An authentic brand has principles, moral values and helps us be true to ourselves. I was first made aware of the growing relevance of Brand Authenticity years ago, by a close dear friend and eminent Digital Marketing professor at NYU, Ms. Sharma. Then, the world had come out of recession and  being discretionary and parsimonious with your purchases was widely accepted, possibly even seen as fashionable. Green and fair trade consumerism slowed and offerings in that space struggled as consumers bypassed expensive cause associated products and traded down to cheaper alternatives. Priuses gathered dust in showrooms, consumers spurned pricey displays of their cause credentials, also known as ‘badging’, and turned to subtle ways to support like reduce, reuse, and recycle. In my view, the downturn had such a profound impact, that it shaped the mindset of an entire cohort of consumers.

 

So nothing seemed further from the truth then with authenticity on the decline, however the recent events that unfolded over the last one month, namely the GameStop stock surge story,  made me rethink about that conversation. To cut a long story Short (pun intended),  hedge funds got trapped in a ‘Short’ squeezed which meant they had to purchase the stock they borrowed and sold to a buyer in order to return it to the lender, at a much higher price to cover their positions, further driving the price of the stock up and dragging with them others who had bet  Short’. Was this too ‘Short’ an explanation? Perhaps so.

 

What surprised me about this is incident is power of social media at play. Individual investors on social news platform Reddit grabbed opportunities normally reserved for the big hedge fund players, leveraging trading platforms like Robinhood.  This was a rally by small retail investors to spoil the game for the notorious large institutional players who are used to crashing the party for serious retail buyers. They were driven by a cause to beat the hedge funds at their own game. However Robinhood played spoilt sport and stopped trading on GameStop shares, much to the chagrin of its patrons.

 

What followed was the unexpected backlash Robinhood faced, with customers feeling betrayed over these trading limits and increased feeling that it was pandering to the whims of the institutional investors. They witnessed a flight of customers to other brokers and increased number of complaints about account closure. Whether there was truth in it or just a case of poor brand management only time will reveal.

 

This is the part that really interests me as a marketer and brought me back to the idea of “Brand Authenticity”. This is a value about brands that people hold dear to form strong endearing relationships. By being authentic, brands resonate with people’s desires to stay true to themselves. Brands help reinforce that feeling when their customers make them a part of their lives through brand adoption.

 

Robinhood who rose on the promise of an honest trader for the people had turned out to be the Sherriff of Nottingham and people have already started to disown the brand for its perceived alignment with the institutional investors and not staying true to its promise.

 

Contrast this with a brand like Dove. By authentically championing women’s empowerment and wanting to change the conversation around beauty has over the years possibly stayed true to its mission and continues to grow.

 

Parler, the microblogging and social networking platform doubled its users from 1.5M to 2.8M in a short space of 15 days in July 2020 for being true to freedom of speech. It is now inactive and was taken down by Big Tech as they believed it to be a platform for Right Wing supporters. Once it comes back online, they are likely to witness a surge in users as people rally around this brand for staying true to itself. Case in point, the Parlor app (spelt with an ‘O’) is already enjoying a surge of new memberships as people search for the social media platform Parler.

 

Tesla, the darling of the stock market in 2020, had unprecedented growth in stock price driven by the huge contribution of carbon credits it earned on its automotive sales to Automotive manufacturers who needed to offset their sales of  polluting vehicles against these credits. Whether its equity will erode over time among customers who believe in sustainability will depend on its continuance to do and awareness of this sale. It will also depend on whether its customer base are true believers in sustainability or are those who want to be seen among their  peers as a sustainability believer.

 

The world of today is a complex web of inter relationships and dependencies that impact a brands ability to stay true. From the investors, to suppliers, to governments in markets we operate in, all have divergent needs and staying true in today’s world and meeting those needs is becoming difficult, but it can also make or break a brand.

 

The demand for Brand Authenticity may have started with the Millennials. The surge in access to information, increased competition and offerings and their distrust of advertising have all contributed  to their increase demand for brands to be relevant to their values. However, as Gen Z enter the market in a big way, this expectation is expected to be more pronounced and the demand for a brand to not only be authentic but also inclusive whereby they support diversity. Brand Inclusivity will add another layer of complexity to Brand Authenticity for brand managers of the future.

 

To Gen Z, the congruence of the brand’s personality with theirs will not suffice because the brands suppliers, the corporate entity, their retailers, and the governments they work with all need to be aligned. This will drive ethical sourcing and organisational structures that embrace diversity at all levels apart from the brand proposition. It will also determine the retailers they contract to bring those products to market.

 

It’s a new world order, a bi-polar world with accentuated emphasis on authenticity and inclusivity , which is at the forefront of the consumer’s minds and brands are increasingly getting caught out. Take the case of the Mulan controversy, with the derision of Disney for putting profit over principle, or the My Pillow CEO Tweets, that resulted in prominent retailers refusing to stock his company products. Apple recent attempts to  weaken a bill aimed at preventing forced labor may create dissonance between the brand  and official stance on human rights, as it attempts to maintain it key market and supply chain.

