Liquid Creativity

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Consumers crave ‘personal meaning’ in products?

Companies spend a lot of time understanding their product but now they need to understand people. They may have once competed on technology, but now competitors often have the same or similar technical expertise. They need to find other ways to gain a competitive advantage.

Over the last few years there has been a change in the market and consumers are now purchasing products for reasons other than them just being the latest and greatest. They are looking for products that can assist them in some way. This is where design and communication comes in to play. Through branding and marketing, the way to effectively appeal to customers today is on an emotional level. It’s all about creating a solution to people’s needs.
Liquid helped Waverley connect with their audience by creating an aspirational lifestyle. Images of family, warmth, desirable surrounds and styled interiors connect with women on a deeply emotive level.

Today’s marketing campaigns focus on the ‘personal meaning’ of a product rather than selling its specifications, like how much memory or how many features it has. They are about the person rather than the object. What are their attitudes and feelings about a product? How can branding and design change negative perceptions into positive ones?

It’s all to do with insight into the way people think and this knowledge helps shape the creative angle when appealing to customers. The more research into this area, the more targeted the campaign.

 

Gathering information on people’s thinking is easy.

This can be done through surveys, interviews or focus groups. Questions are structured around the customer’s first impressions of the product or service compared with their thoughts after using it over time. Often these can change. Some of the other areas analysed include: product design, usability, ease of use, perceived value and overall positive and negative perceptions.

Before launching into a rebrand or commencing a marketing campaign, the more you research the human psyche, the more focused the campaign. It also ensures the design and branding concepts are more meaningful.
 

"Designers are teaching CEOs and managers how to innovate... They pitch themselves to businesses as a resource to help with a broad array of issues that affect strategy and organisation - creating new brands, defining customer experiences, understanding user needs, changing business practices."

Bruce Nussbaum,
Redesigning American Business

 

"Good design is good business.
Thomas Watson, Jr.

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