow but constant pace.

This is also related to the scarcity of resources. In times of economic booms, efficiency was not so relevant. What was critical was to be effective, attaining results even if you were overspending. Till the crisis came and cash stopped flowing in by inertia. Now rigid ROI are requested on everything and no space is given anymore to unefficiencies.

The outcome is clear: Excellence can only be achieved by focusing on your core elements and working in real partnership (which goes one step further than outsourcing) in all areas. The application to Marketing is obvious: You have to come up with real partnerships with other companies that can deliver value more efficiently than you do.

One of the best examples applicable to Marketing can be found in LOREAL, that has been working for some years in real partnership with third parties that can contribute with new products and materials.

Co-developers can get all the information about product development in the LOREAL webseite (Co-Development at LOREAL) where it clearly explains the steps to be taken:

1. Submit your proposal
2. Get a first response from LOREAL.
3. If the product is interesting for LOREAL go through an evaluation and trial process.
4. Get your product co-developed if goes through the complete process.

Seems to be easy but it is not. Partnering requires deep organization changes and attitudes, being able to share and discuss ideas with trust, and having enough flexibility to coordinate + launch initiatives with third parties.

LOREAL has not disclosed co-development figures, but if I have to make a bet, I would say that a big chunk of their product developments will be coming from partnership.

And if this is applicable to one of the worldwide leading companies in the HBA Industry, think about where you are and where you should be in the mid and long term.

THINK DIFFERENT!!!

Ignacio Gafo

Ultimamente la publicidad parece la causa y solución de todos nuestros males.

Leía hace apenas unos días la noticia sobre el anteproyecto del gobierno de Ley de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición con el objetivo de combatir la obesidad entre la población española que ya roza el 20% de niños y adolescentes con sobrepeso.

El anteproyecto contempla varias iniciativas, entre ellas: supervisar los menús de los comedores escolares a través de expertos , regular el porcentaje máximo de grasas “trans” en los alimentos y proporcionar más información en el etiquetado de los alimentos para niños. Hasta aquí todo dentro de lo esperable. Pero la polémica viene a continuación.

Además de estas acciones, el gobierno sugiere también medidas tendentes a limitar la venta y publicidad de productos alimenticios “poco saludables” (sic) para los niños. Les resumo:

- Distribución

Se regulará la venta en las máquinas expendedoras que hoy se encuentran en muchos institutos y colegios. Se pretende hacer desaparecer de ellas las chucherías, bollería y bebidas con exceso de azúcares y grasas.

-Publicidad

Se considera además el elevar a obligatorio el cumplimiento del código “PAOS” por el que algunas empresas del sector se autorregulan en el uso de la publicidad. Les señalo un breve extracto de algunas de las restricciones que se proponen:

…

1- La publicidad de alimentos o bebidas dirigida a menores no podrá mostrar personajes conocidos o famosos entre el público en general que gocen de un alto grado de popularidad entre el público infantil.

2- La presentación publicitaria de alimentos o bebidas no deberá inducir a error a los menores sobre los beneficios derivados del uso del producto. Entre ellos podrían señalarse, aunque la lista no sea exhaustiva: la adquisición de fortaleza, estatus, popularidad, crecimiento, habilidad e inteligencia.

3-. La publicidad de alimentos o bebidas no debe hacer un llamamiento directo a los menores a la compra del producto anunciado explotando su inexperiencia o su credulidad, ni incitarles a que pidan o persuadan a sus padres o a otras personas para que compren los productos anunciados.

4 – La publicidad de alimentos o bebidas dirigida a menores no debe apremiarles a la obtención del producto anunciado ni crear un sentimiento de inmediatez o de exclusividad ni recurrir a términos susceptibles de generar tal sentimiento de inmediatez o exclusividad.

…

El Gobierno argumenta que con la implantación del código PAOS, “Queremos impedir que el niño pueda ser su propio prescriptor de la alimentación”.

Y yo me pregunto: estos niños españoles, no tienen padres?

La siguiente pregunta es: ¿Cómo se articulan estas prohibiciones sin caer en la arbitrariedad y subjetividad que limiten la libertad de expresión y de consumo?

