Ways to Differentiate: How a Product is Made

Mark awards a Purple Cow Award to a non-purple mattress, then Lorraine and he dive into another Way to Differentiate: How a Product is Made. Learn the secret ingredient to this positioning method and how differentiating one ingredient, technology, or approach in your product or service can separate you from the competition. Learn how Sleep Number, Papa John's, Goodyear, and a few other big brands are doing positioning right.

Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine to learn more about advertising, marketing, and positioning.

Chapters

• 0:10 Intro
• 1:28 Purple Cow Award to Sleep Number
• 5:24 Purple Mattress? Huh?
• 6:51 Ways to Differentiate: How a Product is Made
• 7:57 Papa Johns
• 12:54 How a Service is Made
• 15:10 Some Secret Ingredients
• 21:15 How a Premium Position Differs
• 26:04 Outro

Transcript

Mark Vandegrift:
Welcome to the latest episode of the Brand Shorthand Podcast. I'm your host, Mark Vandegrift, and with me is the key ingredient in our positioning pie, Lorraine Kessler. Lorraine, another curve ball question for you today. Are you ready?

Lorraine Kessler:
Yep

Mark Vandegrift:
I know you're an amazing chef. What's your favorite go-to ingredient?

Lorraine Kessler:
I think something I always have in my fridge, because I can always create something to do with it, is feta cheese.

Mark Vandegrift:
Nice.

Lorraine Kessler:
Yeah, it goes with, believe it or not, watermelon, with mint and a little lime and some parsley. It goes with your salads. It's good on meat. You can always do something interesting with feta cheese.

Mark Vandegrift:
I like it, very good. We got a lot of garlic this year out of our garden, so we've been finding new ways. You can cook with garlic all the time, but having it fresh is just absolutely amazing to have on hand.

Lorraine Kessler:
Well, you have a lot more than garlic too, right? You're

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, since you invented the purple cow award on our last episode, I thought that we'd start out with that.

Lorraine Kessler:
Okay.

Mark Vandegrift:
And I have one, I've been looking for one.

Lorraine Kessler:
Oh great.

Mark Vandegrift:
Have you seen the latest sleep number commercials?

Lorraine Kessler:
Yes, I have.

Mark Vandegrift:
Yeah.

Lorraine Kessler:
I have a sleep number. So yes.

Mark Vandegrift:
Oh, do you really? Okay.

Lorraine Kessler:
Yes, I do.

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, I think the sleep number concept really aligns well with our topic today, which is. how a product is made as a way to differentiate. And they've taken it to a new level with their AI now. They're using pro athletes to promote the next level performance that they're introducing. In one of the commercials, it's a series right now, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, her husband, do a really nice job of bantering back and forth. Of course, Gabrielle always wins that little bantering. I've seen a couple of these. They focus on snoring in a couple spots and how the bed automatically adjusts when it hears that snoring. So that's a result of the AI built into the bed. In another spot, they banter back and forth on how one number difference — like I think they say 70 and 71 — how that sleep number difference is significant. And I think that shines a nice spot on the brand's primary difference. The brand must be doing well because they're building a new shop right around the corner from us where pizza oven used to sit.

Lorraine Kessler:
Oh, okay, that's what's going there. 

Mark Vandegrift:
So I think the notion of a personalized firmness, the shape of the bed, and now you have the AI, I think that's really a great way to differentiate from all these other bed and mattress brands. So I'm giving a Purple Cow award to Sleep Number.

Lorraine Kessler:
Well, I agree. I think Sleep Number has done it right from the beginning and they've not wavered. I mean, they definitely, it's how it's made, makes the difference. I don't think anyone else has had this kind of self-customization feature that they have, right? And that's why we bought it, because we have very different sleep patterns and I need a softer mattress, John needs a harder mattress and so on and so forth. But we are generations behind. So the new ad with the new feature, because I mean, it's embarrassing to admit, but snoring is a problem in the Kessler household. And... And not just for my husband. So my grandchildren tell me I'm making that scary noise. So


Mark Vandegrift:
Well, you need that new AI.

Lorraine Kessler:
You know, I need the new AI. But they've led this premium, what I would call the premium category. And technology has really been the secret sauce behind that. So. And that makes sleep number more difficult to replicate than, let's say, for example, Tempur-Pedic, which was the first foam. But you see lots of foam replications out there, and they have the ability to expand the category from a price strategy. So if you don't want to pay the premium price of Tempur-Pedic, you can find a brand that probably suits your budget. So, you know, kind of Tempur-Pedic is what I would call boxed in kind of to its, you know, so because that was more easily replicated than I think it would be to invest in the costly technology that sleep number’s done. And so the idea of attacking themselves now with AI makes a lot of sense. So I say kudos. I think they're deserving of the Purple Cow Award.

