Branding: Judgement Vs. Luck

In 1968, 3M research scientist Dr Spencer Silver was attempting to improve the adhesives 3M uses on many of its tapes. By complete accident he managed to create a robust adhesive that could stick temporarily to any surface and then be removed and reapplied continually. Baffled but enthused, Dr Silver spent the next five years presenting his discovery to fellow 3M scientists.

He finally bumped into Art Fry, another 3M researcher. In his spare time Fry sang in his church choir and was constantly losing his bookmark and thus his next hymn. Fry took some of Dr Silver’s adhesive and used it to temporarily mark his hymns with a piece of paper. Quickly he realized the potential of the new creation, and the Post-it note was launched in 1980. It rapidly became one of 3M’s most successful products and its success can be traced not to customer-driven product development, but to a double dose of luck in which its product features and then its corresponding use were both discovered entirely by chance.

During the 70s the ‘Pepsi Challenge’ had been running across the US. The campaign consistently demonstrated the superior taste of Pepsi over market leader Coca-Cola. Faced with declining market share and a plummeting share price, Coke executives were desperate for a solution. In 1985, after months of secret market tests, Coca-Cola rolled out a new formula for Coke – the first alteration in the drink for almost a century.

The results were disastrous: despite tasting better in blind-taste tests than traditional Coke, customers were uncomfortable with the new taste and began a boycott of the new formula. Resistance grew and less than three months after the launch of new Coke, the old formula was relaunched as Coca-Cola Classic. By the end of 1985 Coke Classic was outselling both new Coke and Pepsi. The temporary withdrawal of the traditional beverage seemed to revitalize the US’ love affair with Coke and it regained its market share. This, the greatest brand revitalization in marketing history, was caused not by consultants or strategic thinking, but by a completely unintended twist of fate.

In the 90s Snapple grew from a modest regional presence into a power-brand. As the brand’s cult-like following grew, one of its employees, a young New Jersey native called Wendy Kaufman, took it upon herself to answer letters arriving at Snapple’s head office. Her fame grew and soon Wendy was appearing in the national press, on the Late Show with David Letterman and starring in Snapple’s TV advertising. The ads featured her responding to customer letters and were always natural, quirky, East Coast and consistent with the growing brand equity of Snapple.

Today Wendy, the ‘Snapple Lady’, is widely acknowledged as a key factor in Snapple’s growth from a tiny cult product to a global brand worth billions. Her role as brand ambassador began not as a brilliant marketing strategy or creative campaign, but by complete accident.

When Sergey Brin and Larry Page completed their research into a new search engine initially named BackRub, neither could be bothered to spent a lot of time learning HTML and then designing the web page that would act as the engine’s entry point.

The sparse design and uncluttered style that would eventually differentiate Google from all its competitors, not to mention almost every other web page, came about not because of research or a clear design vision, but because of a large dose of laziness and a healthy slice of good fortune.

The lesson to be learned from all four case studies demonstrated here is rarely discussed in business schools, yet it is the dirty secret of many great brands: if you are going to succeed, be brilliant, be driven, be creative – but, most important of all, be lucky.

30 SECONDS ON … THE SNAPPLE LADY

– Wendy Kaufman was hired to work in Snapple’s order processing department in 1991.

– After answering questions sent into the corporation, she was named its official spokesperson and appeared in its print and TV ads until 1994, when the brand was sold to Quaker Oats and she was let go.

– At her peak, Kaufman received more than 3000 letters a week, responding to each individually.

– When Quaker Oats sold Snapple to Triarc Beverage Group for $300m in May 1997, Triarc’s managing director prioritised signing up Kaufman, saying that ‘Wendy is the essence of the brand’. However, she only returned to its ads for a short stint.

– The brand was sold to Cadbury Schweppes in 2000. After Snapple’s volume sales for the first 10 months of 2004 dropped 2%, Kaufman returned to its advertising to boost take-up.

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