Just how "U" are you?

Is the notion of USP Still valid in 2019?

I have recently taken some time out to reflect on my 26 year (!) career  in the world of FMCG and the break is certainly something I can heartily recommend, if the opportunity presents itself (or you decide to create it!)

Often, we get caught up in the day to day running or contributing to our businesses and we can, if we aren’t careful, lean heavily on received wisdom. Anyone who has kids will know that they don’t give two hoots about received wisdom or convention and will readily question everything. As (ahem) “high functioning professionals”, this gift can easily be lost.

So, having time to reflect, I thought about the branded space in FMCG and asked myself out loud, “What do all good brands do?” My wife is used to me talking to myself – I think it’s charming and quirky; she thinks I may need professional help.

I think, all of us with a desire for branded, commercial success, would come up with an answer which resembles the one below – more or less….

“Good brands create and deliver a positive, desired experience for consumers for which they are prepared to pay a fair price (often on repeated occasions) which creates long term value and profitability for the brand holder and their associated stakeholders”

Sounds fair enough, right? Indeed, we can layer on CSR and status pieces etc. but at the heart of it, we want to delight our customers and make a living doing something we like doing together in a nice place with great colleagues. Value isn’t always quantified in hard currency – we’d all struggle to put a price on personal fulfilment.

If that’s what good brands do, do they do anything else and how do they do it? So many questions, so little time! Still, for as long as I can remember, I have had 3 real obsessions in my working life: Strategy which bridges the knowing/doing gap, brand loyalty and the USP. The last two, I feel are inextricably linked.

My early career was spent in the tobacco industry and smoker loyalty was the name of the game. Outside of addiction, where I think the rules are a little skewed, I often question the reality of brand loyalty and I wonder if the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is simply a weird, made up, quasi-religious cult which has captured many of us over the last 60+ years, rather than something which actually exists in 2019.

The frequency with which the term impertinently elbows its way into client conversations, certainly would lead me think it is the latter. All of these high performing professionals cannot possibly be misguided, which has driven me to explore this further, with you, right here, right now.

USP has been around as a marketing notion for some time, originally developed in the 1940’s – but marketing has most definitely moved on, with the advent of positioning statements in the 1960s and so on. We are so “clever” with our brand marketing these days and theories and models have expanded commensurate with other disciplines. So why has USP endured and, indeed, is it still valid?

Not being a politician, I am going to offer a straight answer. No. I don’t think it truly is. I have a problem with a third of it. I think of it as a potato sack disguising itself as haut-couture, or at least a hot-air balloon with a rip in the canopy. Also, not being a politician, I encourage contrary opinions to this position.

I believe this is a topic worthy of debate, so have chosen LI as the appropriate forum and actively seek comments supporting or detracting from the USP notion.

So here’s my take:

We live in a world of “brand parity”, “filter by price” and “on demand” – we’ve never had it so good. Our choices are extraordinary in nearly all areas of life and in the branded world, its more magnified than ever. I would go as far to say that we live in a brand parity world where virtually everything is substitutable to some extent.

On the surface, that may seem a bold statement, but reflecting on my own reality, it seems like an obvious one. I genuinely cannot recall any brands in my life which are not substitutable to a reasonable extent. Online grocery even does the substituting for me! Never had it so good….and so much for unique!

Byron Sharp – renowned marketing science professor employs soap as a product category when characterizing brand loyalty and uniqueness. He proposes that nobody, upon not being able to purchase their favourite brand of soap, is loyal to the point at which they stop washing until they can buy it again. I think all of us would support that as being a reasonable proposition. There is nothing about that brand which is unique to its core purpose (getting you clean).

Would you go to another store to shop for that brand to which you are “loyal” or would you substitute based upon something else in category you have seen which will do the same job at a fair price, maybe even cheaper due to promotion. In the 1940’s, the dawn of USP, perhaps. In 2019 when we are busier than we have ever been? I don’t really think so. We can readily be persuaded by something else. If we couldn’t why would retailers run promotions? They are there to persuade us to do just that. We can fall off our loyalty perch with ease, if the price, promotion or positioning is right and that is because “truly unique” is somewhat of a Unicorn, certainly in food & drink circles.

We can’t realistically expect to create unwavering loyalty in a 21st century where choice often borders on ridiculous. Should we even try? I think the creation of unique may still have a place when we bring experience into the equation, but in terms of physical products, I am still pretty cynical. I think we should actually embrace substitution for what it is and use it as a foundation for our brand voice. Don’t chase loyalty, scientifically assess options at the moment of truth, the point of decision and simply seek to create conditions which will get the see-saw of preference to land on our side. Preference seems a much more realistic and pragmatic goal than the creation of an army of brand zealots and one much more likely to meet with success.

Unique is absolute. Many brand holders equate unique with “better” or “different” but these are relative rather than absolute – and that’s a good thing. The knack is communicating how you are better than others how you are distinctive, communicating your DSP, if you will. I think we should all be obsessed with distinctiveness relative to our competition and drop unique like a bag of bricks.

Even when we consider innovation, we can only truly harness the power of “new” for so long. The agility of NPD processes in most categories, from consumer electronics to potato crisps is staggering. Concept to shelf times are falling more rapidly than ever, in correlation with technological and process advancements.

If you work in a longer timeframe environment such as certain tech sectors and pharma, super-sophisticated R&D gets you to a place where you may have patents to protect your uniqueness, for a time at least. Outside of that though, it’s safe to assume if you have a good idea – imitability is your unwelcome and ever-present guest at the table. Couple that with being blinded by your own sense of uniqueness, you might find your crown slips before you even figure out why you’ve been successful in the first place!

All of this is before we consider some of the commercial realities faced by many brand holders these days. It isn’t unusual for brands to fall out of favour with their larger customers. (Any NAM’s trying to land cost price increases, wave your hands in the air!) Temporary (or permanent) delists can halt progress and your perceived uniqueness isn’t going to save you. If you are constantly working on your distinctiveness and are truly innovative with your customers? Well that might stand you in better stead.

Are your shoppers going to “stop washing” if you aren’t on the shelf? Whatever the equivalent is in your arena, the reality is that you might get some bluster on social media but it’s unlikely to lead to civil disobedience or your customers going out of business.

Well this is all very disheartening, isn’t it? You aren’t truly unique (go on, look in the mirror, long and hard) and you can be readily substituted, often based upon price or promotion. So how do you win?

Simple.

Actually, it isn’t. It’s pretty challenging and you need a culture of continuous improvement to stay at the front. The good news is this: It’s the fun part!

Innovation in packaging, on-pack, display, POS, supply chain, CSR etc. - improving your distinctiveness in a noisy, choice heavy world. Creating those ideal conditions so that preference goes your way. Seeing your competition imitate you. Going again. Improving still further.

Unique? Who needs it? I don’t think I do.

I think it’s the crutch of received wisdom upon which we lean a little too heavily and, if we aren’t careful it underpins many of your marketing and commercial strategies….and not in a good way.