I recently attended the 2018 Unbound Miami conference. Unbound is an organization that focuses on fueling brand and corporate innovation and growth by connecting them with startups offering disruptive technology, products, and services, through ‘festivals.’ The Miami festival centered around innovation in Latin America.
Elena Bajic (CEO at Ivy Exec) moderating panel, "Building Authentic Brand Experiences," featuring... [+]
I moderated a panel on creating authentic brand experiences, featuring three renowned branding/marketing experts, Alejandro Betancourt (Associate Brand Director at P&G), Pedro Porto (Head of Strategy at Twitter) and Sam Baum (Director of Marketing at RedBull). As a backdrop to our conversation, one of the biggest business challenges in the Latin American market is trying to deliver a clear brand message in a region boasting a shared language, while offering many unique cultural differences that must be accounted for when trying to speak to the entire market with one clear brand voice. Though the discussion was focused in a Latin American context, I felt strongly that the lessons learned were universal. Here are three of my key takeaways from the discussion:
Brands need to have a Core Identity that Resonates with Their Customers
“If my brand died tomorrow, how would I want it to be remembered? What would be the most recognizable feature of what my brand stood for that anyone who had ever interacted with it could point to?” After digesting the conversation with my panel, these two questions were how I thought I could best arrive at defining or refining the core identity of my own brand. If you consider a given product, there are myriad competitors in its space. What’s true of the leader(s) in a particular space is that consumers recognize something that is true about the brand that they can latch onto. In addition to having a product that effectively solves a tangible consumer problem, there must be a real and accessible identity behind the product. With today’s high consumer expectations, a business must deliver an excellent product and more.
There is no hiding in today’s market, especially with social media. Sam shared the importance of brands possessing a transparent identity because of the numerous ways in which consumers can engage with a product and the multiple generations across which a brand must appeal. As business leaders, we are fighting for the attention of the most information overloaded society in human history. Given this state of overload, it’s important for a brand to figure out first, what is important to the brand, and second, what really matters to its consumers -- by listening. It should be our goal to figure out the perspective and specific challenges faced in the lives of our consumers, beyond the specific function of our product, and relate to it in a way that is consistent with our brand’s values and ideals. Making these values foundational, visible, accessible, and stable, is how I can see my way toward establishing a core identity.
Customers have Expectations: It’s Not Just About Your Product It’s Also About Your Commitment (Social or Political)
Today’s customers increasingly want to know what a brand stands for, and the simplest way to determine that is by observing the stance that your business chooses to make publically on a social or political issue. Your lack of a clearly defined stance can also speak volumes. Alejandro pointed to the need for brands to take a stance in matters that are important in the lives of consumers. In doing so, he added that consumers can then see and decide if the values of the brand match their own. What you commit to supporting in tangible ways, is a clear way to demonstrate your brand’s values in action. Issues such as the #MeToo movement engender incredibly strong emotions and when a brand takes a stance on a large-scale, macro issue like this, or a hyperlocal issue like a polluted river, it’s a chance to establish an emotional connection to consumers in an authentic way. Brands become meaningful when they connect on a deeper emotional level by tapping into and committing to an issue that is salient in the daily lives of consumers.
You Must be Part of a Meaningful Dialogue with Customers
I couldn’t have put it any better than when Pedro said, “#StartWithThem,” which is the advice he gives to all his clients who wish to communicate and be meaningful to their consumers. The only way to understand what is relevant in the lives of our customers is to listen. It’s no longer about who can shout the loudest about the benefits of their product. It’s about being an integral part of the dialogue for a community and what consumers are thinking about. Brands need to learn about real issues that affect consumers lives, craft a message that will resonate with them, and continue to reshape that message until it is truly reflecting what consumers are thinking and feeling.
As I think about all of these moving parts, they are all quite interdependent, but it all starts with the core identity. It’s hard, if not impossible to take a principled stand or have a meaningful dialogue as a brand, if who you are is a brand is not rock-solid. Any attempts to enter a public discourse on an issue and engage with consumers on Twitter, Instagram or elsewhere will be sniffed out as inauthentic in a second, and consumers will go find someone who is real. If as a brand you spend the time and effort to clarify and establish the real you, you likely won’t ever get caught looking unreal.
