This weblog post is extremely detailed. It is Part 1 of a 5 Part series.
The series provides a deep understanding of the company’s thinking about the brand positioning of 1000+ Stain Remover. The series is for those amongst our shareholders who are fundamentalists. You appreciate knowing not only what we are doing with our brand, but why. This series deals with the product website of our lead product.
The format of this deep dive series will be to focus on the product website in its sections, according to the website Navigation Bar. This first installment is about the Home Page. I provide a screen shot of every aspect of the 1000+ website and explain why it’s there, and how it relates to our success. By the time we are finished the series, you will clearly understand the mission.
1000+ Stain Remover can make a clean-up contribution to every household in North America. Rich or poor, rural or urban, young family or retired persons, speaking any language, practicing any religion, having any political belief, etc. Give me a household, and I will find uses for 1000+ Stain Remover. No exceptions. You can’t say that about many products.
Our 1000+ brand mission is to achieve “household name” brand recognition and distribution in North America, with product sales volume to match.
We are already off to a good start because most people who use 1000+ give us positive feedback. You can’t please everyone, but you can go a long way toward our goal with 1000+ Stain Remover. There are over a hundred million households in North America. A few percentage points penetration translates to many millions in annual sales, sustainably, because 1000+ is consumable. If success is managed prudently, our shareholders will benefit.
Website Address: www.1000PlusStainRemover.com and www.1000Plus.ca Same site.
ANALYSIS – HOME PAGE HEADER SECTION
This header picture came from a real incident. It took place in a logistics warehouse. The dispatcher was grumpy that day and was complaining about things in general. That included a negative comment about his facilities. I was there and pointed out that all normal people are affected by the environment that they are in. It’s a morale booster to have a pleasant setting to work in, so I pointed out that we all have a hand in creating that setting.
I had an extra bottle of 1000+ with me and showed how easily his “tired” warehouse office could be refreshed. The linoleum floor had not been cleaned in a long time. Grime accumulated from forklift tire skid marks creating oily rubber dust, office chairs grinding old bits of lunch food on the floor, spilled coffee, machine dust grime, dirt from shoes, etc. You name it, it was there.
The resulting photo is the actual before/after picture of the first tile that was cleaned with 1000+ Stain Remover in that setting. Keeping it real.
SKUNKS – NOT A BIG DEAL UNLESS YOU ARE A DOG. IT HAPPENS MORE THAN YOU THINK.
Winning Brands gets feedback from customers, and stores too.
One place to meet store representatives is at industry tradeshows. It is interesting how many hardware stores share stories with us about 1000+ rescuing a dog from “shunning” by the family.
Advice started spreading on the grapevine that you can add 1000+ to water in the bathtub to clean the dog, or use 1000+ as a shampoo for the dog. Its so easy. This is only the starting point of the “versatility story” about 1000+ Stain Remover.
What sets 1000+ apart is not its “strength” per se – there are definitely stronger removers. Instead, it is the balance that 1000+ strikes between efficacy and safety for easy experimentation without worrying about harming things. It’s versatile – a real multi-tasker. That’s why we characterize 1000+ as the “reach for it first solution” when messes happen. This balance between safety and effectiveness is what leads to the use of 1000+ in all corners of the household, and beyond (i.e. work and by tradespeople).
In the meantime, we make a point of keeping our de-skunking message to stretch the envelope of convention. That’s why we have a fun little video there too, to add a bit of life.
THE THEME OF WINNING SECTION
What’s in a name? A lot. We all know that major companies spend money on experts to find good names. Small companies do this at the kitchen table. Everybody knows that it matters.
The theme of winning begins with our own company name, Winning Brands. It’s a terrific name. It’s easy to say, spell, remember and understand. It’s even a two-word story of sorts. Any normal person grasps that the company has “brands” of some sort, and that these brands have positive qualities – they are “winning brands”. It is easy to imagine that with success in our consumer markets over time, the name Winning Brands will seem just right to describe an astute and valuable company. I think it sounds big without being pretentious. Probably better than “Amalgamated Global Surface Transformation Industries”. That’s just my opinion of course.
