SPCI´99: Bengt Anderson: To be first is to be a winner
Who and what do you remember from the history? Probably the ones that were first at doing something or the leader of a cathegory. The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, and the first man that crossed the Atlantic Sea by plane, Charles Lindbergh for example. Other examples are Harley Davidson that is a leader in the motor cycle cathegory and Volvo that is said to be number one of the safest cars in the USA. Then it´s never questioned wether Volvo is the safest car in the USA or not, it´s how it´s believed to be that matters.Bengt Anderson from Sandberg & Company taught the visitors of SPCI´99 fair today the art of being first. It´s better to be first than to be better, he said. Marketing is not a battle of products, it´t a battle of perceptions. These sentences are worthwhile remembering. An american psychologist found in 1954 that it´s hard for people to remember more than seven items of a given cathegory. If you´re told to mention government members or brands of a certain products most people remember about seven and usually less. So the closer the top your brand is the better. There is always a leader in every field, even in paper machines and in kraft liner. Why is it then so important to be first? Bengt Anderson mentioned it´s because you´re then automatically on the customers´ list, you have lower sales costs and higher profitability. The top brand has the highest Return of Investment, ROI. The second and third brands do fairly well, at least in the short run. To become first is a matter of segmentation, differentiation and positioning. You simple have to create your own cathegory and stick with it. Maybe it´s not simple, but let´s give it a try. (Papernews, SPCI-news) (BMH)