Andrew Doyle
There's a new hero for marketers to worship. His name is Peter Thomas and he's an insurance worker from Brighton in England. Or rather he was called Peter Thomas. Today his legal name is Honey Monster and he is perhaps the most extreme case around of brand love. He just adores Sugar Puffs and their Honey Monster character.
If only consumers of all our brands loved them so much that they decided to do what Peter (sorry, Honey) has done! Sadly most brands don't inspire this kind of fanaticism, but there are some that do get close to us. We become emotionally attached to them. They become loved objects, irrespective of what they do or what they cost. In fact being loved, being 'precious', is the ultimate achievement for any brand.
For example, ask a designer anywhere in the world what they think of Apple and you're likely to be pinned against a wall for hours while they wax lyrical about their brand.
Or, how about getting a woman in her twenties to talk about Zara? I'm told that for her it's like going into a candy store – because there's always something new to excite and entice her. And no other clothes retailer seems to inspire like this Spanish retailer.
Then there's Tic Tac. Anyone who has recently seen the movie Juno will remember the heroine's boyfriend, who always has his orange Tic Tacs by him. That's why Juno demonstrates her love by filling his mailbox with hundreds of packets of this precious confectionery.
What is it about these brands that make so many people love them? What makes them precious? It goes beyond the product. It goes beyond packaging or advertising. It certainly goes beyond the rational.
Oh dear, it goes beyond the rational. That's a pity because the rational is the way we mostly handle our brand marketing, isn't it? For example, it's rational isn't it that if you offer a better product, people will buy it? At least that's the theory behind the wave of premium products that have appeared on the market. But this strategy doesn't do anything to make people love them. Premium simply becomes the next level of threshold values expected by shoppers from products. And as I have recently seen in research, consumers lump all the premium own-label brands from supermarkets together and see them as one thing, rather than discriminating between them.
This kind of push marketing doesn't work anymore. We are all expecting a lot more from the brands we buy. Something more than just knowing we have bought something better.
And that's where preciousness comes in. Preciousness translates into unswerving loyalty and that in turn converts into guaranteed income. But how do you get there? In my journey to find the answer, I uncovered some clues, which seem to work. But before letting you hear what I learnt, you truly must switch off your rational 'push' marketing mindset and really enter the emotional world of the consumer.
EMOTION
If you look at brands that are clearly precious, say Innocent, Tods or Gü, it's intriguing to see that they are all first-generation brands – that is, the people who created them are still directly involved in the business. And none of them went into business on purely rational grounds. Talk to any entrepreneur and passion oozes out of their pores. It is emotion that has driven each of them.
I remember hearing how the founder of the Campbell Soup-owned bakery Pepperidge Farm started her business. Margaret Rudkin had a sick, asthmatic son who had severe food allergies. To help pep him up, she decided to replace the highly processed food she had been feeding him with, among other things, her own all-natural home-baked loaves. And yes, I know it sounds cheesy, but the bread was wonderful and friends and neighbours did start asking her to bake for them. A huge business built on the emotions of a worried mum.
And this sort of emotion clearly infuses the products of these first-generation brands and rubs off on consumers. But how do they get this emotional content across to consumers? Certainly it's not by talking about gap analysis or positioning theory. They do it by having a story. And that seems to be the next component in building a precious brand.
THE STORY
I'm looking at a watch I bought this week in Zurich. It wasn't expensive. And it wasn't a Swatch. But it looks nice and gets compliments around the studio here. The great thing is that when I get asked about it, I can tell the story about its origins – how its look is based on the clocks used on Swiss railway station platforms.
The point is that this story tells something about me. I hate to admit it but it enables me to say look, I'm different, I'm discerning, I'm curious. And so the story not only brings the brand to life, it also brings me to life in the eyes of others.
I picked up on stories some years ago, and we often talk in our company about how design is the art of symbolising brand stories. But I was lost for a while trying to figure out how to take a brand's story and make it relevant for consumers. And that led me on to a brilliant discovery – a book by two Americans, Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson, called The Hero and the Outlaw (1). They helped me realise that precious brands are those that have a story personifying the product as a specific type of hero. And that brings us to the next part of making a precious brand (2).
MOTIVATION
So precious brands trigger emotion in consumers through their use of the story. But how should that story be pitched? Mark and Pearson point to motivational theory and Jung.
No, don't get worried. It's not that complicated. Apparently we're all driven at different times by four key drives: belonging, independence, stability and risk. And they are certainly present when we're buying things in the supermarket. So if your brand story fits snugly with one of these needs, you may find it becoming precious – because it moves your brand from being just an inanimate object to a support for the shopper's particular motivation.
Of course it gets a bit more complicated, because within each of these four motivation areas there are different types of stories that could be told to reflect different aspects or nuances of the motivational area – what Mark and Pearson call archetypes. The thing that really impressed me about all this though was that there seemed to be a direct correlation between precious brands and the clarity with which they fit human motivation.
Let me bring this alive with some examples. What motivates people to fall in love with Zara? How about the fact that its incredible business system allows for lightning-fast changes in merchandise. Not much to fall in love with there, surely? But think about the consumer value of this rapid turnaround of clothing. For someone who wants to dress differently, it is the place to go; there's always something new and inspiring on the racks. It helps people express their individuality and it really hits home for those motivated to explore – to be different.
I love the recent UK Carling beer campaign 'Belong'. It actually uses one of the four core human motivations as the copy line. Guys in their late teens and early twenties are strongly driven by a desire to belong to a gang or group. And Carling, their lager, really latches on to this need.
Some years ago I tested a range of ready meals across Europe for a multinational company. We presented the products in different forms of packaging and I was astonished when the results came in. All the products hit pretty well the motivation to be in control. They were convenient after all. But one pack did so much better than any of the others.
It was a ready meal steamed in a paper bag. And it drew out of Europeans an amazing nostalgia for that particular cooking style used by their mums and grandmas decades ago. It touched strongly on a desire for simpler times, a return to innocence, a search for paradise.
One of my precious brands is Post-its. Not the little ones sitting on your desk but the big flip-chart versions. They cost a fortune but I can't run a workshop without them. They stay on the wall, you don't need tape, and they look neat and tidy. They hit my need to feel safe in a workshop environment. They give me control.
We've even been able to bring this preciousness into the corporate world. When we begin working on a corporate identity, we use an A4 page with 24 famous faces on it – 12 men and 12 women. Each has been chosen to represent different facets of the four types of motivation, guided by the work of Mark and Pearson.
We give the sheets to company staff and ask them to choose one of these faces as the personification of their organisation. I can't tell you how spooky it is when the sheets are handed back in. There is always amazing consistency within an organisation. The same face appears on answer after answer, and helps us really get to grips with the underlying meaning or motivation behind the client's corporate brand.
STYLE
Something that really stands out with precious brands is style. I don't mean beauty, although some have it. No, it's more that they all are confident enough to have their own look. Red Bull is a great example. Absolut is another. As are Tic Tac and Heinz Ketchup.
An ownable style actually brings together many of the points already made about precious brands. The first-generation brand owners can find an outlet for their emotional attachment to their 'baby' by using a design style that flamboyantly says to the world 'I have arrived'. Style enables the creator to tell the brand story symbolically, and style can be a consumer's signal to all around them that says 'this is what I'm like'.
