On a recent trip to Fiji, my seven year old daughter asked if she could get her hair braided. Upon completion of the rather arduous task, she remarked, "Now I am just like a real Fijian." Except of course, the only people I saw with braids were Australian kids (and the odd adult who perhaps should have known better). Another day, I overheard tour guides offering trips to a "real" Fijian village, where we could partake in a Kava Ceremony and see how life "really" unfolds in Fiji. Of course, this is "real life" on show, which is hardly "real life" at all - but still, it highlights the desire we consumers have for authenticity. And that got me thinking.
Authenticity is a much touted about word in marketing circles and there is a definite trend towards providing a sense of it to consumers. Which is kind of ironic, if you think about it, since it is probably the rampant commercialisation of everything and anything that had led to the demand for authenticity in the first place.
Authenticity, or at least a sense of it, abounds in many forms, mostly related to heritage and origins and source. But for me, authenticity is about transparency. Or better put, my desire for authenticity is due to my lack of trust in brands. I want to know the claims the brand/service is making are real, but I am increasingly suspicious of them all. Is this face cream really going to make me look younger? Is this fruit snack really healthy, or is the fruit bit just a ploy to try and make me think it is healthy? If my hairdresser says I need to use Moroccan Oil on my hair, is it because she believes that there is an authentic reason for this, or is she just getting a percentage of the up-sell.
My husband says I am unnecessarily cynical, but I wonder whether this is where all consumers will eventually end up. If everything is about profit first, then how can you trust anything marketeers say anymore? Can there ever be “real” authenticity when maximising short term profit is the over-riding driver? We always hear that consumers are getting more savvy. What does that statement mean? Does it mean that we think consumers are on to our tricks? And if so, what does that say about our business?
Idealistically, I'd like to believe there is more to our business than squeezing as much profit out of the consumer as possible. I'd like to believe that meeting a consumer need is the desire, rather than the means to the end for businesses. However, I'd settle for being able to make my choices based on real information, not spin. I'd settle for a little transparency and a lot more authenticity from my brands (and my politicians), and I'd bet most consumers would too.
Showing posts with label brand building. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brand building. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Playing to the Audience
For completely unrelated reasons, I have been learning a little about book publishing, and more particularly, about how to get your book published. It should come as no surprise to any of you marketing savvy folk out there that it’s all about, well, marketing. The first step to getting a book published is pitching your idea to the publisher with a clear and concise description about the book and why the proposed audience would be interested in it. Ultimately, it is about convincing the publisher that you understand your audience well enough to create something that will interest them. And to a publisher, this means a good shot at sales, and more importantly, profit. Marketing 101, right?
Right.
Yet sometimes I think this simple truth - that the foundation of marketing success lies with knowing your audience well enough to create something that will appeal to them – gets lost amidst the flurry of branding templates, marketing processes and our seemingly pathological desire to make things more complicated than they need be.
Yes, of course execution matters. A lousy writer with a good idea for a particular audience is not going places, most certainly not on display at your nearest Dymocks. Execution matters a great deal. But if execution is the building, then audience is the foundation. And if the execution is not flowing directly from a deep understanding of the audience, we’re going to get into trouble.
Imagine starting with your audience. Spending time up front understanding them and their needs before you do product development, and most certainly before you do advertising development. Imagine the advantage of designing your product with their specific needs in mind. Imagine the clarity such single-minded focus might bring to the creative development process?
The problem is, we tend to work back to front. We start with our brand or product and say, “Right, who will this appeal to?” And that’s understandable. After all, there are factories to fill, assets to use and brand growth targets to hit. Hopefully, though, we then seek an “insight” about that audience on which we can hang our marketing efforts. However, quite often, that insight development phase (or, consumer understanding phase) is short-lived, or worse, skipped over, as timelines tighten and the focus turns to execution. Heaven forbid, we may even find ourselves re-engineering the consumer need to fit the product or brand (or advertising idea), so that we can just get on with the creative development. Not a recipe for a smooth creative process or success, by any account.
Maybe we don’t always have the luxury of starting with our audience, but if we don’t have a very clear understanding of who our audience is and how our product meets a real and meaningful need, before we embark on our marketing development, its bound to end in confusion about what works and what doesn’t. And we end up in this creative development quagmire where we are not sure if consumers are rejecting the very basis of our offering (the insight or strategy) or the execution of that strategy.
Can you sum up your product idea in a 30 second elevator pitch that captures who its for, and why they want it, in a simple, clear and compelling sentence? If not, its probably time to learn more about your audience.
Right.
Yet sometimes I think this simple truth - that the foundation of marketing success lies with knowing your audience well enough to create something that will appeal to them – gets lost amidst the flurry of branding templates, marketing processes and our seemingly pathological desire to make things more complicated than they need be.
Yes, of course execution matters. A lousy writer with a good idea for a particular audience is not going places, most certainly not on display at your nearest Dymocks. Execution matters a great deal. But if execution is the building, then audience is the foundation. And if the execution is not flowing directly from a deep understanding of the audience, we’re going to get into trouble.
Imagine starting with your audience. Spending time up front understanding them and their needs before you do product development, and most certainly before you do advertising development. Imagine the advantage of designing your product with their specific needs in mind. Imagine the clarity such single-minded focus might bring to the creative development process?
