One is white and the other is black. One built his global success on its street cred and its youthful Yang energy, while his main competitor has so far been too Yin for its own good.
The Ipod is YANG, with its identity centered around intangible attributes (emotions. feelings), while the ZEN MP3 player is YIN, centered around tangible features (functionalities, performance).
(Inspired by Paul TEMPORAL)
When asked to explain why the APPLE Ipod MP3 player enjoys a global success that the Creative Zen MP3 has failed so far to achieve, word in the street is that the Ipod is “cool”… while its Singaporean counterpart is not. When the hype’s glittering dust settles down, it is all about brand positioning.
Exploring the Ipod’s success factors
With a reported 100 million US Dollars advertising campaign, Creative’s entry ticket to the global market was pricey. The dominant design of MP3 players having been established in the first years of the 21st century, the Ipod and the Zen were substitutable, based on similar technology and ergonomics. With innovative products, replete with features unheard of in the competition (voice recording, FM radio…), the Zen MP3 players had a valid claim at a significant market share, but failed to make a real dent in the Ipod’s supremacy.
One of the main reasons for this supremacy is the value network surrounding the product: the I Tunes website provides digital music, while the ubiquitous QuickTime video software (and its periodic upgrades) allows Apple to maintain a sizeable database of Internet users interested in multimedia entertainment content (movie trailers, video clips and of course MP3 files).
On a second level, design could be key to understanding the positioning of the two products. The Ipod, with its sleek white casing and ergonomic touchpad, had the “coolest” design, when compared to the “industrial” looking and edgy first-generation Creative Zen.
At this point of our analysis, defining the Ipod as cool while the Zen is not, it is essential to define “coolness” as a cardinal value for Brand positioning.
What is “Cool” and how does it apply to Brands?
The origin of cool is deeply embedded in the cultural experience of the African-American community. Facing the harsh times of slavery and later carving a place in a violent segregationist society, the African-Americans developed a cultural attitude that served as the backbone of their resilience. Coolness could be summed up by a West African expression: “The mind of the elder in the body of the young” (Cf. Robert Farris Thompson: “Dance and Culture, An Aesthetic of the Cool: West Africa Dance” in African Forum 2, no. 2; Fall 1996).
A mix of serenity, wisdom and vitality, coolness is today a key ingredient of pop culture. Epitomized by the African-American urban way of life, it permeated the mainstream American culture, with the likes of Elvis Presley, James Dean and Marlon Brando emulating the trademark seemingly nonchalant demeanor of African American street characters. For Hollywood movie stars, the newfound street credibility and hard-boiled toughness that defined coolness became key elements of their global sex appeal.
So why is the I pod cool, while the Creative Zen is not? Design was the first reason for the first generation of both products. The I pod did not have anything to prove, while the Creative Zen tried to “look smart” with its high tech angular design. Basically, the very serene looking Ipod exuded self confidence while the Zen player tried too hard to show off its numerous features and functionalities.
Nice guys never get it, do they? In the global market as in sentimental warfare, what really matter is not only the tangible, but mostly the emotional side of things. In the words of Branding guru Paul Temporal, the emotional part of the brand identity (“yang”) is as important as the rational part (“yin”), which is built on the features and the quality level (Cf. Paul Temporal, “Branding in Asia”, John Wiley & Sons, 2000).
Creative needs a better positioning and a new copy strategy
Creative might have been a willing victim of its “cultural DNA”. Originally a computer repair shop that became the global leader of PC sound cards and other peripherals, Creative did not shift paradigms when entering the MP3 player market. By advertising the Zen players as multi-feature products, Creative appealed to the rational geek component of the market (a sizeable presence in Asian urban markets), but failed to recognize the MP3 player as the ubiquitous lifestyle product it had become by 2004. In that context, it did not really matter that the Creative ads were both entertaining and …”creative”: they did not establish the brand personality characteristics that would have created the emotional appeal that the Ipod oozed.
Everything is there: color, movement, the smorgasbord of features. How about some emotion ?
What Zen could mean for ZEN
A new copy strategy is needed to put the Creative Zen product range on the global map.
To make a fresh start from the Ipod’s wordless communication, the concept of “Zen” could be used as an alternative to “Cool”. (It might appear as a coincidence that the Asian Zen values of serenity and awareness are a counterpart to the Western concept of Cool).
To be in touch with its core target of urban youths, Creative should find ways to express that Zen MP3 players are not about technology but mostly about music and “the unbearable lightness of being a teenager in the contemporary urban world”. MP3 players could be personal companions for soul-searching young individuals trying to find their place and role in society. Zen MP3 players could be about “music feeling like teen spirit”.
A few Zen kohans could convey the message: “Life is about rhythm. Rhythm is about life”; “Music is Silence. Silence is Music”; “Music is my soul. My soul is music”.
With this new copy strategy declined on print ads and video clips, the Creative Zen brand could position itself as the essence of digital music: rebellious hard rock, soul searching jazz or bubbly Japanese pop, life and emotions instantly reachable on a chip.
Copyright: Alfred Largange – October 2006
Posted by Alfred 