Clocky: The Runaway Alarm Clock

Clocky, the run-away alarm clock, was launched in late 2006 and earned instant fame without much marketing effort. However, after a few years, the sales have began to flatten due to external factors and the lack of branding at an early stage. The failure to successfully brand Clocky is mainly due to the absence of an identified market segment to target and a mechanism that can retain loyal customers of the brand. Due to declining sales, the company is exploring the possibility of selling Clocky in new markets. As one of the fast-rising countries in Asia, it would be extremely beneficial to the company if Clocky can be successfully introduced into the Philippines. By studying the previous branding failures, Nanda may take different measures to ensure that the branding of Clocky can be better planned in the Philippines to avoid dampening sales in the future.

Clocky’s declining sales are due to failure in branding in mainly two areas – awareness and loyalty. Although Nanda had attempted to target the consumer base using the “fun” approach, it was not enough to alleviate flattening sales. The economic recession has greatly reduced the sales of Clocky because it was only an amusing appliance instead of a necessity to customers. The “fun” market is also very ambiguous and broad, which means that this market segment can include almost anyone. The failure to target a specific market segment that views Clocky as a solution to their problem of waking up is one of the reasons that Clocky cannot continue its previous success. Nanda has also failed to create a relationship with or between the customers so as to foster loyal consumers of the brand. Although there was a website and a mailing list was created, Nanda did not connect with the customers on her mailing list until 2010 when the sales were flattening ever since the preparation of the launch of Clocky in 2005. This made it hard for Nanda to have customers who would continually return and purchase Clocky. Although the decreased attention on Clocky was foreseeable, the failure to let the targeted segment be aware of the product and to develop loyal customers resulted in continuous dipping sales and a need to take action.

The relatively saturated market in the United States makes it necessary for Clocky to search for new markets in other areas of the world such as the Philippines. To avoid the sales to dip a few years after the product’s launch in the Philippines, it is important to brand Clocky and target it at a particular market segment. It has been discovered that by focusing on the “fun” nature of Clocky, it is trying to attract a large range of customers with a single product and not enough to interest customers. It may be easier to attract new customers and retain customers by targeting the “need” market. Although the amount of Filipinos suffering from narcolepsy only accounts for 0.07% of the population (Right Diagnosis for Healthgrades), this only represents