| Issue 52 |

Attributes-Benefits Chart

Innovation is forged in a strategic direction. For example – Volvo, a manufacturer of safe cars, must focus on safety-related innovation in order to strengthen its marketing strategy. But what do we do if our product is not differentiated or does not have a unique feature or specific benefit associated with it? If so, then we must first try to identify such a benefit and then bolster it with innovation.

An Attributes-Benefits Chart is a tool used to quickly find a unique benefit, meaning some sort of positive word that consumers can ascribe to it (such as safety, comfort, fast, economical, reliable, etc.).

Instructions for creating an Attributes-Benefits Chart:

• Write down good (and objective) attributes of these types of products
• Only write down objective attributes that can be proven unequivocally (for example – write “a car door with a steel beam”, but don’t write “a safety door”).
• Only write attributes that customers would consider good (do not write negative attributes, they don’t help us identify positive benefits…).
• Write as many of these attributes as possible for your product or your competitors’ products (also write positive attributes that your competitors’ products have but that yours do not).
• For example - attributes in the “yoghurt” category: contains bio bacteria, pasteurized, made from goat’s milk, contains 42 flavors, 30 calories per container, 3% fat, 1 L containers, reusable lid, has cornflakes topping, kosher, etc.
 
• Write subjective benefits (from a consumer’s perspective) stemming from the above-mentioned attributes
  You have to go through each attribute and think of benefits for each one (“What does the consumer get out of this?”) .
  • Some of the attributes lead to the same benefit, and some of the attributes lead to several benefits.
  • At this stage, the purpose is to generate as many different benefits as possible.
  • For example – The above list of yoghurt properties yields the following benefits: healthy, tasty, variety, dietetic, convenient, useful, family-size, kosher, reliable, etc. 

Workshops for Business Clients

This year we conducted hundreds of training sessions for small businesses as part of the "Business Survival Workshops" conducted at the MATI branches nation-wide. These training sessions focus on three subject areas: emotional management (working under pressure, interpersonal communication), marketing management (marketing strategy, marketing communication), and financial management (optimization, crisis management). We subsequently enlarged our team of instructors and consultants, who are now ready to perform similar activities nation-wide.

The workshops were a huge success among a very wide variety of small business owners (free professions – lawyers, doctors, accountants, computer consultants, agriculturalists, restaurateurs and bed and breakfast owners, storeowners, artists, and much more). Please read their recommendations here.

If you have business clients that are self-employed or own businesses in Israel, we suggest that you subsidize (completely or partially) similar workshops for them, which we will adapt to their unique needs. The advantages for you are potentially immense: you are giving a gift that has a high emotional value and that directly contributes to the success of your client’s business. Also, clients with more successful businesses, better cash flows and higher revenues, can buy more from you and pay you faster. These training sessions can also be offered as part of customer conferences or visits at your company. Please note that these training sessions are relatively inexpensive compared to their high potential contribution to you when you consider the investment you are making in sales promotions and advertising.

Who are these workshops good for? Anyone with clients that are self-employed or small business owners in Israel. For example:

• A pharmaceutical company and healthcare service providers (training session for pharmacy owners and private physicians).
• Franchise chains (training sessions for branch and store owners).
• Food and beverage suppliers in the institutional market (training sessions for restaurant, hotel, and catering service owners).
• Expensive equipment suppliers (training sessions for equipment buyers, for example – beauty salons, agriculturalists, printing press owners).
• Professional associations (training sessions for lawyers, accountants, various consultants, and other firm owners).
• Corporations that serve business clients (for example – communication and telephony companies, banks, distribution companies).
• Regional councils, municipalities, kibbutzim, and moshavim that are interested in developing and promoting their businesses owners.
   
• For more information about Patent Development workshops:
  call +972-9-958-5085 or email [email protected]

Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone

 

 
The logic of a product that is not used for what it is designed for has been described in this section in the past.

Why has the girl in the top ad fallen asleep during her breakfast? Because her head landed on a nice soft slice of bread (like a pillow), and she kept on sleeping peacefully..

And why are the pigeons in the lower ad attacking people having a picnic? Because they brought a new type of seed bread with them.

In both ads, the bread is used as something other than what it was originally designed for (bread-pillow, and bread-birdfeed), in order to emphasize its advantages (very soft bread, and bread with seeds).

The caption in the top ad only clarifies what is special about the bread: Harry’s Bread. Nice & Soft. That says it all. The bottom ad includes only what’s written on the package: Albany – Seed Loaf. When the picture illustrates the benefit, there is no need for verbosity.

The saying goes that children and animals steal the show. But from among the two ads, you will probably identify more with the top one. The girl in the ad is sweet, while the pigeons in the bottom ad are scary and intimidating, like in Hitchcock’s movie The Birds. The top ad invites positive associations about the brand (Harry’s Bread), while the bottom ad may turn potential buyers off the Albany brand. The bottom ad does however manage to attract attention to Albany’s new seed bread, but the scary context (predator birds) may linger in the consumers’ subconscious, causing them to prefer other brands.

 

• We would be happy to receive more interesting advertisements Please send them to [email protected].
• Information about Creative Advertising workshops appears here (Page 18 of a Hebrew PDF booklet).