Shifting to the future

Using brand ideals to fuel future business growth

Raj SamuelInnovations Director - AMV/BBDO London@Samosaone

Two questions

• Have you seen any fundamental shifts in how marketers are looking at the future challenge?

• Any new and valuable ways in which consumer behaviour is being assessed or tracked?

In a nutshell…

How can we be more valuable to consumers to ensure we future-proof

the business?

A very popular topic & direction

• Have you seen any fundamental shifts in how marketers are looking at the future challenge?

• Any new and valuable ways in which consumer behaviour is being assessed or tracked?

Current context…

Brands have been following the human trajectory

Physio Security Social Esteem Meaning

Brands

• Consumers will continue to evolve….towards more meaning• Companies will need to follow suit to be more competitive

and profitable• The trend is just overlayed by the sudden stress of the

economic climate

The tremendous growth in social technologies has brought people together at an unprecedented rate

confiden

An uneasy climate and limited faith in business is accelerating response & action

Social facilitation galvanising audiences

There’s been a massive erosion of…

Measuring market cap

1984

100%Tangible assets

2010

40-50%Tangible assets

Intangible assets Brand – the

potential for capturing hearts & trust as well as future growth lies here

Grow – Jim Stengel / S&P 500

Trust is so key, but it’s in decline

Edelman Trust Barometer 2011-12

And our category needs to work harder

72% of people want businesses to be more socially responsible

Trust in CEOs has fallen dramatically

Trust protects reputation

A common denominator in growth

The fastest growing brands of the last 10 years were all ‘ideal-driven’ brands

• Brands that followed a higher order purpose

• Purpose which was a central driver of all its strategies

• One which aimed to improve lives in some way

• Made a contribution to society

‘Ideal-driven’ brands

Making the planet smarter Driving the human spirit

Uplifting mind & body Delivering happiness

The Top 50 had greater growth than the S&P 500

CSR/ideals – good for business

“We find evidence that in earlier periods, CSR [corporate social responsibility] strategies were perceived as value-destructing

and thus, had a negative impact on investment recommendations…

….whereas for later periods, CSR strengths are perceived as value-creating, reversing the earlier negative into a positive

impact on recommendations: analysts are more likely to recommend a stock ‘buy’ for CSR-strong firms in later years.”

Ideals inject brands with the meaning that consumers seek.

Becoming a more meaningful brand

To be ‘competitive’ in the new economy, brands need to become meaningful

• Creating ‘wealth’• Work towards a ‘betterness’ philosophy• Relooking at competition• Relooking at shareholders• Engendering trust

Wealth and betterness

No harm done Impact on society

Profits = Yawn

Profits = wealth / betterness

How we look at…counterorganisations

Competitors

How we look at…counterorganisations

Competitors, markets, networks, communities, activists, labor organisations, Anonymous,

hacktivists, lobbyists, interest groups

How we look at…

Shareholders

Redefining…

Societal Shareholders

Financial Shareholders

The ‘new’ companies have it in their DNA…

…attracting the new generation of customers & employees

Methods towards meaningfulness

• Eliciting happiness• Enabling connection & community• Inspiring exploration• Evoking pride• Impacting society• Reaching for a cause

Eliciting happiness

Enabling connection & community

Inspiring exploration

Evoking pride

Impacting society

Reaching for a cause

Ideals / purpose / trust

Edelman Trust Barometer

The Transformation of Trust

Old marketing New marketing

Differentiation Impact

Look, promise, benefits

Amplify human potential

• Have you seen any fundamental shifts in how marketers are looking at the future challenge?

• Any new and valuable ways in which consumer behaviour is being assessed or tracked?

Measuring

• If the world has gone social, social measurement is a vital necessity

• 1 in 5 tweets are about brands, how do we ensure positive conversation around our brands?

• Social chatter is the permanent, live focus group• Are people talking about us? And in what context?

How can this lead to continuing advocacy?

Social measuring

• Contextual analysis:

– Identify the common ethical levers, ideals - Environment, ethical standpoints, society, value.

–  – What’s the volume of chatter around our brands

and the ethical levers?  How many times is this brand referred to in regards to this lever?   

– And then look at engagement… drilling down into the noise, looking at sentiment, reach, potential advocacy etc

Thank you