T h e J o u r n a l of B r a n d M a n a g e m e n t V o l u m e

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N u m be r

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S l i pstream market i n g M ax Sutherland* and Stephen Holden A ddress:

*

MarketMind Technologies Pty L td, 1 046a Dandenong Road, Carnegie, NS W 3 1 63, A us ­

tralia; Tel: + 6 1 3 9563 5877; Fax: +6 1 3 9563 5305; E-mail: MarketMind @ compuserve. com

Received (in revised form): 2nd June, 1997

Dr Max Sutherland is the chairman of Market-

Mind Technologies in A ustralia, a registered psychologist and a u thor of the business bestseller

This paper explores ways that brands can hitch a ride by manouvering into the buyer 's slipstream oj thought as the buyer is propelled towards purchase.

'Advertis ing and the Mind of the Consumer' . He

is also Professor of Marketing at Monash Univer­ sity in A ustralia. Stephen Holden is an a cademic and inde ­

pendent consultant and is currently visiting the A ustralian Graduate School of Management. He holds a psychology degree with honours from the University of Western A ustralia, an MBA from the University of Toronto and a PhD in con­ sumer beha viour from the University of Florida.

ABSTRACT

Brand management success means getting the most out oj the brand 's budget - 'achieving the biggest bang without necessarily having the biggest buck'. Today's budget constraints perenially dictate the need to be especially smart and creative since any brand that is outgunned and outspent will be out cold. Whether one is a market leader or market challenger, a key element oj succesiful marketing is to be constantly on the look out Jor what we call slipstream marketing opportunities. This means opportunities to hitch a ride and harness the brand to something that will help move it more 1Jor tlessly and drive its budget Jurther. Petjormance-enhancing power is available by slipstreaming the marketing momentum oj others down the buyer'S slipstream oj thought. Or by yoking a brand to something in the 'thought stream' that will automatically engage it when the buyer undertakes purchase contemplation.

THE SLIPSTREAM OF THOUG HT

Think about a consumer decision that I S probably made every day. It is getting on for noon, the consumer is fe eling hungry and he/she asks the question, 'What am I going to have for lunch today ? ' The consumer starts to think of alternatives and to evaluate each one as it comes to mind. The process goes something like this:

Will I have a sandwich? No I had a sandwich yesterday. A pie? No, that 's not very healthy. McDonald's Yes . . . I'll go to McDonald 's. This is the ' slipstream of thought' and there are three things to note about it. Firstly, the mind produces alternatives, one at a time. The ' mental agenda' of alternatives is or­ dered like this :

Top: Max Sutherland Below: Stephen Holden

Sandwich Pie McDonald's Counter lunch at the pub Pizza Hut. Secondly, the c o nsumer does not generate an exhaustive set of alternative s . The first

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satisfactory contender that comes to mind is accepted. Thirdly, the order in which the c on­ tenders come to mind is not necessarily the order of preference. Nevertheless the order can influence what is chosen. The consumer might actually have p referred Pizza Hut to McDonald's, but he/she did not get to Pizza Hut physically . . . because he/she never got there mentally. Sutherland and Galloway l highlighted this ' agenda setting' as an important role for ad­ vertising under low involvement conditions, and this was supported in subsequent work by Woodside and Wilson2 who referred to it as 'brand mind position' . The same applies to the process of choos­ ing which restaurant, which department store, or which supermarket to go to. The order in which the contenders emerge from the memory may seem inconsequential, but it can be critically important in determining the chances of whether a consumer goes to McDonald's or Pizza Hut. C onsiderable evidence exists in the liter­ ature that top-of-mind brand awareness is one o f the best p redictors of a ctual pur­ chase, e s p e cially under low involvement conditions . 3 , 4 , 5 Even in the supermarket as the consumer stands at the display, first one brand is no­ tic e d , then another, then another. 6 I t hap­ pens rapidly - but in sequence. It has been found that consumers tend to take less than 1 2 seconds on average to select a brand from the supermarket shelf and, in 85 per cent of purchases, only the chosen brand was han­ dled . 7 I t has been estimated that if c o n­ sumers were to scan all brands, a normal 45 minute supermarket shopping trip would take at least five to eight hours . So, despite the fact that the brands are on display, they are not equal in the probability that they will come to mind or get noticed. 8 How then is it possible to give your brand the ability to cut-through this clutter, whether it b e on-shelf, or mental clutter?

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The answer is creativity and 'slipstream mar­ keting' . One must be especially creative in advertising, package-design and P O P dis­ plays . But, in addition, it is important to consider strategies for slip streaming.

