Creating Brand Identities: Using the Design Thinking Process to Bring a New Cosmetic Product to Market

Creating Brand Identities
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Date:
Creating Brand Identities
QUESTION 2
Using the Design Thinking Process to Bring a New Cosmetic Product to Market
The design thinking process is the process used by product developers and designers that is user-oriented and involves an ongoing process. Dam and Siang (2020) note that the design thinking process is iterative and involves reframing research topics in human-centric formulas to develop more interaction and fluidity in the process due to its non-linearity. Waloszek (2012) describes the process as focused on understanding the product’s users through redefining the problems and challenge assumptions as a way to enhance innovation and suitability in the development of prototypes and testing the products. The process involves five stages which are interchangeable as they depend on the reactions and reception of the former stages including empathizing, define, ideate, prototype, and testing. As a product manager at Olay Cosmetics, I follow these steps in the introduction of a new Antiaging cream and serum for different age-groups.
The empathy stage involves the research on the user needs and preferences as well as understanding their motivations and experiences (Waloszek, 2012). In developing antiaging products, which are most common with women in their late twenties to 60+ years, the research would involve both online platforms and physically targeted surveys to cover the entire customer base. Online research would involve video-based interactions where customers share their expectations, challenges, and preferences with similar products. Some of the aspects to cover in consumer analysis include safety, cost, and quality, and any other emergent challenges when choosing skincare products. Another main challenge for skin products is the lack of knowing what products are suitable for their skin as the wrong choice can be detrimental to the user (Beauty with Brains, 2018). This stage will also involve any marketing and the specificity of products to different skin types and ages of the consumers. In summary, the empathy stage will comprise studying the specific needs and marketing problems of the customers to help them in choosing the right product.
The defining stage in developing the antiaging cream would include analyzing the observations to aid in identifying the main problems in the industry (Waloszek, 2012). Some of the issues I would state in the stage include that customers are more reliant on natural products and organic ingredients as they switch to conservative consumption. This stage would also identify the connection between cost and quality of products due to the increasing reliance on premium specialty products (DiCarlo, 2017). Noting that there is a dire need to deliver quality affordable products due to the increasing clinics for skin care services. It would be also worth noting that customers need guided marketing to identify the products suitable for their skin types during this stage.
The ideation stage would involve generating ideas on how to specialize the cream according to different skin types and how to help the customer in choosing the right product. This would involve using facial recognition and analysis technology for customers who can share their selfies to ascertain the right product from the Company experts. This would involve collaboration with tech firms to produce accurate results and reliability. Another topic that I would ensure is covered in the ideation stage is the incorporation of natural and organic products in the manufacturing process to suit customer preferences and climate regulations to limit the emission of toxics to the environment. The ideation stage would also discover ways to reduce the costs of the products to compete with other premium products while ensuring quality.
The prototype stage would comprise of both developing the facial recognition software and an organic, specialized, cream for different skin types and ages. Developing the software would require active participation with the customers to facilitate the development and testing stages. The technology can be outsourced but the company’s cosmetics should be actively involved to ensure adherence to skin qualities and features. The cream prototype would include organic materials and would include different types for the recognizable skin types by the software prototype.
The prototype development would incorporate the testing stage as the software needs to be customer-oriented which determines the type of ingredients to use in the cream. The testing stage would include a small population who would determine the accuracy of the software in determining skin types and recommending the suitable cream.
Question 3. The difference between the product and the brand manager
Product development entails the various stages from the ideation to launch, extensions, and cobranding depending either on the company values or market research which is done by both brand and product managers. The main difference between brand and product managers is that the former is mandated with maintaining and improving the perceived value by creating a brand around the product. On the other hand, product managers develop and push for new products through market analysis to boost the sales and consumption of a product (Brand manager vs product manager, 2020). This means that while brand management is concerned with the image around the product, often the company too, product management is concerned with developing the product and ensuring its resilience to market changes. Another difference between the two management positions is that a brand manager is concerned with the intangible elements of a company or product while product managers are concerned with the tangible aspects of the same product (Cobby, 2019). Some of the intangible elements free of the product are the adoption of environment-friendly packaging or logistics of the company to boost the image of the companies. The tangible elements include the quality of the product which ensures usability and match the proposed image by the brand manager.
There are also several similarities between the two managers as they are both concerned with the success of the product and increasing customer awareness. One of the common duties for product and brand managers is the marketing aspect of a product have to get involve in launches, redesign, and collaborations to ensure that the quality and customer expectations are aligned. Brand manager vs product managers (2020) notes that another similarity in the job requirements of both managers is setting the budget and ensuring that it matches the company's capabilities. Both managers also work with customer information to determine marketing trends.
The main responsibility for brand managers is building and upholding a strong position for a company or a specific product through active internal integration and decision making for establishing healthy external relationships (Zuzana, 2016). Brand managers are also mandated with ensuring that the product matches evolving customer needs by adopting flexibility consumer sensitivity (Shocker et al., 2018). This shows that brand managers have a responsibility to connect internal and external stakeholders to ensure the suitability of the chosen products to the developments, trends, and capabilities of the company and its customers. Brand managers are also responsible for matching the product specifications and quality with the corporate strategy, values, and beliefs (Kernstock and Powell, 2018). The manager is also responsible for analyzing communication patterns and preferences of the customer to increase awareness and assume competitive marketing. The need to match corporate strategy with consumer patterns also requires the brand managers to be actively involved in the development stage which was originally set for product management. Another responsibility for brand managers is to ensure that the company adheres to legal and social regulations about environment conservation in the logistics, packaging, and manufacturing to boost the image to both existent and potential customers.
Question 4. Description of 5 examples of different brand elements for Nike.
Brands consist of various components, elements, personalities, and associations that constitute both tangible and intangible definitions and identifiers of the brand. Various elements are used to define a brand including the name, logo, slogan, color, and character. This question tackles the abovementioned elements for Nike.
The name functions as the main identifier to the customer with mentions and prints designed to link products to a particular company. Although the Company is mainly identified by its logo, discussed below, the name still carries effect especially due to the brand extension to various types of shoes for different sports and casual wear. The brand has various names for the shoes which help in brandings like Air Jordan and Air Max which help in its identification. The company distinguishes the names for its products to help in the marketing to the different target personas of each type. The name is also linked to its archetype, the Greek goddess, thus helping in fronting its values.
The logo also functions as an identifier of a brand by distinguishing the product from similar goods. The Nike Swoosh logo is of the best designed based on its simplicity and maintaining form even with size changes. The brand also uses the Jump Man Logo for its Jordan series which helps identify the balling sho...