The Race is ON

Back from holidays with a huge back log of emails, a calendar that gets locked with no breather to grab a bite. Too familiar I know .

Truth is we are all trapped in our corporate daily swirl – meetings, fire fighting and plans that change yet when was the last time you sat down and really reflected on the ongoings of your brand and your consumers. Yes consumers – the reason you are in business. and yes it is YOUR consumers. They are not strangers. And guess what they are changing, but are you keeping up or just drained , dragging your feet from one meeting to the other ?

When was the last time you felt you were inspired ? or it is just more of the same over time. Did you know that your best ideas come before you go to bed. It’s never in the work place.( Advice you to keep a little note book beside your bed).

I was lucky that a bulk of my career was into consumer insights so by default I’m observing people , listening to their conversations and engaging with them for a continuous refreshed vision .

Take some time out, connect …How many of your top leadership been to a focus group or ethnographies or accompanied shopping ? It’s the very reason, you get shot in board rooms when you seek support for your brand. Your leadership just don’t get it .

Fast track today , scroll your feed on any social media app you use , there are news on changes in technology , it’s usage, it’s impact on consumer and shopper behavior, brands trending or un-trending.

How are you coping? Are you keeping up? Are you able to win over today’s consumer – whether your current or your future? They are surrounded by the clutter of 5,000 brand messages a day across multiple screens and languages – 1 message every 11 seconds.

Today brands are desperate, asking consumers- Can I have your attention please?

Every touch point with consumers need to awaken consumers’ imagination. It should be love at first sight but with love comes the question - is it just an affair or a commitment?

Can you keep the excitement in a marriage? A common question in talk shows, right ? Same for brands. Avoid a break up , losing to competition or totally out of the category . Worst a consumer turned to a social media brand hater.

Big brands view their consumers as compass. It is about them not you! Consumers have many options today more than ever and they also have a voice. Give them a forum to speak out . A good word is a thousand media points, while a negative one is a valuable lesson .

I still can’t grasp why brands are arrogant enough to think that they are the only ones who have a say . The cycle does start with brands listening to consumer needs, co-creating innovation, catering for a need gaps but this is all basic pragmatic marketing right ? Yet post launch it is still all about the brand!

A couple of years back, the leading local Pasta brand went on TV with a superb emotional campaign about the ‘guts of Egyptian women’ the ‘hero’ of the ad was the house hold lady , good casting topped with a catchy jingle which became like an anthem for SEC C2 households. Following year they used a variation of the ad ,same cast and song but they changed the voice over to be about the brand ..total disaster. It passed like wall paper , zero engagement.

I am a big advocate for telling stories and you know what – your consumers are your best media …. They have lots to tell – better than any creative idea you can come up with (No offense ad agencies).

Use them as your extended team. I do it all the time . Keep up with them consistently at every consumer touchpoint, whether it is the delivery of the brand promise , the stories they tell, the innovation they long for , the purchase moments and the delightful experiences that make consumers want to tell their take on your brand story.

If you look at your consumer as a good friend , you will be keen to tap into the most critical moments of their lives. If there are changes and you are not up to speed , you can’t connect with ‘ your friend’ any more can you ?

It’s as simple as that.

You will be reduced to brand that is only sold when on air or when on sale. Struggling to approve a creative that works within a budget …etc so your daily grind in the office , revising forecasts , fighting with sales, re-briefing the agency … bla bla bla .

Old-school marketers learned the 4Ps of product, place, price, and promotion. It is a useful start, but too product-focused . It needs an update to capture emotional engagement , wow-ing consumers in this age and time , dynamics of new medium of comms, and embedding consumer stories.

How many slogans do you recall today ? Dirt is good OMO, Just do it NIKE…

Some new-er brands have done well. Turkish airlines recent safety in flight TVC with Lego is just that.

Taking a boring segment of the flight that no one pays attention to and changing it into an engaging piece of comms, I heard people laughing first hand while watching it. Teaming up with an amazing brand- Lego that is loved by older and younger and strategically resonate with younger i.e. recruiting their future passengers .A party in the sky indeed – What’s not to remember!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2hCN6cVuqM

Take stroll out of the office today after you read this. Grab a coffee with a chocolate (always works for me ??).

Ask yourself

How would you describe your best friend if he was your consumer – do you know them as well? What is your perception of them now vs in the past? have things changed? in what way? What can you do to make the relationship better? What next for our relationship?

Be honest, are you in the business of building a relationship or closing the sale?

?Dahlia Zayed is a brand and retail strategy consultant #FWD Consultancy with 20 years of experience in multinationals across multiple geographies.

She is a public speaker, writer, a mom and a rock fan.

She can be reached on d.zayed@fwdegypt.com. Fb and youtube #FWD Consultancy

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