Thoughts on Building Engaging Brands

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Thoughts on Building Engaging Brands
Readers Digest September 19, 2006 Toronto Josep
h Plummer, Chief Research Officer The Advertising
Research Foundation
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• In the last analysis, after all the cost
  cutting and reorganizations we have gone through,
  we are still left with the need to grow the top
  line. Top line growth is for the courageous
  and the imaginative. It means bringing clients to
  where they would like to be even if they do not
  know it yet.
• -CEO, Leading Financial Services Co.

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Marketing Shift
20th Century Marketing
21st Century Marketing

• Creating Brand
• Awareness
• One Way
• Major Mass Media
• Media Centric
• Interruption

• Creating Brand
• Demand
• Outbound and Inbound
• Any Consumer Touch Point
• Consumer Centric
• Engagement

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In order to create brand demand

• Shift our thinking from opportunity to see the ad
  to opportunity to engage in brand idea
• Shift our strategies from push only to a balance
  of push and pull

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Whats holding us back?
So often our consumer research is a dead weight
to thinking instead of being a springboard for
finding better ways of connecting with our
markets. The problem is inadequate thinking, not
inadequate data. What do I mean by inadequate
thinking? They managers are using outdated
models of human behavior. Now that I think of it
our data is probably inadequate for the same
reasons - Senior Executive, Pharmaceutical
Company
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The Brain Manufactures Fact Co-Creation Instead
of Linear Persuasion
The neural patterns and the corresponding
mental images of the objects and events outside
the brain are creations of the brain related to
the reality that prompts their creation rather
than passive mirror images reflecting that
reality. Antonio Damasio, 2003
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Measurement of Emotional Response

• Key Finding
• The dynamics of engagement and emotional response
  ebbs and flows
• but the best ads peak or attract attention
• at key branding moments

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We believe engaging storytelling ads will also
prove superior in creating connections with
consumers that enrich brand meaning and
ultimately impact brand behavior
Learnings
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ARF Project to Move Beyond GRPs
The Other Barrier Interrupt and Repeat

• Without the right measurement, we really dont
  know how well our efforts work. We dont know if
  we are in touch with our consumers. We cannot
  continue to apply traditional thinking to the new
  world of technology and marketing channels
  available to us today.
• Jim Stengel, Global Marketing Officer
• Procter Gamble

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• A focus on Engagement builds powerful new brands
  with loyal, exuberant customers
• iPod
• eBay
• Red Bull

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Learning

• How are we engaged in an idea and a context?

Relevant Cues/Framing
EMPATHY
SURPRISE/DISCOVERY
UTILITY
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Working Definition of Engagement

• Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand
  idea enhanced by the surrounding context.

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Engagement

• Turned On Activating associations and
  metaphors to co-create personalized brand meaning

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Engagement is the new paradigm to replace GRPs

• Beyond Exposure to Directed Marketing
• Powerful Combination Between Brand Idea and
  Context
• Linked to Brand Preference and Brand Loyalty

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Engagement is the New Paradigm
targeted prospect exposure

• Efficiency

emotional engagement with the brand idea
multiplied by an appealing media context(s)
Effectiveness
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Learning
New Engagement Model Replacing Reach x Frequency
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Implications

• Co-creation of brand meaning and co-ownership of
  brands replaces linear persuasion/transaction
  model

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Implications

• Engagement specialists emerge in all disciplines

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Implications

• Media and creative planned and bought together

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Implications

• Portfolio planning for go-to-market strategies
  replaces layering of media

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Implications

• Creative and media context get tested together

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Implications

• Marketers focus on building engaging brand
  relationships and preference instead of awareness
  and use

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Working Definition of Engagement

• Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand
  idea enhanced by the surrounding context.

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Road Map Going Forward

• Encourage dialogue, experimentation and
  innovation around engagement definition
• Develop quantifiable measures of emotional
  response and engagement and correlate with brand
  preference and sales
• Seek Support for Validation efforts on Engagement
  Definition and Model