What does it mean to be a premium brand? What do premium products look like? What do companies need to do differently because they want to be premium?
These are all hard questions and ones we need to examine in detail, because
they will determine the success or failure of establishing a company in the
premium realm. For me, coming from a design background I see this as a
multidimensional challenge, and one which we cannot successfully solve in each
of our own specialisms, but something we can only reasonably tackle by thinking
about how all elements in the products and services we offer come
together, seamlessly, to create meaning and in that regard we need to be looking
outside-in, rather than attempt it from our respective silos.
Owning a premium product used to signify status. Status these days is no
longer just about hoarding as many luxury goods as possible and being able to
pay vast prices for things in short supply. Kids are teaching us that status is
to be had in many more ways than before, such as through experiences
(it’s not about what you own, it’s the story you tell afterwards!),
participation ("I was part of making this!" ex. LEGO Factory), skills (becoming really good at something and finding
your own appreciative audience ex. blogs, flickr, youtube) and through
networks (who connects to you and who you connect to,
tribal-style ex. social network sites like Myspace).
So the notion of what it means to be a premium product or brand has changed
too. To be premium is certainly to be able to deliver consistent, good quality
in line with people’s expectations, products that are easy and intuitive to use,
but it’s also about being treated with respect as a consumer. Moreover it is
about being able to provide meaning to our consumers, co-creating value,
connecting people in community, appealing to emotional, spiritual and social
values, being tied to a person’s self-image, highly personal and it’s about
empowering people to do things previously not possible.
As the bar for premium is raised ever higher by competing brands trying to
innovate, by nigh-on complete price transparency and the growth of rating
services for almost any and every kind of product or service – it becomes clear
that to be premium is to be committed to a of motto ‘Only the best is
good enough’. Only now, our consumers know it and demand it, because as
soon-to-be global consumers their frame of reference of what a good website
does, will be the leader in the field, not necessarily another competitor in the same field as you, what quality
means could be Apple, not your biggest rival, what good packaging/service/game is, yet
another company we never previously considered our competitor and so on.
So being and staying premium is a hard task. It means that as a company,
people need to come together to understand that consumers at different levels of
affinity, want different things from you. For us the greatest challenge moving
forwards will be reconciling the fact that it is not one or the other;
addressing only the great masses or lead-users, but both together, at the right
time in the right way. For that, we need to work as one company, organising
ourselves around the needs of consumers, not our functional silos. And as
employers, we need to attract and retain the very best of talent, because only
then, by growing people and the roles we each play, can we consistenly deliver
premium, year-after-year.
