Famous brands are dime a dozen. But being a ‘consumer favorite’ takes an attitude. A brand does not need to be a century old to get into the good books of its consumers. It needs, however, to build trust alongside campaigns, drive communication with content and create an image while it creates a brand design. Here’s how some brands keep all the consumer love intact:
Driving clear and consistent communication
You can be witty or wise with your communication but unless you are able to form an emotional connect with the consumer, you can’t make an impact. Beloved brands don’t hesitate to invest efforts in order to find their brand voice; and once found, they stick to it.
Just thinking about Intel, plays that iconic Bong at the back of your mind along with the familiar ‘Intel Inside’ logo. When Pulp Strategy was given the challenge of driving conversations across consumer touchpoints and creating superior, meaningful experiences around Intel-based handheld devices at retail, the Time for New Learning campaign was born.
Parents’ worry of children wasting their time watching television during holidays was resounded on Radio. They were urged to make their kids learn something exciting in the summer break. Consumers were given an experience of learning Origami on Intel powered devices with their children at retail and advocacy flowed online. This omnichannel initiative had a consistent flow of Intel’s paradigm Intel Inside with the campaign message- It’s What’s Inside That Counts.
Honest and Human
According to the 2016 Food Revolution Study, 94 percent of consumers say transparency is important to their purchase decisions. (Source: Visioncritical)
Honesty pays in every relationship. Brand-consumer relationships are no different. Authenticity is a highly valuable trait, infact, an indispensable one. Consumers expect brands to be fair, authentic and transparent while pitching their services.
If your consumers are millennials, you are dealing with people who believe in giving back to the society, to the environment, to the planet. They don’t just believe in donating but are willing to participate with corporates like yours to bring about a lasting change. So, it becomes pivotal to let your consumers know that you also care about the things they care about with a more humanized content strategy.
Leaving an impression through branded content
The concept of branded content also stems from the need to create authentic, believable content. Advertisement or anything that feels like one is instantly shunned by the audience- it’s a reality brands have embraced. But stories are still as impactful as they were from the time immemorial. How to leverage the power of storytelling to create demand, build trust and eventually, increase brand affinity?
Branded content is the answer.
Stories or content funded and produced by a brand to ascertain the values it stands for, and in the process, subtly promoting itself which makes the end result much more personal. Remember Lego, the movie? Kids and adults were amused by the cute story and nobody could sense they were witnessing a fantastic marketing strategy.
The #Unpain campaign by Pulp Strategy to revolutionise male grooming habits needed a strong branded content strategy. How else could one make men (and women!) talk about male body hair?
In order to take the topic from being a taboo to being cool, we roped in Bollywood and humor. Fun content created with ScoopWhoop and a lighthearted banter over a hangout with brand ambassador Arjun Kapoor with SNG Comedy gave us what we wanted- an audience that had a lot to say, share and comment on male body grooming and on why trimming the man jungle shouldn’t be painful. That’s when men were urged to #UnPain with the Philips body trimmer.
Smarter campaigns with digital intelligence
What makes content great? We believe, when a story makes you feel it’s made for you, is when it strikes a chord with you. For the exact reason, marketers are relentlessly working towards getting into the minds of their consumers armed with digital intelligence. Because better data means greater stories.
Data mining helps create more personalised campaigns to really strike a chord. Digital intelligence gives pretty accurate presumptions about what’s more likely to work. Marketers can target specific audiences across multiple devices and calculate precise engagement. Insights derived from social media channels guide the business strategy. It’s easier to calculate the exact reach and impact and thus a brand can keep improving its communication.
The art of lending an ear
Conversations are everywhere. They are sometimes opinions, sometimes criticism.
Listening to what is being said about your brand, is not just a good practice, it’s also ethical. Your consumers have something to say about your work, the least you can do is listen and respond. Are they unhappy with your hospitality? Apologise and tell them you are working on the points mentioned. Are they apprehensive about the quality of beef you use in your burgers? Let them know the truth, and give them an assurance.
Unanswered questions can harm a brand’s reputation more than you think.
Listening tools have given us the power to identify brand sentiments throughout the world (wide web.) Make sure you track even those comments that aren’t directed to you with an ‘@’. If it’s about you, you should handle it.
Providing omni-channel consumer experience
Consumers are everywhere. And to create, change or understand a mindset, brands too need to be everywhere. Each channel gives a unique way to provide an immersive experience to the consumers. Social media is an excellent marketing platform, but to really appease the customer when he’s out to buy, it takes something a bit more holistic.
Philips’ ‘A New Way to Shave’ campaign perfectly utilised several platforms to promote its electric shaver- AquaTouch. A fictional character Alex went on a public strike, refusing to shave because of the frequent nicks and cuts caused by a razor. Women gave out bandages on streets as our audience tweeted about teaching Alex a #newway2shave with AquaTouch. Men shared their #cutbyarazor moments, installations in men’s washrooms and a hidden camera video went viral. Without an omni channel approach, it would have been hard for us to give a spin to the traditional shaving methods of the Indian consumer.
Intel’s marketing campaigns also emphasize at creating omnichannel experiences. The ‘Intel My Discoveries’ campaign touched the user at every point during his purchase cycle creating a strong recall and market demand. Users were urged to create something around their passion on a PC with an Intel processor at the heart of it. Live events were designed to trigger consumer generated content. People created multimedia content using Intel powered PCs. The campaign used social media extensively while going big on campuses, organizing corporate events, creating disruption at retail with stellar branding, radio and mobile app marketing via an augmented reality app. The result? A memorable campaign that led to more confident purchase decisions, increased sales and improved brand favouritism.
Co-creating experiences with consumers
To win over your audience, you have to let them be a part of your story and sometimes, let them narrate it. All it takes is the common thread that binds the brand to its consumers and a little tug.
Trails of India is an exemplary crowdsourced platform giving Indian bikers a platform to create and share stories on biking, adventure, and discoveries. Talking to a very niche audience, the platform made sure to evolve as a hub for Indian bikers and adventure enthusiasts.
When a brand has to make efforts to reach out to its consumers, it’s marketing. But when consumers insist on ‘that brand and nothing else’, it’s love. To get love, brands need to give love, ….and it’s an art, rare and valuable.
At Pulp Strategy, we believe branding is essential. Our team of strategists keep a data-inspired yet human approach to deliver strategies that make a sustainable impact making your brand a consumer favorite. To elevate your brand personality and become a consumer favorite with more personal more human and more impactful strategies.
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