During our initial research, we reviewed several credible databases, magazine articles, and media companies databases. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any existing case study regarding successful brand voice change of products/services with free vs paid tiers. The majority of the information that we encountered was focused on what brand voice are top brands using, how top brands are attracting their consumers through their brand voicing but this doesn't focus on any free vs paid product/service instead it focuses on the brand voice in general. Although we were able to synthesize one such success story. A summary of our findings is provided below:
HARRYS
- The founders of Harrys started this razor company with a simple model of having one great razor, with cheap blades, and delivered straight to the door.
- Harry was in direct competition with Gillette ( a razor giant company). Gillette's strategy was to include a variety of razor blades with increasing prices to as much as to $6 per blade. Looking at this Harry's decided to sell only one type of blade but with a different brand voice.
- While Gillette brands its razors with names like "Mach" and "Turbo", Harry's uses a more subtle, affable kind of brand voice.
- Harry's used the brand voice as "Unlike the big brands that overdesign and overcharge, we make a high-quality shave that’s made by real guys for real guys… We’ve built Harry’s to reflect our passions and values: affinity for simple design, appreciation of well-made things, and a belief that companies should make the world a better place."
- The tone that Harry used was sufficient enough to convince people that their one razor is preferable to other companies razor. Through this brand voice, Harry was able to convince its consumers that they need not look further for the best razor.
- After opting to the above brand voice, Harry's observed a gradual growth in its sales in just two years, which generated about $200 million in sales in 2017.