Challis Hodge’s UXblog

Jennifer Rice over at Brand Mantra posted some interesting thoughts on “Innovation and brand extensions.” She was responding to a readers who asked if Amazon’s recent performance problems were due to brand extension. She responded with a clear position:

Amazon has definitely overextended itself to a generic “online shopping destination.” It no longer stands for anything meaningful or memorable.

[…]

So coming back to the original question about Amazon…although it was initially groundbreaking, its focus has become highly diluted; it’s moved from innovative ideas to selling groceries. Big mistake; that’s like Mark Cuban becoming a bag boy. By trying to be all things to all people, a brand becomes nothing to anyone.

Let’s break this down a bit. Amazon.com was initially groundbreaking because they sold stuff online. Ecommerce was brand-spanking new. Jeff Bezos’ mission has always been about Amazon.com being the trusted destination to purchase all things online. They’ve focused heavily on their customers - understanding them and meetings their needs - and less on their competition. The Amazon.com brand is about trust, security, convenience, value and understanding.

I would argue that Amazon.com does stand for anything meaningful. They are a safe, secure, trusted partner to their customers. Their customers trust them with a lot of personal information and sleep well at night. Their customers trust them to make recommendations and feel confident they’ll deliver. Innovation is important as Amazon works to deliver over time but I don’t believe the brand hinges on it.

Company brands, like people brands, are most successful when they don’t try to pander to everyone’s tastes. They have a definite vision that’s different from the alternatives. Consumers buy into their vision or not. if it’s a clear vision, it’s easily recognizable regardless of the product to which it’s attached. This is perhaps why some of the most successful companies are associated with a figurehead who has a strong personality. You either love them or hate them, but they probably don’t care too much about what you think.

Virgin = rebel = Richard Branson. Richard sets out to do something rebellious in whatever industry he chooses to enter. The Virgin brand is based not around what Richard does, but how he does it. Consumers understand that anything with the Virgin label will likely have a unique experience attached to it. Therefore, the only way Virgin can be successful with new ventures is to make each one rebellious and new for its respective industry. If the new venture is innovative, it’s consistent with the brand. Unfortunately, the Virgin brand is so closely tied to Richard that it will likely flounder when he leaves (ditto for Steve Jobs.)

Though few would admit it, many of the folks working in the brand space struggle with the importance of the customer in the brand equation. They focus heavily on ‘branding’ (dictating) and less on ‘brand’ (delivering). They approach a brand as if it’s a two-step process: (1) Define the brand, and (2) repeat the brand definition.

Here’s how I define a corporate brand:

Brand = the sum of all perceptions resulting from every point of contact a person has with a company either directly or indirectly over time.

We can deliver the message that a company is innovative, or even rebellious, and customers will line up to see what’s up! Unfortunately the brand doesn’t stop there. The company must then deliver something of value to maintain it’s customers. Perhaps more importantly, the company must deliver in a way that’s harmonious with the projected brand message. If it fails to do so a brand will develop from the mixed messages.

Virgin = rebel = Richard Branson. Richard sets out to do something rebellious in whatever industry he chooses to enter. The Virgin brand is based not around what Richard does, but how he does it. Consumers understand that anything with the Virgin label will likely have a unique experience attached to it. Therefore, the only way Virgin can be successful with new ventures is to make each one rebellious and new for its respective industry. If the new venture is innovative, it’s consistent with the brand. Unfortunately, the Virgin brand is so closely tied to Richard that it will likely flounder when he leaves (ditto for Steve Jobs.)

So will Virgin or Apple crumble if their leaders leave? They may if their respective companies are not delivering what they themselves are selling. But if their companies are delivering, the brands need not die when they depart.

Amazon has done well to keep Jeff Bezos somewhat under the radar. While the company may have it’s ups and downs they can maintain success and a strong brand by continuing to focus on delivering value to their customers.

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If some predictions hold true, this is the resume of the future, an electronic portfolio that shows a job seeker’s skills and personality with more depth and vividness than a paper resume, or even a job interview, ever could. Although many recruiters have yet to embrace them, Web portfolios have long been popular on college campuses and in creative fields, where they’ve replaced the traditional leather portfolios that designers lug from interview to interview. Soon accountants, salespeople and chief executives will apply the art-portfolio concept to their own careers, advocates say. Their sites will display work samples, testimonials, or maybe a video where the candidates can talk up their skills, essentially giving employers a pre-interview.

