In marketing circles, we focus on brand-building by effectively reaching customers, and getting their endorsement….
The business intelligentsia has been preaching about the need to connect with customers on both intellectual and emotional levels. Most of us would readily agree with that. But as marketers, we ought to ask ourselves which is more potent in brand-building via consumer response: the mind or the heart?
Brand differentiation is a truly vital element here. And that makes it imperative for a company to meet consumer needs on an emotional rather than merely an intellectual level. It also points to being able to execute customer service at a consistently high level. Human interaction and customer satisfaction help differentiate and cement relationships to a brand like nothing else.
For the customer, every touch point with a company’s products or services: the packaging of those products/services, the business’s Web site, its letters and special offers, its call center interactions with customers, its advertising and promotions, as well as its customer service, must all work in concert to create a cohesive brand experience. A positive experience in one channel does not create a connective brand experience: the sum of all of the customer touch points, if properly managed and aligned, do.
If companies think they are in the business of selling products and services, they should think again. They are actually in the relationship-building business, and that necessarily means emotional involvement on the part of the customers. Building strong customer relationships–B2B or B2C–directly correlates to the development of brand loyalty. And brand equity.
What’s Packaging Got to Do With It?
Packaging is a unique brand communicator. While tangible, it can deliver the intangibles of the brand like nothing else since the customer can see it, touch it and be engaged by it in a physical manner. It can also speak to the heart, not just the mind, of the customer. Dry packaging that dutifully lists features and benefits alone seeks out an intellectual response. That prompts the customer to think and employ reason: “Should I purchase this brand vs the other brands here?” It does not, however, elicit a prompt decision. Decision-making is a process.
On the other hand, packaging that unabashedly appeals to the emotions of the customer, leads to action. The structure, typography, use of color and symbolism that evoke an emotional response stop the customers in their tracks. We humans are emotional beings and if brands do not align themselves within our human experience, or touch us in an emotive way, why would they have any appeal to us?
Since we know that retail studies demonstrate over and over again that up to 85% of consumer purchases are made on impulse, and within shorter and shorter time frames, how meaningful is it when the customer makes an emotional connection to one particular brand among myriad choices on the shelf? If that product then delivers on its brand promise, how much more likely will it be for that customer to begin forming a relationship to it, especially if all of the other touch points of the brand are aligned?
For example, what is unique or endearing about a box of corn flakes cereal? Not much on the surface since it is a commodity product. Yet, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes remain a staple on many American breakfast tables. Even with a myriad of private label corn flake cereals in the marketplace, and more glamorous cereal choices with fruit, nuts, honey, and all kinds of other attractive ingredients, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes remains a solid choice for many.
Why? Consumers recall many Enjoyment moments–sometimes a lifetime of them–when buying this familiar heritage brand of cereal. There is familiarity and comfort when picking up the trusted package that features the colorful rooster, a spoonful of corn flakes and the line: “The Original & Bes.t.”
Consumers who have grown up with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes continue to enjoy the product, and more importantly, continue to enjoy a deep relationship with the brand. Kellogg’s is a venerable and trusted brand. In other words, this product and its brand carry tremendous emotional appeal. Otherwise, customers could buy another cereal if merely their intellectual need for nutrition had to be met since there are dozens to choose from.
Kellogg’s has updated and contemporized the look of the Corn Flakes product packaging over the years, but the company has wisely kept its core assets firmly in place. While many cereal companies have tried to emulate the success of Kellogg’s with corn flake cereals of their own, Kellogg’s owns the category since the brand has continually delivered on its brand promise, and Enjoyment assets™ to consumers year after year, for generations now.
Some marketers seem to be of the opinion that the consuming public is more fickle today. While noting that there are many more brands, products and services flooding the marketplace, we should observe that the basic customer need has always been, and continues to be the same. The customer will buy a company’s products or services if there is true or perceived differentiation, a high level of service and consistent value. Especially if they have formed an emotional connection and deepening relationship to the brand. Remember: loyalty can’t be bought. It must be earned.
Good advice. I believe brands are built from the inside/out, beginning with hiring for the culture and then rewarding those most passionate about the brand. All touch points are important but not equal. Our engagement with the brand is most affected by the human relationship.
As marketers, we often chase the “next big thing” and forget that there are customers who are delighted with our current products.
One thing that I hear from consumers is that they are frustrated when there are too many choices. When this happens, “analysis paralysis” can set in and delay or deter the purchase.
Understanding what unique benefits customers value in our products and services can help us understand when and how to introduce new versions.