The problem is, we tend to work back to front. We start with our brand or product and say, “Right, who will this appeal to?” And that’s understandable. After all, there are factories to fill, assets to use and brand growth targets to hit. Hopefully, though, we then seek an “insight” about that audience on which we can hang our marketing efforts. However, quite often, that insight development phase (or, consumer understanding phase) is short-lived, or worse, skipped over, as timelines tighten and the focus turns to execution. Heaven forbid, we may even find ourselves re-engineering the consumer need to fit the product or brand (or advertising idea), so that we can just get on with the creative development. Not a recipe for a smooth creative process or success, by any account.
Maybe we don’t always have the luxury of starting with our audience, but if we don’t have a very clear understanding of who our audience is and how our product meets a real and meaningful need, before we embark on our marketing development, its bound to end in confusion about what works and what doesn’t. And we end up in this creative development quagmire where we are not sure if consumers are rejecting the very basis of our offering (the insight or strategy) or the execution of that strategy.
Can you sum up your product idea in a 30 second elevator pitch that captures who its for, and why they want it, in a simple, clear and compelling sentence? If not, its probably time to learn more about your audience.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Brand versus Product Advertising - does it matter?
There is a debate raging in our house at the moment, about the relative merits of brand versus product advertising. From how you define the difference, to how effective either option is. But, despite the multitude of examples supporting either strategy, it is, in truth, nothing more than a theoretical discussion which is irrelevant in the context of the consumer.
Because, at the end of the day, from a consumer perspective, there is no difference. From a consumer perspective, every piece of communication, however, we define it, is a brand ad. It tells consumers something about your brand, and leaves them (if you are lucky) with a perception of your brand. Advertising that we, as marketers, might define as “product ads” build brands too. And if you want those sort of ads to build rather than detract from your brand, its probably important to ensure the branding is clear, the personality and tone is authentic and the offer and product is in keeping with the overall strategic direction.
All too often we think and act in silos of marketing activity. We segment our actions and plans into innovation or core, into brand advertising or product advertising. We separate our budgets into communication or promotion, into above the line or digital. But consumers, in essence, don’t make those distinctions. Consumers just hear a piece of information, followed by another piece of information, followed by another... and that is, of course, if your creative is good enough to be heard. All the bits add up, and create an overall picture in their heads about what the brand is about.
Of course, it is not just communication that builds brands. This is merely the start point. Brands are equally created by the experience consumers (and their friends) have with the products and services those brands sell. And perhaps more importantly, brands can only be sustained and further built if there is a cohesiveness between the communication and the experience. Do these two touch points resonate and thus build a stronger more robust brand in line with our strategy? Or is there a disconnect between the promise and bluster of an ad, and the delivery of a service or product? In the case of the latter, all the hard work done by good communication is undermined.
Qantas can shout as loudly and as beautifully as it likes about still calling Australia home, but every time a consumer meets a grumpy ground crew member or is mistreated by belligerent stewards, that wonderful brand-ad is undermined by the experience of the product/service.
The key, is not to think in terms of “branding” as a job for a piece of communication. The brand should be the ethos by which the whole organisation operates. That way, brand values are authentic and it is easy to ensure that the consumer experience of the brand, whether through product usage or communication or engagement, is in line with the brand promise. And thus, all activity becomes brand building.
Because, at the end of the day, from a consumer perspective, there is no difference. From a consumer perspective, every piece of communication, however, we define it, is a brand ad. It tells consumers something about your brand, and leaves them (if you are lucky) with a perception of your brand. Advertising that we, as marketers, might define as “product ads” build brands too. And if you want those sort of ads to build rather than detract from your brand, its probably important to ensure the branding is clear, the personality and tone is authentic and the offer and product is in keeping with the overall strategic direction.
All too often we think and act in silos of marketing activity. We segment our actions and plans into innovation or core, into brand advertising or product advertising. We separate our budgets into communication or promotion, into above the line or digital. But consumers, in essence, don’t make those distinctions. Consumers just hear a piece of information, followed by another piece of information, followed by another... and that is, of course, if your creative is good enough to be heard. All the bits add up, and create an overall picture in their heads about what the brand is about.
Of course, it is not just communication that builds brands. This is merely the start point. Brands are equally created by the experience consumers (and their friends) have with the products and services those brands sell. And perhaps more importantly, brands can only be sustained and further built if there is a cohesiveness between the communication and the experience. Do these two touch points resonate and thus build a stronger more robust brand in line with our strategy? Or is there a disconnect between the promise and bluster of an ad, and the delivery of a service or product? In the case of the latter, all the hard work done by good communication is undermined.
Qantas can shout as loudly and as beautifully as it likes about still calling Australia home, but every time a consumer meets a grumpy ground crew member or is mistreated by belligerent stewards, that wonderful brand-ad is undermined by the experience of the product/service.
The key, is not to think in terms of “branding” as a job for a piece of communication. The brand should be the ethos by which the whole organisation operates. That way, brand values are authentic and it is easy to ensure that the consumer experience of the brand, whether through product usage or communication or engagement, is in line with the brand promise. And thus, all activity becomes brand building.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)