And the Winner Is.......

So, it's been a hectic week trying to get to find WOW!-Brands. To share my journey start at the bottom of the page..!

I have to say that it has been an interesting and enlightening journey. I thought premium, luxury,  expensive and unattainable brands would be everyone's choice, but from my interviews below you can see this wasn't the case.

At the start I put up the pink WOW....and if I expand that picture you'll see that it is actually from Kylie Minogue's album pictures.

Indeed at the start of this I did wonder if a person could be a WOW!-Brand and whether she might be mine.

And in fact if I list some of the common attributes that appear to come through I see no reason why not.

Heritage, Global, Excellent Quality, Traditional (but continually modernising), Exceptional Customer Service.

However, as much as I like Kylie and would have liked to end with a twist she is not, in fact, my WOW!-Brand.

There are of course hundreds of candidates out there, and everyone is different, as I said at the beginning of the blog.

In fact my mind raced through brands and experiences that I have had until it finally rested on one...........

Yes Nespresso is my WOW!-Brand

I'm sure it needs no introduction and little explanation.

In short does Nespresso meet the minimum criteria that I believe is required...?

Heritage - patented in 1976 but took almost 20 years to 'hit the streets', sub-division of Nestlé (sounds good to me)

Global - 7 million customers worldwide, 500,000 Facebook friends (Oh Yes!) 

Appealing George

Excellent Quality - great coffee in at least 16 different varieties - (no one argues with that)





Traditional but modernising) - it brought the traditional coffee experience into the home and office as well as innovating for businesses - (hotels and restaurants) - (cool machines and the boutiques...)

Nespresso Boutique in Miami

Exceptional Customer Service - home delivery from the website to any country, disposal centres (which are expanding), machines maintenance, Nespresso Club (the list goes on)

In summary, Nespresso is a brand and an experience. Quite how the expiration of the patents in 2012 will affect it is yet to be seen, but for me I have found my WOW!-Brand.


PSO 2012
With special thanks to all my contributors

John Lewis - A British Institution

I have been constantly surprised by some of the down to earth WOW!-Brands that people have selected, having started out thinking it would be the same story with everyone!!

I ask the question to Sola  (my next interviewee) not knowing now what to expect.

'John Lewis', Sola says. 

'Customer Service is exceptional at all levels', Sola continues, 'particularly due to the co-operative model of the business where employees are co-owners.

A John Lewis Fascia

With the "never knowingly undersold" tag line whatever I buy, from electronics to household, I trust the John Lewis brand and products, which are of high quality, and the standard warranties beyond the normal 1 year that other retailers generally offer simply enhance that feeling. '



So does John Lewis meet my previous criteria I wonder? Or has it simply added another attribute? Is customer service critical to how we perceive brands? Have we mentioned quailty before?

Now I'm sure that many of the international readers will have never heard of John Lewis but it is something of an institution in the United Kingdom.

The business was founded in 1864 when John Lewis set up a draper's shop in Oxford Street, London, which developed into a department store.



John Lewis - Oxford Street

In 1905 he bought the Peter Jones store in Sloane Square and in 1920 his son, John Spedan Lewis, expanded earlier power-sharing policies by sharing the profits the business made among the employees.

This formal partnership structure still stands today and as of 2011 there are 76,500 partners working for the John Lewis Partnership in it's department stores, Waitrose supermarkets or other services. The employees — known as partners - have a say in the running of the business and receive a share of annual profits, which is usually a significant addition to their salary. The group is the third largest UK private company in the Sunday Times Top Track 100 for 2010.

Never Knowingly Undersold

The principle and slogan Never Knowingly Undersold was adopted in 1925. It stated that if a customer could buy the same item cheaper elsewhere they would refund the difference. Today, the company still honours this pledge, although many of it's competitors also offer such a pledge now. The principle has been further refined, most notably to exclude retailers who only trade through online shopping, however, it was at one time the only large retailer that would match the price with any UK shop, not restricting it to a local area.

As of 2005 it has plans to open a new department store every year for the next 10 years, which is probably the most ambitious expansion programme in its history, and Waitrose is expected to step up its export business by shipping its branded products to Canada and the US later this year. It already ships its own label products to countries including Barbados, Bermuda, Cyprus, Dubai, Grenada, India, Kuwait, Qatar, Trinidad, Saudi Arabia and St Lucia to name a few and operates several franchise stores across the Middle East.

After some thought I conclude that whilst John Lewis does indeed have it's own branded products and there is a huge amount of trust in these, a lot of this is built up simply by the customer promise. John Lewis adverts are definitely special so I would like to share one here so you can see for yourself.

