CHALLENGE AND SELECTION

To many Product Marketers, new product launch is always a dreadful duty, but it is also a must-win  milestone. I was in such position last year when we were launching a new lineup of Refrigerator,  BESPOKE. Drafting my product presentation for the launch event, I could feel the pressure weighing on  the words I was typing down. Months and years of researching and innovating would all come down to  whether the I could captivate the public with this product speech. For a successful presentation, there  were many challenges to tackle.

Firstly, the audience is of diverse backgrounds, ranging from business partners, retail owners, the press,  the influencers, to the daily users. While it usually takes customized languages and different selling  points to reach each of these audience groups, I only had one chance and one presentation to impress  all of them. Consequently, I chose to treat them all as prospective users and use emotional connections  as the common thread.  Another challenge is how to deliver cold, hard facts of an electronic product in a  compelling and memorable manner. The product itself, the refrigerator, unlike smartphones or design  bags, are not personalized nor lifestyle items. To make bullet points of refrigerator features and  technology exciting and inspiring, there had to be a logical linkage among them and a bigger cause  above them.

Thus, the approach I chose was product storytelling – a tool that can answer to the above challenges –  with a logical message, a touch of emotion, a simple form for every group of people to digest and relate  to, and a greater cause to unite people. (Martin, 2013)

APPLICATION

In the effort of making the refrigerator not a dull and lifeless food storage appliance, the team and I  aimed to position it as a modern home asset to a modern lifestyle. Linking back to Martin (2013), this  step is fundamental to storytelling: to present a cause rather than just solve a problem.

A crucial part of making a compelling story is to know your audience and talk about the things they  relate to (Martin, 2013). In application, my product speech began with a highlight of the 2020s zeitgeist:  as people spend more time at home and cook more often than ever, the refrigerator take the center  stage and become increasingly important in both functionality and decorativism. Following this premise,  I introduced the BESPOKE as the latest invention for modern home appliance-and-décor. Characterized  by its modular design, BESPOKE allowed for the flexibility in assembling a fridge that suits your personal  need for storage, home space, and aesthetic taste. Emotion-wise, I tried to connect the product  meaning with the values of our consumers as well. Understanding the insight that Vietnamese people,  having been through the war and economic hardship, value durability and cherish memories greatly, I  chose to highlight the BESPOKE’s practical endurance and emotional bonding aspects as the final note.  The flexibility of BESPOKE allows a fridge to turn into a living thing, growing with you as you go from a  bachelor to a married couple or to a family of 4 or 5. As the BESPOKE grows with you, there won’t be  reminiscence, because the memory lives on in this ‘memorabilia’ fridge.

INSIGHT AND APPROACH

The product storytelling for a refrigerator was a pioneering approach for the home appliance industry in  our market. It certainly helped set our brand apart and immensely connected our brand to the  customer’s values. The story was not only a device to grasp the audience’s attention and understanding,  but also a currency for social discussion among the press and the influencers. It gave the public an idea  to debate: what social and emotional meaning to modern home appliances, apart from their  functionality? To mark such a difference and to begin such an open discussion was a marketing success.

Personally, this application of product storytelling took me to another understanding of the product  purpose and user experience as well. In the story that we presented, we stopped framing a refrigerator  as a food storage appliance, but we considered it in a broader term: how this object can compliment the  lifestyle and the value of the consumers, given what they value?

I only considered these questions only after the product had been innovated. Looking back, I believed  this was how the designers and engineers must have questioned and thus, created this product.  Storytelling has always been a useful tool in product launch, but next time, I would use this device from  the problem definition stage as well.

Reference:

Brenda Mata [Mars]. (2013). Storytelling Tool [Video]. Https://Www.Coursera.Org/Learn/Uva-Darden- Design-Thinking-Innovation/Lecture/PAXCd/Storytelling-Tool. https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva- darden-design-thinking-innovation/lecture/PAXCd/storytelling-tool