It's also very enlightening to observe that many precious brands actually have style guardians. I remember at Pepperidge Farm many years ago watching its style guardian pass or reject designs. Some of the rejects looked pretty good to me, but when I made that observation, the reply was that they weren't the Pepperidge Farm way of doing things – the product shots were too perfect and lacked the excessive dribbles of chocolate their style of cake would have.
Indeed, you could sort of argue that rejecting a design because of its lack of excessive chocolate dribbles is a form of precious brand zero tolerance. If a brand management will get hot under the collar about the exterior style, then imagine how difficult they will be about the product inside or the ingredients being used.
RITUAL
Style doesn't just need to be about the precious brands' look. It can also be about the way in which we use the brand. When I open my Danone yoghurt, I unconsciously lick the inside of the foil lid. When I grab the Heinz Ketchup, I always give it a hefty shake. When I want to drink a Leffe, I grab the right glass and sluice it under the cold tap before pouring in my precious beer. And I always leave my Weetabix soaking in the milk for three minutes before spooning it up.
Just as with style, you could also say that a precious brand often has rituals associated with it. They reinforce the specialness of the brand. And of course the brand owner can help ensure those rituals are created. I just bought some Ecco shoes. They came with a soft bag to hold them in and a very stylish matt black shoehorn. So now, whereas my other shoes get scant attention, the black Eccos go through a special ritual when being put on or taken off. And end up being more precious.
WORSHIP
While I am not about to claim that precious brands are the new religion, by worship I mean the set of attitudes that assign to the 'precious object' the status of being worthy of idolatry. Think Nike and teenagers and you'll get a clear indication of what this sort of worship is all about.
We did some brilliant research with 300 teenagers across Europe using our CLICK research method. This gave them cameras and asked them to answer all our questions using pictures. One key question was 'What is the most important object in your life?' The answer from most was a picture of their trainers. So maybe we should see Niketown as a church for the worship by devotees of their precious brand.
Worship is when the object practically owns the owner. It is a subtle, yet very powerful trigger. Worshipped brands are the ones consumers want to talk about. The ones they want to convert others to. The consumer becomes the brand's missionary.
CONCLUSIONS
We all want our brands to be precious – to be loved beyond reason, to be bought without a second thought, to be cherished as an old friend. It seems those brands that are precious combine the emotion of the founder, the expression of that emotion in a story, the grounding of its story in one of four deep-seated human motivations; they have their own unique style, are often handled in a ritualistic way and, yes, get close to being worshipped.
One final thought. I wrote this in the first person, because these are my thoughts. And it occurs to me that precious brands are always first-person brands. So if you want your brand to be precious stop calling it 'it' and start calling it 'me' or 'us'.
1.McGraw-Hill, 2001.
2. See, for example, J Howard-Spink: Who is your brand? And what is its story? Admap 443, October 2003.
13.3.09
ad:tech New York: the digital strategies of IBM
Telling the IBM story
The idea of online "mini-mentaries" providing support for more traditional media is at play in a new Ogilvy effort for IBM. "IBM solves some of the world's toughest, most significant problems. And that's not something that's told easily in 30 seconds," Lazarus said. "Digital media is not constrained by pre-determined commercial lengths."
The IBM series includes work in support of the New York Police Department, pandemics, mapping DNA, and "Hollywood Comes to Galway," the tale of one-to-one entrepreneurial intelligence told on a global stage:
IBM's business of innovation now plays out on iTunes, in podcasts, and on YouTube. Some 23 million people have come to the IBM web site to hear the tales. "In the context of what you usually find on the web site of a technology company, it's refreshing," Lazarus said. "We're using story-telling in its most wonderful form."
Ogilvy, Lazarus continued, was the agency that was intuitive enough to use Craig's List (cost $0.00) when the client asked the agency to produce a series of newspaper and radio ads to support an anniversary ticket give-away of 45,000 free passes. The ticket supply was exhausted in just 45 minutes and the cost? $0.00. Almost as cost-efficient was a Hellman's mayonnaise "real food" consumer-centric series that appeared on Yahoo Food. "The program more than doubled sales coast to coast," Lazarus claimed, "and offered Unilever the highest ROI [250%] in its history."
And, of course, Ogilvy most likely will be globally famous forever for the $50,000 "Evolution" video it shot for Dove.
To date, more than 500 million viewers have witnessed the aging sequence that was inspired by a workshop for 12-year-old Canadian girls and became the first Cannes double-winner for film and interactive video.
"When he shot it, the creative director used his girlfriend," Lazarus said. "He told her, 'No one's going to see it. It's just going on the Internet.'
"They're not together anymore."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBr5clzbCYU
The idea of online "mini-mentaries" providing support for more traditional media is at play in a new Ogilvy effort for IBM. "IBM solves some of the world's toughest, most significant problems. And that's not something that's told easily in 30 seconds," Lazarus said. "Digital media is not constrained by pre-determined commercial lengths."
The IBM series includes work in support of the New York Police Department, pandemics, mapping DNA, and "Hollywood Comes to Galway," the tale of one-to-one entrepreneurial intelligence told on a global stage:
IBM's business of innovation now plays out on iTunes, in podcasts, and on YouTube. Some 23 million people have come to the IBM web site to hear the tales. "In the context of what you usually find on the web site of a technology company, it's refreshing," Lazarus said. "We're using story-telling in its most wonderful form."
Ogilvy, Lazarus continued, was the agency that was intuitive enough to use Craig's List (cost $0.00) when the client asked the agency to produce a series of newspaper and radio ads to support an anniversary ticket give-away of 45,000 free passes. The ticket supply was exhausted in just 45 minutes and the cost? $0.00. Almost as cost-efficient was a Hellman's mayonnaise "real food" consumer-centric series that appeared on Yahoo Food. "The program more than doubled sales coast to coast," Lazarus claimed, "and offered Unilever the highest ROI [250%] in its history."
And, of course, Ogilvy most likely will be globally famous forever for the $50,000 "Evolution" video it shot for Dove.
To date, more than 500 million viewers have witnessed the aging sequence that was inspired by a workshop for 12-year-old Canadian girls and became the first Cannes double-winner for film and interactive video.
"When he shot it, the creative director used his girlfriend," Lazarus said. "He told her, 'No one's going to see it. It's just going on the Internet.'
"They're not together anymore."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBr5clzbCYU
ad:tech New York: the digital strategies of Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton: digitizing luxury
Digital media, of course, are not just a bunch of stunts and tricks that can revive fading products - a case Lazarus made with new Ogilvy/Paris work for Louis Vuitton. "Ten years ago, we would have come up with the most gorgeous print ads you've ever seen," the Ogilvy chairman/ceo noted. And, so they did with the most recent execution for the brand, with lush, engaging, evocative Annie Liebowitz photographs of Catherine Deneuve, Keith Richards, Mikhail Gorbachev, Andre Agassi/Steffi Graf, and this one - two-filmaking Copploas-in-one-image: Francis Ford and Sofia:
In each case, Louis Vuitton products - featured ever-so-elegantly - somehow eased their transit as, said Lazarus, "we offered a deeper exploration of their personal journeys."
