Design Can Carry A Brand

By Dominique Trempont, Guest Author

A brand is the emotional vibration between a company and its customers. That vibration is about establishing trust that customers should expect a consistent experience with the products and services of a company.

An example of that emotional vibration is Jaguar, at least in the 1950s and 1960s.

Look at the details of the design and of the consumer experience: the distinctive shape, the incredible Connelly leather smell, the burl wood, the spoke wheels, the wooden writing tablet, the sound of the fast engine, the Jaeger dials, the twin 50-liter gas tanks and the reserve 15-liter tank. It added up to a sense of luxurious and fast vehicle, at a price that was 30% above its direct competitors (Alfa Romeo and Rover) but nowhere near the price of other high-end British cars such as Bentley or Aston Martin.

Every single time you drove in a Jaguar, you sensed the consumer experience that the designers produced with this car: smart, fast, incredibly well made, safe, luxurious, good taste, individualistic.

That very specific design touches the sensitivity of the target consumers. It contributed to reinforcing the statement about what the Jaguar buyer was about. At that time, once a Jaguar buyer, always a Jaguar buyer. Phenomenal customer loyalty.

Now, Jaguar looks more like a luxurious Ford and has lost a lot of the original Jaguar recipe. Its market share has shrunk. But you still find some of that old Jaguar recipe in the Range Rover.

Very few companies understand what real branding means. That emotional vibration. That deep design of a very special customer experience. That deep trust.

In cars, Mercedes, Porsche, Lexus, and Saab come to mind. In consumer electronics, Apple. Sony used to have a strong brand. Samsung is slowly taking its place. Designers such as Armani and Issey Miyake have a deep design-based brand.

A design-based brand is such a market asset!