It is our intention to eventually display our WNBD stock trading symbol on all our consumer product packaging. Many people invest in products that they like. Displaying our trading symbol is a natural way to foster growth of investomers – “Investor/Customers”. We are not doing this yet because our stock and trading status at OTC Markets is not stable enough. However, in due course, we will be taking that step. As you can see, the “Pick a Winner” concept is a message with many meanings. They will all emerge in the fullness of time.
In the meanwhile, even in its basic purpose, as presented on this website home page in connection to our product, “Pick a Winner” clearly means that the consumer makes a choice with every purchase. We encourage them to pick 1000+ Stain Remover, which is a winner of a product as well!
MONTAGE SECTION
.
It has been said that our modern attention span is declining. I think that we all sense that this is true. The implication for consumer messaging is that pictures are better than words, where possible. Where words are necessary, the fewer the better. (This weblog is not consumer-facing material. That’s my excuse).
We have been introducing more small montage arrangements with phrases that are just one or two sentences short as descriptors for people who just won’t take the time that we wish that they would. At first glance, the soiled dress, grimy floor, greasy hands and household pets don’t seem to have anything in common. However, the multi-cleaning flexibility of 1000+ Stain Remover across this range of applications, and so many more, is our point. That’s what the captions start to deal with.
We have an endless supply of montage components. Our accumulated library of digital assets depicting 1000+ Stain Remover uses is enormous. It has been gathered over several years of contact with consumers and retailers.
Fortunately, a product as versatile as 1000+ Stain Remover is relevant to so many situations in life that we could generate “Situational Moments” around the 1000+ product for the rest of our lives. Life is messy. Millions of stain events happen every day. Our marketplace is never obsolete, or at least until every single surface is coated with nano-particle stain repellant. That will take a very long time, and will not affect existing surfaces. However, I mention nano-particle stain repellant without fear. It is not our competitor; that may be one of our future products!
STATEMENTS OF PRINCIPLE
Our brand’s profitable destiny and wide reach requires a foundation of principles. These are concepts, or truths, that stand alone, as relevant facts. In keeping with the need to be brief in consumer facing communication, we’ve tried hard to boil down our product principles to bite-sized items, for consumption according to appetite. In the first collection of these principles on the Home Page, we state certain truths, and let them make their point plainly.
Versatility at its best – 90%
The first one is that most daily spills do not require fancy specialized cleaning solutions to deal with. There is a consumer phenomenon today called “the stress of choice”. The original version of many popular cleaning products have since been cloned by their creators into slight variations that project those brands into more physical shelf space. That’s good for the consumer goods company at first glance, and good for the retailer by being able to charge more for that shelf space. However, it has an unintended consequence. Firstly, it cannibalizes sales from that brand’s original SKU (Stock Keeping Unit). At the start there was the original, then there is an orange fragrance, then there is an Oxi version, followed by the anti-bacterial, and so on. The consumer will not purchase all versions. The second unintended effect is subliminal resentment by the consumer that the brand is forcing so much decision making on her/him. Remember, this issue is compounded across many products. This is why the cleaning section is so crowded now.
Conventional wisdom would say, “Well Eric, if it is so crowded, why do we want to go there?” A crowded section is also a busy section, supported by substantial category demand by consumers in aggregate. It can be more cost efficient to hitch-hike into a strong demand category rather than asking customers to become interested in something completely new. Also, our premise is one of simplification. We are the stress relief product in this category. Not only because we can do a good job, but because we reduce the clutter. More about that later.
Be bold – Discover More
Discovery, as a principle, is very interesting in our case. 1000+ invites consumers to explore, discover satisfactory uses, and share. That is not typical for technical products that have a defined use.
A notable exception where this is done exquisitely well is with the brand WD-40, the water displacement product that is typically used as a lubricant by householders. That brand has done a brilliant job of engaging its consumers in discovery. That brand also illustrates how financially significant a consumable household product can become with that kind of imagination. WD-40 is a respected brand, a major company and an example of perseverance. It took them 40 tries until they came up with their successful iteration. (That is why they are called WD-40). That company’s sales are now in the hundreds of millions annually. Of course the core business has been added to with acquisitions. However, WD-40 is still at the heart of things. – a household brand in the best sense of the concept. Luckily for us, most people would not like adding WD-40 to the laundry as a booster, or shampooing their dog to de-skunk it, or clean-up carpet messes, and more. WD-40 is not a competitor, it is a mentor. It is an example of excellent brand management of what used to be a single-SKU which for many years was a “stand alone” item, not a range of products.