But unlike the print programs of just a decade ago, Ogilvy built the new campaign to last, to reinforce, and to build the brand even more powerfully. Gorbachev takes YouTubers on a visit of Moscow. Deneuve does Paris. And Keith Richards goes inside his London in a series of nine videos, including this trailer:
"Each of the Louis Vuitton people take us to places they love," Lazarus said. Keith Richards' love for Shepherd's Pie may not play to an association with one of the world's great luxury brands, but, Lazarus explained, "You experience life the way celebrities find it." Consumers who come to the Louis Vuitton site spend an average of 16 minutes viewing different video executions.
"The brand turns to experience," she added. "And that translates to public-relations impressions and blog impressions" that never could have been part of a pure-print campaign in the 1990s. "And we're driving double-digit growth in shop visits and growth."
While Lazarus recognized "it's impossible to know what will happen in the face of an economic downturn," the campaign will continue, with the next subject 78-year-old Sean Connery featured over the copyline, "There are journeys that turn into legends."
Digital media, of course, are not just a bunch of stunts and tricks that can revive fading products - a case Lazarus made with new Ogilvy/Paris work for Louis Vuitton. "Ten years ago, we would have come up with the most gorgeous print ads you've ever seen," the Ogilvy chairman/ceo noted. And, so they did with the most recent execution for the brand, with lush, engaging, evocative Annie Liebowitz photographs of Catherine Deneuve, Keith Richards, Mikhail Gorbachev, Andre Agassi/Steffi Graf, and this one - two-filmaking Copploas-in-one-image: Francis Ford and Sofia:
In each case, Louis Vuitton products - featured ever-so-elegantly - somehow eased their transit as, said Lazarus, "we offered a deeper exploration of their personal journeys."
But unlike the print programs of just a decade ago, Ogilvy built the new campaign to last, to reinforce, and to build the brand even more powerfully. Gorbachev takes YouTubers on a visit of Moscow. Deneuve does Paris. And Keith Richards goes inside his London in a series of nine videos, including this trailer:
"Each of the Louis Vuitton people take us to places they love," Lazarus said. Keith Richards' love for Shepherd's Pie may not play to an association with one of the world's great luxury brands, but, Lazarus explained, "You experience life the way celebrities find it." Consumers who come to the Louis Vuitton site spend an average of 16 minutes viewing different video executions.
"The brand turns to experience," she added. "And that translates to public-relations impressions and blog impressions" that never could have been part of a pure-print campaign in the 1990s. "And we're driving double-digit growth in shop visits and growth."
While Lazarus recognized "it's impossible to know what will happen in the face of an economic downturn," the campaign will continue, with the next subject 78-year-old Sean Connery featured over the copyline, "There are journeys that turn into legends."
Capri Sun:::the digital strategies of,
Capri Sun: refreshing a refreshment brand
"It's what you can do with an idea that's different," Lazarus said. Yet another original idea centered around much the same challenge of breathing new life into a tired product. Capri Sun is a beverage with very different packaging - not a bottle, not a jar, but a 200 ml. foil/plastic pouch. The tropical-themed refreshment was popular in the '80s, Lazarus explained, but "had not done much since then."
It's original consumers had long since moved onto coffee, and there was a target audience of six-to-11-year-old children who were being underserved - a "buzzworthy and respectable group," Lazarus called them.
To start kids talking - and, more specifically, spreading the word about Capri Sun - Ogilvy created a series of 30-second spots with identical set-ups but different ends. "They were sort of irreverent commercials that showed what happened when children didn't respect the pouch. They had an element of suspense. And they invited parody.
http://www.kraftbrands.com/caprisun/ "Six-to-11-year-old boys love playing games," Lazarus reported. And, because Web 2.0 is as familiar to this demographic as tap water, they fulfilled their viral promise with a series of imitative spots:
The agency, in kind, returned the fire with video games and a "Rayman Raving Rabbids" Wii game planned for launch in time for the Christmas 2008 season.
Lazarus' bottom line to the campaign was the same she used to describe the Obama effort: "If you think it, you can do it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SesasYdKVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YRigdFPeLg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Gy0_ncqlM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGfS7zJ0ek0
"It's what you can do with an idea that's different," Lazarus said. Yet another original idea centered around much the same challenge of breathing new life into a tired product. Capri Sun is a beverage with very different packaging - not a bottle, not a jar, but a 200 ml. foil/plastic pouch. The tropical-themed refreshment was popular in the '80s, Lazarus explained, but "had not done much since then."
It's original consumers had long since moved onto coffee, and there was a target audience of six-to-11-year-old children who were being underserved - a "buzzworthy and respectable group," Lazarus called them.
To start kids talking - and, more specifically, spreading the word about Capri Sun - Ogilvy created a series of 30-second spots with identical set-ups but different ends. "They were sort of irreverent commercials that showed what happened when children didn't respect the pouch. They had an element of suspense. And they invited parody. 
http://www.kraftbrands.com/caprisun/ "Six-to-11-year-old boys love playing games," Lazarus reported. And, because Web 2.0 is as familiar to this demographic as tap water, they fulfilled their viral promise with a series of imitative spots:The agency, in kind, returned the fire with video games and a "Rayman Raving Rabbids" Wii game planned for launch in time for the Christmas 2008 season.
Lazarus' bottom line to the campaign was the same she used to describe the Obama effort: "If you think it, you can do it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SesasYdKVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YRigdFPeLg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Gy0_ncqlM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGfS7zJ0ek0
ad:tech New York: the digital strategies of Shreddies
Shreddies: from one to many
Momentum, in fact, was a powerful driver in an Ogilvy/Toronto campaign that started with an intern in the creative department and ended up as a viral video with 800,000 views ("a lot for Canada," said Lazarus.)
Shreddies was a 67-year-old cereal that needed a brand refresher. "You've all heard it before and, in fact, you all can probably write the brief," Lazarus told the ad:tech audience. "We needed to do something interesting. And we had to do it in a fresh, unique way."
Enter a summer intern who was handed the assignment of taking a look at the box copy. And who, in fact, failed in that assignment by taking the assignment a step further by rotating the even-sided breakfast on its end - converting a square into a diamond.
"It became an immediate hit," Lazarus continued. The agency's creative team immediately recognized an idea bigger than box copy and ran with it. Diamond Shreddies were launched in much the same way that the agency would introduce a new product.
The agency posted a viral video of a supposed focus-group session (in fact, the moderator was a sponsor) while billboards echoed the idea of "Diamond Shreddies." The brand's president posted his own video addressing the controversy between the traditional square-shaped product and the upstart diamonds.
"Can you have more fun?" Lazarus asked. "It captured the imagination of the whole country. There were newspaper reviews of Diamond Shreddies. 81 Facebook groups popped up. The company got hundreds of letters, some of them asking how it managed to come up with such great new ideas. Someone actually wrote to complain that his box of Diamond Shreddies only contained 50 percent of the new design."
Supported by a word-of-mouth frenzy, sales for the brand jumped 20 percent in a matter of weeks. "A 67-year-old brand seemed an unlikely candidate for a viral campaign," Lazarus continued. "But this seemed to strike a chord. Or maybe a funny bone."
Digital tools brought to bear by a traditional agency resulted in a major marketing innovation for a brand that had held little consumer interest for decades. And, what about that unhappy customer who griped that he only got half his fair share of Diamond Shreddies? From the Ogilvy new-product development team, yet another launch: The Combo Pack.
