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953 : STEP ONE – SEEKING AND SHAPING OPPORTUNITIES

Although the two parameters are not intrinsically exclusive of each
other, experience has educated consumers to expect rational decision-
making to inform industries where function is predominant, and
emotional decision-making to characterise those industries where
feelings predominate.

Hopping over the non-emotional boundary of a functionally oriented
market may create the type of opportunity exemplified by Guinness. It
is hard to consider that Guinness was once perceived primarily as a
working man’s drink. It also offered excellent nutritional properties for
expectant mothers. The creation of an emotional component to the
brand through distinctive advertising, the elevation to quasi-religious
levels of ‘the pour and the settle’ process, the linkage to sporting events
and health have created a distinctive lifestyle brand, whose premium
pricing belies the fact that the basic product is effectively unchanged
since its unassuming origins.

it needn’t be a dog’s life You might think that there is nothing more
functional than a boarding kennel for cats and dogs. This is not a
sentiment shared by Best Friends Pet Resorts and Salons, an American
company which hopped over the boundary of providing functional
accommodation to small animals.

The company’s founders spotted the opportunity to give full rein to the
emotional component of pet ownership, noting the research finding that
more than 90 per cent of pet owners view their pets as family members.
The resultant business now offers facilities which more closely
resemble a five-star hotel for humans than a kennel. Personalised pet
services include grooming, supervised playtime, tailored diets and
odour-free suites. The emotional bond between pet owner and staff is
fostered through hospitality industry-level customer service, including
state-of-the-art customer relationship management software which
tracks the pet guests’ every trait, need and preference.73

from time-piece to fashion accessory In the days before Swatch, the
traditional watch market represented the ultimate functionally oriented
market, where the likes of Citizen and Seiko competed through such
functional improvements as quartz technology or easier-to-read digital
displays. Swatch transformed budget watches into fashion accessories.
With a design laboratory based in Italy, the company vindicated the
belief of its chairman, Nicholas Heyek, that ‘if we could add genuine
emotion to the product and a strong message, we could succeed in
dominating the industry’ by making repeat purchases the norm.74