Lessons from a car designer - Lesson 2 - "stay on story", "be brand led and customer driven"

Lessons from a car designer – Lesson 2: “Stay on story, be brand led and customer driven”

When J Mays talks about the interaction of the design team and the marketing team it reminded me of some of the same challenges we faced in menu development. He had two key points that are really easy to understand but tough to act upon consistently. First a notion about “staying on story”, or as we all know it avoid “scope creep”. Staying on story is one of the key elements to being able to be true to your brand. It requires a discipline that provides “guide rails” to focus the energy of creating something new that will be able to be true to brand, meaningful to the customer while still differentiating from the competition. This staying on story approach really can be used as a filter as you brainstorm new ideas for the business. Does it make sense to add an obscure new item say “shrimp burgers” when you are all about farm to table? But hey “shrimp burgers” are all the rage on the Florida Gulf coast, as they should be, but by staying on your brand story of farm to table, they have no place in your brand. I know this is a simplistic example but in most cases “scope creep” and staying on story are just that simple. We have a tendency to over complicate things just because we over think the solutions or new ideas because we want to be competitive, who are we really competing against. Sometimes “staying on story” helps us strengthen our brand instead of dilute it. Too many times I have sat in meetings and watched folks dilute the heck out of a brand to just compete in the short term instead of for long term growth of the brand.  So “staying on story” is a tool to focus us on being “brand led and customer driven”.  Again sounds so simple and it is, but really hard to live it with each and every decision. In the past we have treated being “true to the brand and driven by the customer” as mutually exclusive ideas but they are both intertwined in a successful brand life. Being “brand led” is making the first round of decisions based on filtering using brand standards to determine if the new ideas fit or are an evolution of the brand. If they don’t stand up to this test, it is best to discard them even if they are resonating in the greater competitive environment. This early filter supports a “fail fast/ fail forward” mindset which we will cover in later articles. Now if the new ideas are on brand or support the evolution of the brand, move on to the next step, are the new ideas customer driven or better yet do they meet a need that the customer is seeking from your brand. You have to have a clear picture of your core user or targeted user to really be “customer driven”. The best example I can give of this is the turn around of Arby’s led by Paul Brown and his team. He presented a case study of how they did this by embracing this “brand led and customer driven” mentality to achieve the success they have now. When Paul came on board he looked at the research to see what the core user wanted or thought of Arby’s. He found that Arby’s clearly owned the male millennial user group because of their love of meat based sandwiches. He focused everything around the brand target of owning this position with millennial males. And the next several months of revamping the menu and food all were customer (target) driven while being lead by the brand position of “we got the meats”. Ultimately Arby’s has continued to “stay on story” which is why they have sustained consistently positive same store sales since 2009. Also they have benefited because their relationship with the franchise community has become an asset to their system because franchises like staying on story.

So you see a car designer knows they have to create cars that build and evolve brands by being brand led but customer driven – literally. In the case of Arby’s, no difference other than staying on story has delivered more customers, sales and delicious food. There is one last lesson I learned from listening to J Mays, how to innovate by “playing to the edges”. We will cover off on that in the next time.

Lessons from a car designer: Lesson 1 find the sweet spot

Lessons from a car designer: Lesson 1 find the sweet spot

I had the chance to hear J Mays speak this summer at the MFAH, it was incredibly thought provoking. J was the group vice president of design for Ford Motor Company for 16 years and before that the person that revived the VW Beatle. He shared some simple design thinking strategies that I find are useful in the world of menu and concept development today. Lesson one, whether you are creating a new menu item, fixing an existing menu or developing a new restaurant concept these simple guidelines can have profound impact on the success of your idea. First and foremost, J shares a Venn diagram that highlights three characteristics of successful design or product.

 For an idea to be truly successful in the market place it needs to be True the Brand, Meaningful to the customer, and Differentiated in the market place.  “Be true to the brand”, the idea or product needs to be on point and relevant to the brand it is within. Seems simple but sometimes we chase the latest and greatest trend which may not even be close to the brand it is within. You know just because every other restaurant company has got “the new item” you have to have it too. I mean do you really need a free range chicken taco if you are a better burger place, probably not. Next the new product has to be “meaningful to the customer”, they have to want it or it needs to meet an unfulfilled desire. How many times have we added new items to a menu just because someone thought it was a good idea without even considering what the customer wants?  I mean would it be meaningful to Arby’s core customer to add a vegetarian sandwich to the line up when they are all about “we got the meats”? Probably not something the team is looking to add to the menu right? Last characteristic is the idea has to be “differentiated in the market place” creating a craving or desire for the new item that can’t be found anywhere else. This is can be the hardest point to deliver because we continue to live in a “sea of sameness” and the market has to be willing to accept something that is different and break through.  It was truly a point of difference when 8 years ago I rolled out antibiotic free, humanely raised chicken in Culver’s making the brand the first chain to do so on a large scale. This really allowed me to separate this growing brand from the big three - Mc D, Wendy’s and Burger King. We used our size (about 300 + locations at the time) and nimbleness to be first in the better burger chains to be a leader and separate ourselves.  Now did it hit on the other 2 characteristics, I would say yes and no. It was a move that was true to the brand, it continued to support the brand promise of high quality ingredients. Was it meaningful to the customer, at that point in time, it was to some. What it did overtime became more relevant as the marketplace and consumers caught up. It was easy for me to see that was where we needed to go with the brand so the risk / reward was moderate. I think now it continues to pay dividends to the brand because it delivers on all three of the characteristics of a successful or innovate product category.

Take a look at your menu items, put them through this process and see how many of them are able to satisfy all three attributes. If they can they are likely the core of your brand, they may even be the brand. You will find that most items will only hit on two of the three, this gives you a roadmap for either and “up or out” strategy. I also think you can uncover your cravebale menu items with this exercise. 

This is the type of thinking and collaborative tools we use at JWD Consultancy to help you build the best menu or restaurant concept in the market place. Give us a call today to help you get started on innovating your brand. Next lesson from J- who leads your ideation the customer or the brand? - more to come.  www.JWD-Consultancy.com