So John Lewis stores are fantastic, the quality is excellent and you only have to see the excitement in British cities when JL announces it is coming - but for me it is more of a retail experience than a brand. But it has given me some final thoughts before I reveal what I believe is my Wow!-Brand.

A Cleaning Revolution

I realise that for my next interview I really need to get a man's perspective.

Phil will surely reveal some hard core masculine brands when asked what his WOW!-Brand is?

But not so.....'Dyson', he says after some thought.

 

Dyson Vacuums

Well I wasn't expecting it but can see where he is going with this.
'Tell me more', I say.             

'It's certainly not a glamorous industry', Phil says, 'but there isn't the same emphasis as in other industries to launch products continually and end up fixing the problems afterwards'.

I wonder which industries he is referring to as 'Windows' springs to mind, Phil continues, 'Dyson poducts are designed to do a job well, often adding extras that customers weren't even aware that they needed, but cannot live without afterwards'.

Ok I get it, I think - Dyson has some pretty good innovative products.

James Dyson, the founder, studied architecture, but instead of colonnades and cladding, robust marine engineering was the order of the day. He developed a flat-hulled high-speed landing craft and, with it, his passion for engineering. Pretty soon, he’d also developed a new kind of wheelbarrow – one with a big fat ball that didn’t sink into mud and chunky feet for stability. Wow I remember my parents had one of those! I never thought it would end up on a vacuum.

All the while Dyson learnt to take risks, make mistakes and use frustration as a fuel for creativity and solving problems - like vacuum cleaners that lose suction.

Could the cyclone technology he’d first spotted on a sawmill work in a vacuum cleaner? He ripped the dusty clogged bag from his old vacuum and replaced it with a crude prototype. 5,126 prototypes later: Dual Cyclone™ technology and the first bagless vacuum cleaner.

A problem that I am sure we hadn't really thought about, had probably learned to live with and were suddenly presented with a solution we didn't know we needed.

And now - who wouldn't be without a bagless vacuum cleaner!!

But Dyson didn't stop there. During the five years it took to develop his first vacuum, Dyson was also battling.

First to convince other manufacturers to embrace his new technology. Then to protect his invention when they copied it.

James Dyson's experience of these battles informs the way Dyson works today. 

Keeping it's inventions secret. Protecting it's ideas. Always taking risks. 

Like developing a washing machine with 2-drums; emission-filtering diesel exhausts; clean air hand dryers; balls instead of wheels; robots – even a new type of school to get young people into engineering.

Dyson Hand Drier

Dyson certainly revolutionised the way in which vacuum cleaners now operate.

Dyson hand cleaners now adourn our public bathrooms.

Have you tried the bladeless fan?

Remarkable products, I agree, but is it a WOW!-Brand I wonder.....I guess for some people it must be and the one thing that stands out from my interview with Phil is 'adding extras that customers weren't even aware that they needed, but cannot live without afterwards'.

Is this another key attribute of a WOW!-Brand - anticipating consumer needs before they even know themselves?

 

DK - but not Donkey Kong!

My next interview really gets me thinking. I started this journey expecting people to refer to luxury brands and am being pleasantly surprised as I go on.

Bev's WOW!-brand is Dorling Kindersley. Yes I had to ask too!! And swiftly realise that almost all of us will have been touched by it's products at some point in our lives almost without thinking about it.

The logo gives it away of course....so why DK?

Dorling Kindersely - A Full Range of Books

'Well no matter what the subject, from children's books, to cookery to natural history their books are always lovely to look through', Bev remarks.

I have to agree as I recall a lovely 'sweet treats' cook book perched in my kitchen at this very moment.

   

'All their books have quality content', Bev continues, 'and the best thing is that they never seem to date'.

As I soon discover, Dorling Kindersley was founded as a book-packaging company by Christopher Dorling and Peter Kindersley in London in 1974, and in 1982 moved into publishing. The first book published under the DK name was a First Aid Manual for the British voluntary medical services; this book established the company's distinctive visual style of copiously illustrated text on a glossy white background. DK Inc. began publishing in the United States in 1991.

In 1999 DK printed 18 million Star Wars books but sold less than half of them, leaving the company with crippling debt. As a direct result, DK was taken over the following year by the Pearson PLC media company, and made part of Penguin Group, which also owns the Penguin Books label.

Nevertheless the brand clearly has a great deal of equity such that Penguin continue to use it copiously. DK also publish books in 60 different languages, from Arabic to Russian and I start to realise that this is a truly global brand.

And of course DK is moving with the times as information is bought to life with DK's brand new illustrated eBooks which are now available from Apple's iBookstore.