Nielsen/NetRatings reports that in January 2001, over 168 million people in the US had internet access either at home or work — a 60% internet penetration rate in the US. Nielsen/NetRatings also finds that the 168 million who had access were not necessarily online and even though the time spent online per month increased by 1.3% between December and January, the number of page views per month decreased by 5.5%. These numbers certainly suggest more quality and less quantity as web users may be moving toward a trend of more focused and intentional use of the Internet. See the numbers here.

Yodlee’s technology helps users manage and track financial information pertaining to bank accounts, credit cards, stocks, mutual funds, and the like, through one Website. The new service, Schwab My Accounts, will roll out early this year to Schwab online users and later in the year to PocketBroker users. The technologies from Yodlee are reportedly far more advanced than the capabilities of generic portal sites. Read the press release here.

Research firm C. E. Unterberg, Towbin surveyed 200 Financial Services firms and concluded that most did poorly in online Customer Service. They added that, “save the online trading companies, most financial services firms have not been compelled to improve or enhance online customer service offerings. Competition among these firms has not reached the level where improved service could attract/steal/maintain customers.” Really!? Believeing this statement for a second could be the fastest way out of business for many of these firms on 2001!!! Check out the research here.

Nicholas G. Carr writes, “The essential beauty of the Internet - its openness - is also its essential flaw as a platform for business. Companies achieve profits by erecting barriers around markets, locking customers in and keeping competitors out. But since the Internet was designed for communication rather than commerce, its structure frustrates attempts to raise barriers. That’s why one dot-com after another has flopped, despite massive investments to build brands, seize first-mover advantages and acquire customers.” Perhaps this is true. I would argue however that we are moving from an era where business success is measured by sheer profit not the satisfaction of people’s wants and needs, to an era where business success is measured by the degree to which businesses satisfy people’s wants and needs. This is not a bad thing. Businesses will simply have to work hard to understand their customers. Read the entire article here.

Can Researchers Cover Your Net tracks?
“A group of researchers and privacy proponents is working to develop new standards for network anonymity at the Internet protocol level, a prospect that could mask the location of Web users.” More here.

Advertisers for Internet Phones Work to Reduce Consumers’ Expectations
Despite all the hype, the wireless-advertising industry is still in its infancy. According to Forrester Research, $890 million will be spent world-wide on mobile advertising by 2005. Read the story here.

WAP Usability Report: Field Study in London Fall 2000
Interesting report on the study conducted in London by the Nielsen Norman Group. I would only caution that it’s easy to jump to conclusions about a platform that is being delivered through difficult to use devices and offers services that often are not useful. It is not difficult to validate WAP’s problems today but it is a bit trickier to see into the future. I would be hesitant to write WAP off completely at this point. The street has funny ways of adopting and making use of technologies that often defy the results of focus groups and lab tests.You can download the 90 page report from the Nielsen Norman Group Site for $18

Lots-O-PR on the Report:
New York Times: A Thumbs Down for Web Phones
InternetNews: Expert Confirms WAP Users’ Fears
Yahoo FinanceVision: WAP: Miserable Failure? (8 min. streaming video)
WebWord.com: WAP: Miserable Failure?
evolt.org: UK users turn their backs on WAP
and of course: Driving Over Jakob Nielsen by ev (requires Flash 5)

We haven’t seen the book yet, but judging by the site, Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin’s Mapping Cyberspace is worth a look. For all the talk in the industry about navigation and information architecture, there are ideas here that could still use more hype. For instance, “sometimes structure *is* content.” The landscape as a whole can be as interesting and informative as any of the places on the map. Check out the gallery for a lot of inspiring scenery. We’re not sure much of this is ready for direct application to the workaday web; a lot of it was created for very narrow or specialized audiences. But it’s great to have all this material in one place. It reminds us that it’s possible to fit a *lot* of information in a single view, and that there are new exciting ruts for us to get stuck in well beyond the “sites and pages” metaphor. We also like the fact that Dodge and Kitchin draw attention to the social interactions that take place on this new landscape. Not pages, places. Not interactions with pages, but interactions in and through places, social
exchanges shaped by place.

On-line Library of Information Visualization Environments
Speaking of visualization… most of you blogites are probably already aware of the University of Maryland’s “Online Library of Information Visualization Environments,” or OLIVE for short. But just in case, here’s a reminder.