5 things that are key to building strong brands:
#1: Conviction fuels conversion: Start with engagement
#2: Ideas matter more than media: A great brand idea should translate
#3: People are okay with complexity (as long as you make it easy)
#4: Authenticity leads to visibility: “Build” vs. “badge” approach to sponsorships
#5: People power marketing: You need a “brand2everyone” approach
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5 tips for brand building and brand management
1. 5 WAYS TO BE
BRAND
BRILLIANT
AXIOMS OF MODERN BRAND MANAGEMENT
FROM JACK MORTON
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT summarizes five core beliefs we have
here at Jack Morton about building brands now:
CONVICTION FUELS CONVERSION
#1
Don’t start with awareness as a goal; start by getting people to interact with your brand
#2 IDEAS MATTER MORE THAN MEDIA
A great brand idea should translate across media
#3 P
EOPLE ARE OKAY WITH COMPLEXITY (AS LONG AS YOU MAKE IT EASY)
Consumers crave brand content and context; you have to make it relevant and resonant
#4 A
UTHENTICITY MAKES YOU VISIBLE (THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE)
Instead of taking a “badge” approach to sponsorships, what about a “build” approach?
#5 P
EOPLE POWER MARKETING
fuel effective marketing, you need to “brand2everyone”
To
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /2
3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 4
Axiom #1 – Conviction fuels conversion 5
Axiom #2 – Ideas matter more than media 7
Axiom #3 – People are okay with complexity (as long as you make it easy) 9
Axiom #4 – Authenticity makes you visible (the opposite is true) 11
Axiom #5 – People power marketing 12
Talk to Jack 14
About Jack Morton 15
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /3
4. INTRODUCTION
Josh McCall
We’re comfortable
Here at Jack Morton, we like big ideas and we like talking with debate.
about them as much as any other agency. More so, perhaps,
because we come at this field from a unique point of view –
that of a brand experience agency. We have a way of seeing We don’t claim to know
the world that isn’t quite in line with conventional wisdom and
traditionally conceived marketing. We feel pretty passionately or do everything but
so we spend a lot of time engaged in conversation with clients,
colleagues and peers, sharing what we consider to be core
we’re serious about
truths about how to build brands today. having the conversation.
We’ve gathered five of what we consider the most important of
these axioms in the pages that follow.
I’ve spent enough time with marketing and brand people to
be a little nervous about offering them advice on “how to be
brilliant” – it feels a bit presumptuous. But we want to provoke
a conversation. We’re comfortable with debate. We don’t
claim to know or do everything (notice we’ve titled this
“5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT”, not “the five only ways
to be brand brilliant”) but we’re serious about having the
conversation.
So please do tell us: What do you think? Do you agree?
We’d like to know.
Josh McCall
Chairman CEO of
Jack Morton Worldwide
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /4
5. AXIOM #1
CONVICTION FUELS CONVERSION
Don’t start with awareness as a goal; start by process – based on, for example, advice they actively seek
out from trusted friends. And once they’re customers, it’s actual
getting people to interact with your brand.
experience with the brand – say, customer service – that in
large part determines future purchase. Ultimately, McKinsey
The oldest chestnut in the marketing book is the metaphor of
concluded, marketers should focus less on the two ends of
a funnel to describe how consumers are reached, influenced
the funnel (awareness and loyalty) and more on the whole
and ultimately converted to customers. According to this
landscape of touchpoints and experiences that influence
model, mass matters most: marketers should start by creating
purchase. If they’re not part of the consideration
awareness on as broad a scale as they can afford (and it’s
set, if they’re not part of the conversation,
expensive to buy through traditional media). They then push
they should (to paraphrase Don Draper)
likely buyers into an ever narrower funnel, moving them to
create disruptions that change the
positive opinions, consideration and ultimately purchase.
conversation.
We in the brand experience space struggle with the funnel
metaphor because we’re not so obviously about mass impact:
we’re about getting a small but important group to engage
deeply with a brand. That’s what experience does well. If you
subscribe to the funnel worldview, it’s harder to justify honing in
so narrowly.
But here’s the thing: very wise people have concluded that
the funnel model isn’t accurate. In a study of over 20,000
consumers across five industries and three continents, McKinsey
concluded that their decision-making process is circular. Rather
than narrowing into a funnel, consumers may actually add
brands to their consideration set as they move through the
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /5
6. AXIOM #1 CONVICTION FUELS CONVERSION
THE
THE WAY
OLD
METAPHOR FORWARD
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /6
7. AXIOM #1 CONVICTION FUELS CONVERSION
So, as it turns out, brand experience is actually very well-suited Brand experience drives conviction – and conviction converts
to a post-funnel world. Rather than spreading a thin layer of triers into buyers and believers. Even if this happens on a
awareness across a broad population, engaging fewer people relatively small scale, in industries with high-consideration
more deeply does two things brilliantly: products (like cars or consumer electronics) higher conversion
rates rapidly add up to significant ROI for brand experience.
