One day when late Mr. Ratan Tata was going somewhere in his car, he saw a family of four traveling on a scooter in a very congested way. He thought it to be extremely risky, and so the great visionary and business tycoon that he was, the late Mr. Ratan Tata, thought of making India’s cheapest car for middle-class families. His action and strategy backfired because people belittled and declined Nano to be a cheap and ugly-looking vehicle.
Late Mr. Ratan Tata himself accepted his mistake in many interviews. He branded Nano as India’s cheapest car; he wanted to do something for middle-class families, but what happens next? People boycott it because nobody wants to look cheap, nobody wants to drive a car that is only a one lakh rupee vehicle.
This incident is a classic example of how customer perception can make or break your brand. What was launched as a cure to middle-class transportation became the neglected hero. Even brand strategy professionals and brand strategy consultants often cite this as a reference case of misaligned messaging.
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Mr. Tata had introduced Nano in a different way.
How about India’s best low-maintenance car?
Or
The car that India needs right now.
Would that have made any difference? I believe it would have.
Will it be correct to say that the brand strategy around Nano was wrong?
Yes, it was.
Now, it's a very famous story; you can read all about it on the internet and watch dozens of videos on how Nano failed in India, but the reason I narrated this story is to showcase the significance of brand strategy consulting and how even big multinational corporations can fail to craft it and suffer loss.
This brings us to the headline of our blog, customer perception.
People like to be adored, approved, and appreciated. When a product is manufactured, it can always solve a problem, look good, sound attractive, and also create a buzz in the marketing. But the real question is how a customer sees it.
What do they think about it?
Why should they buy it?
How will it make them look good?
Let’s dive into this further and step by step decode the gravity of customer perception and why it should always be kept in focus in a brand strategy.
Perception Before Pitch
Whether it is an investor’s meeting or a sales pitch, you are naive if you think that people don’t have an opinion about your product or service before you present it to them. The moment you enter the room, people build their opinions about you, and they start to build on it.
A simple example would be people buying iPhones. In 2023, roughly 70% of iPhones in India were bought on EMI. This means that people are ready to take loans to buy Apple products. And why is that? People just want to look rich; they want to flaunt iPhones in the market, at a party, on the street, holding them in their hands, clicking mirror selfies, and whatnot.
What can you do?
“Sell your customers’ needs packaged as something they want.”
That is the reality of customer perception; it germinates from the seed of emotions and feelings attached to a brand or product and not just its requirement or how it solves a problem. This further develops into effective brand positioning. A product can only be successful if its target audience remembers it, and that is where the role of brand strategy agencies and brand strategy firms exceeds.
Customers Will Bridge the Gaps
The customer is busy; they don’t have time; they do not have your attention.
All these are not just simple lines but the harsh reality of today’s market. But there’s one reality as well, which founders often forget, and that is, the customer is intelligent enough to do their homework and fill in the gaps of the product’s narrative.
Founders should know that their target audience is not waiting to get educated; they have their own minds to build a perception about the brand.
Your brand should never sound generic; this is where an effective brand strategy company comes into the big picture. When your brand strategy aligns with your target audience’s mindset, it automatically starts working in your favor, clutter fades, and sales follow. An effective brand strategy will evoke the right emotions and feelings in your target audience that will elevate your sales conversion.
Customer perception can give the product a whole new story and vibe. There is a reason why you buy clothes from a particular store, why you go to a certain restaurant, drive a specific car, and live a certain lifestyle.
All of this is done because we all live in a world of perception. People spend and live their whole lives trying to impress others, not because they really want to but to satisfy the perception the people around them have created about themselves.
Perception digs deep into people’s skin, and that’s where an effective branding strategy delivered through top-tier brand strategy solutions can take companies to if executed in the right way.
Ideas Fade, but Perception Lasts
We all watch television, and we all are familiar with the ads. Every now and then, we can see products launching new ads with new scripts, actors, and messaging. Sometimes they cringe, and sometimes it goes viral. But there is one thing that remains consistent, and that is perception. Perception takes time, and once it is established, it lasts forever. We all know quite a few examples where the product was good, but due to bad perception, the product failed. Not to go far, we started this blog with such a brand example as Tata Nano.
At the same time, let me give you another example of how perception lasts, and it can help you in a positive way.
We all know or have heard about the product Kinder Joy.
The product is immensely popular among kids and teenagers as well. To be honest, I never bought it, and I don’t even know what exactly it is, a candy, a toy, or maybe both, but what really blows my mind is how something with no meaning or substance can become so popular among kids and teenagers.
On top of that, it is expensive as well. Still, kids want that, and we can always find a kid in the grocery store crying for it to their parents. We all know the answer to it, and that’s perception.
The perception of Kinder Joy is so positively strong that it creates a buzz in its target audience. How do you think they achieved it? Yes, brand strategy.
The whole strategy is built on parenthood and the relationship between kids and parents. The idea is to induce joy and excitement, and just like that, every kid now wants it. It is effective, smart, strategic, and certainly made Kinder Joy the number one choco brand in India. A textbook example often highlighted by brand strategy experts and brand strategy companies alike.
Last Thoughts
When founders start working with a clear-cut brand strategy, they remove the fluff and the clutter and refine their execution to match the customer perception. A strong and positive customer perception means that the product has a solid hold on its target audience.
Strive to develop a well-synced brand strategy that allows you to create a customer perception that lasts. It will not only bring your brand the clarity it requires to elevate in the market—it’s also the foundation on which the best brand strategy specialists and brand strategy agencies build long-term success.
