Tristan Elósegui Branding Day Cadiz November 2020
Tristan Elósegui Branding Day Cadiz November 2020
Being an event dedicated to brands, I couldn't miss the opportunity to talk about brand purpose. A concept that, when well applied, changes companies and changes lives. This was the focus of my talk .
Why are brands irrelevant usa numbers list and why do we need them to be the protagonists again?
Being different is difficult and scary, and it's not easy to maintain.
Companies are born with the purpose of being different from the rest. They want to offer something that others don't have. But the problem is that maintaining that differentiation is difficult and also scary .
In the beginning, companies are launched on the market with an apparent competitive advantage, but the problem is that maintaining it is difficult. It requires the company to make a constant commitment to innovation and creativity to maintain this differentiation with new things. In addition, it is somewhat dizzying because being the first in something, things do not always go well.
In the medium and long term, companies tend to look alike. For our consumers, companies in the same category are “the same.” The reason is that companies copy each other’s products that give the best results, they target the same type of consumer (they don’t look for new niches), etc.
All of this can be supported with data:
In Spain, 9 out of 10 brands are irrelevant to consumers ( Meaningful Brands Study (2017) – Havas Group). Worldwide, the figure is 7 out of 10 brands.
And even more seriously, consumers confuse seemingly different brands, even from different categories ( Differentiation vs Distinctiveness 2007: Jenni Romaniuk, Byron Sharp & Andrew Ehrenberg).
The key is a strong brand that sets them apart from the rest. Let's see what other arguments support my thesis that they should once again be protagonists.
Neither is our marketing as effective as we think, nor are we able to measure everything
It sounds crazy for someone who is in marketing to say these things, but it is the truth.
In this article on brand purpose you have the detailed explanation, but I will summarize the most important data that supports my statements:
A McKinsey study shows us that, if we do things well in marketing, we will only be present in a third of the interactions prior to the sale.
In the remaining two thirds, we are neither here nor expected.
This is why our marketing is not as effective as we think (we only reach a third of interactions), nor is it capable of measuring everything (there are two thirds that we are not aware of).
We only control a third of purchasing interactions
We only control a third of purchasing interactions
For this reason, we need something that helps us to pull these two thirds and bring them to our territory. This lever is the brand, more specifically our brand purpose .
This doesn't mean we should stop marketing or measuring, on the contrary. It's time to invest in marketing that goes beyond our product or service and in measurement processes and tools that help us reduce the size of that "black hole."
Covid has increased the distance between brand and consumer
With few exceptions, Covid has caused the distance, at least emotionally, between brand and consumer to increase.
Our customers have been through a rough patch, they need us to take care of them, to help them regain their trust. They themselves look more at prices and less at quality. They are more cautious in spending (the estimate in Spain alone is that 50 billion euros have been saved. Savings are at 22.5% of income . Something never seen before).
To activate consumption, from the business side, we have to seek a connection with our audience beyond the product. A connection that allows us to regain their trust.
And this is not achieved only with attractive offers, we have to complement our marketing strategy with a more human approach that makes them see that we approach them with the real intention of helping them and that our brand purpose is something more than words (which really have a reason to emotionally connect with the brand).
We need to change the focus of marketing and implement actions that do not seek direct sales (something that is almost prohibited in many companies), but rather connect with our audience.
It is clear that the brand and its purpose are the levers that can help us get closer to our customers, to reconnect with them. This closeness will bring sales, loyalty, recommendations,… it will bring strong brands and profitable companies.