1. Provide direct interaction with the brand that fuels
But even in low-consideration sectors, brand experience can
real conviction and conversion. This is especially
achieve mass impact as well. We use the phrase “experienced
relevant for well-known brands that have fallen out of
by few, witnessed by many” to describe the phenomenon of
the consideration set; getting people to touch and feel
how a truly unique experience can captivate the attention of
your brand here and now is a way to make it relevant
the world’s media and generate earned media coverage on
here and now. A circular journey means brands can
a mass scale.
opportunistically jump into the consideration set.
2. Inspire people to talk about your brand. According
to our own research, the influence of word of mouth
is enormous. Across geographies there is no more
highly valued source of information about brands than
people you know giving you advice – and most people
say they’ll only talk about brands they’ve actually
experienced.
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /7
8. AXIOM #2
IDEAS MATTER MORE THAN MEDIA
A great brand idea should translate
across media. We like the definition provided by Bob Greenberg and
Barry Wacksman of R/GA: “When a brand creates its own
Clients have always hired agencies for ideas – that’s what media properties that consumers use over and over again,
they need most and we do best. They know their business; such as a popular video on YouTube or a popular digital
we have ideas. platform like Nike+, this is ‘owned’ media. When consumers
share these media properties with each other – as when one
One of the most exciting things about what’s happening in the person passes along a viral link to another, or blogs or tweets
world of marketing today is that clients are increasingly likely about a brand, or ‘likes’ a brand on Facebook – this is
to buy great ideas with a refreshing disregard for media as it ‘earned’ media.”
used to be defined. They want great ideas and they recognize
that ideas come from everywhere (not just from the agencies According to this definition, “owned media” is an idea, a
that are called, somewhat redundantly, creative). They want story or experience that’s created by the brand, and “earned
ideas to be able to translate and transcend media; ideas don’t media” is when people recommend and share that same
always get born as an ad that then turns into an activation. experience with others. What’s important about owned media
isn’t what it looks like or the form it takes. What’s important is
As a brand experience agency, we are particularly passionate that it’s so inspiring that it’s shared with others. According to
about generating owned media ideas. this definition, owned media could be something you see on
YouTube – or it could be customer service that’s so great you tell
Now, people’s eyes can start to glaze over when we talk about others about it. Some of our favorites started out as experiences
defining owned media, but perhaps that’s because it has a bad in the real world that took on a life of their own online: think of
rep from years of being an afterthought – the thing you turn to Coke’s brilliant “Happiness Machine” (which was born out of a
once your paid media budget was all used up. digital agency’s brainstorming).
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /8
9. AXIOM #2 IDEAS MATTER MORE THAN MEDIA
For us, it’s the idea that’s special for brands and for people,
not media – and we feel vindicated by a couple of phenomena
in the world today. The first comes from the world of marketing,
where the most prestigious awards (such as the Cannes
Titanium prize) reward ideas regardless of media. The second
and ultimately more important phenomenon comes from
consumers themselves, who in a recent study overwhelming
told us that given all the clutter and noise in the world today,
“if a brand wants to get my attention it has to do something
special”. An owned media idea that a brand can leverage
across media – that’s special. Great owned media ideas create
special moments that capture people’s attention, or invent
reasons to connect with your brand.
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /9
10. AXIOM #3
PEOPLE ARE OKAY WITH COMPLEXITY (AS LONG AS YOU MAKE IT EASY)
Consumers crave brand content and context;
you have to make it relevant and resonant.
Many of us can feel at times that we’re drowning in
information: all those unanswered emails and unopened pieces
of mail, all the ads we skip and brand-driven SMS messages
we delete while cursing and mentally tallying up the bill. This
sensation of information overload comes when we’re faced
with content we haven’t asked for or that interrupts us without
showing relevance. We may cite that statistic reported in the
New York Times, that the typical western city-dweller is exposed
to over 5,000 media messages daily.
Exhausted yet?
Lest we project that sense of being overwhelmed on the people
we’re trying to reach, let’s remember what the research actually
shows. In fact, people really want and crave information about
brands and products. They just want it on their terms, with
content and context that suit their needs.