Momentum, in fact, was a powerful driver in an Ogilvy/Toronto campaign that started with an intern in the creative department and ended up as a viral video with 800,000 views ("a lot for Canada," said Lazarus.)
Shreddies was a 67-year-old cereal that needed a brand refresher. "You've all heard it before and, in fact, you all can probably write the brief," Lazarus told the ad:tech audience. "We needed to do something interesting. And we had to do it in a fresh, unique way."
Enter a summer intern who was handed the assignment of taking a look at the box copy. And who, in fact, failed in that assignment by taking the assignment a step further by rotating the even-sided breakfast on its end - converting a square into a diamond.
"It became an immediate hit," Lazarus continued. The agency's creative team immediately recognized an idea bigger than box copy and ran with it. Diamond Shreddies were launched in much the same way that the agency would introduce a new product.
The agency posted a viral video of a supposed focus-group session (in fact, the moderator was a sponsor) while billboards echoed the idea of "Diamond Shreddies." The brand's president posted his own video addressing the controversy between the traditional square-shaped product and the upstart diamonds.
"Can you have more fun?" Lazarus asked. "It captured the imagination of the whole country. There were newspaper reviews of Diamond Shreddies. 81 Facebook groups popped up. The company got hundreds of letters, some of them asking how it managed to come up with such great new ideas. Someone actually wrote to complain that his box of Diamond Shreddies only contained 50 percent of the new design."
Supported by a word-of-mouth frenzy, sales for the brand jumped 20 percent in a matter of weeks. "A 67-year-old brand seemed an unlikely candidate for a viral campaign," Lazarus continued. "But this seemed to strike a chord. Or maybe a funny bone."
Digital tools brought to bear by a traditional agency resulted in a major marketing innovation for a brand that had held little consumer interest for decades. And, what about that unhappy customer who griped that he only got half his fair share of Diamond Shreddies? From the Ogilvy new-product development team, yet another launch: The Combo Pack.
ad:tech New York: the digital strategies of Lenova
Lenovo: going directTalking directly to consumers - and bypassing the intermediating mainstream media in the process - was a primary component of a largely digital "coming-coming out" program Ogilvy put together for Lenovo, the Chinese computer company that acquired IBM's PC Division in 2005.
The place was the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And the place was all over the world. "We asked ourselves, 'How can we use 21st-Century technology to make the Olympics come to life? How can we allow consumers to really feel the Olympics from the inside? And what would happen if we gave 100 Olympic athletes from all over the world laptops and video cameras and asked them to talk about their experiences online?"
The answer was 1.6 million unique visitors to a "Voices of the Olympic Games" web site that featured both written blogs from the participants as well as video diaries. "It was an unfiltered scoop, straight from the athletes," Lazarus recalled. "We reached 256 countries and 27 different sports."
The digital exercise continued with cellphone widgets that offered a link to the Voices site as well as up-to-the-minute results, photographs, records, and background stories. Lazarus called it "the largest social-media market campaign at the largest sporting event in the world… And it gave people a chance to feel Lenovo, to become familiar with the brand."
Perhaps the ultimate compliment came when the International Olympic Committee tried to stop the campaign, charging that Ogilvy and Lenovo were "stealing the content that they had sold exclusively to media outlets," Lazarus said. "What they didn't seem to understand was the true democratization of content. Once it starts, you cannot stop it."
ad:tech New York: the digital strategies of Obama
Drew Ianni, ad:tech advisory board chairman/programming, started off the Wednesday sessions with a technology-friendly introduction to Shelly Lazarus: "Ogilvy was the first major agency to believe in - and take an interest in - digital and integrating new kinds of advertising into programs for their clients."
But the chairman/ceo of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide had something else in mind: "As I stand before you, my daughter is in labor," Lazarus revealed. But that wasn't her punchline. She continued, "Remember how people used to save the front page of their daily newspaper to celebrate a child's birth? Well, I'm so happy. The front page of today's Times is a great page." The single word OBAMA - all caps, centered and splashed across the top of page 1 - will be the keeper for the Lazarus family. And, as luck would have it, the story beneath the banner was the first of a series of digital narratives that would ground the Ogilvy head's ad:tech presentation.
Digital comes of political age: the Obama campaign
"Team Obama brought their brand to life in ways that no candidate has ever done before," Lazarus declared. "They brought them directly to the people. He won and the world has changed forever."
"If you are uncomfortable with change and ambiguity," she cautioned the ad:tech gathering, "this is not your time. If you need to test something five times before you try a sixth, this is not your time. But, if you love to make it up as you go along, if you welcome the happy collision of advertising and technology, if you're really creative, if you want to try new tools, if you're looking to listen in on new conversations and respond instantly, your time has come.
"When I started in this business, direct-mail people used to say, 'Just try to imagine what is would be like if you could actually talk to a consumer or a prospect to find out if they really were interested. We don't have to imagine any more."
As brand builders and marketers, she continued, "We can conclude that the Obama team knew how to use the tools that are now available to us all." In fact, she added, it was fair to conclude that the candidate's "digital-ness" had helped drive his victorious campaign.
Indeed, the ultimate success of the new-media political effort "affords marketers with a way to use new opportunities for interactivity with their target audiences. Obama was in constant dialogue with his base without the interference of the established press. He took his messages directly to his missionaries.
"And here's a question," she continued. "He ran his campaign this way. Will he govern in the same way? Last night, around 11 p.m., I received a real-time email from Obama. 'I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there,' he wrote, 'but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.'"
"It was all part of the best CRM campaign that's ever been run," Lazarus said. "The Obama campaign had a state-of-the-art web site. Pages on social-media sites. Twitter to track the candidate from one moment to the next. They had their own 'Race to the White House' game, Xbox games, iPhone applications, free ringtones. More than 12 million downloads of a 'Yes We Can' You Tube video brought emotion and momentum to the campaign. Four million donors and volunteers got daily email updates. They used every trick in the marketers' book, right down to their own 'Front Row to History' that offered winners a trip to Chicago to watch the returns. It was just like Publisher's Clearing House.
"Their motto seemed to be, 'If you think it, you can do it.' They really were masters of CRM."
Digital comes of political age: the Obama campaign
"Team Obama brought their brand to life in ways that no candidate has ever done before," Lazarus declared. "They brought them directly to the people. He won and the world has changed forever."
"If you are uncomfortable with change and ambiguity," she cautioned the ad:tech gathering, "this is not your time. If you need to test something five times before you try a sixth, this is not your time. But, if you love to make it up as you go along, if you welcome the happy collision of advertising and technology, if you're really creative, if you want to try new tools, if you're looking to listen in on new conversations and respond instantly, your time has come.
"When I started in this business, direct-mail people used to say, 'Just try to imagine what is would be like if you could actually talk to a consumer or a prospect to find out if they really were interested. We don't have to imagine any more."
As brand builders and marketers, she continued, "We can conclude that the Obama team knew how to use the tools that are now available to us all." In fact, she added, it was fair to conclude that the candidate's "digital-ness" had helped drive his victorious campaign.
Indeed, the ultimate success of the new-media political effort "affords marketers with a way to use new opportunities for interactivity with their target audiences. Obama was in constant dialogue with his base without the interference of the established press. He took his messages directly to his missionaries.