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, speaking of purple in that category, the one that just doesn't convince me of anything is that purple mattress, because it's foam too, and it's like, okay, you're purple, but I don't see what color you are when I'm sleeping on you.

So that one seems to be a little less differentiating, in my opinion. I mean, it's different, but it's not meaningful. And we always talk about, a meaningless difference.

Lorraine Kessler:
I think their difference was they deliver it straight to you. So they're cutting out the middle man or woman, whatever we want to call it, the middle distributor. And I don't know about the pricing. I probably, there better be some price advantage if you cut

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, there in stores now. They removed that difference so they removed that one.

Lorraine Kessler:
Yeah. And I think someone I know ordered one of those and was underwhelmed. So.

That's just one person, so I don't know. But it is hard to say that's a really sustainable difference that they have.

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, you would think a purple mattress could easily earn the purple cow award, but we're not giving them one.

Lorraine Kessler:
No.

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, awesome. Let's get to our topic of the day. This continues our series on ways to differentiate. And today let's cover how a product is made, which we were just talking about. I'm gonna read our dictionary definition on this way to differentiate. And then Lorraine will have you comment on it. So here's our dictionary definition, rules of play. Many marketers have the point of view that says people don't care how it is made. They only care what it will do for them. The problem with this point of view is that in many categories, a number of products do the same thing for people. All toothpaste fight cavities. All new cars drive nicely. All detergents, clean clothes. It is often how these products are made that makes the difference. That's why it is often a good idea to focus on the product and locate that unique piece of technology that is the magic ingredient that makes the product different. And if it's a technology or ingredient that can be patented, all the better. Then we always give our few examples, some older, some newer.

Let's focus on one we're a little more familiar with. than perhaps some of the others. We already mentioned Sleep Number and the way they're going about being different with the way they're made. But let's focus on Papa John's.

It's one of my favorite stories from Jack Trout. And I think you were there when he told it. So Lorraine, share with us that story.

Lorraine Kessler:
Yeah, well, I think it's when Jack was in our offices in what, 2009? For the event we sponsored with him in Akron. And yeah, he was kind enough to share the story about the better ingredients, better pizza positioning idea. And apparently, he was meeting with John and at that time, John Schnatter, who was the owner, had a thousand stores, so he was not small by any measure at that point, but wanted to grow even more. And Trout asked, you know, the obvious question that you would want to ask is why are you successful? And then, of course, Schnatter rattled off, like a lot of times we've heard this by clients, just a list, like a litany of things. And of course, you know, you met Jack. He's not the most patient. He wasn't the most patient

Mark Vandegrift:
Very east coast.

Lorraine Kessler:
And so he obviously displayed that he was totally disinterested in this. And Shatner recognized that. So finally, Schnatter tells him, you know, I spent a lot of money on Dino and that's Dino Cortopassi's sauce. Well, Trout – Jack – happened to know Dino. And so he perked up right away and he says, you have Dino's sauce. And John affirmed that he did. 

And he said, well, you knew something about Dino. Dino was a grower. At that time, he was not as big as he became, but he was a grower in California, central California, who supplied the sauce to mom and pop pizza stores around the country. And he didn't have the capacity. He made small batch, fresh packed sauce. So unlike the bigger competitors, there wasn’t water added and other ingredients, and it's really pretty much fresh packed, like you would do in your own kitchen. And he, by rule, didn't sell to chains because he just didn't have the capacity. He made small batches. So Trout said to John Schnatter, like, hey, can I give him a call? And they called him up right then and there. And Trout said, hey, I have a guy here who says he's got your sauce. But you told me you don't sell the chains. And Dino said, is that young John? And Trout says, yeah, that's him. And that's who I'm talking about. He goes, well, he started as a mom and pop store. And I kept selling him the sauce. So Trout just hung up and said, John, that's your story. Better ingredients, better pizza. That's the deal because you have the sauce. And in this case, it was the true secret sauce, right, the product. And that's the cornerstone of the idea. And John, to his credit, was smart enough to go with the idea and go with it. And still, the company is still sticking with it. 

So now, ironically, things have such a weird way of kind of connecting, right? A good friend of mine, who I met when I was at Bowling Green, was the head of the psych department. And his name is Don DeRosa, and he went on to become the president of the University of Pacific in California. And when he read, I think Dick wrote an article of one of our positionist views on this. And when he read that, he reached out to me, and I hadn't heard from him in years. And because Dino Cortopassi was a very good friend of his, and also a philanthropist who donated. quite a bit to the college, University of Pacific. So he knew Dino personally.

