The "shamrock model": Marketing-Design-R&D convergence

Successful branding is the ultimate aim for consumer oriented companies: successful branding means the Company leads the market segment(s) by having a firm hold on its consumer/customer base managing also to attract new segments to it over the long term. That is the condition for the Company making lasting profits. Building a successful brand imposes an orthodox approach to establishing the brand equity through superior product benefits and clear brand identity (the brand’s “frame of reference”); this means, managing and fine- tuning tangible and intangible brand features to ensure that what the brand is and what the brand offers are important to target consumers/customers over time. Building successful brands requires both theory and practice: the best positioning strategy is useless without the right product/service; on the other hand, the best product/service is the one that fully addresses what the target consumer is looking for. Marketing is the “theory” (the overall approach), Design and R&D can be defined as the “practices” to best convey a winning offer. Effective strategy execution starts with the convergence of Marketing, Design and R&D: this rests on a common vocabulary, agreed procedural phases, a mutual under- standing of roles and responsibilities, a shared “big picture” of the project and support from top management. Achieving a proper level of convergence makes the difference between launching and then developing a successful brand and failure. Therefore, it is essential that primary resources be assigned, appropriate skills be selected and channeled into the project and the right people be empowered. Finally, project management tools are vital. These tools are the means for ensuring the team has the optimal conditions for steering the project towards the best results, to fully engage the developing team in the project and empower people, to maximise co-operation and to track and overview the entire process. The “shamrock model” is a guideline aimed at facilitating the convergence of Marketing, Design and R&D throughout the brand development process in a number of different ways: by defining the right approach to innovation & marketing, by providing project management tools, by suggesting tips and by exemplifying the theory with reference to a comprehensive business case-study.