Josiah Wedgwood, the 18th c British china manufacturer was a visionary entrepreneur because he was one of the first people who understood the power of branding. His strategic essence of a great brand is to earn repeat business and the loyalty by creating trust between the product, the company, and the consumer. Nancy F. Koehn described Josiah Wedgwood’s strategy as “a company it creates distinction, sustainable, defensible, and value-added differentiation” He could read the changes of social hierarchy and bring it to the right consumers. He was well aware of importance of consumers’ feedback, communication, and managed some of the first focus groups on record with gentry. His pineapple and cauliflower china which was very eye-catching and functional is still manufactured. It proves that harmony of branding and good design made Wedgwood one of the best selling china till today.
Two of today’s powerful brands, created in the last 20 years, are LG and Prada. LG is worldwide electronic company and Prada is a high-end fashion brand. In 2007 LG and Prada made a cell phone called “Prada”. It has the outstanding LG technology and the sophisticated minimalism of Prada’s design. Being LG a worldwide electronic company, what would be the benefit to work with Prada? Working with fashion was a new start for LG and electronic industry. Careful study of consumers’ purchasing tendency, LG come up with results that reflects how people tend to purchase products which can stimulate one’s emotion and move one’s mind rather than products which can only give technological advantage, According to this consumers’ trend, under the slogan of “The more LG is in your life, it becomes art”, LG captures consumers’ by integrating art with management. I think it is very interesting and future oriented business strategy. Along with advance of culture, people care more about art and quality of life. Art has become part of our lives. Prada phone is one of LG products combined with art. Not only it creates a new image which consumers have not felt with ordinary cell phones, but also satisfies their emotional desire. This was a new start that gave chance to rethink the image of LG and inform art business of LG. Everyone who knows either LG or Prada would remember Prada cell phone.
The design represents features of Prada but it was neither innovative nor technologically functional. Touch screens have been applied to previous cell phones, and they are getting smaller, thinner, and lighter than ever. Why does Prada cell phone sell? Is it because of the design, brand, or function? LG was able to read the current trend, understand consumers’ need and create a new market which was smart and innovative. Plus, people who acquire this product give a sign of surplus money and could feel that they are living in celebrity-like life when they clearly are not. I think purchasing these high price products fulfill people’s desire: to be like celebrity in a way, and make them buy more. This phenomenon is bad because people who can not afford brand still want to have it. What brand can offer to people is a certain level of quality, service and symbol of wealth. People might think that Prada will guarantee quality of products based on reputation that the company has built within consumers. That is what brand can offer and why people buy brand. Most of consumers do not have professional information which makes them easy to choose brand over others without noticing whether the product is really well designed or not.
I have listed two successful cases of how do branding and marketing make a huge difference in design industry. I know the power of branding and marketing but I believe that without good, innovative, and functional design, no matter how famous the brand is, how smart the marketing strategy is, products lose their purpose and the company would lose their trust from consumers. Wedgwood could be successful because elegant eye-catching design was based on it. LG Prada cell phone’s sophisticated Prada-like design reinforced branding and marketing even stronger.
As a designer I have always thought that a good design should mainly affect on decision making process when purchasing products rather than branding or marketing. The definition of a good design to me is a product which is innovative, well considered, functional, and still manages to remain aesthetically pleasing. More importantly ID designers should produce products that are accessible that appeal to the masses. Then branding and marketing come along to reinforce the products. However, we should not underestimate the power of branding and marketing. If you can not sell well designed products no matter how good they are, they become useless. Marketing drives people’s attention, arises customers’ interest, and make people to buy products. Branding is earning consumers’ trust from the market. Harmony of these three elements is necessary yet the best way to develop ID industry.