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /10
11. AXIOM #3 PEOPLE ARE OKAY WITH COMPLEXITY (AS LONG AS YOU MAKE IT EASY)
According to research conducted by Jack Morton: The trick is to make even complex information accessible
and relevant. Face-to-face brand experiences connecting
• 8
7% of consumers say that “information is my friend”;
people who have an interest in the brand with people who
information turns them from passive targets to active
can speak on its behalf – whether paid company staff or
participants in the brand dialogue
inspired advocates – provide a terrific platform for content
• I
nformation about brands makes people feel and context. But so do great stories well told. A favorite
“empowered” and “in control” (and women are slightly recent example is Chipotle’s “Back to the Start” video, which
more likely to claim this empowerment, despite being started out online before being deployed as the brand’s first-
likely to note that there are more competing sources of ever national US ad, sparking robust dialogue about a very
information available) complex subject along the way.
• T
he top sources of information most likely to drive
purchase aren’t passive awareness vehicles such as
traditional advertising; they’re more active engagement-
driven sources like advice sought from or given by
friends and family
• A
fter purchase, people continue to seek out relevant
information from brands and friends: to stay current on
features, to save money, to be better consumers – and to
defect to a better alternative if their current brand doesn’t
keep them engaged
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /11
12. AXIOM #4
AUTHENTICITY MAKES YOU VISIBLE (THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE)
Instead of taking a “badge” approach to to sponsorship treat it as more of a collaboration than a
sponsorships, what about a “build” approach? transaction. They don’t just tick a box and gain the “exclusive”
slot for their sector. They look for the authentic intersection of
It’s a safe bet that you’ve ignored billions of dollars of poorly shared passions and values for the property, the fans and their
spent sponsorship dollars. You didn’t do it maliciously. It’s just own brand, and build from there.
that there are far too many brands that spend richly for the
right to display their logo as a badge atop properties that Ultimately, authenticity is very hard to ignore. Love it or hate it,
aren’t really authentically connected to who they are. it does get noticed. Sadly, the opposite is also true.
The brands that take this “badge” approach to sponsorship
are very easy to ignore (and it’s an expensive oversight).
Brands that take a “build” approach to sponsorship are braver.
Possibly they invent something that doesn’t exist that’s needed
in the community – a need that they can uniquely fill. They see
a white space for an experience that would be valued – and
they fill that space by creating an experience that’s new, that’s
their own. At best, this unique experience shines a spotlight
on the unique value they offer customers. For example, Chevy
received high marks at SXSW 2012 for providing attendees
a service that was truly needed – free rides around Austin
during the frenetic and crowded conference – and that also
showcased its vehicles in a very compelling, engaging way
(see Axiom 1).
But even if they’re signing on to an existing property instead
of creating their own, brands that take a “build” approach
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /12
13. AXIOM #5
PEOPLE POWER MARKETING
To fuel effective marketing, you need to
“brand2everyone”
We often say it’s time to stop thinking “B2C” versus “B2B” To name just one example, there’s a lot of talk about “shopper
and start thinking “B2E”: brand to everyone. That’s because marketing” right now. People – a company’s own staff, their
people don’t think of themselves under the rubric of a category: salespeople, their customer service, their retail or channel
they just want to know who you are, what you stand for partners’ employees – have a role in helping shoppers make
and how you can help them. It’s true of end users, it’s true the right choice at the moment of truth.
of business audiences and it’s true of the people that deliver
brands and products to customers. All of them expect Our own research with consumers in Brazil, China, India and
marketers to give them their very best pitch. In that sense, the US showed that over half (51%) of people say they change
everyone is a consumer. their minds when they arrive in-store, already prepared to
buy a product. A stunning 62% of the time they change their
Unfortunately not all audiences are treated as equals. Internal minds not because of price but because of interactions with
audiences – staff, salespeople, customer service, retail or staff in-store or information they receive in the store. It’s worth
channel partners’ employees – are often an afterthought or not repeating: more often than not, the in-store experience trumps
thought of at all. We think they’re fundamental, because their price in swaying customers from one brand to another.
behaviors influence purchase – in ways that may be visible or
invisible, but are always meaningful to the business.
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /13
14. AXIOM #5 PEOPLE POWER MARKETING
How can brands maximize the opportunity to engage people With all our understandable excitement about technology
to deliver a great brand experience? As a start, they can and media platforms today, we tend to forget that a lot of the
prioritize programs that prioritize internal and business marketing that matters is actually delivered or influenced by
audiences. They can also elevate the content, design and people. The better marketers can equip people to influence
marketing savvy for these campaigns: if brands expect their other people, the more successful they’ll be.
retail partners’ staff to get excited about their products, they
have to work to make their products exciting (just like they do
in their consumer advertising).
5 WAYS TO BE BRAND BRILLIANT /14
15. THIS IS JUST PART OF
THE CONVERSATION.
HERE ARE A CONTACT
FEW WAYS TO
Liz Bigham
+1 212 401 7212
TALK
liz_bigham@jackmorton.com
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