HITCHING FREE REGISTRATIONS

One way of slipstreaming is to obtain free brand registrations by hitching the brand to something that frequently recurs in the en­ vironment. Some examples of these are :

Any time is STANDARD time. (Standard Brewing Co) ; Time for a break. Time for a KitKat; Everything you always wanted in a beer . . . and less . (Miller Lite) ; For all you do, this Bud's for you . (Bud­ weiser) ; Lunch time is Guinness time . (Guinness stout) ; - Just do it! (Nike) ; - Cross your heart (Playtex bra) . Whenever one of these expressions ( ,Any­ time ' , ' Time for a break ' , 'Just do it' etc) is encountered in the normal course of the day, the brand that is mnemonically tied to it is likely to be pulled into the slipstream of thought and get a free registration. When a consumer is about to go to work and his /her partner calls out. ' D on't leave home without your keys, your watch, your books ' , then the American Express card which is successfully tied to ' D o n 't leave home without it' - may just get a free, al­ beit involuntary, brand registration. An actor in a play takes h i s / h e r c u e fro m a l i n e o r s o m e o ther happ ening o r event. T h e human mind takes i t s cue from its immediate environment - external and internal. There are many common words, symbols, expressions , tunes or celebrities that can be develop ed by means of rep etition into

Sutherland & Holden

mnemonic devices which can trigger rec ol­ lection of the brand. For example :

I feel like . . . (used successfully in Australia for a brand of beer) ; A nyhow* (used successfully for a b rand of cigarette) ; Good on you mum (used for a brand of bread) ; Which bank? (used successfully for a bank) . Tying a brand, therefore, to something that frequently recurs in the environment can be a very successful slipstreaming strategy.

BEST POSITION IN THE SLIPSTREAM

The best p o sition in the slipstream means ensuring that a particular brand c omes to mind, at or near the time of purchase. Ideally the mnemonic cue should not just frequently recur but should recur at strategic times. For example, tying the brand KitKat to the expression ' Time for a break' or tying the brand of beer (Tooheys) to the expres­ sion ' I feel like' . These remind consumers of the brand - not j ust randomly - but at strategic points in time. Candidates for items that will be in con­ sumers' minds at or near the time of pur­ chase as suggested by Holden and Lutz9 are : the product category; the need or motivation (thirsty, hungry etc) ; the consumption/usage situation; any sub-need (eg, ' stay slim' 'warm up ' , 'stay awake ' etc) ; the market leader itself.

gory name. Xerox, Kleenex, Hoover and Esky (the latter being a picnic cooler brand in Australia) are great examples. This can be a tricky s trategy b ecause it must not become too successful, as happened to brands like Aspirin, Thermos, Formica and Linoleum. These were all brand names that were legally lost to their owners be­ cause c ompetitors c ould successfully argue in law, that in common usage, the brand name had b e c ome generic for the p roduct category. This may be a well-worn strategy but it is nevertheless s till an important marketing strategy for positioning in the mental slip­ stream. The product category is usually part of the mental environment leading up to purchase. For example, if someone is thinking of going to a restaurant for a meal, he/she im­ mediately starts to think of those establish­ ments that are most s trongly linked in his/her mind to this p roduct category 'restaurant' . Even in the supermarket, where the brands are displayed, the category is impor­ tant. As consumers approach the detergent section what is in their minds? The category ' detergents' . Why? Because the supermarket layout is familiar, or b e c ause when ap­ proaching that section the category is prompted by the display? Unfortunately, the market leader may al­ ready ' own' the category position - just as The C o c a - C ola C o mp any (slip streaming drinks in general with the tagline ' Drink Coca- Cola') ' owns ' the soft drink category p osition. But, even so, there are other can­ didates available.

' BASIC NEED' SLiPSTREAMING SLiPSTREAMING THE PRODUCT CATEGORY

Moving the brand in behind the product category and slipstreaming in its wake means tying the brand, ' top-of-mind' , to the cate-

Leading o u t in front of the produ ct c a t e ­ g o r y is the n e e d o r mo tivati o n (hunger, thirst, security etc) . I n the search for slip­ streaming opportunities this must not be overlooked.

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Thirst, for example, might be satisfied by tea, fruit j uice, milk, water, soft drink, beer etc. When thirsty, the alternatives are c o n­ sidered, one at a time. Usually, the first ac­ ceptable one that comes to mind is chosen. I t is interesting to note that . Americans c o nsume much more soft drink per head than Europeans o r Australians . Marketing (and other events) in America have more successfully slipstreamed the general motiva­ tion of thirst . It is not so much that Ameri­ cans p refer soft drinks , but soft drinks are one of the first things they think of. The mental agenda, therefore, of product categories - the order in which they come to mind - is crucial. In this strategy it is im­ p ortant to try to cut in front of the product category and manoeuvre the brand into the slipstream created by the basic need itself.

