Personality Not Included : Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back by Rohit Bhargava

Author:Rohit Bhargava [Bhargava, Rohit]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published: 2008-03-30T14:00:00+00:00

Little Guy versus Big Guy Story—Bugaboo Strollers and Hip Moms

It may seem like there is an inverse relationship between being a parent and having style. Though becoming a parent may have something to do with it, a more likely culprit is that most products for new parents are just not that fashionable. The leader by all accounts in the baby product industry is one whose Web site describes it as focused on "product safety, quality, reliability and convenience." Style or fashion are not high on the list. Yet this company, called Graco, has been around for more than 60 years making cribs, strollers, car seats, highchairs, swings, bouncers, activity centers, and just about any other baby-related product you can imagine. Along the way, the company developed several product innovations, including the baby swing and the now-common car seat travel system that allows you to take out a car seat with young babies in it while leaving the base in the car.

Taking on the dominance of Graco in the baby products industry seems like it would be an impossible feat, particularly when the company is so singularly focused on the one element that they believe is most important to parents—safety. As it turns out, there is another concern for many urban new parents that had been going unfulfilled. That need was perfectly illustrated by the character Miranda on the popular show Sex in the City in 2002. Despite her new status as a parent, her life still revolved around being an urban professional in Manhattan, which meant she was not ready to abandon all fashion and enter the bonds of styleless parenthood. As part of her rebellion, she pushed around the streets of Manhattan a new stroller that few had ever seen before that program aired.

The stroller was called the Frog, made by a Dutch company with a funny name: Bugaboo. This Bugaboo stroller looked like a cross between an art piece and a pushcart. It also looked unlike any other stroller on the market, and made an obvious statement for any parent pushing it down the street. The stroller was an instant hit, becoming the ultimate symbol of urban cool for city-dwelling parents in cities around the world. Many parents describe it as the major "splurge" in their baby-related purchases, and it certainly qualifies with most models retailing for more than $500 (and some well over the $1,000 mark).

Despite its superpremium positioning, Bugaboo started as a small challenger brand in Holland, never intending to take on the world's largest baby products maker or become the company behind the must-have product for upwardly mobile new parents everywhere. The company began as a partnership between designer Max Barenbrug and his brother-in-law, physician Eduard Zanen. The original goal was to sell the idea of the stroller to one of the big guys. After trying unsuccessfully to find a buyer, Barenbrug decided to commission it himself by "opening the yellow pages for Taipei and looking under stroller manufacturers" as the Bugaboo Web site describes only partly in jest.

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