Four Laws of Brand-Building in the Digital Age (Part 2 of 4)
Law 2: From Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to Point of View (POV)
Law 2: From USP to POV
Among countless industries that have been hurt by the pandemic, one that is hurt the most is the restaurant industry. While some eateries did manage to survive and make ends meet by offering food delivery, managing restaurants was a low-profitability business already, and many establishments entered bankruptcy. 50% of restaurants in New York City have closed since the start of the pandemic. Even fine-dining and long-established restaurants have been closing their doors.
Amid this climate, a business acquaintance of mine, who happens to be a very avid wine collector in Japan, was presented with an interesting proposition: a wine collection worth several million dollars. A Michelin Star restaurant that had been around for over six decades in Tokyo but was going out of business due to COVID. Along with the closure, the wine collection owned by the restaurant was quietly put up for sale.
High-end restaurants are not particularly equipped for take-out and delivery, and this has become a barrier to do business in the pandemic. So what can those high-end restaurants do?
The Golden Rule Of USP Is Not So Golden Anymore
Instead of trying to sustain what was, a few fine restaurants have pivoted their business model to do something that wasn’t so intuitive to them. One such example is Narisawa, one of the most acclaimed restaurants in Japan. Owner Chef Yoshihiro Narisawa studied in various European countries for eight years in the 1990s, and opened his establishment in 2003 in Aoyama, Tokyo, eventually earning Michelin stars. He has been named in “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list numerous times and is revered as one of Asia’s Top Chefs.
For many years, Chef Narizawa has been using techniques that allow you to enjoy Japanese food culture in authentic yet imaginative ways. In the marketing industry, his technique would be called a Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
By definition, a USP is, “one feature or the perceived benefit of a good which makes it unique from the rest of the competing brands.”
It was coined by Rosser Reeves, a pioneer in the American advertising industry in the 1940s. For more than half a century, it has been used as a golden rule among American marketing professionals.
Copying: A Norm In The Digital Age
As we enter the 21st century and the digital world advances, it is becoming more difficult for brands to protect their USP. Why? Digital makes it extremely easy to mimic and copy blatantly.
Instagram Stories are a function where posts disappear after 24 hours. It has grown to be used by more than 500 million users in less than three years since its 2016 launch. However, this USP is not unique to this platform. It’s a blatant copycat.
Three years before the introduction of Instagram Stories, Snapchat had launched the same feature in 2013 called, wait for it, Snapchat Stories. For three consecutive years since the launch of this feature, Snapchat had grown 30 to 50% YOY but after the introduction of Instagram Stories, the growth of Snapchat apparently slowed down by 82%. Instagram blatantly copied what was supposed to be Snapchat’s Unique Selling Proposition and its user base surpassed that of Snapchat in less than a year.
This, however, is not a modern problem of the digital age. For instance, Apple, now one of the world’s most valuable brands in the world, was on the blink of bankruptcy in the 1990s as a result of the blatant copying of its famed user interface by Microsoft. The comeback story of Apple with the return of Steve Jobs in the late ’90s is perhaps the greatest of all.
POV: The Driving Force For Your Brand
So, when your USP can be copied so blatantly with very little to no consequence for the copycat, what do you really need to survive? What do technology companies like Apples and restaurants like Narisawas have in common that help them get through tough situations?
A strong Point of View (POV) is the driving force for success.
In the case of Chef Narizawa, of course, it was important to have a superb technique as a chef, but before that, he had a clear, unique, and unchanging philosophy for his cuisine. His POV was in the idea of conserving nature, which he calls Satoyama Cuisine.
As mentioned earlier, high-end gastronomy is not suitable for takeout or delivery. However, Chef Narizawa’s POV, which captured gastronomy and environmental issues in the same context, remains unchanged for many years and even in a pandemic. Chef Narizawa, with his conviction of Satoyama Cuisine, designed not only a menu fit for high-class takeout and delivery, but also a series of original packaged ingredients that could be sold online. This led to a creation of a new line of business for Restaurant Narisawa.
In the 80s, although Apple sued Microsoft for allegedly stealing its USP and 189 elements of its Macintosh OS to create Windows 2.0, Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded. For more than a decade, Apple would stray aimlessly to the point of irrelevance.
When Jobs finally returned to Apple in the late 90s, he drastically reduced the product lineup and renewed Apple’s first blockbuster personal computer in 1997 as the “iMac,” then launched a brand campaign called “Think Different” with no product appearance at all.
Apple framed its products and communication to fit this POV of “Think Different.” This is not the only reason for Apple’s return to success, but without this clear POV, we can safely assume Apple would have disappeared into the ether of history.
Times change. Technology also changes. And the technique also changes. Under such circumstances, it can be said that it is almost impossible to maintain your USP forever. Now that everything is almost digital, it is only a matter of time before it is copied and it no longer becomes yours.
In the past, it was possible to achieve commercial success by providing surface-level communication through advertising. But now, when information spreads real-time instantly, selling by creating a perception is not only ineffective but potentially damaging. In the age of rampant copying and imitating, your unique Point of View has never been more important than before.
Next on Four Laws of Brand-Building in the Digital Age: #3 from Case Study to Business Case.