Our obsession with jargons mean that we always try to communicate through our kind of language, not the kind that customers would understand. Who should blame us? After all, 4 years of business school ensures that we are conversant with just about every essential management jargons. And its reflections are everywhere. Even in the product labels.
Here’s a thought. Why does labels always say “Manfucatured on X / X / XX” or “Expiry date X / X / XX”? Wouldnt it soun nicer if it said “Enjoy by X / X / XX” instead of expiry date X / X / XX? Wouldnt it seem more customer friendly if we said “Made for your enjoyment on”, instead of “Manufactured on”?
But somehow we are fixated on the technicalities and stiff management language, never focused on the customer benefit but always focused on the product feature.
5 comments
Vasanth Seshadri
June 27, 2008 at 9:13 am
I hadn’t thought of it that way. Yours is certainly a unique perspective.
Just a gentle reminder: Watch out for your spelling. E.g. expory needs to be changed to expiry, developped to developed, enojoyment to enjoyment.
Lalit Paryani
June 29, 2008 at 9:15 am
Interesting perspective.
Marketers around the globe have started to explore all the fine details to inch towards achieving customer satisfaction, and this could very well be a tool in achieving that goal. Lexus, for instance, would automatically tune the customer’s car radio to match the radio of the customer’s previously owned vehicle (which they have now bought in for a replacement purchase), which doesn’t cause an extra penny, but helps gelling the customer-seller bond. This case could be applied to your labelling example as well.
I guess, with this case, creativity was limited more by bounding laws and regulations that would require the product to be labelled a certain way to avoid future suits. For example, a customer might consume a product that clearly states “enjoy before xx/xx/xxxx” even though the date has well passed claiming that the label simply mentioned “enjoy before” and did not indicate when it should be “consumed before”. I hope you catch my drift. 😉
Interesting post nonetheless.
Mohammad Jobaed Adnan
July 2, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I would take it. As I handle an account of one of the largest FMCG companies, I would try to implement this idea.
Thank you.
LYNDA
July 9, 2008 at 11:10 am
ITS A GOOD AND BRILLIANT IDEA.THANKS A LOT
Debasish Shikder
July 24, 2008 at 4:25 am
Lots of people posted comments on the post. This is a good idea and it can be done, but there are some realities.
In last night in Star hotel, Dhanmondi I found a bottle of mineral water with English and Arabic text only named SPA marketed by Akij Food and beverage Ltd. There was no Bangla text on the bottle; The BM may think to be global. This is happening for lots of products in the country both imported and locally manufactured.
If we want to be consumer friendly, we need to communicate through consumer language. Is it? Before going for value addition we need to comply with the basic need. BSTI is requesting companies to implement Bangla in front panel. Some companies are in a way of comply with the BSTI.
Please enjoy Energy Plus and Tip biscuits with bangla texts on front pannel before tonight. Soon you will find all other Olympic products with Bangla texts on front pannel.