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[Music]
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Professor Reed thank you for joining us
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thank you for having me I'm excited to
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be here first of all can you define
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Marketing in the context of the business
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World absolutely marketing is really the
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process by which we as business people
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communicate things about our products
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that increase interest that make
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consumers aware of our products and that
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really encourage them to try to appeal
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to their decision to buy our products
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and marketing is really the fundamental
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glue if you will of any business because
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if you think about it marketing is
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essential to really generating interest
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awareness opportunity to buy in actual
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purchase decisions in consumers and you
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can have a great product and if nobody
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knows about it then it really doesn't
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matter so marketing is that really that
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process by which we communicate and
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promote our products and Brands and
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services to Consumers okay so what is a
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brand so it's interesting a brand is
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essentially a set of ideas
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that are associated with a product so
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when you think for example of Apple you
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think about what comes to mind when I
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think about Apple products for example
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iPod iPhone iPad well certain things
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immediately jump to your head right and
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so those things that might be things
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such as anti-establishment or hip or
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cool or Sleek products or creativity
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these are
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ideas that essentially make up what the
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brand means to people
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and so a brand is essentially a set of
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cohesive ideas or thoughts that really
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Define what the product stands for the
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idea is once you have a set of ideas
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that really Define what your brand
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stands for you want to make sure that
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your brand is different from other
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brands so for example Apple tries to say
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that we are creative we are hip we are
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cool we are sexy and Microsoft for
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example is not so Microsoft is this
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other sort of thing that's out there
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that is stodgy and less exciting and
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very routine and so you try to create
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interest by differentiating your brand
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from other possible competitive brands
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that consumers might be interested in so
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help us better understand your specialty
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you are an identity theorist so how does
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that relate to Brand identity well my
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training is in social psychology so I
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have a PHD in social psychology and I
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study how people connect with symbols
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and so if you think about it how does a
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person Express who they are well one of
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the things they might do is they might
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choose certain bundles if you will of
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products that create an impression that
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they can communicate to other people so
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for example if you believe you are a
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skater boy you are going to be drawn
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towards certain brands that you think
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represent that lifestyle and so the
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types of brands that are symbolic of who
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you think you are or who you aspire to
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be will become very
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appealing to you and those brands that
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then become symbols of your
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identity are brands that you are going
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to be most loyal to and deeply connected
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with and really emotionally tied to
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because they're not just Brands and
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symbols they are a sense of who you are
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and they are part and parcel with your
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self-concept so just having those Brands
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and consuming those brands in the
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presence of other people is a very
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powerful way for you to express who you
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are and so I try to study this notion of
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what we refer to as identity loyalty
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which is creating this sense of
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connection through your sense of who you
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want to be and your
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self-concept uh and how a brand can
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develop and leverage that as a strategy
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to becoming popular and growing its
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Market amongst consumers so what are
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some of the triggers that lead consumers
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to become loyal to a product brand or
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logo and can you give some examples that
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might res resonate with teenagers
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absolutely so if you think about it
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there's lots of brands that are out
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there and some of the triggers that are
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important in this notion of creating a
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sense of identity a sense of expression
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through the brands that you use are that
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they have to be seen as authentic okay
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so a brand has to be seen as part of
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this lifestyle that's connecting with
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consumers so an example of this would be
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uh if you look at a particular Niche
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category of branding such as let's say
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let's say Red Bull so Red Bull tends to
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be associated with for example this kind
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of uh extreme sports lifestyle okay so
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the idea is that if if a brand is going
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to be allowed to come into that
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community and be adopted it must be seen
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as authentic by the people who feel they
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are the core users or the core
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representatives of that lifestyle so one
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issue is authenticity the other issue is
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associated with having to do with really
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creating a deep connection of caring
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about what that brand Community is all
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about so if a company comes in and tries
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to become symbolic of that group if it's
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seen as a way of attempting to just try
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to make money then it's going to be
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rejected so there has to and it's this
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is tied into this authenticity idea it
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has to be seen as a genuine kind of
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brand that in and of itself is really
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interested in the lifestyle per se that
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it is trying to create a connection with
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for those consumers the other thing the
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third thing that's really important is
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that there has to be some kind of
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emotional connection to this and so when
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the brand advertises to its consumers it
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wants to kind of depict how it is part
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and parcel with this lifestyle in a way
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that generates the kind of emotional
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reactions or affective reactions that
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consumers tend to associate with the
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desire to be a part of that lifestyle
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and so those three elements are sort of
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the starting points by which brands can
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become deeper triggers for essentially
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allowing consumers to try to
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self-identify and express who they are
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through the usage of those
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Brands so how do you develop
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relationships with actual
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corporations through your research and
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your work in the classroom in particular
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I know you've done some work with saky
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the uh sneaker maker typic absolutely we
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we this is actually one of the high
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points for me as an academic and that is
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the opportunity to
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marry research teaching and interfacing
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with real world companies and so
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typically what I do in my courses both
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at the undergraduate and The Graduate
