Even Louis Vuitton, Rolex sweat over USP

Unique selling proposition or USP, according to sellers, is the factor that makes a product or service “different” and “better” than that of their competitors. Theodore Levitt, a professor at Harvard Business School, said, "Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage." 

But how to frame a proposition which is unique and will compel the customers to be loyal to your brand, or tempting as it sounds, switch their loyalty away from the competition?

In luxury space, USP is even more critical because of the premium that these brands charge. It plays a key role in justifying the value for money for price-sensitive Indian customers. In luxury, the choice of USP becomes a critical exercise as there may even be a case when the strongest element of the brand may not necessarily be unique to it. So while strategically the brand needs to focus on its strength, it may have to focus on some other element for defining its USP. 

For example, a watch brand's USP or core strength cannot be that it is Swiss-made. The competition has been exploiting it since time immemorial. Rolex, a watch with core strength of patented complications and movements can use this as far as its strategy charting is concerned. However, its USP can't be this patent because all its competitors have some movement or complication patented. Therefore, Rolex creates a USP with its campaign “Live for Greatness”, showing that being the preferred choice of great leaders such as JFK and Martin Luther King Jr is what makes it shine. 

Another watch, which is priced way higher than Rolex, is Patek Phillippe. Unlike most bejewelled high-end Rolex models, Patek Phillippe has a very traditional handcrafted design. Its USP, as stated in its most popular campaign, is “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” This beautiful campaign, primarily with father and son duos, established in the minds of customers that this watch deserves to be expensive as it transcends generations. Even in this case, Patek's core strength lies in its patented movements and complications. 

USP, thus, creates differentiation in the minds of customers, making them prefer one brand over the other, irrespective of the fact that both of them are Swiss-made watches with patented movements and complications. 

“There are journeys that turn into legends” was a very impactful “Core Values” campaign by Louis Vuitton where the brand was able to create its USP, keeping its competition far behind with names like Sir Sean Connery. This USP conjures the image of icons using Louis Vuitton bags in their legendary journey, luring the customers into becoming a part of that imagery. The core strength, which will be strategically key to LV, would, however, be something else, such as the quality of its canvas or its Damier signature design. 

USP is also intricately related to another very critical concept for luxury brands, positioning. This refers to the place that a brand occupies in the minds of the customers and how it is distinguished from the products of the competitors. Originally, positioning focused on the product and with Ries and Trout, grew to include building a product's reputation and ranking among competitor's products. USP is typically what you think is your uniqueness for selling your product or service, whereas positioning is what your target audience thinks of you. So while a brand needs to focus on its USP, it is imperative that an outside-in approach is simultaneously taken so as to understand what the audience perceives as its differentiator. So a brand custodian has to consider both the inside-out as well as outside-in approaches while crafting the USP for a luxury brand. 

Let your quest for luxe continue. 

The writer is a luxury commentator and author of Dark Luxe and Decoding Luxe