Si empezamos así, ¿Por qué prohibir sólo la venta en colegios? ¿Por que no prohibir también las tiendas de chuches?.

Sería también interesante saber quién va a decidir quien es famoso: Nadal valdría? Y el pato Donald? O los Backugan? o quien no vale es Amy Winehouse…

Según estas normas ¿Cómo se valora el sentimiento de ” inmediatez” en un spot publicitario, o cómo se realiza un spot sin querer “incitar o persuadir” sobre la compra del producto?

Realmente no creo que la solución sea sólo censurar y limitar la publicidad sobre todo en una época donde internet hace imposible el control de los contenidos.

Creo que es evidente que la mala alimentación no es consecuencia última de la publicidad sino consecuencia de un problema de educación.Por tanto se necesitan medidas que activen un cambio de actitud y comportamiento más profundo que la pura comunicación .¿Por qué no se piensa por ejemplo en  fomentar el deporte para combatir el sobrepeso? ; o en aumentar las horas de educación física en las escuelas, o en poner más canchas deportivas en las calles, o en  introducir nociones de nutrición en la escuela… entre otras muchas posibles ideas donde un gobierno puede actuar.

Es probable que este tipo de medidas no tuviesen un efecto inmediato ya que necesitan tiempo, y además, tampoco serían portadas de periódico. Pero este tipo de medidas son las que realmente serían efectivas y sostenibles para solucionar el problema porque introducirían un cambio cultural en nuestro país.

Lo mejor, no se lo pierdan , es una de las recomendaciones del PAOS

Literal: “…Estos anuncios tampoco deben sugerir que un padre o un adulto que compra un producto alimenticio o una bebida a un niño es un padre o un adulto mejor, más inteligente o más generoso que el que no lo hace.”

Tomen nota.

Les deseo una buena semana .

Think about it. In the end of the day it is the dream of every marketer: Getting your customer completely entangled. That no matter what happens or what your competition does, your customer will keep loyal and purchasing from you. Brought to an extreme, it would the Monopolistic situation, where no competition is there and and your customer is 100% loyal to you.

So, how can we get this perfect entanglement? HOW CAN WE ATTAIN A DE FACTO MONOPOLY?

There is not of course a perfect response, and even monopolies, unproperly managed, come to an end. But we can find examples of Companies that have come close to this situation or are striving to be there. Many approaches are there but today I would like to concentrate on something gaining momentum: CREATING A CLOSED ECOSYSTEM.

The king of closed ecosystem is of course APPLE. In a time where open operating system and PCs were gaining momentum, Apple sticked to its principles and preserved its unique and close ecosystem. They started with their PCs and software developments, and then extrapolated the concept to the I-Pod, where they created a perfect and closed ecosystem combining a winning device (the I-Pod) with an outstanding platform (I-Tunes) where all content was evenly priced. The evolution has come with the I-Phone, where they are challenging the telecom operators with their I-Phone Store. In which you can download thousands of loosy applications before getting caught in the priced and good ones.

Another example, not so notorious, is the roleplaying game WORLD OF WARCRAFT. Offered for free, it has been able to attract and capture millions of online players that were attracted by a state-of-the-art game offered initially for free. Till they progress to a specific level in which they need to advance by paying for credits, they will surely do. For they are installed in a new dimension, in a new world where money is not relevant and no alternative is available.

SONY is also trying to play this game. They entered the console game, were very successful in terms of console placement, but not good enough in game sales. The results are unclear, but are surely behind their expectations. Not only they were incapable of creating a closed ecosystem but found an unexpected and powerful enemy: Piracy. Their response is coming with the new PSP where the gamer will only be available (with permission of hackers) to play with games downloaded or streamed from the Sony website. Seem to be good for Sony; not so sure on the other hand it will be attractive enough for the consumer. In the meantime, I wait anxiously for the details of this new business model launch.

