Making the most of a Polarizing

“Brand”

Brand Dispersion

Hello!I am Phanindra Sura

These slides were created as part of an internship done under the guidance of Prof. Sameer Mathur (www.IIMInternship.com)

1.Introduction

This presentation is based on article by Harvard Business

ReviewBy

Xueming LuoMichael WilesSascha Raithel

2.Let’s begin

with a story!

What do you think of Miracle Whip?

Miracle Whip is a dressing manufactured by Kraft Foods and sold throughout the United States and Canada.

Its something like Mayonnaise!

When Marketers at Kraft began researching shoppers’ attitudes toward the dressing, they found surprisingly deep emotions.

A lots of people love it.

And some just hate that.

Miracle Whip is a

Polarizing Product.

The company is trying to own up to

this fact.

The company is then proceeded

to go for an Intensive

Social media campaign.

This is the company’s opinion

This strategy worked :During the campaign

Miracle Whip experienced a 631% surge in social media

and 14% increase in sales

Moral:

If a company can harness

The power of its polarization

Effectively, it will surely cause rush in of profits

3.Brand

Dispersion

Marketers gauging for Customer attitudes have

Traditionnaly relied on “mean” or “net” scores.

That can paint a misleading

Picture.

A brand with middle scoreCan be highly polarizing ,

With large number of Fervent supporters and Passionate distractors.

Identifying these instances is very important. Because.,

Social media give brand detractors ready outlet for broadcasting their dislike.

To thrive in this environment, a new metric needs to be employed called BRAND DISPERSION.

Behind the mean lies an important difference.

Higher the percentage ofbrand lovers and

brand haters ,the greater the

Polarization.

A surprising note.

Having a group of consumers who hate the brand

is also aGood Thing.

Some companies haveboosted their salesby increasing the

Number of product haters.

“Love me or hate me, both are

in my favor…If you love me, I’ll always be in your heart…If you hate me, I’ll always be in your

mind– by Shakespeare

4.Capitalizing on

Polarization

If your brand exhibits high degree of polarization,Here are three strategies to

consider

Placate the haters.

One way to solve isTry to change the hater’s mind.

Brand mangers who successfullyDeploy it reduce

Negative word of mouth and Create a larger pool of

Potential buyers.

followed this approach in late 2000s.

Its betty crockery brand,Was suffering because of

Rising concern about Obesity ,A consumer shift towards

low-carb products,And criticism of

Food industry marketing techniques.

To assuage brand’s critics,

It started a social network, to promote

Betty and other brands in itsportfolio.

This lead to identification of

customer opinion and that year, betty became a first brand to come up

with Gluten-free baking mix.

This lead to identification of

customer opinion and that year, betty became a first brand to come up

with Gluten-free baking mix.

By end of this campaign,Betty’s brand hater share

Dropped to 2.8% from 4.5%

Poke the haters.

Some companies succeed by

Intentionally antagonizingBrand detractors.

This can create buzz andReinforce brand’s

Connection with its most enthusiastic consumer.

Because people often feelCompelled to defend their favorite product that has

come under attack.And defense mounted by fans often sways neutral

consumers into becoming supporters.

Amplify a Polarizing attribute.

Instead of seeking To narrow the gap and

reduce the haters’ rancor,

Some companies decide to create new products that

amplify the points of differentiation.

This has been a polarizing product since beginning, because of its strong taste.

Indeed its tag line is,

“Love it or Hate it”

To amp up the enthusiasm among its most ardent fans, it launched,

A stronger version.

Due to proper social media publicity and harnessing product polarization, Its sales were very successful.

5Creating

Polarization

Sometimes a product or brand isn’t inherently Polarizing,

But marketer may wish to introduce Polarization.

Drive a wedge in the market.

Trying to be all things to all people can backfire.

In this strategy, Magners’ cider has converted its image into a iced-Hip drink.

Their sales increased as they specifically targeted Young professional crowd.

Strong bow, its competitor decided to invest heavily in the core market, though losing new consumers.

As a result, its sales rose by 23%.

It launched a campaign,

Launch a provocative

ad.

Flo, from Progressive insurance was a super peppy character in its ads.

Though some adore her, many use to hate her.

This negative reaction raised its brand awareness

and increased sales.

Managers should avoid relying on averages.

Learning to asses and exploit brand dispersion is

a natural step in progression.

Fueled by social media, pocket of haters can quickly develop and

spread.Companies need to

respond strategically

Thanks!

You can find me at:sura.phanindra@gmail.com