Products That Buzz

There are few more exciting things in the consumer world than when new products, or extensions to a previous product, are introduced to the market place. Herein lies the hope of finding solutions to our unfulfilled needs or discovering holes in our lives that we previously did not know existed. Who would have thought a library of books could be stored and read from the palm of your hand?

If you can present something that appears to improve my life, my attentive juices rival a pack of Meerkats standing together on their hind legs. I happily place myself in the early adopter category, minus the willingness to camp outside a store awaiting a product that catches my eye.

I recently came across a new offering from Eagle Boys Pizza, a dessert pizza titled ‘Profiterizza’, the first of its type in the pizza chain industry. Whether the ‘Profiterizza’ is successful or not remains to be seen, but Eagle Boys’ vision to continue evolving and leading is clear as day. Aside from drawing admiration for their courage to lead the market with an innovative product, it provoked me to consider the elements that make new products interesting to me.

There are a myriad of factors that sit around product and marketing strategy that indicate the propensity of a product to succeed. My focus is on the intrigue and buzz that are created through the combination of a well crafted product and marketing strategy. These are two of the underlying factors that spark my interest in new offerings.

Creating intrigue sparks interest, whether it’s from new or modified products, marketing campaigns, movie previews, sporting events or even meeting people, questions arise from the unknown. Would I like the taste of a dessert pizza? Who will win the football? What features will the new iPhone have? Who is James Boag? Unanswered questions encourage us to develop our own opinions and answers. When we start sharing these with our network, buzz is created.

Apple is a pertinent example. It creates and maintains intrigue from how new models of products will enhance consumers lives. The secrecy surrounding the models creates buzz and the brand’s strength is exemplified through the magnitude of people willing to express their opinion. Consumers even released videos on Youtube about what features the new iPhone should have. Regardless of whether you required a new phone or not, you would have been exposed to the fact a new model was coming. Brand awareness – tick.

Buzz about a product or brand spreads instantaneously. People typically enjoy expressing their opinions and the internet has removed the barriers of sharing thoughts to a large audience in a quick timeframe. I recently wrote about GASP and its disastrous customer service experience. On the surface the incident appears damaging to the brand, but they did achieve a lot of buzz thanks to people passionately sharing their opinions.

If a brand or product can imbed itself within conversations, the resultant buzz creates brand recognition. The next stage is encouraging the purchase, which relies on the product fulfilling a need. As many companies have discovered, this can be where the offering can crash, regardless of how strong the brand is or any buzz that has been created. There are many examples of products that did not quite live up to customer expectations, but this is a topic for next time.

DC Strategy is your business growth specialist. For more information on product development please contact:

Nathan Hudson
Consultant
nathan.hudson@dcstrategy.com
03 8615 7202