http://danfromstandout.com/

I am 37 years old and probably, typically, like most men, I have the propensity to buy a different branded grooming product every time I visit the store. I will buy these products, not as a considered purchase, but as an add on to on of my all-too-frequent trips to Waitrose (I’m brand loyal when it comes to supermarkets – the staff are just better!). Anyway…. In addition to all of this, I suffer from very dry skin (Asthma/Eczema – related) etc. and consequently have found it hard to find a moisturiser that works for me. I literally have a cupboard with a bag of over 30 moisturisers ranging from £2 – £50 in a bid to find a product that works and stops me from reverting to a steroid based cream likc HC45.

So… the context (above) is set.

First and foremost, Loreal Men Expert is not cheap. They package their creams in the almost un-openable pots that give us two things: A. A high perceived value of the product – B. Not very much product. But we can live with the latter, and this is why…..

Firstly the marketing for this range is absolutely brilliant. Nearly all men believe that they are experts in one thing or another. DIY, Football Anaylsis, Managing Manchester United, Cooking, Secret Servicing like Jason Bourne, Driving, Dancing, Lovin’……!!! Obviously we are not, but in our own small worlds that reside in our small brains, we are experts. So for a brand to tell us that we are experts, to reaffirm our expertise, to finally acknowledge what man has know for many generations, is just genius. And we have thanked that brand, we thank them daily with every £8.99 pot of expert hyrda-generating anti-fatigue moisturiser that we purchase.

Loreal have nailed it where others have not. Men / Expert / Hydra / Anti-Fatigue, the list goes on and the clever use of keywords and product proposition should be admired. Loreal Men Expert has worked, it is selling volume and it has captured significant market share within the growing male grooming category. There are a few reasons why it done has acieved this?

1. There is no avoiding the colossal marketing and media budget. Accepted.
2. Loreal Men Expert has deployed outstanding marketing expertise. By cleverly acknowledging the expert in all men and then aligning us with Patrick Demsey, Gerrard Butler, Eric Cantona and Hugh Laurie, Loreal Men Expert has appealed to all men and more importantly it understands what goes on in a mans mind.
3. And this is the big one, this is the most important one, this is the thing that will justify the first two actions (above) (and let’s face it, the above cost a lot of money!) – The product is outstanding. The product works on every level. I’ve use 3 products from the range and they are all brilliant. I no longer require a steroid based cream on my face and my skin is in better shape than it has been for a very long while. I work fairly long hours, I have 3 children and play as much sport as I possibly can, and shower far too much, so my skin gets battered. Loreal Men Expert has delivered on the most important part of its promise. The product and proposition works.

So, it comes back to this. You need a combination of things to have a successful product and capture and retain market share. For example:

• Elemis created great products (Shave oil for example) but the marketing and packaging were not right (in that it mimicked female marketing packaging – which is not going to work on men) and there was no media budget.
• Dove have spent the media budget but their packaging, positioning and marketing message is not as strong as Loreal Men Expert. (Although I stress I do not know the numbers!)
• Ted Baker and <insert any other male fashion branded product here> have created strong male marketing messages but the product does not stack up against the skincare experts mentioned above.

So what did Loreal Men Expert get right? Everything:

• Positioning (Men Expert) is brilliant.
• Packaging is outstanding, high perceived value, technical dispensers, loads of dynamic secondary messaging and technical illustrations.
• Celebrity alignment is spot on. Patrick, Gerrard, Eric, Hugh, all they need is Jason Bourne, Tony Montana, Indiana Jones, Tinie Tempah and Plan B and they’re sorted.
• They found the budget to spend in media.
• Most importantly, they got the product right. The product is outstanding.

Wherever I find myself getting changed with other men (that does not read well – Football, Tennis, Running etc.!), I see Loreal Men Expert pots of moisturiser. Men are even asking to borrow other mens pots of Anti-Fatigue men expert moisturiser when they have either forgotten their own (or are saving their own!).

I know I am a sucker for a great marketing campaign, but that only lasts until you realise that a product is rubbish.
Put simply, if you have a great product, you he to find a way to tell people about it, and if you position it correctly, you will reap huge reward
If you have a crap product, don’t bother telling anyone about it and in the long term it won’t matter how you try to position it. It won’t work.

Well. Post third daughter I am finally back on the blog. www.standoutuk.com

Thank you for Reading. dan.barber@standoutuk.com

I did not like going to PC World before their rebrand and retail overhaul.

Then one day, I had to go, I had no option, I needed ink cartridges for my Lexmark all in one home printer – (very good product!). Anyway, the automatic doors parted and PC World was once again presented to me. But not the PC World that I had known before. Not the dark, slightly grubby, slightly sweaty PC World that greeted you with chains and ropes to ensure you understood where you must not walk through. This PC World was bright and light. This PC World had space when I walked in and did not guide me through the entrance doors and straight in to the back of untidy tills that blocked my view. This PC World was new, and I really liked it, and more importantly, I felt I was somewhere new.

Let’s have a look in detail at what PC World have done to their retail environment:

1. Removed the ghastly tills from the entrance doors leaving a large space half the size of a tennis court when you walk in. This makes you feel relaxed and un pressured and at ease.
2. They have reduced the height of their retail units so you can view the entire space of the store and easily see what you need via their excellently produced way finder signage. As a bi product, this allows you to quickly see a PC World member of staff and gain eye contact immediately. There a countless other benefits to this too.
3. They have created Shop in Shop environments for Apple, Microsoft and Office World. Very clever move, allowing those respective brands to mimic their own stores and retail experience, within the PC World environment. Love it.
4. They have moved the check out to the side and placed it near the help desk and maintenance guys. The queue is perfectly organised and they have seemingly hired a person to stand there and tell me which till they think will next be free and how long it will take. Beautiful..!
5. They have organised every consumable, every bit of hardware or software and placed a clear sign, graphic or branded piece of POS above it, allowing me to quickly navigate to what I want.
6. Lastly, PC World have introduced an internal store brand named Knowhow. It is a very simple brand identity and varios Knowhow products and intelligence are placed around the store. Their engineers now where Black casual Knowhow tops with light hearted jokes about their intelligence on the front. This all works really well. It relaxes the store, takes away some geekyness, clearly pays a bit of homage to the worlds best retailer (Steve Job’s crew) and immediately communicates that PC World is not just a shed full of stuff to sell on, it has intelligence, insight, experience, it is considered and measured in its offering and information. PC World has Knowhow. So so clever. I think it’s brilliant and the marketing person and agency responsible (which was not Standout, unfortunately), should be really proud, and moreover, I bet they are all getting promotions and new budget against the increased profitability and revenue that their work has helped provide.

Any large retailer should take a look at PC World and mimic some of these practices.

I would wage a firm bet that this has had a positive impact on bottom line and I suspect that the average spend amount has increased too. Very clever stuff.

Thank you for Reading. dan.barber@standoutuk.com