Most Fascinating Content: Home
This was a tough call. Indeed, there
are many equally fascinating prose sections in the book. We present the
following excerpt from Chapter 10 as a sampler for your reading pleasure.
1.
Fossil:
Crafting Customer ValueSpace
in Niche Markets
If you are 17-24 years young (or better still, if you
are young at heart), you no doubt are familiar with the brand name Fossil.
FOSSIL is a brand name as well as the name of the company behind that brand. With
headquarters in Richardson, Texas, it makes, you guessed right, a line of
watches sold in better department stores. Or does it?
The fact is that
Fossil does not view itself as a watch company at all. Rather it views itself
as a design company and a marketing company and a distribution company whose
principal product at the time happens to be watches, but it could just as well
make any related products that would benefit from its design resources. In
fact, currently, it already applies its design resources to make and market
other accessories, including sunglasses, small leather goods, belts and
handbags. It’s latest line extension -- Fossil brand of casual apparel!
Just what are its
design resources? The answer to that question is at the heart of how this
brilliantly innovative company creates ValueSpace for its customers. Here is
how Fossil does it.
PERFROMANCE
VALUESPACE.
Its
customers—remember, the ‘young at heart’ types—love its watches.
They are solid
performance watches-- well-constructed, reliable, good looking. Although their
principal distinction and appeal lie elsewhere (described later), Fossil makes
sure their quality is flawless—both on the inside and out. As to the inside...
That is how it
differentiates itself from its direct competitors—the trendy Swatch and
Guess—the two brands that most directly target the same young consumer....
.......
Imagine you are in
a mall. Let us walk up to a storefront. The one we have in mind has an
intriguing display in one of its windows. There are beakers of different sizes
(the kind you would find in a chemistry lab), half-filled with liquids of
various colors. Amidst them are a few mock models of a particular body part.
Perhaps this is a medical supplies store. It could well have been, judging from
the paraphernalia. In actuality, however, it is a section of Fossil watches
display. For one of its recent innovative watches —called Fossil
"Brain" (yes, the mock body part is a cut-out section of a human
brain)! The ‘brain’ comes equipped with dual time, chrono/stopwatch, a six
setting timer, 7 alarms, 5 schedule memos with 30 message capacity, and a
digital display. This is but one innovation among many.
...... Home
Its innovative
design team spews new styles like forest fire. Visit its design studio—its
‘skunkworks’— a crisscross of cubicles and meeting rooms generously littered
with multi-media artifacts that serve as office-decor as well as design-concept
props. There, maverick artists in diverse ensemble ranging from cargo pants and
platform shoes to more sedate officewear mingle freely (the company has a
liberal dress code that prohibits only shorts and T’s—everything else is fair
game). Some are in deep contemplation over the fresh pencil sketches they drew
only minutes ago; others are focused on re-contouring the lines of the digital
image of a watch casing on their new neon-blue i-Macs; still others are playing
with a collection of antiques, trying to receive divine vision for some new
design. There is abundant vibrant energy, even some chaos perhaps. But all
chaos and all maverick energy is directed toward one single goal—design
innovation that its consumers would love.
................
While Fossil produces watches of solid
quality, the watch in and of itself is NOT the principal source of value to its
core customers... what really draws the consumer to Fossil is the brand’s
unique personality—it is an identity that is reminiscent of the fifties. To
cultivate this personality, the company has taken the images, visuals, and
artifacts from that era and surrounded the brand with them. These images are
everywhere—...
Just what is Fossil’s brand identity?...
(For more, please read the book.)
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