Thursday, January 26, 2012
Making differentiation meaningful again
In a recent Media Post article titled, “TV Brand Names Become Irrelevant,” Aaron Baar states:
With so many HDTVs offering the same features (Internet connectivity, high definition, etc.), the brand names are becoming irrelevant.
I am sure he is right. Why? Because I had to get up and check whether I own an LG or a Samsung. From memory, all I could have told you was that it’s not a Sony.
The BrandZ database also lends credence to Aaron’s statement. The correlation between familiarity with what the brand stands for (Presence) and what brand was bought last is over 90 percent. In other words, familiarity appears to drive most of the variation in sales in this category, unless, of course, I am in good company and nobody else can remember what brand they own.
A couple of brands do break away from the general category relationship. LG is more likely to be owned than familiarity alone would suggest. By delivering a good product at a good price, a “justified premium” in BrandZ terms, LG wins people over at the point of purchase rather than relying solely on brand reputation. Panasonic, with almost equal Presence, fails to deliver as many owners, in part because it fails to convince people that it is better than the cheaper brands.
This said, most brands seem locked into a battle where share of mind and store matter more than differentiation. Why? Simply because most brands fail to deliver any meaningful differentiation. They either compete on price or seek to justify a premium based on ever more sophisticated features that simply leave most people bewildered and unimpressed.
So what would break this deadlock? Meaningful innovation. In the same Media Post article, Aaron references the rumored Apple iTV, which may include voice control (à la Siri). Now you are talking! Imagine just being able to say, “Find me Star Trek The Next Generation” instead of hunting through the cable menu. Right now I access all my video through a HDTV connected to a Mac Mini and the Internet, but the interface is a pain. The cursor is almost too small to see. But voice recognition could change all that and make life far more convenient.
Such an introduction would mean that for a short period of time the category status quo would be disrupted. Only one company would offer the killer app. Familiarity with the new offering would be boosted as much by media coverage and word-of-mouth as Apple’s own marketing activity.
Sure, every other TV brand would attempt to follow suit and launch their own voice control system. But they would have a lot of ground to make up. Not only do they need an effective system, they need to promote it without the buzz multiplier. After all, the benchmark would already exist. Comparisons would always be made to the incumbent brand. As an example, take Windows Phone, Microsoft's answer to Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms. It has received good reviews from pundits but uptake has far lagged behind the two incumbents.
And now over to you. Are HDTVs meaningfully different or do you just buy on price? Would voice control make a difference? Please share your thoughts.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26, 2012
and is filed under Brands.
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