THE ESSENCE LINE
The 8 unicorns of India:
Flipkart
Snapdeal
Ola
Paytm
Musigma
Quickr
Inmobi
The three biggest consumer facing unicorns, do not have a tagline
that just proves that they haven’t found out “why” they are doing what they are
doing? Sounds like some deep sh**?!
What’s in a tagline?
Remember “Think Different” ? It changed the world for Apple
and Apple for the world. This was not because of a mediocre looking tagline,
but because it connected with what Apple does everyday.
Apple Iphone , Ipod ,Itunes ,Mac all have their origins in “Think
Different” philosophy of Steve's.
“Think Different” was Steve's answer to “why” Apple does
what it does.
Why should there be a mismatch between what an entrepreneur’s
dream statement and the advertising campaign through which his consumer is
getting to know his offering?
Well many of us are too shy to accept or to tell others the “real
story” about what got them to start a venture. Greed is not a bad thing, money
can solve 99% of our life problems at any given point, but realizing the fact
that, the people you are selling to are not different than you and that they
CAN relate to your “real story” can be a distinctive competency in today’s
scenario.
The essence is always there in whatever that you do or
things you plan for future or things you say to others about your creation, it
is just waiting to be recognized by you!!
Apple: Think Different,
Founded 1976
Google: Don’t be evil, founded 1998
Nike: just do it, founded 1964
IBM: we make it happen, founded 1911
HP: Make it matter, Founded
1939
Above are some of the biggest brands in the world today. It
is interesting that top three companies came in to being at least two and half
decades later than the next two companies. Perhaps these two knew “why” they
were doing what they were doing?
IBM says they make it happen! That clearly means, they have
a very good idea about what they do and how they do it, but it lacks “why” they
do it.
HP’s line talks about making sure you make an impact through
whatever you do, this is very difficult to achieve within the company, after all
a tagline is not meant for just consumers but each and every employee should be
able to relate to it in some way or at least should be encouraged to do so.
Anyone who has seen the Think Different campaign ads or have
read about it would know, it was a tribute to people who were crazy enough to
think they can change the world and ended up doing the same in more than one
way. Steve identified himself with this idea and decided to tell the world what
it is that made him do what he does.
Same goes for Nike, in fact Steve was inspired by Nike’s
campaigns which led him to choose different personalities from across the
world, who dared to think differently and changed the world for good, as a part
of his Think Different campaigns.
So take out a paper and a pen- ask yourself, why? –write down
everything that comes from your gut.
Based on that, create a story line that talks about those
things and people will identify with not only your brand but they will identify
with you.
That’s when the brand becomes YOU!
It might sound very stupid when you start, after all Apple
was talking about people like Mohammad Ali, Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi. Imagine
an electronics company talking about politicians, religious leaders and social issues
to sell its products. Have they gone nuts? Is what the competitors or the
marketing world would have thought, but what followed was a result of a well
thought out strategy.
Apple was able to create a connection between these popular
personalities and its products and that resulted in a connection between Apple
and its target Customers.
In the ongoing scenario of price war among e-commerce
players, brand recognition will be a differentiation. It provides the connection
which these unicorns are trying to buy through discounts but always fail when a
bigger discount is available elsewhere.
The crazy ones were able to figure out their reason for
doing things.
what is yours?
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