The marketing of design

Earlier this month, Titan released a marketing campaign for a new series of ultra-slim Edge watches. Titan Edge has, over the past several years, become famous as “the slimmest watch in the universe”. The new Edge watches are now also crafted in platinum, making them feather-light. While these watches look as dramatic and sleek as ever, what absorbed my attention was their new campaign, titled ‘Mastery beyond Belief”. It signalled a radically new approach to marketing products of outstanding design.

‘Mastery beyond Belief” showcases a Swiss balance artiste, Maedir Eugster, whose incredible act of unbelievable balancing, using a feather, took my breath away. He carefully rests the feather on the tip of a long stick, then takes yet another stick and balances each on the tip of the earlier one, thus creating a wonderful kinetic structure in his hands, which defies all laws of gravity, and eventually morphs into a Titan Edge watch – which, of course, is as light as the feather Eugster used. This performance becomes the visual metaphor for the equally amazing mastery involved in the design of the world’s slimmest and lightest wrist watch.

Watching this extraordinary film triggered an interesting thought in my mind. Few Indian brands market design so very impactfully. On the other hand, most of them tend to focus on a laundry list of product features or price. What does it take to seduce consumers with outstanding design? Here are some views to stimulate thinking on this subject.

Visual Impact

Great design, first and foremost, has to create great visual impact. The product needs to have at least one sharp differentiating point of design, and this has to be showcased so powerfully that consumers sit up immediately and say “Wow!”. The Titan campaign referred to above achieves this objective. Consider other design-differentiated brands such as Montblanc writing instruments or the Coca-Cola bottle or Nokia Lumia telephones or India’s own Tata Nano car. Each of these products are outstandingly designed, and so they immediately evoke my admiration each time I see them. But have each of these brands created huge or lasting visual impact with their designs well enough and consistently enough? Montblanc and Coke certainly have, though I cannot say the same for Nokia Lumia phones or Nano cars.

The underlying story

Consumers buy and own interesting stories, not merely products or designs. Therefore, brands that focus on visual impact alone are missing more than half the picture. People are engaged by the story of what inspired the design, how it was created, and any interesting nuggets that bring forth specific elements of the product design. The story behind the design concept of the Sony Walkman (a portable tape recorder initially created for personal in-flight use of Masaru Ibuka, co-founder and Chairman of Sony) or the tale behind the iconic Faberge eggs (a jewelled creation inspired by ordinary Easter eggs, and designed specifically for the Russian Tsar to gift his wife) are part of design legend. Similarly, luxury watch brand Breitling has marketed wonderfully well the story of how its designs are inspired by aircraft and aviation. Many other brands own similarly powerful design stories, but unfortunately are often not imaginative enough to use them evocatively enough in their marketing mix.

Mood elevator

People own and use well designed products to relish their beauty, and thereby to feel elevated themselves. Effective marketing of outstanding design can therefore be built around capturing this distinctive mood of human elevation that the product evokes. If the brand can also speak about how specific elements of the design lead to such magic in consumers’ minds, that would be a very powerful draw. For instance, a brand of bottled water could well speak about how the bottle's design has been inspired by a mountain range or by the patterns of flowing water in a stream. Each time the consumer picked up this bottle, he or she would then not merely be drinking water, but would also be instantly transported to these beautiful surroundings, leading to a touch of elevation in their own minds. This process of self-elevation is propelled by emotions and desires, hence marketers who want to tread this path have to stoke these fires very well.

Adding to human beauty

Human beings like to feel and look beautiful to the external world. Products of outstanding design also help them to achieve this objective, and this is particularly true of personal accessories which can be seen by the external world, such as jewellery, handbags, shoes, eyewear and clothing. Brands in these categories have to necessarily emphasise the stunning impact their wonderful designs create on the beauty of the wearer. The world has to stop in its tracks and take notice. Global luxury brands of accessories such as Gucci, Hermes and Longines have built their brands on this universal insight. So have Indian designers of expensive ramp apparel, including big names such as Tarun Tahiliani and Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

Utility of design

As the marketing guru Philip Kotler has pointed out on more than one occasion, very good design is a larger idea than the mere looks of the product. It has to meet important consumer criteria such as ease of use, ease of repair, even ease of learning how to use. Kotler goes on to highlight that design ideation requires thinking through various activities that consumers engage in, as they acquire, use and dispose of the product. This is the space that we broadly label as the “utility of design”. How do brands convey utility of outstanding design to their consumers? If this is not done, the design may be outstanding and unique, but barriers relating to factors such as ease of use or repair may prevent a large segment of consumers from trying out the product. For instance, no Indian housewife is likely to buy a kitchen mixie or grinder on the basis of outstanding styling, unless she is reassured that it is very simple to use. Similarly, no value-conscious Indian consumer is likely to readily spend several thousand rupees to buy the Titan Edge watch unless he believes it can be repaired affordably and accessibly. Good marketing of design in many categories will have to take on board such mundane but essential truths.

These are only initial thoughts in an area of marketing which is still relatively nascent in India. However, as many more affluent Indians increasingly crave beauty in their lives, it is clear that they will turn to products of appealing design. And to win in this space, marketers will have to master the art of creating for these consumers seductive and amazing appeals led by design, just like Eugster’s incredible balancing act has showcased the world’s slimmest watch.

Harish Bhat is Managing Director and CEO of Tata Global Beverages Ltd, and author of the bestseller book “Tata Log: Eight Modern Stories from a Timeless Institution. These are his personal views. >bhatharish@hotmail.com

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