I teach a services marketing class at university and today we were discussing Lovelock’s flower analogy where the core service is surrounded by supplementary petals. Someone asked what was more important – the core or supplementary elements of a service?
Of course, the obvious answer is that it’s the whole flower that has the value. Without the petals the core itself is not that attractive. Yes you have to deliver on your core service but it is often the way you arrange the supplementary elements that delivers true value for your customers.
It’s not so much what those supplementary elements are, but the different combinations of them that can personalise the brand experience for individual customers.
Looking for a competitive advantage? Why not experiment with different combinations of petals. You could come up with something new just by thinking differently about what you have.
Philip Dennett
Tags: brand value, branding, Christopher Lovelock, services marketing
