Have you ever played the old parlour game of ‘Whispers’ where one person whispers a phrase to you and you pass it on, by whisper, to the next person. After 6 or 7 rounds ‘I have a square’ becomes  ’a star’. It’s a demonstration of how the intent behind a message can be lost in transition if there is not someone standing between the individual whisperers correcting them.

Early in my marketing career it struck me that the same distortion of message happens when we are trying to take our customers from one end of the purchase process to the other – from a vague interest or need  for our product to purchase. At each stage the customer makes decisions about your brand and product that determine whether you make it to the next stage. Trusting to luck and leaving  your message to find its own way through the purchase process is fraught with danger.

The savvy marketer knows you need to manage every aspect – the brand message and voice, the value proposition and communication content – at every stage to ensure you get the best bang for your marketing buck. You need to look at each stage, at every touchpoint and identify which aspects of your message need dialing up and which down, in order that you can remain in the process.

As a next step you then need to design communications that best deliver the appropriate message at each stage, perhaps a phone follow-up to sales enquiry, an e-mail campaign to people who have asked for a quote, a leaflet explaining jargon at the point they are exploring products…the fun is in identifying the communication gaps and finding ways to fill them.

Reviewing your purchase process might seem arduous but you could be missing a simple fix that could really impact your bottom line sales – imagine if your conversion rate went from 1 to 2%.

As an marketer I have found this approach incredibly powerful . Simply put, this is how I view the communications process.

Knowing the process is only part of the answer, you then have to work with other talented people to make it work.
Here at Truly Deeply we are devoted to ensuring our clients stay true to their brand strategy, brand essence and core message in everything they do. If you would like to talk to us about how we can fool-proof your purchase process why not give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey
Client Experiences Director and Direct Marketing go-to guy.

The Australian Food News newsletter recently reported on research in the UK (by food and grocery experts IGD) that had shown British consumers have little confidence that their shopping choices can make a sustained difference on some of the major social, economic and environmental issues of our day. Of course the UK consumer may be different to the Australian, but I wonder by how much?

Coming from an agency that devotes itself to developing brand strategy driven by insight I couldn’t help wondering what these results say about the brands that are on the supermarket shelves and that are at the heart of how these consumers responded.

When asked what they can positively influence shoppers told IGD:

• Personal Health 57%
• British Farmers 41%
• The local economy 38%
• The way animals are treated 38%
• Farmers and workers in poorer nations 26%
• The environment 23%
• Sustainable fishing 17%
• Global warming 11%

Some interesting observations can be derived from these stats:

1. Its not that 57% of consumers feel that they can influence their personal health but that 43%  felt they couldn’t. The only thing in the world you really have total control over is what you put into your own body, and yet they don’t even feel they can do that. Is there a lack of education on healthy food choices, or is it that the healthier choices can often be more expensive?
2. Only 1 in 4 people believe they can make a difference to farmers and workers in poorer nations. This despite earlier IGD research that 52% of consumers say the pay and conditions of workers producing their food would be an important factor in their purchase decision.
   

   Cadbury, Nestle and Kraft have all recently announced  that they will be using Cocoa beans derived from Fairtrade sources in some products and regions, but you’ll have to be eating a bar of Kit Kat in the UK to be making a difference here. Despite the growth of Fairtrade my sense is these examples are still very much the exception when it comes to the big brands, and Fairtrade is more a term you’ll find on smaller niche brands.

3. Last but not least, the environment and global warming. I suspect after the last 2 weeks in Copenhagen the %’s here might be even lower than the survey recorded. How much more unable to make a difference do we feel after what took place there.  A clear example of the reasons why the consumer feels helpless.

So why does all this frustrate me?

Well, as a consumer, some of the results are just too close to home. They add to my sense that I should be doing more but that I can’t. Equally, from the perspective of a brand specialist, the statistics are quite stunning. The responses are based upon the customers ability, through the brands they choose, to have a positive impact. The overall picture that emerges is of a consumer lost in the supermarket aisles either unsupported, unempowered, poorly informed, or all three.

