How to Make Your Brand Stand Out
Case Study: MK Restaurant (Thailand)
If your product is highly competitive, how do you distinguish your brand from others? How do you draw customers to buy and/or use your service over others? Here is how you do it. Make your brand memorable through good marketing strategies. Just like how people think of iPod in MP3 player category or sharpie in permanent marker.
In Thailand, Chinese cuisine is very popular– especially hot pot. Needless to say, Chinese cuisine is a very competitive market. ‘MK Restaurant’ (well-known as MK) is one of the leading restaurant chains that has successfully made itself stand out among its competitors through different marketing strategies. Currently, MK has over 300 locations in Thailand and 20 in Japan.
Rewards
In Thailand, many restaurants have adopted the reward system. Generally, when customers dine up to a certain value, for example, every $30, they get a ticket to participate for a lucky draw. The prize can be a car, a trip, or discount coupons. MK Restaurant uses this strategy quite often. It recently posted a list of gold necklace winners.
Interesting Commercials
When a lot of people eat out together, the “what-should-we-eat” question arises. To answer that question, MK Restaurant launched a commercial, which received a Popular Advertising of the Year 2004 in Food Category, called “What to Eat”. The commercial had a very catchy jingle and everyone knew to how sing it (or part of it). Since different people have different taste and likes, the lyrics mentioned that MK Restaurant offers a variety of food.
Health Focus
MK Restaurant also impressed Thai parents through their “Children Eat Veggies” campaign. The commercial corresponding to this campaign featured cute animation and children singing happily while eating vegetables. Children also learn more about vegetables through pamphlets on their table. Parents can get a more nutritious meal through various selection of healthy dishes. Moreover, in 2004, MK Restaurant publicly announced its “No MSG” policy, which was confirmed by the National Food Institute of Thailand.
MK dance
At the beginning of every hour, MK servers will stop whatever they are doing, stand quietly, and wait for the music. As soon as the MK jingle starts, they all dance in the choreographed moves in unison. As far as I am aware, MK Restaurant is the only restaurant in Thailand that has this special service. Often times, customers stop eating and watch the show. Some clap along to the music. Foreign customers usually are surprised and video tape the dance. All in all, the dance makes customers happy. Seeing the dance is the highlight of dining experience there. When my foreign friends visit Thailand, I take them there.
While good marketing strategies can help draw customer’s attention to your brand, they are not to be used as the only way to support the popularity of you brand for they do not ensure the customer’s loyalty. Good marketing strategies are, therefore, to be used along with good customer service and product quality, just like the MK Restaurant.