Brands incessantly talk about wanting a relationship or a dialogue with consumers, but what they’ve historically been involved in is a monologue. For years, they’ve taken their big, bold brand promises and shouted them from the rooftops – from every media outlet possible – in a bid to interrupt us with their message that is meant to inspire, excite and engage.
And they have done this successfully. Up until now, the gallery of advertising legends has been dominated by these ambitious, awesome broadcast campaigns that have helped shaped culture and the way we think. Whether it’s telling us to Just Do It or to Think Different, the intention of these larger-than-life slogans has always been to create aspiration; a feeling that we should strive towards these lifestyles and ideals that are just out of our reach (but accessible via their brand, naturally).
However, what constitutes brilliant marketing and creativity today is currently in the throes of redefinition and the industry is grappling to deal with a seismic shift in how brands connect with consumers and make their messages resonate. In 2016, these generic slogans have become largely meaningless. They don’t inspire anymore; they tire.
Worse still, they pressurise people into thinking they are not good enough as they are, or that their life should be better and that creates disconnection. Recent research from the Aimia Institute shows that seven in 10 Britons are shutting accounts and subscriptions and unfriending companies because of poorly targeted communications, giving rise to the new term the “deletist consumer”.
When it comes to forging close consumer relationships today, big is over-rated. It’s being up close and personal that makes the difference. Brands shouldn’t be focusing on creating distance through aspiration, but on creating intimacy through understanding. Of course this needs a respect for and careful use of the data they hold on customers, but this just needs to be managed as a new and vital component of the trust in brands that is fundamental to their survival.
Like in all relationships, consumers want to feel the other party gets them and listens to them as an individual. They don’t want to feel like one of millions targeted in a particular segment; they want to feel like one in a million. Don’t we all?
Meeting this challenge is not simply about deploying big data algorithms. Yes, data-driven insight can transform your marketing investment, but getting personal and relevant is a blend of art and science. It requires the human touch. It requires thinking small, taking brand promises and making them chime with the individual.
Our research shows that customers are three times more likely to stay with a brand and seven times more likely to buy more from it if they feel the brand communicates in a relevant way: relevance leads to resonance.
Clearly this level of intimate engagement lends itself to wide range of digital channels and connections. Heineken’s Twitter-tool, which suggests buzzing nightlife recommendations based on popularity in real time, is a good example. So is BGH air conditioners’ ability, via Google street map and weather data, to calculate the exact amount of sunlight your home receives, offering discounts based on those hours.
But, while digital is an effective way to build individual relationships, it’s not the only way. In fact, applying this level of personalisation, time and effort to traditional channels can produce striking, standout marketing that makes consumers feel a brand genuinely cares. Take, TAM airlines, for instance. By gathering some key details about each passenger and merging these with Facebook information, it created a completely personalised inflight magazine complete with individuals’ mugshots on the cover and tailored content inside. Needless to say, the magazines were read cover to cover and treasured by every traveller as a keepsake.
While I applaud the ambition and commitment of TAM’s campaign, effective relationship marketing doesn’t have to be about grand, expensive gestures. As in life, it’s often the small, thoughtful gestures – from a well-timed message of consolation after my football team loses to suggesting activities to do with the kids when it’s raining in my beach holiday resort – that are the most powerful. Today, if brand promises are not made personal, they are not really made at all.
Matthew Heath is chair of LIDA
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