The world of "identical sour cream": how we learned to create products but forgot how to build brands

Over my 30 years in qualitative research, I’ve spent thousands of hours in focus group rooms, at store shelves, in the homes and workplaces of people across 20 countries. Together with my clients, we’ve uncovered business-driving insights, learning how housewives in Azerbaijan drink their coffee, what premiumness means to smokers in Taipei and what defines product naturalness for consumers in markets like Ukraine, Hungary, Romania and Poland. But in recent years, I’ve been haunted by a persistent sense of déjà vu

Today’s world of marketing and technology is obsessed with product research - everyone is talking about CustDev, UX, JTBD and so on. We’ve become fixated on making buttons convenient, user journeys seamless, and selling people "personal progress" rather than just a feature. And this is by no means a bad thing. I also love it when everything works like clockwork, and I’m grateful to the people who invest the lion’s share of their time and effort into this kind of product development

But as someone who has partnered with major international market leaders for over a quarter of a century, I sense a massive trap that modern business is falling into. While you were polishing convenience and studying the user journey, you unknowingly ended up "on the sour cream shelf"

Recall the dairy shelf in a large supermarket: 10–15 brands of sour cream, identical fat content options, identical packaging formats (just a few skimp on the plastic lids, but that’s another story). All those sour creams make your borscht taste practically the same, so you simply choose whichever one is on discount today

More and more often, clients complain that in FMCG (specifically in the dairy category) loyalty is gone. And every time, I start telling them a long story: it’s not so much because the world or the consumer has changed, but because marketing has shifted from being a pivotal, complex business function to being, at best, mere product management, and at worst - a "coloring department". Businesses have stopped investing time, effort and finances into what is known as real brand building (not to be confused with the "brand building" being peddled by overnight consultants on Threads)

We’ve learned to make things that work smoothly. But we’ve almost stopped creating brands that people fall in love with. We’ve forgotten that people didn't buy Marlboro for the taste of the tobacco, but for the myth of freedom. And loyalty to a brand of sour cream isn't formed by its unique taste, but thanks to, for example, a cat that instantly grabs attention, evokes warm childhood memories and, damn it, probably knows best what good sour cream should be!

I’ll tell you even more — it works exactly the same way in the digital world, even though we’ve somehow decided that only pure logic and 'convenient buttons' rule here

Finding your 'cat' in the sour cream category is the job of brand qual. And turning that 'cat' into brand equity, which will drive higher profits compared to competitors for years to come, requires the fundamental school of brand management. The kind that teaches how to build and skillfully execute brand strategies

Do you think the cost of Mark Ritson’s marketing and brand management courses has nearly doubled since 2020, when I took them, for no reason?

And while some rationally-minded businesses today dismiss brand building as something too ephemeral, others understand: code and features can be copied, but the stable networks of associations in people's perceptions that strike the subtlest chords of our souls - cannot. Functional advantage gives a business only temporary success. It used to be an achievement just to make software that works. Today, any startup can copy your 'unique feature' in a week. And with the help of AI - in a few hours

When your product becomes as accessible and understandable as a bag of sugar, you find yourself in the 'zone of identical sour cream'. The question 'What problem does our app solve for you?' doesn't work here. What works here are questions ranging from 'Who did I first feel like turning to in that moment?' - to 'Who do I become by choosing you?'

Why did we forget this? Because building brand equity is long, expensive, and difficult. And the results of brand qualitative research are ambiguous; they can be interpreted in different ways, and they don’t provide a 100% guarantee of a business result by tomorrow morning

In truth, brand research is not about 'convenient or not, like it or not'. It is, on one hand, about lifestyle, social roles, cultural codes, subconscious fears and drivers. On the other hand, it’s about how every action of your business resonates with the audience and builds the cumulative value of the brand in people's minds. It’s the work of ensuring that your every step doesn't just sell today, but accumulates that very capital of trust for years

In the "sophisticated' two-speed brand strategy model (Long & Short), product qual is the foundation for short-term activations. It helps you understand how to develop a specific product here and now. Brand research (combined with expert consulting), however, is an indispensable part of a long-term strategy. It allows you to build the network of associations that transforms a business into a strong brand

And a strong brand is not a 'nice bonus', but a series of concrete strategic business advantages:

• "Automatic" choice: In categories dominated by spontaneous purchases, the one who comes to mind first and catches the eye first is the one that ends up in the basket. Brands invest massive amounts to ensure that, at the moment of choice, the right neural connection 'fires' in the consumer's brain

• Pricing power: Do you really think Ferrero Rocher candies are worth their price based solely on the ingredients and recipe? Exactly. Brand strategy transforms a product into a symbol that people are happy to pay for

• A fast start for new ideas: With a stable brand image, your next product won't be an 'orphan'. You start with a significant credit of trust, which means massive marketing savings: the brand becomes the locomotive for everything you do next. Just don't betray that trust!

• The human right for a mistake: A nameless service is deleted a second after the first glitch. A brand that has become part of one's own 'self' is forgiven a lot. This is your margin of safety and your time to maneuver. Just don't abuse it

• Resistance to copying: Features and design can be copied in weeks. But the network of associations and meanings, that you’ve spent years etching into people's minds, lasts for decades. This is the foundation that keeps a business from crumbling under the pressure of dumping when another analog enters the market

In 30 years of work, I’ve seen this hundreds of times. I’ve seen products deteriorate year after year, yet the brand built over decades kept the company afloat for a very long time. I’ve heard people praise the 'highest quality and finest taste' of a product while watching an ad that didn't say a single word about the product itself. I’ve witnessed the collapse of market leaders who decided to stop investing in their image or shook it until it was unrecognizable

We live in an era of commodity oversupply where 'quality and convenience' are just the entry ticket. If your business today isn't investing in understanding its value to the target audience on a deep and symbolic level, tomorrow you will be displaced either by someone cheaper or by someone who started working on their brand faster than you. Because a function can be stolen. Breaking an emotional bond is much harder

FMCG knew and mastered this before, then lost it, and is now bringing it back. The tech services business is currently navigating this path for the first time. So I sincerely advise: if brand building is terra incognita for you, at least start looking into the topic. And for those who are ready to act - start specifically with brand qualitative research

And may the sour cream not only taste good but also evoke warm memories and a smile every time. How to make that happen? Drop by for a coffee, let's talk