For all the talk nowadays about the rise of Digital Media and the way it’s changing traditional marketing methodologies, there is still a fair amount to be said for branding.

Branding

It has been proven that a company with a well-known brand and an established reputation finds it easier to broach that “first contact” with a client. Prospects already feel some kind of connection with the company and already have mental associations that they have made with them.

It has become more difficult than ever for a company to develop that sort of solid brand image because there is just so much vying for our attention. The cost, time and huge amount of work involved in “branding from scratch” simply does not suit the budget of an average start-up company. New companies wishing to strike out and develop a branded reputation are being forced to look at unique, guerrilla techniques to do it.

The Flip

The Flip camera is the perfect example of how this was achieved. It took the hand-held mini-digital camera market by storm and became extremely popular, extremely fast. In fact, The Flip outsold Sony’s camera in the same category. All of this occurred without any kind of traditional branding or advertising. Online social media, YouTube clips, blogs and reviews and the “word of mouth” phenomenon pretty much did all the work for them.

Sudden Success

There are several things that led to this sudden, uncanny success.

• The product was extremely high in quality. Unlike other cameras in its price-range the picture quality and resilience was unmatched.
• The product itself was designed specifically to shoot footage for online media and blogging. For that reason it gained popularity in these online neighbourhoods.
• It was affordable and came in different colours, instantly targeting a previously untapped younger market. In turn, they compelled their online peers to buy them too.
• The ease of use and success of Youtube clips filmed on The Flip expedited the sale of these cameras and eclipsed all similar cameras in its category.

As this case study suggests, companies do have less expensive alternatives when it comes to branding. However, success stories like this do not happen without an extraordinary product and a lot of planning and innovation.

Sound Idea Digital specialises in Digital Marketing. For more information, contact 012 66 44 227 or email to info@soundidea.co.za | www.soundidea.co.za | @SoundIdea