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Mountain Grown: The Magic Of Irrelevant Attributes
By David Hanson, Pres. H2M
First off,
there’s the image of man and a mule. Then
the words: Mountain Grown. It’s powerful
and invokes the idea that Folgers is the
best coffee in the world. The imagery alone is
compelling, that lone coffee bean gentleman
harvester, picking only the ripest beans
on some steep co ol
mountainside surrounded by South American
splendor. All coffees, however,
are mountain grown; it's the only place they'll
grow. It's irrelevant. But we bought it then
and buy it now. The imagery and tagline are
too powerful.
Regionally,
there’s “The Chips Are Free, The
Dinner Extra.™”. We know this as the Paradiso
Mexican Restaurants memorable tagline.
However, every Mexican restaurant hands
out free chips before the meal. Why does
this tagline stick so well to Paradiso?
It’s because of what
we call the “Irrelevant
Attribute Effect”, which is persuasive in areas
where consumers are less likely to check
out the validity of the statement. Thus, “Mountain
Grown” attaches to Folgers like glue even though all other
coffees are also grown on mountains.
Chips Free Dinner Extra™ simply took ownership (by being the
first to actually claim it) of what is
the de facto price-of-entry in the Mexican
sit-down dining category; the ubiquitous
bowl of free chips and salsa while you
get your drinks and settle in.
The addition
of a well-placed irrelevant attribute
is a good way to create differentiation
between products and services perceived
as parity by consumers. Sometimes the
irrelevant attribute takes the form of
the “magic
ingredient”, such
as UltraFlex™.
Whatever is used, it must resonate with the
consumer and give credence to the basic offering
of the product positioning. It must give
them a plausible reason to believe. One thing
to be careful of is to make a clear distinction
of an attribute and a benefit. Sometimes
this isno
easy task and takes considerable consumer
insight and analysis to parcel out. For example,
is the good taste of Folgers the benefit
or the attribute? That will depend on how
consumers regard it. If a good tasting coffee
is what the desired benefit of purchase is,
then it’s
a benefit and mountain-grown and fresh-picked
become attribute, irrelevant or real. If,
however, the good taste brings them relaxation
and a sense of “calm in
the storm”, then taste becomes an attribute on which the
benefit is gained. It may sound trivial but
it’s deadly important
as to how positioning is made.
Most of the time you’ll see irrelevant attributes used with
party-perceived goods and services. When
branding, it’s important
to test each hypothesis with research before
staking a claim. Much time and money can
be lost without the proper groundwork begin done in advance. Irrelevant
attributes may SOUND like a last resort, or worse, marketing trickery.
But in reality, utilizing a resonant irrelevant attribute is anything
but irrelevant, and can become the cornerstone of your brand differentiation.
dave@h2m.biz
© 2003-2007 H2M Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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© 2003-2007 H2M Inc. All Rights Reserved
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