And last but not least, we have GOOGLE. Wait a second, you may say, we are speaking about closed ecosystems and Google is doing just the opposite. Are you sure? Is it really the case? Or are they giving an image of openness while forcing every developer and user to play their “open game”? Doesn´t it look like an closed ecosystem enclosed in an open appearance? You can take your own conclusions.

Are Closed Ecosystems only possible through digital scenarios and tools? I would not go so far. But I would indeed affirm that the world is getting more and more digitalized, and so digital tools will be required.

THINK DIFFERENT!!! 

Ignacio Gafo

Your customers have a say about your products and services. They are willing to express themselves and even let others know what they think about you.

This has been going on for many years, but during the last ones, this trend has exacerbated: Customers do want to be listened, and actually have more credibility than most of the media and advertising you can do. So, if this is the case HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR CUSTOMER CRITICS AND REVIEWS?

Some companies just ignore them. This is not only the case of companies that are not facing any competion (monopolies) , but also the one of many old fashioned business that pretend to know what is best for their customers. Should the latter have any complains, they will simply do not do anything about them.

Others, which are the majority, let whoever is in charge of customer relationship management (be it commercial people or customer care departments), take note of the feedback, congratulate themselves for the good one, and send nice apology letters when they get some critics (just think about how many times you have placed a complain and you just have got in return a polite letter apologizing).

You can also find companies (a minority as a matter of fact) that do something else with them: They analyze systematically the critics received, filter them, analyze them and act consequently. This will actually become feedaback and information for refining existing products and services, or coming up with new versions that will ensure the right customer experience.

Another option is introduced by companies that launch Beta versions of their products, unended products launched exclusively for a panel of experts that will polish it with their critics and ideas till getting something really valuable and contrasted.

The companies that do view themselves as smarter than the rest of the world, try to manipulate them. Yes, manipulate them y making them up in order to ensure that the right messages are converyed to the target group. Manipulation that is very likely to be eventually discovered, as it happened to Vichy in France when they created a fake customer that poured in the web the expected reniews and messages…

Of course, we cannot leave apart Celebrity. Which is similar to the former in the sense that you are using someone (in this case someone well-known and respected) to pass on the information you want and silence what other customers might have to say.

Product and service reviews by experts could also be included in the list. I personally strongly doubt about the objectivity used by most of these experts, but as long as the expert has a reputation, it works fine. Traditional reviews and losing ground to digital based ones (such as blogs).

And last but not least, you can publish openly what your customers say. Agressive and risky? Could be, but you will gain credibility and your customers will be able to acknowledge what they will be up to. In this regard, you can find Canon USA, which is publishing openly the pros and cons that his customers find to their cameras (Canon USA Customer Reviews). Cynics will say that there is also manipulation here through the filtering introduce, but so far it is helping Canon to strengthen their credibility and leadership in the camera industry.

WHERE ARE YOU IN THE PICTURE? ARE YOU IN THE TRANSPARENT OR THE OPAQUE SIDE? Think about it, but remember that this is the era of open information and customer engagement.

THINK DIFFERENT!!!

Ignacio Gafo

Llega el verano. Momento inmejorable para parar, reflexionar e ir más allá del futuro cuasi inmediato. Hora de dejar el día a día, las inevitables presiones de ventas y rentabilidad, y parar a pensar sobre claves para nuestro negocio.

Circunstancia en la cual no quiero dejar de reflexionar sobre cuatro temas que me parecen vitales, y en los que os voy a sugerir algunos libros como compañeros de introspección.

Estas cuatro áreas serían:

1. Diferenciación real
2. Customer Management and Satisfaction
3. Engagement
4. Etica profesional

De la Diferenciación Real hemos hablado por activa y por pasiva. Tiene que ser el ADN de nuestro negocio (incluso si nos posicionamos en costes), y se tiene que armar en base a lo que el cliente quiere realmente y de cómo es la dinámica competitiva de nuestro mercado. Está demostrado que el “me too” no conduce a nada, y que o nos diferenciamos o morimos. En esta línea os quiero recomendar dos libros:

- un clásico para muchos: “LA VACA PURPURA” de Seth Godin (Editorial Gestión 2000), donde encontraréis multitud de ejemplos de diferenciación en sectores que, si bien no os va a dar la clave para vuestro negocio específico, sí os va a dar ideas exitosas.