If we don’t understand why our products and services inspire loyalty, we risk confusing habit with loyalty in evaluating customer behavior.
Thanks for the input, Lewis and Susan. I quite agree that we as marketers must focus on the human contact we make with the customer and our brands. We also, to cite Susan’s main point, can’t afford to become complacent with our successes and assume we have achieved brand loyalty. We have to be willing to work to earn the customer’s hard-earned dollars and their loyalty every day. And we have to understand the chief motivations behind their product purchases. At the end of the day, human to human contact, empathy and shared, basic values that ring true are the most important aspects of marketing. We’re all in the relationship building business.
“Consumers who have grown up with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes continue to enjoy the product, and more importantly, continue to enjoy a deep relationship with the brand. Kellogg’s is a venerable and trusted brand.”
You’re missing the key element in what a brand actually is.
They keep buying cereal because it’s good, not because they are emotionally tied to the “brand”. The experience is the brand, the quality of the product.
If the product (cereal) was bad, the brand would have died years ago.
I think that everyone who is building a product/service needs to step back and first make their product/service as good as it can be. That’s your brand, everything else is marketing of your brand.
Thanks for your input, Jim. As I stated in my article, perceived value (read: quality) is of utmost importance to the consumer. But on this point we disagree: with so many “quality choices” for consumers on the retail cereal shelf, if there wasn’t a strong sense of heritage and emotional attachment, why buy specific products? There are hosts of cereals that meet nutritional and quality standards? Why Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (just one example)?It is my contention that once the basic criteria are met, marketing and branding initiatives should work to cement the customer relationship. People, being people, purchase for emotional reasons as much as they do for intellectual reasons. Perhaps even more so for emotional reasons. That is my point.
Well put, Ted. The value and differentiation of a brand in a customer’s mind is stronger and more sutainable than that of a product. Strong differentiated brands will consistently generate, maximize and grow cash flows. They achieve this by commanding a price premium, allowing for brand extensions and licensing, creating barriers of entry, attracting and retaining more valuable customers, and reducing the costs of customer acquisition.
Hi Pedro,
Very eloquently put, and I thank you for weighing in on this issue. You are quite right. The brand should always be advanced first and be foremost in any CPG company’s collective mind. Delivering consistently on the brand promise and creating an emotional connection with the customer delivers great results for any company. The key here is not to ever rest on one’s laurels and take brand success for granted. This must be earned, and that means it has to be worked on every day.
I sure am glad I came across this article!! My daughter and I have a fashion company (Jahqoi) and we sell online. I’m not sure if it’s possible to get customers to develop an emotional attachment to a product that’s on a website. Maybe you have some ideas/tips about how to do that. We do, however, make a top-notch product (plus-size clothing) and we’re constantly working on improving it. So, I guess we’re on the right track.
I’ll be coming back regularly to read more of your articles. This one was extremely helpful.
- Dorez
Los Angeles, CA (USA)
I found this page whilst researching food manufacturing companies, and their marketing approach. Excellent information indeed. In particular i was investigating the impact of packaging over content of packages. Corn flakes, i once heard, can often cost much less in content, than the box in which they are contained for sale on the supermarket shelf. I was curious to know the actual figure to be quoted on this, so if anyone knows, would be grateful for an email or you can drop it in the contact page at http://www.K9Obedience.co.uk
Marketing is so much more powerful than product. Within the dog food industry it is clear that, just as with human food marketing, the packaging and approach to selling is given a lot more consideration than the actual contents of dog food and pet food in general.
A bag of dog food can contain some quite horrific elements. Many people are becoming increasingly aware of the nasty chemicals used in manufacturing processes, but more alarming is the fact that euthanised dogs and other pets, as well as zoo animals all contribute to modern tinned pet foods, which are nicely labelled as “Wholesome” or “Natural”. Maybe a dead tiger is a natural ‘thing’ in its corpse form, but the process of feeding it to dogs is certainly not! But do most consumers look that deeply into the term ‘natural’ when they read it on their dog’s food? No, they simply use the term to satisfy any emotive concerns (conscience, self-satisfaction etcetera) in order to go ahead and make the purchase which their impulses have already instructed them to make, of course as a direct result of an advert or some clever branding they have already been exposed to.
Marketing is everything, but i for one would like to see the substance behind a label or statement become more important to a consumer than the statement itself, which is quite often inaccurate and sometimes pure dishonesty.
I don’t foresee this happening however, so all i am left to do is make a conscientious choice myself to try not to be mislead by marketing, but to use it to simply inform me of a company’s intentions towards me, or in this case, towards my dogs!
Martin