Product Charisma

Working paper serie RMT (WPS 02-08)Consumers are attracted by product designs that feel “alive” and that contain surprise elements. The right expressions in a product contribute to its attractiveness or “charisma”. Today, these intangible product attributes are an important way to differentiate a product from competitor's products. Companies in mature markets, especially, have a competitive advantage when they succeed in integrating “expressions” or “messages” into the product design that touches its user. This paper presents a classification of the various expressions that a product can convey. These different expressions are visualised by means of a diagram in which three types of messages are distinguished. The three groups consist of information about the product itself, about the product user and about the company. The product expressions are described in detail and illustrated with recent examples of product designs