It’s Time for a New Brand Building System

Are you making vows to the consumer?

• Consumers have changed
• The levers of a purchase decision have changed
• Consumer relationships with brands have changed
• The dynamics of influence has changed

Yet far too many brands remain tethered to a legacy philosophy of command-and-control, awareness chasing marketing. This way of thinking interferes with the ability to form vibrant, healthy relationships with consumers who look for added meaning from the brands they care about.?

It is our mission here to provide the tools, thinking and pathway to a more successful future of sustainable brand growth. Here we summarize the elements of new brand marketing, based on a more human-like approach to creating brand relevance and resonance.

This didn’t happen overnight… a decade of trial, error and refinement

For 10 years we have studied and worked to construct a new, improved brand building system, one that is grounded in the latest science-based understanding of consumer behavior and the prevailing impact of modern culture on business. You might agree culturally informed brands are the ones that will rise to dominance in their categories due to enhanced relevance and resonance.

This post is truly a call to action to let go of past beliefs and brand building behaviors, dominated mostly by transactional thinking and feature/benefit selling. The old way of doing things has inadvertently held brands back from what they desire most: attracting legions of devoted believers, ambassadors and evangelists.

The truth about brands in the era of consumer control

Sustainable, lasting brand relationships are built now on admiration and trust and will produce significant financial premiums. They also uniquely deliver higher margins and traffic. By virtue of their inherent stickiness, they work progressively to roll-back the costs of promotion while improving ROI and bottom-line performance.

Perhaps most important of all, they create the opportunity for transcendence – the state of being admired – where consumers “join” the brand as members, not merely customers. It is that intersection between “why” and passion where people find affection and the basis for a relationship with brands they care about. We express it this way because the world has changed and relating to a brand is now fundamentally the same thing as relating to a person.

Key insight: In order to secure the opportunity for sustainable brand relationships, we have a responsibility to push added meaning, trust and belief to the forefront of the relationship. Of note, we have been afforded an incredible opportunity to build deeper connections at a time when consumers are searching for guidance. What’s driving this openness to a relationship??

Uncertainty – people crave certainty in their lives, we can help provide it

Disconnection and isolation – inadvertent consequence of over-indulgence in social media

Absence of trust – bad business behaviors are writ large for all to see, all too often

Fear of the unknown – climate deniers scoff at California wildfires – how is that possible?

Existential threats – heat waves, floods, weather anomalies, fires, droughts

Lack of control – we want to restore a sense of control in our lives

Financial and time pressures – mental health challenges are at an all-time high

However, many brands are not positioned correctly, and remain focused on transactional ‘better than’ stories. They lack higher purpose and a defined mission that should inform their positioning. Thus, are not truly differentiated and focus instead on trivial points of betterness. Consequently, they are not set up to provide deeper meaning to their customers and in so doing fail to attract evangelists and advocates who would otherwise “join” the company’s mission.

In sum, where things can go off the rails:

Focus on ‘better than’ thinking vs. uniqueness and differentiation

Chasing awareness over relevance and deeper meaning

Absence of customer centricity

Higher purpose is missing or mis-applied

Brand narrative is not emotionally compelling

At risk of commoditizing their own category through competitive comparisons

An improved path…

1.???? Emergent’s business goal is to build stronger more engaging and profitable brands that are better positioned, more relevant and purposeful.?

2.???? We discover/enhance/strengthen the strategic foundation, install customer centricity and higher purpose, while refining and improving the brand story.

3.???? We translate a more highly differentiated brand into a transformational business by focusing on the customer and building emotional connections through the brand’s core “why” and related value proposition.

A healthy brand:

• Defined higher purpose, value system and deeper meaning
• Has cultivated a deeply resonant brand “why” that influences their core strategies
• Customer centricity and focus on enabling core user lifestyle aspirations and values
• Not pre-occupied with selling product features and benefits
• Recognizes the power of emotion to inform brand choice and purchase decisions
• Experiences sustainable growth and rapid acceptance of new innovations
• Attracts a vibrant base of evangelists, enthusiasts and ambassadors

What is customer centricity?

Perhaps the most important characteristic of a healthy brand is the priority given to consumers who sit at the center of strategic planning, while all actions and activities operate in service of a devotion to serving the consumer’s needs.

If you ask marketers if the consumer is their top priority, many will say yes. Yet on closer examination we find the consumer is buried under other imperatives that put greater emphasis on brand self-promotion and a priority on balance sheet imperatives. This usually results in a transactional type view of consumers as audiences to be “sold” on product features. Brand storytelling is often inward-facing and the consumer -- their hopes, beliefs and aspirations – remain secondary.

Creating “vows” to the consumer

However, consumer centricity is the strategic fuel that powers all successful brand-to-consumer relationships. To help enable this dynamic we believe brands should consider making vows much like the ones we tell our spouses at the start of a marriage.

The promises we make during a marriage ceremony are intended to be binding and foundational. Here are five areas of commitment – vows -- that brands can deploy to build a relationship with consumers that reinforces the practice of consumer centricity:

Truth – fundamental to any trusted relationship is a commitment to honor the truth at all times

Honesty – disclosure and openness are critical to a long-term healthy relationship

Priority – when consumers matter, their priority in the business plan is always number one

Faithfulness – steadfast and unshakeable in the resolute commitment the consumer’s wellbeing

Devotion – helping people achieve their dreams and aspirations as an enabler of their journey

Can you make these vows to the consumer and endeavor to keep them? The expression of these commitments goes a long way to codifying the priority consumers receive at the center of your business universe.? This is how transformational relationships are formed with your customers. The focus on consumer priorities becomes a flywheel that sets everything else in motion.? Vows represent a deeper and heartfelt commitment. It’s how you felt on the day you made them to your better half.???

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Bob Wheatley is the CEO of Chicago-based Emergent. Traditional brand marketing often sidesteps more human qualities that can help consumers form an emotional bond.?Yet brands yearn for authentic engagement, trust and a lasting relationship with their customers. For more information, contact [email protected] and follow on Twitter @BobWheatley.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????