"And here's a question," she continued. "He ran his campaign this way. Will he govern in the same way? Last night, around 11 p.m., I received a real-time email from Obama. 'I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there,' he wrote, 'but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.'"
"It was all part of the best CRM campaign that's ever been run," Lazarus said. "The Obama campaign had a state-of-the-art web site. Pages on social-media sites. Twitter to track the candidate from one moment to the next. They had their own 'Race to the White House' game, Xbox games, iPhone applications, free ringtones. More than 12 million downloads of a 'Yes We Can' You Tube video brought emotion and momentum to the campaign. Four million donors and volunteers got daily email updates. They used every trick in the marketers' book, right down to their own 'Front Row to History' that offered winners a trip to Chicago to watch the returns. It was just like Publisher's Clearing House.
"Their motto seemed to be, 'If you think it, you can do it.' They really were masters of CRM."
Nielsen: Social Nets Overtake E-mail
As online paradigm shifts, advertisers must find a way to add value, rather than follow the 'push' model
March 9, 2009
-By Brian Morrissey
NEW YORK Social networking has overtaken e-mail as the most popular Internet activity, according to a new study released by Nielsen. Active reach in what Nielsen defines as "member communities" now exceeds e-mail participation by 67 percent to 65 percent. What's more, the reach of social networking and blogging venues is growing at twice the rate of other large drivers of Internet use such as portals, e-mail and search. Nielsen, which is the parent company of Adweek, concluded that the shift to social activity online would have profound effects on marketers and publishers. For publishers, social networks are eating into time spent with other online activities, according to Nielsen.
For advertisers, the phenomenon at this stage represents mostly unfulfilled promise for a deeper connection with consumers who are more difficult to reach in social environments. The rise of social media coincides with the decline of portals. Social networking appears to be snatching away users' online time formerly spent with e-mail, traditionally a large draw to portals. Such fragmentation is decreasing portals' importance to advertisers. In a separate report, top digital shop Razorfish said its spending at portals declined from 24 percent in 2006 to 16 percent in 2008. Nielsen found that two-thirds of the world's Internet users visited a social networking site in 2008. All told, social media now accounts for almost 10 percent of Internet time. Facebook is leading the pack worldwide, with monthly visits by three out of 10 Internet users in nine global markets, per Nielsen. The growth in social media is not confined to the U.S. Nielsen charted comparable or higher growth for Australia, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. Yet for now, user growth at social sites is outpacing advertising increases, per Nielsen. This will likely change, Nielsen said, as models shift to value engagement over exposure. "As the online industry matures and the value of online real estate is increasingly measured by time spent, rather than pages viewed, a significant shift in advertising revenue from 'traditional' online media towards social media could be realized -- if the successful ad model can be found," the report stated. The search for a workable ad model is even more urgent now that social media has broken out of the youth demographic, Nielsen found. For example, Facebook's greatest growth has come from 35-49-year-olds, and it has added twice as many 50-64-year-olds as those under 18. Yet advertising and social media to date have mixed like oil and water. Part of that is a function of social media's communications role -- advertising has typically performed poorly in chat and e-mail. The larger challenge for advertising is to move from an interruptive role to joining conversations. That means advertisers need to find ways to add value to users' experiences, Nielsen found. "Whatever the successful ad model turns out to be, the messaging will have to be authentic and humble, and built on the principle of two-way conversation -- not a push model -- that adds value to the consumer," the report said.
March 9, 2009
-By Brian Morrissey
NEW YORK Social networking has overtaken e-mail as the most popular Internet activity, according to a new study released by Nielsen. Active reach in what Nielsen defines as "member communities" now exceeds e-mail participation by 67 percent to 65 percent. What's more, the reach of social networking and blogging venues is growing at twice the rate of other large drivers of Internet use such as portals, e-mail and search. Nielsen, which is the parent company of Adweek, concluded that the shift to social activity online would have profound effects on marketers and publishers. For publishers, social networks are eating into time spent with other online activities, according to Nielsen. For advertisers, the phenomenon at this stage represents mostly unfulfilled promise for a deeper connection with consumers who are more difficult to reach in social environments. The rise of social media coincides with the decline of portals. Social networking appears to be snatching away users' online time formerly spent with e-mail, traditionally a large draw to portals. Such fragmentation is decreasing portals' importance to advertisers. In a separate report, top digital shop Razorfish said its spending at portals declined from 24 percent in 2006 to 16 percent in 2008. Nielsen found that two-thirds of the world's Internet users visited a social networking site in 2008. All told, social media now accounts for almost 10 percent of Internet time. Facebook is leading the pack worldwide, with monthly visits by three out of 10 Internet users in nine global markets, per Nielsen. The growth in social media is not confined to the U.S. Nielsen charted comparable or higher growth for Australia, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. Yet for now, user growth at social sites is outpacing advertising increases, per Nielsen. This will likely change, Nielsen said, as models shift to value engagement over exposure. "As the online industry matures and the value of online real estate is increasingly measured by time spent, rather than pages viewed, a significant shift in advertising revenue from 'traditional' online media towards social media could be realized -- if the successful ad model can be found," the report stated. The search for a workable ad model is even more urgent now that social media has broken out of the youth demographic, Nielsen found. For example, Facebook's greatest growth has come from 35-49-year-olds, and it has added twice as many 50-64-year-olds as those under 18. Yet advertising and social media to date have mixed like oil and water. Part of that is a function of social media's communications role -- advertising has typically performed poorly in chat and e-mail. The larger challenge for advertising is to move from an interruptive role to joining conversations. That means advertisers need to find ways to add value to users' experiences, Nielsen found. "Whatever the successful ad model turns out to be, the messaging will have to be authentic and humble, and built on the principle of two-way conversation -- not a push model -- that adds value to the consumer," the report said.
Use Email Campaigns To Generate More Email Campaigns–And Conversions
March12th, 2009 by eydie
Some marketers have only recently realized the importance of email. Others think it’s old hat. But true forward-thinkers are already taking their campaigns to the next level.
A business blogger at the Sydney Morning Herald points out a particular email discussion that happened at the Adtech conference held in Sydney this week, regarding “trigger-based” messages. Trigger-based email is sent according to a consumer’s particular behavior or preferences. For example, in an emailed company newsletter, there might be a link about a particular product. When the reader clicks on that link, this then triggers another email sent to the customer, offering a special sales offer regarding that product. Such links don’t have to be about a company’s product; a consumer’s birthday or purchasing preferences are other types of triggers.
Trigger-based messages, then, ensure that a brand remains engaged with and relevant to consumers by giving them important updates. The Herald blog points to HSBC Bank in Australia, which used trigger-based email marketing “to keep consumers engaged and informed” during their loan application process. This was done because many loan applicants shop around with several banks, and HSBC did not want them to go elsewhere for their loans. The upshot? HSBC Bank saw an approximately 65 percent improvement in acceptance of home loans.
Think of trigger-based email as the master’s degree after getting a bachelor degree in email marketing: The rules of email marketing best practices must foremost be understood and used. The customer must be the one to subscribe to get email messages, and the company must explain what to expect in these messages–as well as how often to expect them. As always, relevance is the key–if you start sending messages of the type that were not expected, the consumer might ignore your email and/or cancel the subscription.