Mark Vandegrift:
Very good. I love that story. And I think it shows the brilliance of Jack that he could tell. I, if I recall my, my recollection of the story was that he was in the room with a bunch of high paid executives or board people. And he said, better ingredients, better pizza, Papa John's. John looked around the room and said, anybody have any other better ideas? And that was the end of the story.

Mark Vandegrift:
Yeah, Jack only needed a matter of minutes and taste is still their position today. So you know what, he was right. So we've already noted sleep number and Papa John's now as great examples of ways to differentiate. And you might call one a technology ingredient. Obviously we have a food ingredient or ingredients plural. What about a service industry where the way they go about doing something they have maybe an additional item or a different philosophy as far as perspective? Let's discuss that a little bit too.

Lorraine Kessler:
In the marketing services, such as financial services are our own, for example, as an ad agency, you know, how a product is made translates into how a product is a particular approach, right, or a particular philosophy. You mentioned it. How a solution is arrived at or delivered differently. So. That really works and our own positioning represents an approach that is very, yeah, I think it's behind you, represents, you know, a differentiated approach that we can own and that we can distinctively credential through many different ways, both the process of the Appreciative Discovery, what we talk about, how much we talk about it. How we approach clients advertising itself when we go to craft the message, and then any credentials that we earn along the way, awards or acknowledgments based on position. So how something is done might be the way to say that. It's a transition from how a product is made to how something is done. And it really speaks kind of what I would call to a method or a philosophy.

Mark Vandegrift:
Yeah, so you could almost say it like Papa John's made with better ingredients, sleep number made with better technology. And for us marketing made with positioning. And that's really a good way to think about it is how a product is made. You can put in there how a service is made or how something else is made. So I think that, uh, positioning being our secret ingredient has worked very well, um, in some cases we're a leader in our region. But like a lot of good brands, they also own another particular position, and positioning is certainly ours. So.

Lorraine Kessler:
Now, there's a lot of ingredient branding and one of the downsides of ingredient branding is that, you know, an ingredient can be shared by competitors within the same space, right?

Mark Vandegrift:
Mm-hmm.

Lorraine Kessler:
So, it's really important in that space for a parent brand, the core maker, thing of Intel-inside

Lorraine Kessler:
So it's really important for those making the computers, the laptops and the devices to have their own, a primary difference that reflects their brand. And so in that scheme, I'm not saying that the ingredient brand doesn't have value. It's just that it probably has more value. It's greater function is as a validation that this product can be trusted, that it's been made well, or that it's up to date.

So I think marketers who have products and are using those kinds of purchased or co-branding ingredient brands need to be cognizant of the value of what that will give to them dependent on the space. Certainly if you have an exclusivity in a category that would be different. But most times I see these kind of ingredient brands shared within the category.

Mark Vandegrift:
Yeah, it seems like products start out with that exclusivity, but then it extends everywhere.

Lorraine Kessler:
Mm-hmm.

Mark Vandegrift:
And even beyond the category, which makes it seem like it's a little ubiquitous, and therefore the value comes down a little bit. I think of like Teflon, Gortex, retsin. Remember, remember certs with Retsin?

Lorraine Kessler:
Yeah, who knows what Retson is? 

Mark Vandegrift:
Exactly. You didn't need to. It just sounded like, you know, something that would make your mouth taste really good. Rack and pinion steering, the Hemi engine,

Lorraine Kessler:
Oh yeah. These are good

Mark Vandegrift:
Nutrasweet

And then one I know we used for a client was Kevlar. Kevlar was first developed in 1964 in the DuPont laboratories. And if our listeners don't know what it is, I would think they do, but it's a strong like a heat resistant synthetic fiber. And it's a lot lighter than steel, but it has five times the tensile strength of steel. And it was first used in the 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires, but it wasn't made popular there. What made it popular was the body armor.

So we always think of the body armor as, you know, this is Kevlar, but if you do a search today, You're going to find it in gloves and helmets, sports equipment like tennis rackets. You can find it in bicycles, apparel, and a ton of the other things. But the one product that I mentioned that we used it for were for Goodyear, and they're small aircraft aviation tires that our client promoted. Do you recall that campaign, Lorraine?

What was interesting about that was that was the first in the aircraft tires, right? Even though back in the 70s it was in the race tires, you would have thought by now it would have been used for aircraft because it's so much lighter and weight is a big thing in the aircraft world. So

Lorraine Kessler:
However, I do think it was used by Goodyear. They just weren't calling it Kevlar. They had their own name for it that they came up with. And I think it was our creative director who encouraged the team to encourage Goodyear to go forward with the licensing of it so they could use the name because it had such amazing value and no one else in their space was distinguishing their tire with that, with Kevlar.

