Great branding comes from hitting the right note on consumer insight
Perhaps no industry has been transformed more quickly by digital technology than the music industry. From the CD to the introduction of the MP3 player to cell phones with the ability to upload and download new tunes at Starbucks, the tools of this trade have been forever changed. This is one of the reasons the musician Neil Young was a featured speaker at the recent Fortune Brainstorm: Tech conference. While he applauded the fact that digital technology has made it easier for more people to listen to their favorite music whenever and wherever the spirit moved them, he wasn’t quite as complimentary about what the industry has done to the audio quality of this music. In fact, he used the phrase “dumbed down” as a descriptor. I have to agree that for a purist like Neil Young this comment has merit. No MP3 player is going to produce sound quality equal to a Bose-inspired living room, let alone a symphony hall. But from a pure branding perspective, Mr. Young is missing the point. While music connoisseurs might turn up their noses at the audio quality of on-the-go musical devices, these digital devices were designed with a completely different benefit in mind: to listen to music while running, while hanging out at Starbucks working on their term papers, or while riding the subway to work. The first step in any good brand strategy, the first step to becoming a successful brand, is to get significant and useful insight about your customers. What, as a brand, can you offer that is relevant to them and is different from what they already experience? Apple and every other brand in this category recognized that people love music and that it would certainly be convenient and a whole lot of fun if people could take their favorite music with them wherever they go. The likes of iTunes were developed with this in mind, convenience and fun. There is no doubt that the industry has struck a very positive chord with its target audience. While I appreciate Neil Young’s point and I appreciate great sound quality as much as the person next to me at Carnegie Hall, my contention is that the quality of the music on our ubiquitous digital music boxes is not as relevant a benefit for us as convenience. In the brand world, understanding what the people want and delivering it better than the next guy is the real heart of gold.