Of course, trigger-based messaging can only work if the marketer really knows the customer. So it’s important to use an email-sending platform that will gather certain information, both demographic and “psychographic,” into a user-friendly database. Once such a database is compiled, the marketer can start creating triggers based on consumers’ preferences and personal profiles. (And maybe this database creation can be accelerated by using a product-click triggered email campaign first.)
Clearly, marketers who aren’t yet in email had better get cracking. Their competitors have already mastered the basics!
Some marketers have only recently realized the importance of email. Others think it’s old hat. But true forward-thinkers are already taking their campaigns to the next level.
A business blogger at the Sydney Morning Herald points out a particular email discussion that happened at the Adtech conference held in Sydney this week, regarding “trigger-based” messages. Trigger-based email is sent according to a consumer’s particular behavior or preferences. For example, in an emailed company newsletter, there might be a link about a particular product. When the reader clicks on that link, this then triggers another email sent to the customer, offering a special sales offer regarding that product. Such links don’t have to be about a company’s product; a consumer’s birthday or purchasing preferences are other types of triggers.
Trigger-based messages, then, ensure that a brand remains engaged with and relevant to consumers by giving them important updates. The Herald blog points to HSBC Bank in Australia, which used trigger-based email marketing “to keep consumers engaged and informed” during their loan application process. This was done because many loan applicants shop around with several banks, and HSBC did not want them to go elsewhere for their loans. The upshot? HSBC Bank saw an approximately 65 percent improvement in acceptance of home loans.
Think of trigger-based email as the master’s degree after getting a bachelor degree in email marketing: The rules of email marketing best practices must foremost be understood and used. The customer must be the one to subscribe to get email messages, and the company must explain what to expect in these messages–as well as how often to expect them. As always, relevance is the key–if you start sending messages of the type that were not expected, the consumer might ignore your email and/or cancel the subscription.
Of course, trigger-based messaging can only work if the marketer really knows the customer. So it’s important to use an email-sending platform that will gather certain information, both demographic and “psychographic,” into a user-friendly database. Once such a database is compiled, the marketer can start creating triggers based on consumers’ preferences and personal profiles. (And maybe this database creation can be accelerated by using a product-click triggered email campaign first.)
Clearly, marketers who aren’t yet in email had better get cracking. Their competitors have already mastered the basics!
12.3.09
Brand strategies for an economic downturn
September 2008, Issue 497
Julie Bazinet, Steve Saxty and Belle Frank
In financial markets as in marketing, perception is often reality. Today, while all economists may not agree that we are officially in a recession, consumers are increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy and are behaving as though we are in one. As the cost of oil and food continues to climb, and property values continue to plunge, consumers are looking for ways to save and also maximise value when they do spend. For marketers, dropping prices is always an option, but this often does nothing more than undermine margins and brand equity. So, how do we go about 'recession proofing' our brands for the realities of today?
If successful brands are those that generate consideration and loyalty, in good times and bad, all brands would be wise to invest in these qualities during recessions, when consumers are much more selective about what they purchase. The dotcom bust, 9/11, corporate scandals and the war in Iraq all contributed to the recession of 2001–2002 and shook consumer confidence in government, business and other institutions, including brands.
Based on information from Young & Rubicam's model, BrandAsset® Valuator (BAV), we are able to understand what happened to brands during this period in order to help our clients protect themselves from today's economically depressed environment. Our data suggest previous periods of downturn were marked by a strong focus on value, accompanied by a decline in brand trust, credibility and loyalty. Brands that were able to stay on top of their game mastered delivery of those qualities.
By the beginning of 2008, easy credit had accelerated the real estate market, and encouraged consumers and lenders to speculate on ever-increasing levels of home equity. For many, the gamble did not pay off. The resulting credit crunch and consumer interest in value applies pressure on brands. In order to compete in today's market, BAV indicates that a brand must reframe value through leadership, vision and performance if it is to stand out amid limitless competitive brand options. It must also maintain its trust and credibility while doing so. The bar has been raised!
Y&R's BAV (see Appendix) allows us to assess the role of brands as part of our culture; we can get a picture of the values of a society by considering what drives its most successful brands at various points in time (1).
DECLINE IN CONSIDERATION AND LOYALTY
In the late 1990s, consumer confidence was on an upswing, fuelled by the dotcom frenzy. Interestingly, we saw in BAV that emotional loyalty, defined as a preference for a certain brand over all others, moved upwards in line with consumer confidence indices. The spike in emotional loyalty during the late 1990s/early 2000s can be attributed to the aspirational quality of many higher-end branded products that were suddenly within reach of a wider range of consumers. But, in 2002, exacerbated by the terrorist attacks of the previous year, emotional loyalty crashed, along with the financial markets. From 2000 to 2002, emotional loyalty and preference as measured in BAV declined by 27% and 20% respectively, whereas the typical change year-on-year is approximately 5% (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Brand loyalty
CHANGES IN DRIVERS OF CONSIDERATION AND LOYALTY
According to BAV, 'good value' was a key driver of brand consideration and loyalty from 1999 to 2002, along with 'high quality' and 'socially responsible'. Given the realities of the time, it is not surprising that value, quality and responsibility became so important for consumers. However, what is even more interesting is how these drivers changed as the economy recovered. From 2005 to 2007, drivers of consideration like leadership and performance were more than twice as important as they were during the recessionary period, indicating that consumers had begun rewarding brands that helped them navigate the overwhelming amount of choice and information available today (see Figure 4).
Julie Bazinet, Steve Saxty and Belle Frank
In financial markets as in marketing, perception is often reality. Today, while all economists may not agree that we are officially in a recession, consumers are increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy and are behaving as though we are in one. As the cost of oil and food continues to climb, and property values continue to plunge, consumers are looking for ways to save and also maximise value when they do spend. For marketers, dropping prices is always an option, but this often does nothing more than undermine margins and brand equity. So, how do we go about 'recession proofing' our brands for the realities of today?
If successful brands are those that generate consideration and loyalty, in good times and bad, all brands would be wise to invest in these qualities during recessions, when consumers are much more selective about what they purchase. The dotcom bust, 9/11, corporate scandals and the war in Iraq all contributed to the recession of 2001–2002 and shook consumer confidence in government, business and other institutions, including brands.
Based on information from Young & Rubicam's model, BrandAsset® Valuator (BAV), we are able to understand what happened to brands during this period in order to help our clients protect themselves from today's economically depressed environment. Our data suggest previous periods of downturn were marked by a strong focus on value, accompanied by a decline in brand trust, credibility and loyalty. Brands that were able to stay on top of their game mastered delivery of those qualities.
By the beginning of 2008, easy credit had accelerated the real estate market, and encouraged consumers and lenders to speculate on ever-increasing levels of home equity. For many, the gamble did not pay off. The resulting credit crunch and consumer interest in value applies pressure on brands. In order to compete in today's market, BAV indicates that a brand must reframe value through leadership, vision and performance if it is to stand out amid limitless competitive brand options. It must also maintain its trust and credibility while doing so. The bar has been raised!
Y&R's BAV (see Appendix) allows us to assess the role of brands as part of our culture; we can get a picture of the values of a society by considering what drives its most successful brands at various points in time (1).
