PRODUCT DESIGN IS THE KEY TO

BRAND SUCCESS

Submitted by: 19METLEM02

Submitted to: Engr. Naeem
Aijaz Yousfani
1/1/2020
 Product Design is the Key to Brand Success.
Introduction
Product design is the critical element to the success of the brand. Moreover, recent years have
witnessed an increasing attention paid to product design, which is particularly due to the fact that
design is now considered to be a powerful differentiator and hence a strategic tool to achieve and
sustain competitive advantages.

Apple has launched its Mac initially in 1984, delivered on the promise of an easy
computer with a simple graphical interface. For many years, the company was one of the minor
actors of the market, gradually falling out of favor with customers.

In 1998, Apple stroke back with its new formula, the translucent candy-colored iMacs.
Within only one year, the company has witnessed an increase in market share from 3.5 percent to
5.3 percent, heralding an ―aesthetic revolution in computing‖ (Postrel, 2001). Distinctive
aesthetics has not only benefited Apple in sales figures, but also in brand awareness and image as
well.

You can estimate the importance of design with the below quotation.

“A picture is a worth a thousand words” ~ Anonymous

Apple is not the only example of how product appearance can help companies to achieve better
results in marketing.

 Volkswagen‘s New Beetle enjoyed a 54 percent increase in U.S. sales between 1998 and
1999.

 Companies like Nokia, Peugeot and Sony have all benefited from appealing designs and
dominated the market.

Product Appearance
Product appearance can be defined as:

“Exterior composition of the product comprised of visual denotative and connotative elements as
arranged by visual principles, and therefore visible to the consumer either as package or form, or
a combination of both, whichever serves as a source of visual information.” [1]

In fact, product design should be considered as an umbrella that covers other concepts that have
been discussed above. In this context, the relationship between these four terms is illustrated in
Figure 1.

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 Figure 1 Relationship between appearance and related concepts

As Figure 1 depicts, product appearance covers product form and product packaging, and the
extent of visual information delivered by each depends on the product category. Consequently,
product appearance is one of the main elements of product design.

Product feature or product design/aesthetics as the key to brand success is a highly

debatable subject. Product design is important as that is the first thing that anyone notices off the
shelf in retail or on the website which attracts the attention of the people. The product feature is
equally important as if it lacks key elements that define the product, it’s of no use either. So, both
the design and the feature need to go hand in hand to build a successful brand (Townsend,
Montoya & Calantone, 2011). However, if I have to take a side, I would say that product feature
overpowers the looks and feel of the product to build a brand success.

In the short term, people listen to your branding efforts. Your marketing is a key factor in
developing their opinion of your quality. They listen to your promises -- both stated and implied
and then make a decision. Your marketing will convince people that you do know what you are
doing. And that you will deliver a quality product.
But in the long term, they will judge you by how well you actually deliver on those promises.
They judge you by the quality of your products. By the quality of your services. And by the
quality of the relationship they develop with you. And in the internet marketing business
developing a long term relationship with your customers is a key to success.

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Product Quality Measurement
The product quality is being measured on three factors which are:
1. Content
2. Organization
3. Delivery

1. Content
Your customer will judge your content based on how well it meets their needs and
expectations. Did you design the product to solve a specific problem they are having?
Did you design your product around their motivations? That’s how they will judge your
content.

2. Organization
The second thing they will judge you on is the organization. Do you seem to understand
the topic well enough to present it so they understand? Do you go off into odd regions?
Do you make logical sense in your presentation?

3. Delivery
Finally, they will judge you based on delivery. Does it look professional? How is your
spelling? How is your grammar? Do you seem to be friendly and easy to speak to?

But it's not that simple. You see the way you deliver quality content involves closely identifying
and targeting your customer. And that same target customer you defined in the product design
and creation process will be used for all your contacts with your customers. Including making
your marketing target your desired customer. So your short term influence ultimately also
depends on the quality of your product design process.

References:
[1] https://ezinearticles.com/?Product-Design-is-the-Key-to-Brand-Success&id=4676300

[2] Delgado-Ballester, E., & Fernandez Sabiote, E. (2015). Brand experimental value versus brand functional value:
which matters more for the brand?. European Journal of Marketing, 49(11/12), 1857-1879.

[3] Product appearance and brand knowledge: an analysis of critical relationships, melġke demġrbağ kaplan, izmir
university of economics

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