If this is the case then the major brands either need to start telling people more overtly how they are helping you to make a difference, or start acting more responsibly by actually taking supply chain decisions that have an impact that the consumer can see and feel part of.

This is not just a challenge, it’s a massive opportunity for a brand to present itself to the consumers as the means by which they can make a difference! It’s an opportunity for brands, big and small, to devise a brand strategy that makes their brands voice that of the consumer.

Why not give us a call for a chat about how your brand could better connect with peoples desire to feel they make a difference. Give us a call, we’d love to have a chat

Happy Christmas and best wishes for a prosperous 2010.

Malcolm Harvey,
Brand Champion to the Unempowered

This week there has been a lot of press coverage of Brand Finance’s ranking of Australia’s strongest brands. The study focused on brand portfolios owned by ASX listed companies and excluded secondary listings. The value of individual brands was not split out, so the results reflect the total basket of brands that an individual company may own. That means for some one like Woolworths, it is the combined ranking of the likes of its supermarket brand, along with Dick Smith, Dan Murphy’s and
the like.

Brand Finance reaches a total value of the corporate and consumer brands on its list by adding up a company’s market capitalisation, debt and intangible assets – which can be anything from the strength of its brands to loyalty schemes, supplier relationships and intellectual property.

The top 10 Australian brands, were ranked as follows:

When you look at the top 10 brands it is a great reminder that true consumer sentiment does not always play out. If you take a moment to reflect on the brands, to what extent do they conjure up in your mind a privileged position of immense consumer esteem, emotional connection or even love? For me, at least half of the top 10 suck when it comes to true consumer connection. They really have their place there because of the size of their market capitalisation and a self serving industry structure that means the average consumer feels they have no real choice. I am a Commonwealth Bank customer and have never seriously considered changing because my expectation is that I would be offered exactly the same lack of love and devotion from the other three major banks. They tolerate me and I tolerate them. There is familiarity but there is no emotional connection.

Telstra has a firm hold on me for functional purposes only – they deliver mobile coverage to our weekend get-away, nothing more, nothing less; there is simply no choice.  Yes, perhaps I am showing my personal bias with respect to these brands, but then again isn’t that the sheer delight of having a blog, you get to share the things that you would normally just think.

Having said all that, there are a couple of brands within the Foster’s portfolio of brands that have me hooked – but in fairness to the banks I guess I will always have a preference for a VB over standing in the queue for a bank teller.

Peter Singline
Brand Scientist

Beers aint beers
Everything about the Coopers brand oozes authenticity. Coopers in South Australia is a family owned brewery with a long history of making fine ale (as opposed to making beer). Coopers is a brand with high beer cred for taste and quality. But the finest thing about the Coopers family is they understand how rich and valuable that history is as a brand asset, and communicate it with passion and humour at every opportunity.

The Coopers brand visual language
Over the years the visual language of the Coopers brand has continued to evolve, but with few exceptions it has remained on the same path of authenticity and tradition. Each element of the visual language from the Coopers signature brand mark, to the headline font of their ads, the design of their labels, the shape and colour of their bottles, the background texture of their brand communications, their point of sale and of course their on-line presence, all confidently sing the same tune. Decoding the visual language of the Coopers brand identity we discover a brew of:
• Tradition & heritage
• Old School craftsmanship
• Hard working
• Timelessness
• Down to earth
• Attention to detail
• Masculinity
• Confidence
• Warmth
• Sense of humour
• Knock-about attitude

Seriously Amusing
So how does an authentic brand maintain its relevance, its connection to a contemporary market? Coopers uses a brand personality packed with humour. Is there any brand personality trait more appealing than humour? Certainly in the beer drinking market of Australia, the larikin is a much loved character trait – even more-so when he laughs at himself.

At a time when it seems our lives are moving faster than ever, and the world continues to change apace, there are few things as refreshing as a long, cool drink of a brand with both a rich heritage and a contemporary sense of humour.

Dave