Love that Clean
The world needs more joy. Clean delivers joy. This is no small point.
What normal person doesn’t love the feeling of walking into a hotel room that is ready and waiting, prepared to today’s best standards of cleanliness. That’s a real treat. Of course we have to admit that most of us don’t maintain that standard in our own homes! Does that make us hypocrites? Not really – it’s a matter of time, mostly. There is never enough of it.
But it’s still true that most of us feel accomplishment when we convert something from a soiled or disorganized state to fresh, well organized and well cared-for. To a segment of the population, any form of cleaning is drudgery. For most people, cleaning in small doses is a morale booster. Our statement of principle is that cleaning is inherently good, human and nurturing of a better existence. We only say “1000 kinds of clean” – In reality, there’s no limit!
HEALTH OF PLANET SECTION
This section is only the beginning of our ramped-up focus on an expanded use of 1000+ Stain Remover. It may be a game changer for us.
Some Background
Winning Brands previously had a tentative joint venture with the inventor of a cleaning tablet system called DAZZ. He’s a terrific person. We both wanted to approach the growing global concern about single use plastics. The news has been full of this over the past couple of years until COVID-19 and politics crowded it out for a while. Still, people everywhere are becoming aware that millions of tons of discarded plastic is accumulating in landfill sites, road side, beaches, forests, the ocean itself and more. In fact, micro-plastic is everywhere, including in most fish species now.
The DAZZ approach of tablets has its advantages, however, from a business point of view, there are negatives to that approach. The bottom line is that during the tentative joint venture it became clear that two spirited cooks should not both try to cook the same lasagna. There were too many (friendly) divergent strategic decisions and options. Also, Winning Brands did not have the available financing to take a leadership role in the performance of its part of such a commercialization. That was part of what Winning Brands was to contribute. We did not yet have the resources. Accordingly, DAZZ is doing its thing on its own now, and Winning Brands is now approaching the plastic waste reduction premise in a manner that dove-tails to Winning Brands’ existing plans more logically.
1000+ Stain Remover is a concentrate. Each bottle makes at least 20 more of a general purpose spray cleaner in a re-usable spray bottle by adding 1000+ to water. Therefore, we achieve 95% of the waste reduction efficiency of the tablet system. And, we have compelling advantages. The first is that the technical process of using the tablet is actually a bit complicated for the consumer. The size of the bottle and quantity of water is important. Also, the spray bottle can leak through the nozzle if not mixed properly, because of back pressure.
By comparison, in the case of 1000+ Stain Remover added to water in a spray bottle, the result is instantaneous. There is no transformation to take place over several minutes. Our mixture is ready for use immediately. It also does not matter what proportion of 1000+ and water is used – it’s all according to preference. This makes it easier and more versatile. Furthermore, as a business proposition, the fact that 1000+ Stain Remover is anchored as a concentrated stain remover in the store gives it a “high value starting point” on the store shelf, and at home. Rescuing an article from staining preserves the article’s value. Sometimes, these rescued objects are expensive, such as carpeting, cherished clothing articles, etc.
Present Status
Effective immediately, Winning Brands is modifying all its marketing materials to refer to the multi-bottle spray cleaner value proposition being equally important to the original stain remover premise of 1000+. The consumer reach is greatly expanded as a result.
Firstly, this gives us a new discussion starter with young consumers. They do care about environmental propositions more than stain removal.
Secondly, every single news article in any media that refers to plastic waste abatement is supportive of our premise.
Thirdly, in this application we deliver incredible value to consumers. Using a theoretical retail price per bottle of $12.49 for a quart (1L in Canada), the cost per “re-load” of the re-usable spray bottle is only $0.62 cents. That is less than the dollar store. That is real value. Remember, there is much more general purpose wipe-up cleaning going on in the household than recurring stain removal. Therefore, with this application we accelerate the consumption of 1000+ Stain Remover by entering the daily use category, rather than the occasional use category.
Fourth, it increases our relevance to apartment and condominium dwellers who account for a growing proportion of households in North America. Single family homes have greater stain incidence and condo/apartments are more sensitive to compact, light solutions of all kinds (not just in cleaning).
