Meningkatkan 3M Corporate Brand Recognition melalui 3M Innovator Competition

As one of the requirements to finish her bachelor degree, the author completed 5 months of internship at 3M Indonesia and assisted in a project case improvement regarding the challenges faced by the company. The challenge presented by the company was the level of decreasing of awareness in regards to 3M's brand worldwide.
3M is a company that has lived for more than a decade and the owner of more than 40 technology patents, which have become the basis of thousands of its innovative products. 3M's business model is largely B2B and therefore, its nature allows 3M to grow and expand without much effort in communicating their brand to its consumers. Through time, 3M has thrived as a company with commendable diversification of products and advancements of technologies. Thousands of people benefit everyday from a multitude of 3M products under its various product brand labels. As a company that identifies itself with innovation, 3M hopes to expand this image as the mainstay leaders of innovative advancements and thought. The main reason discovered for the lack of brand awareness in the market is that 3M's typical customer base are people within the age range of 35 years old and above. There seems to be a population gap in the world as it separates the over 35 group and those that are younger. But what really separates these two groups are ideas. What is known as innovative companies to the larger, younger group are businesses that present themselves well in regards to computer and technological advancements; companies that typically manage their brand images.
The second symptom was found to be because the 3M company is more sophisticated in its R&D divisions rather than in its marketing divisions. Their R&D budgets have been supporting the birth of new products and this is a truth known to everyone, and yet, the marketing divisions have failed to gain the same respect from the public. In addition, through qualitative research, the author found that 3M is still relying heavily on direct marketing. Interviewed representatives were found to need an integrated corporate communication mechanism put into place. Customer perceptions of 3M's brand would be considered key factors when crafting this integrated communications system.
3M Indonesia is suffering from the same symptoms but the condition is a bit different. In Indonesia, the level of brand awareness is still saturated at the first stage of brand awareness hierarchy. This means most people are still unaware of the brand existence and something must be done to introduce them to 3M.
The author decided to answer this challenge by suggesting three alternative solutions. All three are communication programs and are different in nature and audience scopes. The alternatives are mass media communication, a TV reality show, and a below-the-line education competition. The most pressing suggestion is the education competition for its below-the-line nature allows less resources spent to make it successful. The suggested solution is also one of the two ideas that targets more segmented audience and that is the young people or the students which is considered more urgently as they will become 3M's future customers.
In order to ensure its integration, the author designs an education competition that will be conducted in private to enhance exclusivity and celebrated publicly during its final stages of competition to gain the public's attention. During the 6-7 months of its schedule, participants of the competition will experience 3M's professionalism, supportive culture and innovative thinking. The competition will be positioned as a creative medium for young people to think innovatively.