Brands must tap the daily rhythms of life to resonate with consumers

Bernard Salt
MARCH 26, 2015
THE AUSTRALIAN
Companies come and go. Management structures and chief executives come and go even quicker. What endures is brand. Some of Australia’s most successful brands have been part of the consumer landscape for decades. Others have fallen by the wayside; discarded by a market whose fickle taste has preferred something different.
However, I think there is a large and potentially expandable segment of the market that wants an ongoing relationship with brand.
Perhaps it’s the inertia of change. Perhaps it’s that some product has the capacity to align precisely over time with the needs of a market segment. Perhaps it’s that in a world of ever-expanding choice some consumers like the simplicity of a relationship with a single product. Whatever the explanation, what business wants for its products — and what I suspect many consumers also want — is a meaningful and ongoing relationship.
What brand have you had the longest relationship with? Would it be something like Colgate toothpaste or one of Kellogg’s breakfast cereals? In terms of service providers, are the most enduring relationships likely to be those with institutions like the church, a union, the postal service, a political party, the tax office, or perhaps a football team.
The packaging, the price point, the technology, even the very success of the product (I’m thinking footy teams) can change over decades and yet for some the consumer relationship endures. It’s almost as if some products and services weasel their way into an emotional relationship with the consumer. Yes, we complain about the tax office but its very existence delivers a sense of security and a certainty that life as we know it will continue. Yes, we complain about our football team never winning (are you listening St Kilda?) but there could never be a suggestion that we might change teams.
And yet there are other consumer relationships that are happily offloaded. Google is a better product than Encyclopedia Britannica. I suspect that Uber will eventually be regarded as a better product than the traditional taxi service. In order to get into an emotional relationship with a consumer, a product or a service must deliver something meaningful in return. That something can be affirmation, security, commitment or, dare I say it, love. Why else would someone remain committed to a team, to a brand or to an institution over a lifetime?
In order to be loved the product or the service must connect into the daily rhythm of life: you can follow the exploits of your team daily; you can go to mass daily; you brush your teeth daily. You might have warm and fuzzy feelings for an airline but because that relationship is consummated just once a year on holidays then that relationship is more open to being redefined. Whereas with fast moving consumer goods like Coke, Colgate, Kellogg’s and Cadbury for example, or indeed with some services and institutions, the consumer relationship can also be reaffirmed weekly if not daily. Lovers are ever present in your life. Plus life is simpler with known and trusted relationships; courtship is all very exciting but it’s not a sustainable way of life. No, it’s not. Move on.
There is also the argument that that consumer choice goes to the issue of personal values: to change from Colgate to another brand is akin to changing footy teams; to do so would be a betrayal of years of past choices. I don’t see how property groups can leverage themselves into this love space with consumers: a house purchase is too infrequent an act. Consumer love needs to be exercised often to sustain a healthy relationship. I think that banks and to a lesser extent insurance companies can weave themselves into an emotional relationship with customers.
Banking with a particular bank can trigger an emotional connection to a consumer’s first bank account possibly set up by their parents. Do not dismiss the benefits of longevity; there’s the inertia of change plus there’s an emotional connection to simpler times. McDonald’s Ronald McDonald is on a mission not so much to sell happy meals but to win young hearts and minds. For ever.
Loyalty to a car insurance company can connect a driver emotionally to the day they bought their first car with insurance advice from their father. To switch insurance companies now after all these years somehow feels like a betrayal of fatherly support.
We are told that there is no brand loyalty anymore and that may well be the case, for some. But I suspect that the issue of consumer loyalty is a bit like politics: one-third will always vote for you; one-third will never vote for you; and one-third is swayable. Pricing and special offers may sway some consumers to buy a product, but is it possible to expand the deeply loyal base by triggering and affirming an emotional connection? The bank knows and appreciates your love and the bank wants you to know that you are very much loved in return. I am sure there’s an advertising creative right now working on just such a campaign.
Imagine if the one-third base of rusted-on bank-lovers could be increased by even a few percentage points. While other banks look to sway the swayable you are looking to expand the most loyal base. Perhaps product and service providers should consider what it is that an emotional relationship with a consumer delivers over and above the basics. Is it security and assurance as might be the case for the tax office or the police service for that matter? Or is it a deep and abiding connection with childhood as might be the case for a bank or a brand of toothpaste?
What is the emotional context by which the most loyal customer base connects with your product? Is your product or service ready to be loved? Is it sending out the wrong signals? Never available; too haughty; too interested in relationships with other consumers who aren’t prepared to commit. If you want a deep and loving connection with your customer base then perhaps you need to take a chance and be open to the possibility that someone wants your product. For ever. Don’t be closed to the idea of consumer love.
This is not to suggest that at times much-loved products and services are forever immune from the wrath of consumer choice. Newspaper brands, dated mobile phone technology, long-running TV shows, even celebrities and politicians can lose their appeal and relevance. Sadly some brands simply grow apart from their customer base. The market has moved in a different direction and has wantonly and without care for the consequences engaged with new products. And what’s more you were the last to know; too absorbed in your own world.
As was discovered by silent movie star Rudolph Valentino following the introduction of talkies, and as discovered by dumped politicians the morning after an election, consumer choice can be swift and brutal.
The deep connection and affection that some consumers feel for some brands is counterbalanced by indifference to others. The brands that endure best are those that are adaptable and that invest in an emotional connection with a loyal consumer base.
Bernard Salt is a KPMG Partner and an adjunct professor at Curtin University’s Business School; @bernardsalt; bsalt@kpmg.com.au