SUBSTREAMS

If it is not possible to manoeuvre directly in­ behind the motivation (thirst) itself, look for a substream. A need is capable of being satis­ fied in many different ways. For example, when thirsty, the slipstream of thought differs with: time of day (eg, j uice, coffee at b reak­ fast, soft drink at lunch, beer/wine after work and bed time - hot milk) ; temperature (eg, cold drinks in h o t weather) ; type of activity (eg, beer/wine for social activity, Gatorade/water for sport) I t is essential always to look for a p otential substream for the product. Drinks like Pow­ erade, Gatorade, Luc ozade, Sports Plus etc have in the last few years found a valuable market by slipstreaming a ' sports' substream.

SUB-NEED

Even if it is n o t p ossible to be a winner there, it still may be possible to achieve first

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place in some minor division. The next step is to identifY a sub-need. For example, Jolt is a US cola that offers double the caffeine of regular colas . Its con­ sumption is rep orted to have significant peaks in university towns in the lead-up to, and during, campus examinations when the need to 'stay awake ' is prevalent. Positioning in behind a sub-need, like ' staying awake ' , may, not in itself, win big money but it can at least give success in a minor division.

IF A POSITION IS OCCUPIED?

What if the market leader already occupies the desired position? It is extremely unlikely that anyone will succeed in creating a stronger association to the need or the category than the established market leader. The alternative is to go after and slipstream the market leader directly. To extend the earlier lunch example having rej ected pies and sandwiches, the c o nsumer thinks of M c D onald's and pro­ c e e ds to the nearest one. On arriving, he/she sees Pizza Hut next door and realises Pizza Hut would be preferable to McD on­ ald's and so buys Pizza Hut instead. This type of exception shows that prefer­ ence typically has less to do with purchase than position in the mental slipstream. In this case, Pizza Hut slipstreamed the market leader by physically locating next to it. The next best thing to physically slip­ streaming the market leader is to mentally slipstream the market leader.

MENTALLY SLIPSTREAMING THE MARKET LEADER

As an example, c onsider Pepsi's comparative adve r tising c ampaigns . The idea was that when the market leader, Coca- Cola, c omes to mind this would trigger the ' Pepsi' brand. This strategy (sometimes called ' piggy back' l O) can sometimes feel quite dangerous.

Sutherland & Holden

Photograph A Sheaffer ad slipstreaming flowers - the Mother s Day market leader

' Pepsi ' , in its use of c o mp arative advertise­ ments, risked advertising Coca- Cola. But, in effe c t , the c ampaign probably did less for Coca- Cola than it did to ensure that thoughts of Coca- Cola are closely followed by thoughts of ' Pepsi' in the mental slipstream. When it is imp ossible to man o euvre di­ rectly in behind either the motivation or the product category, because the market leader is already there - when it is imp ossible to be number one - then, by positioning di­ rectly in association with the marker leader, it is possible to ensure that a particular brand is a close number two. This can be a shrewd strategy for a con­ tender if it is almost certain that the market leader will come to mind. This is especially true if the c o ntender has no realistic hope otherwise of getting into one o f the top place s . Camp aigns like ' C offe e , t e a or B onox ? ' o r 'Milk it instead ' , try to make sure that an otherwise unlikely candidate is at least as­ sured of a strong second place. Another example is the Sheaffer Mother's Day magazine advertisement that slipstreams flowers - the natural 'top-of-mind' gift for Mother's D ay. The advertisement steers

Sheaffer pens direc tly into their slipstream. The copy reads : ' This year give her the pick of the bunch.'

ZIGZAG SLiPSTREAMING

The concept of ' zigzag' slips treaming is rather more c omplex. It involves finding s o mething else in the market leader's slip­ stream that is associated with it and slip­ streaming that, rather than manoeuvring directly behind the leader. W hen 7 -Up positioned as ' the uncola ' , it attempted to effect a zigzag on a slipstream characterised by p e ople habitually thinking of c olas first ( Coca- Cola, 1 1 Pepsi etc) . I t highlighted realisations that even though some p e ople might p refer lemonade, they do not always think of it. This zigzag can be devastatingly p owerful if the asso ciation is hitched to the market leader and it has negative connotations . For instance, suppose research shows peo­ ple feel vaguely uncomfortable about eating McDonald's for health reas o n s . For some this may b e s trong enough to rej e ct M c ­ D onald's (despite i t s b e i n g top-of-mind) . For others, the asso ciation may be there, but

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