research@hec - Issue#1 - (Page III)

Harry Potter marketing Published in the Harvard Business Review's prestigious list of ‘Breakthrough Ideas for 2007,’ Frédéric Dalsace's idea—creating brands that mature with their customers, like the sorcerer's apprentice who evolves with his readers—is causing a minor revolution in the world of marketing strategy. Based on an interview with Frédéric Dalsace (H.85) and his article Brand Magic: Harry Potter Marketing, cowritten with Coralie Damay and David Dubois (Harvard Business Review, February 2007). CAREER Frédéric Dalsace obtained a diploma at HEC in 1985. He also holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a PhD in management (area of specialization: marketing) from INSEAD. He is assistant professor in marketing at HEC School of Management (Paris) where he is in charge of the MBA specialization in marketing. He teaches New Product Development, B2B marketing, and strategic marketing. Most of his research focuses on buyer–seller relationships, outsourcing, strategic and industrial marketing, and new product development. Professor Dalsace has more than ten years' experience in the business world, most notably at McKinsey & Company and Michelin. In 2006, he received the business school-wide BNPParibas Teaching Award, which is awarded to the best teacher in the HEC faculty. It was when he was reading Harry Potter that Frédéric Dalsace first came up with the novel idea of a dynamic, evolving brand–consumer relationship. Although there may be many reasons for the success of J. K. Rowling's books about the famous wizard, he is convinced that the fact he ages (unlike most traditional heroes) enables better development of the character and encourages greater reader loyalty. So, in that case, why not also create brands that mature with their customers? Frédéric Dalsace tells us all about his Harry Potter marketing concept… WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF TRADITIONAL BRAND MANAGEMENT? Most companies target a specific age group. So, cosmetics for women between the ages of 45 and 55 will be progressively abandoned by individuals leaving the age group and adopted by those entering it. Marketers therefore target specific groups: they focus on a population's characteristics and take their age— but not the fact that they age—into account. This then means that they have to ‘swim back upstream’ every year. There are two possibilities in this traditional approach: either the oldest people in the age group—though they can be as young as 6!—leave the brand of their own volition, or they remain loyal to it. The first choice implies constantly having to find new customers. New customers are generally sought amongst the youngest customers in the target group—marketing campaigns are used to target this group, but they also tend to push the oldest customers outside the target group. Many so-called ‘generational’ brands, such as Club Med and Gap have experienced this: rather than allowing the brand to evolve with loyal customers, they have endeavoured to maintain a brand positioning that targets a particular age group. The de facto marketing objective is to find new customers to replace those that have left the group. The legitimacy of such an approach is often questioned because of the cost of finding new customers, which is a lot higher than the cost of keeping them. Conversely, the oldest customers in the age group can remain loyal to the product. But what initially appears to be good news can, in fact, pose a serious and long-term threat to the brand's survival, as it may progressively lose its power to attract the youngest customers in the group. In other words, there's a risk that the brand will become ‘naff’. Vigorous efforts are then made to reposition the brand and target a younger sector of the population. L’Oréal successfully did this when it became concerned about its aging Lancôme brand, victim of Isabella Rossellini's success as the brand's spokesmodel. Here too, the cost is high and success isn't necessarily assured. ARE YOU SUGGESTING THERE SHOULD BE MORE DYNAMIC BRAND MANAGEMENT? We are suggesting that companies create brands that no longer appeal to successive generations, but which follow the evolution of a particular generation. Just as the famous sorcerer's apprentice Harry Potter grows with his readers, brands can mature with their consumers. This is what we call Harry Potter marketing. Let's imagine, for example, that instead of producing cosmetics for women between the age of 35 and 45, they are targeted at women born between 1965 and 1975. The fact that the target doesn't change allows marketers to strengthen the link between the consumer and the brand, particularly through generational marketing campaigns that use familiar music, symbols, icons, and so on. The brand will in this way adapt to the target's characteristics and their changing needs and habits by modifying the product's composition; and the corollary of this is greater customer loyalty amongst those targeted. Club Med, which for several years suffered from the ruinous effects of a ‘classic’ marketing strategy—it ▼ February-March 2008 • research@hec III http://www.hec.fr/hec/eng/professeurs_recherche/p_liste/p_fiche.php?num=36

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of research@hec - Issue#1

Cover
‘What Does Management Research Achieve?’
‘Harry Potter Marketing’
‘Capital Investment: Myth and Reality’
‘Mobile Companies’

research@hec - Issue#1