- un libro sobre nuevas tendencias: “COOLHUNTING” de Daniel Córdoba-Mendola (Editorial Gestión 2000), donde se analiza el mundo de la nuevas tendencias en base a ejemplos, y se abordan pautas de detección e implantación de las mismas.

De lo segundo, de Customer Management and Satisfaction, hablamos todos. Prácticamente todos los marketinianos nos vanagloriamos de tenerlo como punto de partida en cualquier decisión. Cuando ora por presiones cortoplacistas, ora por presión de otros departamentos, tomamos decisiones endogámicas que rara vez tienen de verdad al cliente y a nuestra cartera en consideración. Aquí la literatura es muy extensa, pero os voy a sugerir un libro que ha caído en mis manos: “EL CLIENTE SATISFECHO” de Claes Cornell (Editorial Deusto), donde se esbozan estrategias cuantitativas y cualitativas para fidelizar al consumidor.

Lo tercero, el Engagement, es algo que llevamos mucho tiempo buscando todos, pero que cada vez es más difícil de conseguir. Tanto por el hecho de que el consumidor actual es cada vez más complejo (por estar mejor preparado, mejor informado y tener siempre que decir entre otras cosas), como por la irrupción de nuevos formatos digitales y de consumo. Estadio en el que “THE AGE OF ENGAGE” de Denise Shiffman os puede aportar algo de luz, al analizar este tema con cierto detalle y apuntar algunas de las alternativas más relevantes.

Y por último, la Etica Profesional. En mi opinión nunca ha sido tan necesaria. La situación actual se debe en gran parte a la falta de ésta, al abandono de valores que nunca podemos dejar de lado, y que han conducido a superestructuras vacías, alimentadas por un exceso de codicia. Hasta llegar a un punto del que sólo vamos a ser capaces de salir apoyándonos en unos valores inmanentes. El libro “EL REINO DE LA HUMILDAD” de Juanma Roca (Editorial Alienta) os dará qué pensar.

Os dejo por hoy. Si no me leéis hasta la vuelta, que tengáis unas buenas y merecidas vacaciones. El año que viene promete ser apasionante, pero tenemos que encararlo llenos de energía.

THINK DIFFERENT!!!

Ignacio Gafo

What are the main KPIs that your CEO is looking at? How is your performance evaluated? What variables do you take into account when making decisions? Is it ROI, profitability, market share or customer satisfaction? Sure that you will eventually be considering all of them, but which is really driving your company?

Whenever I open or enter a discussion about how to manage your business, I find people reminding me about the importance of cost optimization, lean management, low risk decisions, quick ROI, efficiency as a main criteria and so on. The situation, they state, is tough and our management should react in accordance. No time for big investments, no way you will bet on long term investments and of course, make yourself sure you will not go for “qualitative staff” with questionable return such as branding and customer satisfaction. What is key is surviving and not taking care of customers. If  you want to take care of your customers, if you want to adapt to them, they claim, then make sure you become an efficiency machine that is able to deliver stripped down versions at low cost. Customers are definitively looking for low prices and you have to be prepared! This is the only way, they insist.

Most of you trying to do business will be suffering something similar. Your companies are likely to be struggling to deal with the new competitive and economic scenario. Pressure is increasing and increasing and short term results are requested from all of us.

As I have been writing over the past months, I do think that in critical times is very relevant to go back to basics and start working from them. Peter Drucker used to say that an organization was created to satisfy a need, and that should be our starting point: What kind of need do we satisfy? What has changed in our customers and how should we adapt ourselves to them? How can we get the most and best out of them in the long term? How can we maximise our customer equity value in a profitable way?

Basic questions like the ones posed will bring the right responses. Of course that there we are facing a downsizing of our markets + a necessity to become more efficient. It would be nonsense to deny it, but so it would be to forget that in the end of the day we have customers to deal with in the long term. Customers that have values and needs, customers that give us a hard time because they are facing a hard time too, customers that are nevertheless happy to keep on dealing with us if we go hand in hand with them.