Fifth, general purpose cleaning is COVID-era relevant. We do not position 1000+ as a disinfectant as a primary quality for strategic reasons (although we have test marketed as such on a limited basis) By definition, disinfectants are actually designed to “kill” (microbes). This is a highly regulated proposition that is limiting from a marketing strategy perspective. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), who both have regulatory responsibility over disinfectants and hand sanitizers, GO TO GREAT LENGTHS TO EXPLAIN TO CONSUMERS that disinfection and hand sanitization are not intended to replace primary clean-ups. From the point of view of those agencies, general purpose cleaning is not the “weak” version of disinfection and hygiene. They see it as the FIRST STAGE AND FOUNDATION of hygiene. That is an important difference that is good for us. More on that in future weblog posts.
Winning Brands’ business decision to enter the spray cleaner market with its existing 1000+ concentrated stain remover, by means of becoming a re-fill method for re-usable spray bottles, is an exciting expansion of our market, with absolutely no loss of traction in the stain remover category. This single decision has major impact on our trajectory. The spray cleaner category is much larger in dollar volume. This adds to our potential growth potential by several orders of magnitude. We are gaining opportunity, without losing anything.
THE ‘AMAZING STATEMENT’ SECTION
Yellow Text
It is risky to use the word “amazing” today. People are not easily amazed. We are living in the era of CGI and tech marvels. Our cell phone has more computing power than Apollo spacecraft that went to the moon. We are all a bit jaded. However, that phrase was given to us by customers in their testimonials from time to time with such regularity that we gave ourselves permission to be a little bit bold in this case. It still makes me nervous because I don’t want to set the expectation of consumers too high and then fail. I’d rather level with them about the terrific job that we do, but focus on the realism of the proposition. That’s why the statement has the qualifier “So many uses” – THAT is indisputable. 1000+ is so versatile that it just keeps on delivering new little moments of joy in the most surprising places.
White Text
1000+ is a community product in so far that our customers tend to be a friendlier crowd for some reason. It’s a pleasure speaking with them, and learning about their experiences – which they too are keen to share. Over the years, immense goodwill has accumulated from customers who wish us well as a brand. How cool is that? A person taking time out of their day to call up and simply say – “I just wanted you to know that I like your product. Thank you for making it. I thought that you would like to know”. That has actually happened. More than once.
These customers are diverse as well; householders and professionals as well as DIYers. We have a testimonial at our Vimeo video bank of a commercial painter by the name of Anders. He was kind enough to let me come to his facility near Niagara Falls to video him just talking about 1000+ Stain Remover in a “stream of consciousness” approach. It’s up there at Vimeo now. I know it is much too long. I really mean MUCH MUCH MUCH too long. It will be edited down. But that is a real tradesperson, not an actor. That’s the point. He could buy anything he wants. He honours us with his patronage.
That is why the white text refers to different lifestyles. You know, there is a delicate point on the subject of lifestyles – we have even received testimonials from a motel that caters to a certain clientele. They have greater issues with cleaning linen than is typical. I won’t go further – but 1000+ does.
TESTIMONIAL SECTION
These summaries speak for themselves, however, as some extra background of interest, Maggie was in Denmark. There was a single bottle of 1000+ Stain Remover there at the time. The daughter of the man who had this bottle read about Maggie in the Danish newspaper and expressed dismay to her father. He then made arrangements to drive quite a distance across Denmark to meet the owner of the dog, who met him half-way. (Denmark is small, the size of this man’s heart is enormous.) He gave her the bottle. Eventually, we received a kind note in which this human spirit was revealed, as well as before/after pictures to share the situation in full.
You get a real glimpse into human nature dealing with such a cross section of society, and a lot of that experience is positive. I like to think that this is at least in part because we are trying to be of assistance, even in our small way, toward positive living.
The wheel clean-up shown in the testimonial block is a symbol of another category opening that could be big for us – the Automotive Sector. There are terrific auto parts store chains with multiple thousand locations. Every DIY car buff, every mechanic and garage, every car detailer, every dealership service department would have uses for 1000+ Stain Remover. We have not even scratched the surface of that enormous sector. It’s easier to talk about than to accomplish. As a business goal however, it had enormous upside for us. So much to do!!
