Your Brand’s Sweet Spot
On the side of a carton of Oatly Oat Milk, there is a message from the CEO, Toni Patersson: “I love my products."
The note goes on to further define what Patersson means in this statement, noting that he is proud to be working for a company that “aspires to upgrade people’s lives while preserving the planet for generations to come.”
By owning what they do best, what we call your brand’s “sweet spot," Oatly connects their product with the brand’s purpose of offering maximum nutritional value and minimal environmental impact. In other words, making oat milk is the vehicle for living out their purpose: making a difference.
Although Oatly is valued at $12.5 million, its focus remains on a singular vehicle: making oat milk.
Focused Product 🤝 Intentional Branding
In business, all brands require a vehicle or product as a means to serve consumers and generate revenue.
Choosing your vehicle is a critical decision, and the best way to approach this choice is by finding your brand’s sweet spot.
Your sweet spot is more than simply what you’re good at. It’s the intersection of your purpose, what you do best, and your audience’s needs.
The primary benefit to being laser-focused on your sweet spot: it brings the power of focus and sets you on a path towards greater brand impact.
Throughout our experience in branding, we’ve learned the wider your focus is, the greater likelihood of reduced brand impact. Spreading your expertise too thin can muddy your focus – resulting in mediocrity. And if there’s one thing we know, mediocrity breeds misalignment.
Whereas the more narrow your focus is, there’s a greater likelihood of increased brand impact. Channeling all of your efforts into one vehicle empowers fine-tuning. When internal operations support what you do best, your brand is catapulted into meaningful and effective development.
Simply put, owning your brand’s sweet spot = owning your brand.
Purpose, meet product.
True purpose goes deeper than the function of your product. When discovering the true purpose of your brand, consider the bigger picture: How will my brand affect people’s lives? The country? The world?
Oatly’s purpose is to offer nutrition and minimal environmental impact, not to serve as a delicious coffee additive. This is where the product’s purpose differentiates from the product’s function. Oatly is a substitute for milk, but the purpose of the product’s existence is deeper than the functions of the product.
Understanding what your product is acting as a vehicle for is the first step in developing a strong product offering. This is where purpose meets product.
Oatly’s has extensive information on their website around their values and promise to consumers, and anyone who aligns with these values instantly has a connection to the brand. Yes, this connection would not be possible without the product, and the product would not be successful without purpose.
And the best brands tie their purpose all the way through the brand experience, creating an authentic brand feeling for their consumers.
Product, meet consumer.
Consumers don’t just close their eyes and grab any product off the shelf. While the touchpoint between a consumer and the product can happen anywhere to any degree, establishing product alignment and satisfaction between your brand and the consumer takes intention and understanding of what your product does for your consumer.
Let’s think about Oatly. We're in the "post-milk generation." Today, many consumers don't want to choose between the environment and dairy-free milk options. And with increasing data on how the production of almond milk is harming the planet, consumers are looking for a way to indulge in dairy-free milk while not having to sacrifice their value of protecting the environment. Enter Oatly.
When your product fills a need for your consumer, a relationship is established. Many factors come into play in determining the depth of this relationship, but one of the biggest variables is purpose. Let’s see what happens when your purpose meets your consumer.
Consumer, meet purpose.
One of the main objectives of branding is to emotionally connect with your consumers and empower them to take action. By establishing this connection, your product becomes more than just a commodity. It shapes the way people live.
For Oatly, a consumer’s value of being environmentally friendly aligns with Oatly’s purpose, which allows a deep bond to form between the brand and consumer. Further, not only does the consumer feel connected to Oatly, but the consumer feels connected to other consumers purchasing from Oatly.
When you put in the work to discover the ‘why’ of your brand, what you do best, and who you serve, you create a shared identity with your consumers in that process.
And when this shared identity grows, it turns into a community that can thrive during prosperous and turbulent times.
Key takeaway: When developing your brand, discovering your sweet spot is the gateway to creating meaningful connections between your purpose, product, and consumer, so you can build a brand community that will last.
