I’m not sure Dell has the best timing here…
At CES 2009, Dell held a press event to introduce their new high-end laptop brand called “Adamo”. Their first laptop in the line was only shown briefly – more in the role of a prop for their fashion model than anything else – and no one there got to spend any time with the device.
This initial offering in the Adamo line is supposed to be a thin, light notebook that they believe will compete directly with Apple’s MacBook Air. In fact, they are claiming it will be the world’s thinnest laptop when it’s released. It’s hard to tell from the photo if they can really back that up.
The interesting point here is NOT the laptop itself. It’s that Dell isn’t calling Adamo a new product line (like Precision, Inspiron, XPS, or Vostro) – they are calling it a new product brand.
And that’s a big difference…
A true brand needs to be able to stand on it’s own. It needs to develop a unique identity and present a compelling value to the marketplace independent of the parent brand. It’s needs to develop it’s own following – a market segment that is loyal to it.
It needs to be independent…
At the event, Michael Tatelman (Dell’s VP of consumer sales and marketing) compared Adamo to Dell’s one other successful independent brand – Alienware:
“Alienware is our top performance brand, Adamo is our top design brand.” … “If you look at Adamo, it’s the top of design, franchise, and materials.”
Alienware was a successful independent computer gaming brand that Dell acquired several years ago. An interesting point here is that Alienware still maintains a completely independent identity from Dell, and the systems they sell are only available directly from alienware.com – not from Dell’s own web site.
The fact is, Dell has never really created a second, completely distinct brand on their own before. Every product they have introduced has been firmly anchored in the parent brand. Creating a truly new brand would be a big step for Dell, and it will require a significant investment in both management focus and marketing dollars if they hope to get it off of the ground.
Why?…
Because brands are complex and difficult to build. Successful brands need to create an emotional attachment to something iconic or aspirational – not to specific products, features or capabilities. That’s a somewhat amorphous goal, and there is simply no way to guarantee that you will be successful when all is said and done. Creating a brand requires a long term commitment. Brand value can take time to build – years or even decades. You can’t just create a new brand and expect it to mean something.
And until it means something, a brand is just an expense…
I’m not convinced Dell has the patience in this market to wait long for a payback. This feels more like an attempted quick fix rather than a first step down a strategic path – a bid to escape the compressed margins that are crushing them at the low end of the market.
For the Adamo brand to have any chance of success Dell needs to create some daylight between it and the parent brand – “DELL” – which is clearly tied to the value end of the market. People can’t feel that they are simply buying a Dell with a different name on it. They need to be buying an Adamo, and that needs to make them feel special. It isn’t necessarily logical, but then brand attachment isn’t a logical thing – it’s all about emotion.
With all of that said, If Dell really is serious about creating a new, unique Adamo brand, they are already off to a bad start.
Just look at the big DELL brand on the wall behind the model in the photo…
Photo of Adomo conference courtesy of Engadget.com..
