Deep Agarwal, Zebra Technologies: "The simplicity of our brand essence gives us the clarity to deliver”

In an exclusive conversation with PCQuest Deep Agarwal, Regional Sales Director – India, Zebra Technologies explains the rationale behind changing the company’s brand messaging.

What is Zebra’s “new focus” area? How have you redefined your company message accordingly for industry clients?

Ever increasing customer adoption of technology has created the current on-demand economy in which instantaneous service delivery is becoming expected. In India for instance, the on demand economy has completely changed the game for delivery and logistics industry. We are talking express delivery options – especially when it comes to food or grocery. The on-demand food delivery industry is set to earn a revenue of US$3,080m in 2018. In fact, as per a KPMG report , the entire ecommerce related logistics segment will grow at CAGR of 48% and stand at $2.2 billion by 2020.

Early attempts to address these needs sparked innovation which began at the core of the enterprise. Innovation is now exploding at “the edge” where employees make real-time decisions and interact directly with the people they serve. Zebra Technologies has long been a pioneer at the edge of the enterprise. We brought the barcode into the mainstream. Today, our portfolio of intelligent edge solutions and devices is designed to deliver a performance edge wherever the front line may be. The reason for this brand repositioning is to emphasize Zebra’s differentiator for our customers and partners globally: we empower those on the front line to maximize performance.

How would you make the industry aware of this brand evolution?

Zebra has a rich legacy of giving enterprises the tools they need to succeed and thrive in an increasingly data-driven world. Delivering meaningful, actionable insights has always been at the heart of what Zebra does. Based on our latest brand study, Zebra is best known for our market-leading barcode printing portfolio. As a result of our brand evolution, we want people to know the breadth of our products and emerging solutions that provide data-driven insights and visibility in real time to the front line of business where they are needed the most to enable the next best action to enhance the customer or patient experience. These include barcode scanners, mobile computers, printers, radio frequency identification (RFID), locationing services, cloud-based services, and software solutions.

Can you elaborate about the repositioning – what it is exactly, what it includes and why are you implementing it?

Our strategic brand positioning addresses the transformation of Zebra’s business from Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) to our vision of providing enterprise asset intelligence that will fuel the company’s long-term growth. The opportunity is to create a position for the brand in the hearts and minds of all our stakeholders that would capture the essence of the Zebra brand and clarify its promise to the market.

We created a positioning framework using inputs from internal and external research that articulated the brand’s relevance, targets and promise. This enabled us to focus on the benefits—emotional and functional —of the value Zebra promises to deliver.

Zebra’s brand promise is to deliver a performance edge to the front line of business. At the heart of the positioning is the brand essence: “Empowering Your Performance Edge”. You can think of the brand essence as what Zebra is ultimately all about.The simplicity of the brand essence gives us the clarity needed to deliver the brand through everything we do—internally and externally.

Additionally, we identified the five essential ways in which we uniquely deliver our brand promise, and these attributes support how we deliver a performance edge. We also created a verbal and visual brand expression that helps us tell the story of the brand in a consistent, compelling way.

Our recent announcement clarified the company’s position at a global level and responded to feedback from our Brand Equity Study about the awareness of our company and our products.

What were the trends and data that suggested Zebra needed to change its messaging?

The trend that was the biggest catalyst for our repositioning was how customer expectations are fueled by our increasingly on-demand economy. Customers’ desire for faster, more compelling experiences means that digital innovation within enterprises and on the edge of business is no longer an option. It’s an imperative. Our brand perceptions needed to be shifted to help our customers and partners stay relevant as digital innovation continues to transform the edge of the enterprise.  

What’s the future for Zebra in terms of focus and technology?

Zebra is delivering enhanced business outcomes to our customers by creating a performance edge at the front line by focusing on five areas:

• Purpose-driven design in our product offerings - Zebra designs with front line users, workplaces, and workflows in mind, building in ease of use, reliability, and ruggedness.
• Data-powered environments - Zebra enables customers to create smart environments on the edge, better reflecting reality than traditional systems of record.
• Collaborative mobile workflows - Zebra enables those on the front line to optimize in-motion operations through connected and collaborative workflows.
• Real time guidance - Zebra links teams, assets and systems in real time to deliver best-action guidance for business-critical decisions.
• Solution Ecosystem - With our global partner ecosystem, Zebra innovates and delivers industry-tailored solutions for the enterprise edge.