We have a nice little Facebook page too. I say “little” because it does not yet have many followers, but it will certainly figure prominently in our ramped-up business development as Winning Brands merges its physical marketing (eg brochures) and digital marketing.
Facebook is one of the most important advertising platforms in the world but it is easy (and common) to waste your money by being amateurish in your system design for the campaign. You need to know whom you are targeting and what format of message is going to get through the information overload facing the Facebook user. Winning Brands has identified terrific consultants who are proven experts in the field. Their cost is too high for us at the moment. However, when we are ready to rock and roll, we are not going to waste money through ineptitude. People who know what they are doing will launch us well in this space.
I have mixed feelings about shareholders being posters on our consumer Facebook page. On the one hand I love it. It’s a easy additional way for shareholders to follow developments. On the other hand, it becomes negative to consumers when posts appear from shareholders that are about money or the stock, such as asking about share structure or OTC Markets, etc.
In my opinion, the ideal balance would be for our shareholders to click to follow our Facebook page on their own Facebook feed but only actually post if they are also a 1000+ consumer, and have a before/after picture to share, or a tip for successful use. It’s a free country – I leave this to the good judgment of the shareholders.
SENIORS
Human society is amazing. There is just so much creativity and individuality to share when it is appropriate, but also an inclination to community, when the conditions permit.
These qualities converge in a special way with our senior customers. Most of their daily pressures have been replaced by a more resolved life. Seniors often have more time to do things and also to pay attention to detail. They even read the instruction label!
So, not surprisingly, seniors are also a source of detailed information for us about consumer experiences. I can even tell by the tempo of the telephone call with many seniors that they are often very “present” in the moment. They are fully into the call, rather than rushing between missed appointments and errands. As a result, seniors often deliver the most valuable information because it is gathered carefully and patiently.
This couple above were fun. They were kidding around in a tradeshow about the cheeky caption on our promotional shopping bag beside the picture of the bottle. The caption reads “USE ME!”
SECOND MONTAGE
These further encapsulations speak for themselves also, with the exception of the backstory to the small bottle.
That is our 4oz SKU (125 mL in Canada). This is another sleeping giant, despite its small size. We refer to it affectionately in the office as the “Handy Size”, or “Little Guy” as shorthand in fast-paced discussions.
The larger point is that the Handy Size is a perfect impulse item for convenience stores across the continent. We had some experiments going on a few years ago to enter that sector. There are more than 100,000 convenience stores in this category.
We did not have the resources at the time to “buy distribution”, because we’d have to hire jobbers that service many of the independent stores in this sector. However, there are chains too, such as 7-11 to name only one.
We have developed a terrific display pack for groups of 12 little bottles in this SKU. It is our plan to eventually find a way into that sector. The best breakthrough would be that a shareholder’s cousin calls that shareholder tomorrow to say that they are looking for a fresh product in the chain, and ask the shareholder for a suggestion. Of course the call could go in the other direction too, i.e. the shareholder calling the cousin proactively. I realize that I could also make that call (and have). I am referring to having an “in”. So many turning points in business and in life generally depend upon whom one knows. That’s just a fact of life!
(Picture below shows the 12-pack display for the Handy Size. It’s not on the website yet, but is going to be put on soon).
HOME PAGE BOTTOM CLOSER
We refer to this bottle depiction internally as our “Hero Image”. We like the fact that the hand holds the bottle with confidence and readiness to tackle the next assignment.
The bold design presence of this bottle has helped us with recognizability, even at a distance. There is no mistaking this as another product. The name is big and upfront, and the bottle upon inspection communicates a lot of information fast. We consider it a bright, positive and energizing package.
The brand has developed its own authentic personality. That’s not easy to achieve. There are a lot of bright people in the world. All kinds of designers. The visual landscape today in the retail setting is far more sophisticated than in the past. The large brands have the benefit of the best talent.
We are very happy with the emergence of this brand identity and consider it our best version so far. For your interest, I am attaching below a photo of the shelf in our design office that holds the design archive; a variety of previous designs and prototypes for this particular brand in our portfolio.
I will see you again soon with Part 2 in this series: “About 1000+ Page”. Yes, there’s more. MUCH MORE!
Our current design has been by far the most popular iteration.