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level is I will partner with a company
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and the company will come into my class
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with their problem and my students then
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I will teach them about the tools
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Associated for example with
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understanding why consumers do what they
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do and these tools then will be applied
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by the students to the company's
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particular situation and so what happens
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then as we go throughout the semester
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the students are essentially learning
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how these tools work why they work but
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they're really getting the opportunity
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to learn by doing and applying these
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tools to a really difficult real world
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situation in a situation that matters so
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the company typically comes to us with a
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sort of mission critical issue that
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they're currently dealing with and so
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it's a really nice interface because
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there's three points of of of utility in
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doing this and that is obviously by
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interacting with companies companies get
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exposure to sort of the top talent in
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terms of the young minds that are going
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to be coming out soon potentially
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looking for jobs with those companies
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the students get a a big sort of Boost
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from this sort of project idea because
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they actually feel like what they're
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doing is not isolated in some ivory
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power but it's really learning that's
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being applied that actually matters in
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the real world and then thirdly by
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interfacing sort of consumers and my
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students There's an opportunity to
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actually teach consumers more about
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marketing and more about how business
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works in the real world so it's a really
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nice uh interface between those three
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elements that I think is win-win win for
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everybody and how did sakon become
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involved so sakon last year was very
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much interested in trying to understand
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how to make its brand particularly
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relevant to Young high school kids who
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are scholarly students in athletes so
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the question that they came to me with
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was Americas we want to understand how
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to deeply connect emotionally with this
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particular segment or group of consumers
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and so the job of my class was then to
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do a very thorough analysis as to how do
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high school students schol high school
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student athletes make decisions about
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purchasing shoes and so saky was
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interested in understanding that and
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figuring out a way then to brand and
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communicate a message to that particular
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group that would make them interested
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and excited and potentially loyal to the
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scky brand and so it was a very nice
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interface again of my students being
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able to go out and talk to high school
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students and understand how they make
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decisions about buying shoes what brands
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do they like where does sakon fit in in
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their list of popular brands for
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thinking about purchasing shoes and how
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can you make sany jump to the top of
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that list over competitors such as
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Reebok Nike Adidas Puma so on and so
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forth so it was a great project in the
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in the end and again it had this sort of
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win-win-win aspect to it in terms of
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myself the company my students at the
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University of Pennsylvania and the high
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school students who participated in the
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search intended to understand how they
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make decisions so what were your
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interests in high school and how did
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that set you on a career path toward
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marketing and toward college level
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instruction yeah my interest in high
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school I was actually uh more interested
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in music and art and what I was
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particularly interested in is music
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because I I found myself interested in
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understanding how patterns work and
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music is really about patterns you take
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particular parts of of notes and you put
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them together and you create a pattern
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that sounds appealing to people so I've
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always had this this idea of like what
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makes patterns stand out and what makes
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particular patterns work as a good piece
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of music versus not and so when I got
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into my latter uh sort of stages of my
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musical career I started understanding
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that I like to to to figure out how
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these patterns emerge and how then these
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patterns play out in a larger place so
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the marketplace is actually an analogy
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that works with this so there are
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different consumer groups and they're
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doing different things there are
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different patterns and your idea is to
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try to understand how do these patterns
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come about and what are the combinations
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of patterns then that really describe
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how that market works and I found that
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there's an interesting interface between
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business and creativity that allows me
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to and marketing is is a huge piece of
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this because a lot of what is about
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marketing is about the creative aspect
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you analyze but you also have to create
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something that's appealing so it has
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this really nice interesting mix of kind
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of right and left brain skill sets and
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what I really like about that is that
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marketing again going back to the
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original discussion that we were having
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is so fundamental to what anyone wants
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to do right so brands are are products
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brands are also people you yourself
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you're a brand you're trying to convince
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people to give you a job or persuade
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someone to go out with you on a date
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you're your brand so you have to figure
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out how do I Market myself how do I do
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these different things and so because
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marketing is has such uh huge creative
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aspects to it and it's so fundamental to
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just the human existence it sort of Drew
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me into this area where I could try to
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learn and study and understand this uh
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set of Concepts associated with
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marketing more clearly and how those
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patterns then play out in in a business
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sort of setting fascinating what how was
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your involvement in music related to did
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you play an instrument or what kind of
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instrument so I play two instruments I
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play uh classical guitar and I also play
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uh drums and percussion so drums and
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percussion I've done for the longer uh
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of those two uh types of music and again
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that ties into this notion of of
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patterns we also actually in our
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department our marketing department at
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the Wharton School we we actually have a
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band oh you do yes we do and uh some of
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my it consists of my colleagues and I
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and we play for the students too so I'm
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still doing music but slight in a
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slightly different way uh but still
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excited about having that sort of side
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of creativity that I can express as well
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as part of my own identity terrific well
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thank you for joining us thanks a lot I
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appreciate
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it
