The Three Credos of Truly Memorable Brands

Difficult times are an excellent test of human character. It is natural instinct to run to safety when faced with danger. Nine of ten people will run in one direction. The one worthy of our admiration is the one who runs towards the danger to confront it. And it is the same of Brands and Brand Custodians. Truly memorable brands live by these three credos -

1) Rediscover the lost art of conversation

Good, memorable brands are like old friends. We trust them, we enjoy most things about them, we know a lot about them and yet are curious to know more. Great brands like great people are hero worshipped. They may not be friends but there is a lot about them we aspire for. Friendship and aspiration happens with familiarity and a conversation. Enduring and admired brands succeed in the two way conversation. It is much more about listening than speaking.

Despite technology the best conversations happen face to face. The Auto Industry usually puts on its best face for the Auto Expo biennial at Greater NOIDA. Even that conversation was mostly silent. Many stalwart brands stayed away or worse, participated in a half-hearted, scaled down manner. We put up a brave effort and perhaps our strongest showing ever. Our guests loved our lush green, arboreal pavilion and admired the multiple Electric Vehicles (EVs) displayed at the venue.

We imagined that the last fiscal was Annus Horriblis for the Auto Industry. Now it appears that the last year was a mere precursor to the travails that await the industry now. What was lost in the shrill cacophony of brands trying to drum up more leads in a deaf, unresponsive marketplace was this conversation between the brand and their Brand Audience. There is inevitable pressure to divert efforts and budgets from having deep, meaningful conversations to getting leads.

Our Audience is afraid . . . of losing health, of losing jobs, of losing loved ones and much more. Would we impose on a disturbed, worried, scared friend a referral scheme for a time share holiday, an insurance scheme or whatever widget that we are tasked to sell? No . . . we would sit close by, hold their hands and listen to them speak and unburden. We would help.

Why should it be any different for the conversations that we lead as Marketers? Why do we abandon conversation in times of crisis to focus exclusively on transactional lead generation? Is it because we the Marketer are as afraid as the Audience?

2) Inspire, Surprise, Entertain and Educate

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs - begins my favourite inspiring poem, If by Rudyard Kipling. By ‘keep your head’ the poet alludes to ‘maintain your calm’ not the reduction of head-counts. Look into your Social Media feeds and you shall find - The brands that we admire are all working to inspire, mostly through amazing content marketing. And a very chosen few brands through the grand magnanimity of their actions.

Not all brands are meant to Inspire. But surely we can find it within us to pleasantly surprise, entertain and educate. No matter how humble our budget, product category or our audience. One of my most fulfilling customer surprises recently was at a tiny hamlet of Bagdol high in the Nepalese Himalayas, reachable only by a barely motorable rock strewn track.

The village collective had purchased five UVs. These were to augment the village fleet of twenty UVs all of a competitor nameplate. The village council was pleasantly surprised to find that we travelled all the way from Mumbai to deliver the vehicles to them and spend the night in their village. The stone huts we stayed in were basic, unheated, the night bone-chilling and bitterly cold. The villagers delightfully surprised us the next morning. They committed to convert their entire fleet of the competitor vehicles to our vehicles.

When we Inspire, Surprise, Entertain and Educate our Brand Audience, we always reap multi-fold.

3) Economize but first Empathize

The words of the Mahatma is most relevant in these trying times. “Recall the face of the poorest and weakest person you have seen. Ask yourself if this step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.” Before we act let us think of the repercussions on our frailest customers, our weakest channel partners and that tiny struggling vendor awaiting payment.

As Brand Custodians we are all having heated conversations with Finance. There is a crying need for leaner marketing budgets and conserving expenses. However, this cannot be at the cost of human livelihoods, a trail of missed payments and broken commitments.

As Brand Custodians let us strive our utmost to be fair and empathize with all our stake holders

I close with the closing lines of another lovely poem, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann. ‘And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.’