Distinctiveness Illustrated and Rewarded?
For a number of years now I’ve enjoyed reading Mark Ritson’s column in Marketing Week and taken time out to watch some of his talks online. Relevant, well argued, often contrarian and witty, he’s always a voice worth listening to - if you don't mind the odd expletive or two. His Effie video case studies are a great resource.
I’ve been especially interested in the on-going discussion about the role of distinctiveness in branding, and its relationship and relative importance to differentiation, and in a number of talks Mark Ritson has discussed distinctiveness and its importance to brands.
For example, in an article by Sarah Vizard, in the 10th October 2019 edition of Marketing Week, she quotes him as saying, “Making their brand distinctive is marketers’ main challenge but too many are focused on differentiation and are underestimating the impact of having a brand people instantly recognise…It’s about whether your brand stands out to the customer, whether it looks like itself, whether it comes to mind. This is the big job, It is 70% or 80% of it. Marketers think their brands [stand out] because they work there every day and think ****, it’s everywhere’. Customers don’t notice. The first rule of brand should be, first they must know it’s me”.
Distinctiveness came to mind when I was reading Drinks International’s Annual Brands Report 2020. The report is a survey of bars, selected from 38 countries around the world, who are asked to “open up their spreadsheets and divulge their bars’ buying habits”. Each respondent was asked to rank their three best-selling products in each spirit category (plus selected wine, beer, modifiers and mixers), as well as the top trending brands.
In the ‘Best Selling Brand’ top 10 table the brands in each category that came out top were Bacardi (Rum), Bulleit (American Whiskey), Campari (Liqueurs), Don Julio (Tequila), Hennessy (Cognac), Jameson (Irish Whiskey), Johnnie Walker (Scotch Whisky), Ketel One (Vodka), Nikka (World Whiskies), Tanqueray (Gin) and Torres (Brandy).
Interestingly, these eleven brands epitomise packaging distinctiveness through a range of different features: bottle shape, colour and embellishment, cap design (most notably in the case of Don Julio and Nikka), brandmarque, wordmarque, colour palette, topography and overall aesthetic; not to mention liquid colour in the case of Campari. If the first rule of brand is to “know it’s me” then these brands are recognisable and distinctive.
Looking historically at the individual brand’s packaging what strikes you is another all-important factor in distinctiveness - consistency. Johnnie Walker may well have been updated over the years but core brand assets like the square bottle and the exact incline of its label have never fundamentally been changed.
How important distinctiveness is was also brought home to me recently when I was looking at a recent graphic published by The Gin Cooperative entitled 2019:Scottish Gin in Numbers. The graphic reveals amongst other things that last year there were 132 new gins (up 16% on the previous year) and 25 new brands. It also reveals that there are now 400 Scottish Gins available. And it’s clear that the Scottish market is not unique given the plethora of Gins worldwide; neither is the Gin category. With my colleagues at Sedley Place I’m currently undertaking a review of worldwide vodka packaging and to date have identified over 250 brands, which probably doesn’t close to covering all the indigenous brands of a country like Russia.
Of course factors like on and off trade listing have a large role to play in a brand’s profile in the market but if it disappears into the crowd through a lack of distinctiveness to start with it’s always going to be at a disadvantage.
