“It’s about Branding, Creative” by Alfred Siew

I refer to the article “It’s about Branding, Creative” by Alfred Siew (need ST subscription) published in the Straits Time on 28 July 2005.

Finally, someone has decided to write about the lack of branding in Creative. I am astonished that it took so long for someone to write about Creative’s failure to dominate the mp3 market. Far back in last Dec 2004, I was telling fellow entrepreneur friends that the CEO of Creative badly needs a course in branding 101. I have been a supporter of Sim Wong Hoo, because he is one of the only successful Singaporean entrepreneurs who is recognized globally, and quietly rooting for his success in the MP3 wars despite being a Mac user.

One of the good points that was flashed out in the article says the following:

“Few would dispute the quality of Creative’s output, but has it got the magic, that essential Ingredient X that implants a brand name in the mass consumer consciousness?”

However, he got a few things really wrong. Here are my sincere thoughts to Mr Sim.

Lesson 1: It is not about the quality of the product.

I did a comparison of the Zen micro and IPod mini and I admit that it’s far superior in terms of technical specifications. It’s about how you brand it. Perhaps, the CEO of Creative should go to www.apple.com to take a look at the annual keynote address of Steve Jobs, and how he delivers the product to the audience. I can imagine that if I am sitting in the conference area, I will definitely buy any product he sells. But even, watching it for 2 hours on a computer, I am still thinking whether I should buy the product. That’s a feat that I thought this person has gotten it right.

Apple did the right thing by selling the IPod as a lifestyle product, and not just an electronic gadget like the way Creative did. It has created the icon that it is cool to have an IPod. Creative can always come up with a gadget ten times better but if it does not listen from the signals in the market, it will continue to lose the war to Apple, and be labelled by Steve Jobs as a “IPod wannabe”. The problem at the moment which the CEO of Creative needs to grasp is that the IPod is becoming like an icon like a bottle of Coca-Cola, a Starbucks coffee or a pair of Nike shoes. The way to get more customers is to be the cultural icon.

Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple does not tell you about the product only. He tells you how Apple will support her clients with the accessories and the services that comes with the product worth buying and he usually highlights the supporters who use his products. There are Mac user groups in the Apple homepage to discuss how to fully utilize the IPod. I have been to the Creative website six months ago to check out whether there exist such user groups and not to my surprise, there aren’t any.

To take Zen to the market, Creative needs to establish a client base which it can rely on bringing the brand out to the world.

Lesson 2: You need a partner, a celebrity and not your ego to make this work

If I am Sim Wong Hoo, I should make a call to Redmond (Seattle, US) and see whether I can strike a deal with Microsoft about software support. Maybe Creative should use windows media player like what ITunes do to Apple. I recall a few days back in another ST article that Creative is doing something with Paris Hilton. Yes, that’s the way to sell your mp3 players. Even though we are sick of Paris’ attention grabbing antics, I believe that her legion of fans will rather buy the player because she is using it and not because Mr Sim’s signature is on it.

These are all my five pennies worth, I hope that Mr Sim will eventually succeed in substituting the IPod on my hands to a Creative Zen player. Perhaps, anyone of you out there will have a better idea. We need new entrepreneurial ideas to help this fellow country man brand his product.

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