DK's New eBooks Bring Things To Life

The new eBooks are built using Apple's brand new iBooks, created by a team of DK award-wining editors and designers, covering a range of subjects which is undoubtedly going to grow.

So let me think....

History - 1974 (38 years)

Global - Yes

Quality - that never dates

Traditional - but keeping up with modern life 

   

...am I starting to discover the key attributes of a WOW!-brand?

Ugh!....oh sorry, you meant UGG

My next interview surprises me somewhat but also brings a bit of reality into my research.

Claire's WOW!-brand is UGG

UGG® Boots On Display

'Really!', I exclaim.

'Wouldn't be without them', she says, 'and they do exactly what they say they do'.

'And what is that', I ask?   'Well they keep your feet warm when its cold and cool when it is hot'.

This clearly answers the question I have had on my lips for years as I look incredulously at people wearing them in summer!! So I am at least learning something along the way!!

Ugg boots (generally called uggs) are a unisex style of sheepskin boots (yes - they do men's styles as well - see I told you I was learning) made of twin-faced sheepskin with fleece on the inside and with a tanned outer surface, often with a synthetic sole.

An Advert For Men's Boots

Originating in Australia or New Zealand, they became popular in the 1970s with surfers looking for ways to keep their feet warm and dry, and emerged as a fashion trend in the United States in the late 1990s and as a world-wide trend in the late 2000s.

Who'd have thought they had been around for so long?  Which gets me thinking about longevity and whether to truly qualify as a WOW!-brand does it have to have existed for a long time? What sort of history do we expect from a WOW!-brand? Hmm, food for thought...

Advancement Through Technology (aka ‘Vorsprung durch Technik')

As this is my first interview I wonder whether people will view WoW!-Brands as having to be expensive, luxury or even unattainable. I also wonder whether a WoW!-Brand needs to be Global and hope my discoveries answer my questions.

When my first volunteer, Eva, thinks long and hard....................and then mentions TIFFANY & CO and the signature teal boxes that would make any woman complete I feel that this may be the case...but on reflection that perhaps this is just a desire Eva settles on Audi

Audi Logo

'Why Audi?', I ask - surely it's still considered an inferior BMW or Mercedes - a Volkswagen in disguise?

Not so according Eva.

'Sexy, appealing, stylish - would make me feel confident and good about myself' is how Eva describes Audi.

And, according to Eva, the R8 makes all the difference.

Watching the advert I think you'll agree that Audi R8 is certainly appealing and must hit the spot for many people.

Audi, which has been a wholly owned (99.55%) subsidiary of Volkswagen AG since 1966, following a phased purchase of its predecessor, Auto Union, from its former owner, Daimler-Benz, was re-launched the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series.

The company name is based on the surname of the founder August Horch, his surname meaning listen in German—which, when translated into Latin, becomes Audi. The four rings each represent the individual car companies that banded together to create the union.

In the 1980s the Audi Quattro was the pinnacle of Audi's success - particularly in motorsport - but there is now an affordable range from superminis to crossover SUVs , and the ultimate desirable supercar tops the range.

I found myself nodding and agreeing with Eva, and recalling how my wife and children all exclaim every time we see an R8 so perhaps Audi really is a Wow!-Brand.



The 'desirable' Audi R8



I move on to my next 'victim'

Apple or not Apple...that is the question!

So where did the blog title come from?

Well, while I was thinking about WOW!-brands it came to mind that it is extremely rare that any of us buy something, go and see something like a film or a play, or even do an activity without some sort of recommendation.

It isn't just advertising that grabs us. It could be a review in 'Stuff' magazine, or watching a car show like Top Gear, or simply word of mouth, but in effect we are 'told' or influenced towards 'what' we want.

So little wonder that I thought the obvious WOW!-brand that people would choose would be Apple. 

Surely everyone loves Apple, everyone has at least one of their products don't they? And the way in which the company has developed over the last 10 year has been astounding.

Not so...yes some people did mention Apple but not everyone is truly excited by it...some people do 'Think Different'

So what did my gallant volunteers pick as their WOW!-brands.

Tune in later to find out.......

We are all different.......

This is my first posting! Exciting as it's also my first blog!!

So I guess I better tell you what it is about.

Our lives are touched on a daily basis by products, services and experiences which we choose or would like to choose. However, everyone has a different view of a what excites them enough to say 'WOW'.

So is it easy to identify what the WOW!-brands are?

I certainly thought so when I set out on this adventure but it has become very clear during my encounters with friends, colleagues and family members so far that it is anything but.

Let the journey begin......!