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, they got a lot of traction out of that, pun intended, because of the weight issue. I mean, when you're that much lighter than steel and you have five times the strength, then obviously it was a big value. 

The other one that they worked on was for the bigger commercial tires. And they developed, it was called featherweight aluminum core bead technology, but it dropped 40 pounds off of each tire. I can't even conceive of a tire that could lose 40 pounds, but if you take that times all the tires that are on a commercial airplane, that's a significant amount of weight. And we named that technology and it took center stage in their marketing and sales materials. And if I'm correct, didn't they win a lot of business from Boeing? It was developed specifically for them.

Lorraine Kessler:
I do know that it made them extremely attractive to airline manufacturers, because the number one thing that airline manufacturers were trying to cut is weight. Weight is absolutely an enemy in the commercial space for aviation. And so anything that can safely you know, it's always safety first. Cut weight was really high on the list of buyers, manufacturer buyers.

Mark Vandegrift:
Yeah, and the name of it just come out with featherweight. That's so descriptive. And that was the primary value that these aviation aircraft folks were looking for. So good, Lorraine, do you have any other examples that you'd like to bring up before we close out our show today?

Lorraine Kessler:
Yeah, I think two that come to mind for me talking about how a product is made. And it's another way of saying premium. The problem when you say premium is that you right away telegraph to the audience: this is going to cost me a lot more. And, and you haven't really justified that price. Right. So now you have to go into the explanation. So you almost put yourself in a defensive position when you say premium.

So how can you say premium in a different way and what and I think one of the more ingenious ways is by what GMC did - they created a professional grade? So you would expect to pay more for a professional grade. Now that needs to be supported What does professional grade mean? It can't just be like purple on a mattress, right? It's got to go deeper. So there has to be maybe a difference in the products you use, the tires you put on, you know, they all have to have a higher standard of quality and be perceived as such… more awards. If it's a hauling truck, you know, it hauls more holds, has more of a payload or all those things. And we did that. 

We did the same thing, you know, took a page from that book for, if you remember down south of us. There was a company called Precision Door and Window. And we listened to them, much like Trout to John Schnatter and Papa John's, we listened to them through our Appreciative Discovery. And what we kept hearing is everything they were doing from the paint to the materials was really a grade above. And so we said, hey, you're a professional grade. And so that led to the renaming of the company to ProVia Windows and Doors. And I'm always pleased to see their vehicles on the highways as I travel between Ohio and Michigan because it's beautiful branding. Our creative team did an amazing job in the branding. But ProVia – Pro Way – that's what that means, via roadway or road, really just the name just kind of suggested itself.

Mark Vandegrift:
Yeah, that's a great, I like how you characterize that. That's a great delineation between premium and how a product is made, because we do say that you can be a premium price or a premium product, and yet how a product is made a lot of times, you could end up at the same level, but you can't advertise it that way. What do you think the difference there is? Why would I pick premium? Does it have to do with the perception for the consumer of, you know, I'm holding a Starbucks cup or I'm wearing a Rolex watch, versus I can't really go buy something more expensive because it's not giving me any panache in the world around me.

Lorraine Kessler:
well, I think it's a difference. It's OK if the consumer or customer of that says, I only want the best and I want the premium.

That's different. I would want them to say that. But the way to get there from the advertiser side is often by removing… like high performance. And then, of course, let the customer interpret that as, well, this is the best you can get. This is what I need. This is going to deliver better benefits, rather than getting into an immediate discount on some people who could be your customers who just think you're too high price. And again, like I said, now I have to find out why you're premium.

So it's better if that's, I think the right word is inferred, and so that the customer gives it to you. It's just like the word to me, trust. Like you don't want to say, trust us, right? Trust me. But you do want your audience to say, I really trust this brand.

So you don't use the word trust to get that. And it's the way that you have to enter into the mind of the prospect. And I just feel it's a better way to start off with a differentiation that's not just about price. Price now, what happens when you say professional grade or high performance is now I expect the price to validate that. I expect you to have a higher price. Well, that's much better than starting with a higher price. So now you have to justify why you have a higher price.

Mark Vandegrift:
Well, we could certainly see the path from how a product is made to getting someone to that premium grade down the road where they are now, that is their position. They're the best in class. And so you can certainly see that jump. 

Well, thanks Lorraine and thanks to our audience for viewing and listening. As always, please like, share, comment, and subscribe. Then join us for our next episode of Brand Shorthand as we discuss the core concepts of positioning. Until then, have an amazing day.