There is not an easy solution and strategy. Our organization will have to learn to be efficient, to look for new ways of doing business, to introduce cost cutting and lean management, while offering to our customers the value and propositions they deserve.

Thus, it is time to get all our Departments working together to cope with such a challenge. No time for finance people; no time for marketers. The time to become a profitable customer centric organization has come.

THINK DIFFERENT!!!

Ignacio Gafo

Ayer leía un artículo de Teresa Serra en El País sobre Las Secuelas de las Guerras de Precios, que me dio que pensar. Realmente creamos valor para el Consumidor o lo destruimos? Estamos lanzando iniciativas que realmente dan valor adicional la Consumidor? O nos limitamos a bajar precios agresivamente aun a riesgo de atentar contra la lealtad de nuestros clientes y posicionamiento? Hagamos un repaso rápido por algunos sectores:

AUTOMOVILES

Sin duda uno de los sectores más afectados. En el que la respuesta ha sido prácticamente unánime en casi todos los fabricantes: Bajada de precios hiperagresiva, con una publicidad muy orientada a la misma. Hasta se puede encontrar publicidad selectiva de Porsche anunciando lo poco que cuesta su modelo de gama baja! ¿Qué pensáis que está pasando con la diferenciación? ¿Qué mensaje se está pasando al consumidor? ¿Qué ocurre con el valor total del mercado?

BANCA

Avida para captar ahorradores; escéptica a la hora de compartirlo. La última batalla la tenemos de nuevo en la captación de nóminas, en las que destaco dos ejemplos contrapuestos:

Banesto, con una estrategia muy agresiva de captación de nóminas (te dan hasta 1.000 € por hacerlo)

Santander (que parte de una posición mucho más dominante) y que da participaciones en sorteos para las carreras para aquellos que tengan domiciliada o domicilien sus nóminas.

¿Quién creéis que va a ganar la batalla de las nóminas? ¿Cómo pensáis que se sienten los clientes del Santander que tengan domiciliada su nómina y vean la publicidad de Banesto? No deja de ser curiosa la diferencia de estrategia, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que ambos bancos pertenecen al mismo Grupo…

LACTEOS

Aquí no me extiendo, que bastante hemos hablado ya de este sector y de las iniciativas que se están tomando. Hacer eso sí un apunte rápido de la nueva estrategia de Danone, que anuncia grandes ahorros a sus consumidores en ciertos productos. ¿Cuál creéis que va a ser la respuesta del consumidor? ¿Le va a fidelizar o más bien al contrario?

VIAJES

Como nos apuntaba Roberto en otro posting, hasta El Corte Inglés se ha sumado a la guerra de los precios y grandes ofertas. Lo que por supuesto, ha generado una reacción en cadena de otra grandes empresas como Viajes Halcón y Marsans.

¿Aporta alguien valor? ¿Está alguien ofreciendo algo diferente e innovador? ¿Qué esperáis que ocurra medio plazo cuando pase la crisis?

INDUSTRIA NFORMATICA

Tomad una revista de Media Markt y otra de PC City para haceros una clara idea de la dinámica que, ¡sorpresa!, es semejante al de los otros sectores. La única excepción, muy destacable, es Apple, que se mantiene fiel a su posicionamiento y no ha bajado ni un céntimo sus precios.

¿Se puede crear valor de otra manera? ¿Se puede crear a través de estrategias de canal y de push? ¿O estamos abocados a continuo lanzamiento de nuevos modelos a precios cada vez más bajos?

Como veis mucho me too y muchas preguntas. Carmen habla de Sintonía con el Consumidor y Teresa de Crear Valor Real. Me uno por supuesto al Manifiesto, y os animo a todos a Innovar. Es el momento de crear algo nuevo, de diferenciarnos, de introducir nuevos modelos de negocio, satisfaciendo siempre al consumidor. Consumidor que no quiere menos precio; quiere más soluciones y valor. O pensaís que esto es palabrería y que hoy por hoy se trata de subsistir bajando precios?

THINK DIFFERENT!!!

Ignacio Gafo