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From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly yet often overlooked. So, this year, I’m sharing some for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful.
This week’s thought: Convenience rules.
I learned this early in my career. My second job was at Texize, a consumer cleaning products business that was highly regarded at the time as a forward-thinking marketing company. As part of my self-guided onboarding process, I dug into the research archives to learn about the development of Texize’s anchor brands — Glass*Plus, Spray ‘N’ Wash and Fantastik. I was intrigued to learn that the adoption of the trigger sprayer, now a commonplace thing, was a critical turning point in the business.
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The trigger sprayer was developed to replace the pump sprayer on bottles of liquid products. This was not a straightforward decision because the trigger sprayer was more expensive and unfamiliar to consumers. A lot of research was conducted about everything you can imagine — all the human factors of trigger design, the aesthetics of the bottle silhouette with the trigger sprayer on top, reliability under actual usage in people’s homes, fit with positioning and brand image, and the appeal of this new bottle technology as a differentiating factor for demand. Would it attract more buyers and sell more product?
Since Fantastik was the company’s biggest seller at the time, the trigger sprayer research was centered on that brand. It made no sense financially to build a new manufacturing line for a small brand. And the economics of scale meant that bigger volumes were needed to afford the switch. This was a big risk — it was all-or-nothing on the central brand pillar of the company.
The final marketing research study conducted was a Yankelovich Laboratory Test Market (LTM) to estimate the sales impact of introducing the trigger sprayer. This was my first exposure to new product forecasting research, as well as to Yankelovich, where I would one day work as president of the company. The study predicted a bump in sales large enough to justify the investment, so Texize made the bet.
The LTM forecast was precisely right. The trigger sprayer was a huge success. It has since become the standard delivery system for all bottled household products. Fantastik pioneered it.
All of which begs the question of why the trigger sprayer was breakthrough innovation. The answer is convenience. It was easier to use, easier to control, easier to aim, easier to deliver. It helped that its look was racier and sleeker, in line with mid-20th century modernist aesthetics. And it helped that it held up better during actual in-home usage, storage and handling. But the main thing about it was convenience. It was a step up in ease, expediency and usefulness.
The primary power of convenience can be seen in every category and product.
Steve Jobs built Apple on convenience. You may not be old enough to remember the early days of computers, but there was a time when users had to make a lot of configuration choices to get and keep their machines running. Apple delivered products that were already fully configured. You could change these configurations if you wanted, but for most people, that is an unwanted hassle and inconvenience. It helps that Apple products are elegantly designed, packaged, and functional. But more than anything, they are ready-to-go. Ease of use is a core principle of Apple.
The long history of processed food products is a continuous line of ever-greater convenience. Canning. Instant. Ready-to-cook. Ready-to-eat. Mixes. Pre-sliced. TV dinners. Shelf-stable. Microwavable. Concentrate. Frozen foods. Snack sizes. Meal kits. And more. Add to this restaurant innovations like fast food, drive-thru and home delivery. In an explicit nod to the overarching trend driving the food industry, legendary General Foods CEO and Chairman Charles Mortimer coined the term convenience food in the 1950s.
These are just the two examples I always cite, but convenience dominates every category. Consumers will pay more convenience. And generally speaking, a cheaper price will not win over consumers if the cheaper product is less convenient.
A good rule-of-thumb for innovation is to copy the benefit or functionality of the leading brand in a category with a more convenient form or use. Similarly, an essential line of defense for established brands is to continuously make the product more convenient, thereby creating a competitive barrier to entry that is difficult, often impossible, to overcome.
Many marketers dismiss convenience as the easy way out for lazy consumers. But I think consumers are savvier than that. People value time more than anything else. Time is our most precious resource, the one thing we can’t get back. People are always hard-pressed for time, so something that gives people time back in their lives has the most intrinsic value of all. Which is why the most powerful, most fundamental dynamic in the consumer marketplace—the things that rules above all else—is convenience.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing at Kantar
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education
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