DECLINE IN CONSIDERATION AND LOYALTY
In the late 1990s, consumer confidence was on an upswing, fuelled by the dotcom frenzy. Interestingly, we saw in BAV that emotional loyalty, defined as a preference for a certain brand over all others, moved upwards in line with consumer confidence indices. The spike in emotional loyalty during the late 1990s/early 2000s can be attributed to the aspirational quality of many higher-end branded products that were suddenly within reach of a wider range of consumers. But, in 2002, exacerbated by the terrorist attacks of the previous year, emotional loyalty crashed, along with the financial markets. From 2000 to 2002, emotional loyalty and preference as measured in BAV declined by 27% and 20% respectively, whereas the typical change year-on-year is approximately 5% (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Brand loyalty
During this time, brand usage surpassed brand preference (see Figure 2), an indication in our data that buyers were becoming less emotionally attached to brands. We found that many consumers went from being loyal to a single brand to being open to a variety of brands. This behaviour can be explained by the vast increase in the number of available brands and the amount of information about them available on the internet, coupled with the economic reality that more consumers were now being forced to rationalise their purchasing decisions.
Figure 2: Brand usage
DECLINE IN CONFIDENCE AND TRUST
From 2001 to 2005, brand imagery characteristics such as 'trustworthy', 'reliable', 'high quality' and 'good value', as attributed to brands by consumers responding to the BAV survey, declined continuously, to eventually stabilise at a mere 65%, on average, of their pre-recession levels (see Figure 3). It is not that these attributes declined because they became less important. Quite the contrary, it is more likely that, in consumers' minds, brands simply failed to deliver them. Technology brands in particular took a big hit on these attributes during the last recession, which is not surprising given the dotcom bust. This suggests that today's marketers have to focus on building credibility and trust in order to endure the current economic climate.
From 2001 to 2005, brand imagery characteristics such as 'trustworthy', 'reliable', 'high quality' and 'good value', as attributed to brands by consumers responding to the BAV survey, declined continuously, to eventually stabilise at a mere 65%, on average, of their pre-recession levels (see Figure 3). It is not that these attributes declined because they became less important. Quite the contrary, it is more likely that, in consumers' minds, brands simply failed to deliver them. Technology brands in particular took a big hit on these attributes during the last recession, which is not surprising given the dotcom bust. This suggests that today's marketers have to focus on building credibility and trust in order to endure the current economic climate.
Figure 3: Brand imagery
CHANGES IN DRIVERS OF CONSIDERATION AND LOYALTY
According to BAV, 'good value' was a key driver of brand consideration and loyalty from 1999 to 2002, along with 'high quality' and 'socially responsible'. Given the realities of the time, it is not surprising that value, quality and responsibility became so important for consumers. However, what is even more interesting is how these drivers changed as the economy recovered. From 2005 to 2007, drivers of consideration like leadership and performance were more than twice as important as they were during the recessionary period, indicating that consumers had begun rewarding brands that helped them navigate the overwhelming amount of choice and information available today (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Leadership and performance
SPECIFIC CHALLENGES FOR TODAY
Data from the last recessionary period highlight the importance of value as a basic requirement for consumer brand sustenance. However, as the Detroit carmakers can testify, addressing this consumer need simply by dropping prices is no guarantee of long-term prosperity.
Therefore, a wider reframing of value must become at least one part of the equation. Low price alone has not proven to be enough to build a strong brand. We know that now more than ever, it is important for brands to demonstrate leadership, vision and high performance if they are to meet consumer expectations. To attain optimal loyalty and consideration, brands must guide and inspire consumers in their quest to offer more value. The following are five approaches that different brands have employed that have helped them achieve these goals.
1. Highlight the Value Proposition that Enables your Brand to Stand Out
Marketers can change the way consumers think about their brand by reframing their value proposition. During the last recession, luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes achieved growth, at a time when one might assume they would face declining sales. By highlighting their total cost of ownership and offering fixed maintenance costs, they managed to achieve volume growth, as buyers became attuned to value rather than sticker price.
More recently, the V8 brand was able to reframe its value by reminding buyers that a serving of V8 is nutritionally equivalent to three servings of vegetables; it also costs less, and has the additional benefit of zero spoilage. For buyers who are feeling the pressure to save on rising grocery bills, such a message has resonance.
2. Remove Cost while Adding Additional Benefit Appeals
Often, there are opportunities for a brand to remove or reconfigure aspects of its product, but to do it in a way that does not reduce value – or that even increases it. For example, Poland Spring water recently changed its packaging, saving on both cost and materials, while simultaneously creating a leadership proposition that is environmentally appealing.
For retailers like Best Buy which sell large products that are difficult to transport home, such as large-screen televisions and washing machines, drop-shipping orders (shipping them directly from the manufacturer) can save money and hassle for both store and customer. The retailer's shipping and warehousing costs are reduced, and the buyers get quicker and cheaper delivery with less risk of damage to the product.
3. Empower Customers with Trade off Options
When faced with limited financial resources, consumers inevitably make trade-offs when they are looking to purchase products or services. Therefore, another strategy for increasing value is to provide consumers with trade-off options that they otherwise would not have.
Dell was a pioneer in employing this approach. Historically, PCs were sold as standard packages through retailers. During the recession of the early 1990s, the company was able to focus on its direct-to-consumer sales model, thereby eliminating the cost and competition of selling through the retail channel. The direct model not only allowed Dell to pass some of these savings to its customers, but it now became possible to customise each computer in a cost-effective way. Customers benefited not only from a lower price point, but also from a product that perfectly matched their requirements, providing Dell with much competitive leverage and a huge boost in sales volume.
4. Build Loyalty by Connecting with Customers' Core Beliefs and Personal Values, as well as their Need for Value
One of the most fundamental ways to connect to consumers is for a brand to differentiate itself from competitors and build loyalty by providing a benefit that would be emotionally compelling on its own and then boost it further by offering financial value.
Recessions can be brutally challenging for retailers. However, Target Corporation has experienced phenomenal growth since the recession of the early 2000s by promising and delivering 'cheap chic' to its customers. The affluence of the late 1990s had whetted consumers' appetites for increasingly upscale brands, but the economic reality of the job market meant that, for many consumers, such products were out of reach.
Still, consumers yearned for them, and Target was savvy enough to provide them at a price point almost anyone could afford – a smart marketing approach that made consumers feel smart. The resulting effect on Target's brand has been significant. Target's brand equity had always trailed Wal-Mart's in BAV, but this strategy has helped the brand become stronger each year. Finally, in 2007, Target overtook Wal-Mart to become the strongest retail brand in America, while Wal-Mart, whose positioning had focused almost exclusively on price, remains a strong but stagnant brand.
5. Consider what your Brand can do for Someone Else
There are of course times when a more thorough retargeting is needed to help brands weather the challenges of difficult economic times. For some brands, a customer base that is too small or one that becomes unable to afford the product might force a rethink about how to engage a wider audience.
In 2000, General Motors faced a declining domestic middle-class market for its Buick range, as US buyers sought either lower-priced vehicles from rivals Honda and Toyota or more upscale brands. The surprising decision to export a few thousand units to China to recoup fixed costs of production met with considerable Chinese enthusiasm, and sales took off because the brand was regarded as affordable, American and classy. As sales remained flat in the domestic market, GM began investing in products tailored to Chinese tastes, and sales continued to increase. In 2006, China became Buick's largest market, surpassing sales in the United States.
