Have brands lost sight of their power to shape consumer demand?
The majority of interactions with a brand are now initiated by consumers, not by their marketing, according to over half of CMOs. The result? Many brands are diluting their own identity in the pursuit of personalisation and meeting consumer demand.
So how can brands reaffirm their personality to connect with consumers?
Our latest report, developed in collaboration with Longitude (a Financial Times company) and drawing on interviews with industry experts, finds many bold brands are now reasserting themselves, across five key dimensions:
- Create shared experiences: brands steer customer purchasing by capitalising on shared experiences and the power of influencers.
- Make it easy: brands offer bundled products and services to lower the ‘decision’ barrier to purchase.
- Solve human problems: brands reassert their value by anticipating consumer needs.
- Choose words carefully: brands retain control by talking to consumers as well as listening.
- Open up: brands utilise transparency to forge closer consumer relationships.
To retain credibility as a source of problem-solving, brands need to keep hold of the personality and human traits that distinguished them in the first place. In this fast-changing and customer-driven environment, there is still an opportunity for brands to combine responsiveness with calm authority and cut through the noise.