PROTECT YOUR BRAND ASSETS
The current economic downturn is driven by different factors from those of the last recession, and consumers have raised the bar in terms of what they expect from brands. Our data show that consumers increasingly want their brands to deliver leadership, vision and performances as well as value.
Luckily, this time around, advances in online communication, distribution and eco-friendly packaging, to name but a few, suggest that brands have infinitely more options to reframe their value propositions and connect with their customers than ever before.
The 'do nothing but cut prices' approach, as Taco Bell employed during the last recession, only weakens a brand, according to BAV data. And beware of this tactic, for its impact can be, and often sadly is, a long-lasting one.
Brands that have the agility to deliver optimal value to their customers, even if it requires substantial change in how they operate or communicate, may not only survive the recession better but even thrive in it.
APPENDIX 1: BRANDASSET® VALUATOR
BAV is a huge database on brands. Since 1993, Y&R has surveyed over 500,000 consumers across 44 markets about more than 35,000 brands. BAV gauges consumer perceptions on brand health and imagery, relating them to brand usage, consideration and loyalty. In each market, BAV measures brands relative to all other brands.
1. B Frank and M Sussman: Brand health measures your mother would love. Admap 492, March 2008.
Julie Bazinet is associate director, analytic brand planning, at Y&R.julie.bazinet@yr.com
Steve Saxty is SVP, group planning director, at Y&R.steve.saxty@yr.com
Belle Frank is EVP, director of strategy and research, at Y&R.belle.frank@yr.com
Data from the last recessionary period highlight the importance of value as a basic requirement for consumer brand sustenance. However, as the Detroit carmakers can testify, addressing this consumer need simply by dropping prices is no guarantee of long-term prosperity.
Therefore, a wider reframing of value must become at least one part of the equation. Low price alone has not proven to be enough to build a strong brand. We know that now more than ever, it is important for brands to demonstrate leadership, vision and high performance if they are to meet consumer expectations. To attain optimal loyalty and consideration, brands must guide and inspire consumers in their quest to offer more value. The following are five approaches that different brands have employed that have helped them achieve these goals.
1. Highlight the Value Proposition that Enables your Brand to Stand Out
Marketers can change the way consumers think about their brand by reframing their value proposition. During the last recession, luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes achieved growth, at a time when one might assume they would face declining sales. By highlighting their total cost of ownership and offering fixed maintenance costs, they managed to achieve volume growth, as buyers became attuned to value rather than sticker price.
More recently, the V8 brand was able to reframe its value by reminding buyers that a serving of V8 is nutritionally equivalent to three servings of vegetables; it also costs less, and has the additional benefit of zero spoilage. For buyers who are feeling the pressure to save on rising grocery bills, such a message has resonance.
2. Remove Cost while Adding Additional Benefit Appeals
Often, there are opportunities for a brand to remove or reconfigure aspects of its product, but to do it in a way that does not reduce value – or that even increases it. For example, Poland Spring water recently changed its packaging, saving on both cost and materials, while simultaneously creating a leadership proposition that is environmentally appealing.
For retailers like Best Buy which sell large products that are difficult to transport home, such as large-screen televisions and washing machines, drop-shipping orders (shipping them directly from the manufacturer) can save money and hassle for both store and customer. The retailer's shipping and warehousing costs are reduced, and the buyers get quicker and cheaper delivery with less risk of damage to the product.
3. Empower Customers with Trade off Options
When faced with limited financial resources, consumers inevitably make trade-offs when they are looking to purchase products or services. Therefore, another strategy for increasing value is to provide consumers with trade-off options that they otherwise would not have.
Dell was a pioneer in employing this approach. Historically, PCs were sold as standard packages through retailers. During the recession of the early 1990s, the company was able to focus on its direct-to-consumer sales model, thereby eliminating the cost and competition of selling through the retail channel. The direct model not only allowed Dell to pass some of these savings to its customers, but it now became possible to customise each computer in a cost-effective way. Customers benefited not only from a lower price point, but also from a product that perfectly matched their requirements, providing Dell with much competitive leverage and a huge boost in sales volume.
4. Build Loyalty by Connecting with Customers' Core Beliefs and Personal Values, as well as their Need for Value
One of the most fundamental ways to connect to consumers is for a brand to differentiate itself from competitors and build loyalty by providing a benefit that would be emotionally compelling on its own and then boost it further by offering financial value.
Recessions can be brutally challenging for retailers. However, Target Corporation has experienced phenomenal growth since the recession of the early 2000s by promising and delivering 'cheap chic' to its customers. The affluence of the late 1990s had whetted consumers' appetites for increasingly upscale brands, but the economic reality of the job market meant that, for many consumers, such products were out of reach.
Still, consumers yearned for them, and Target was savvy enough to provide them at a price point almost anyone could afford – a smart marketing approach that made consumers feel smart. The resulting effect on Target's brand has been significant. Target's brand equity had always trailed Wal-Mart's in BAV, but this strategy has helped the brand become stronger each year. Finally, in 2007, Target overtook Wal-Mart to become the strongest retail brand in America, while Wal-Mart, whose positioning had focused almost exclusively on price, remains a strong but stagnant brand.
5. Consider what your Brand can do for Someone Else
There are of course times when a more thorough retargeting is needed to help brands weather the challenges of difficult economic times. For some brands, a customer base that is too small or one that becomes unable to afford the product might force a rethink about how to engage a wider audience.
In 2000, General Motors faced a declining domestic middle-class market for its Buick range, as US buyers sought either lower-priced vehicles from rivals Honda and Toyota or more upscale brands. The surprising decision to export a few thousand units to China to recoup fixed costs of production met with considerable Chinese enthusiasm, and sales took off because the brand was regarded as affordable, American and classy. As sales remained flat in the domestic market, GM began investing in products tailored to Chinese tastes, and sales continued to increase. In 2006, China became Buick's largest market, surpassing sales in the United States.
PROTECT YOUR BRAND ASSETS
The current economic downturn is driven by different factors from those of the last recession, and consumers have raised the bar in terms of what they expect from brands. Our data show that consumers increasingly want their brands to deliver leadership, vision and performances as well as value.
Luckily, this time around, advances in online communication, distribution and eco-friendly packaging, to name but a few, suggest that brands have infinitely more options to reframe their value propositions and connect with their customers than ever before.
The 'do nothing but cut prices' approach, as Taco Bell employed during the last recession, only weakens a brand, according to BAV data. And beware of this tactic, for its impact can be, and often sadly is, a long-lasting one.
Brands that have the agility to deliver optimal value to their customers, even if it requires substantial change in how they operate or communicate, may not only survive the recession better but even thrive in it.
APPENDIX 1: BRANDASSET® VALUATOR
BAV is a huge database on brands. Since 1993, Y&R has surveyed over 500,000 consumers across 44 markets about more than 35,000 brands. BAV gauges consumer perceptions on brand health and imagery, relating them to brand usage, consideration and loyalty. In each market, BAV measures brands relative to all other brands.
1. B Frank and M Sussman: Brand health measures your mother would love. Admap 492, March 2008.
Julie Bazinet is associate director, analytic brand planning, at Y&R.julie.bazinet@yr.com
Steve Saxty is SVP, group planning director, at Y&R.steve.saxty@yr.com
Belle Frank is EVP, director of strategy and research, at Y&R.belle.frank@yr.com
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