 

Research has found that ads that are considered progressive are 25% more effective than other others in driving adoption. P&G’s The Talk, an ad made to promote their ‘Black is Beautiful’ initiative is a great example. However there  are many layers to diversity, and it goes beyond gender or skin color. It’s also about age, geography, socio-economic diversity, prejudices, commonly held stereo typical views, social issues, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation and very soon, about your political affiliations. In India, brands like Shalimar Paints, Kellogg’s, delved into  issues like deep-seated prejudices, corruption, and LGBT rights through their ads, instantly connecting with audiences. The beauty space is the most exciting and fast evolving to challenge the stereotypical notions of beauty where diverse faces are being presented in a naturalistic way to represent the world, we live in.

 

The GameStop surge made me realize in a connected world, where dissemination of information happens at an explosive pace, brands can no longer manage the fallout from such events. The Black Lives Matter a movement in another country had a ripple effect on Unilever’s Fair & Lovely in India, an iconic brand, who is due for a name change in support of its inclusive claim.

 

As GenZ becomes a larger force to reckon with and the heightening of social issues and causes, the lack of  Brand Authenticity and Inclusivity will lead to failure and instant fall from grace and brands need to be careful about that.

Reconnecting with consumers through the product experience

Did you ever play a Fender guitar, drive a Ford Mustang GT, listen to music on an  iPod or shop in a H&M store? These are some of the high intensity brand experiences we heard from studies on how people around the world connect with brands.

 

Connecting with brands for lifetime relationships

Irrespective of disruptive events like the current pandemic, double-dip recessions, boycotting or backlash of brands or other events…we have discovered that Consumers still love brands – whether global or local. People use and connect to brands in different ways – some develop more intense relationships with some brands they use than others.

 

Which in turn raises another question…What does it mean to have an intense connection with a brand? How do you create one? It seems fair to assume that a more intensely connected customer is one whose needs are being better satisfied. So, let us find out what kinds of intense connections exist, and how to activate them.

 

Connecting with brands

Some example of how consumers describe the intense connections they feel with their chosen brands.

 

Each time when someone asks, why Lacoste, I take off my shirt and tell them to try it, so they know

This consumer’s experience of the brand occur in a context of social interaction, but what he is using to convince doubters of Lacoste’s greatness isn’t the label, it’s the sensory experience of wearing it.

I love my Starbucks, they are not just selling me coffee, they are giving me a whole experience

For many brands the product experience includes service elements – ‘product’ and ‘service’ are more than ever fluid categories.

It’s a brand to be proud of!  I cannot do without Gillette, it’s part of my life or even better: it is my life. I am Gillette

This consumer is talking about closeness to the brand via the experience, of almost merging with the brand, becoming part of it.

 

Four modes for brand/consumer relationships

All the quotes we are reading here are from consumers whose relationships with brands are in a particular mode, that is characterised by close identification with brands, and it’s emphasis on the product or service experience. These are examples of the ‘experience mode’, and it’s one of four modes that consumer/brand relationships work in – security, affiliation, expression and experience. Each represents different consumer needs, and each is fulfilled by different aspects of branding.

 

The Security mode

This is perhaps the most basic form of consumer-brand connection: the brand is a guarantee of product or service quality and functionality. The need for security is fulfilled by a combination of two factors. One is functional performance – it does the job it’s meant to do. The other is authority – a wider agreement that this brand does the job best, which might be based on the brand’s heritage or reputation.

 

The Affiliation mode

This mode is based on a need for societal affiliation. Purely functional criteria are hygiene factors in this mode and consumers instead use brands to fulfil their needs for status, group affiliation and social identity.

 

The Expression mode

This mode of consumer-brand relationships is defined by brands fulfilling a consumer need for expression. Consumers in this mode use brands as vehicles for self-expression and to show individualized identity. This is a way to make a statement. The brands that can best fulfil this need have high levels of peer group approval and personal identification for the consumer.

 

The Experience mode

The fourth mode of consumer-brand relationships finds the brand fulfilling the consumer’s need for an intense, internalised experience. At the heart of this brand experience is the product or service experience, which is amplified by the brand’s personal meaning to the consumer.

 

The social role of the brand is perceived as less important – instead, the brand is used to provide personal meaning and act within a personal narrative for the consumer. It does this by providing intensified experiences during the moments of use. The experience flows from a perfect link between the values of the user and the delivery of the product or service: the brand has become an integral part of the self.

 

Connections through powerful experiences

An encounter between a consumer and a product is based on the fulfilment of simple functional needs – for clean clothes, for cheap food, and so on. To turn this into a relationship between a consumer and a brand, psychological needs must be fulfilled. Brands still fulfil our need for security, affiliation and personal expression.

 

But this is not to say the product becomes unimportant. We have seen that many ‘connections’ are underpinned by intensified product experiences – one based on the powerful product experiences that brands offer. Is this a step backwards? No – it’s an evolution, a synthesis of what we know about the functional and emotional sides of branding.

Let’s look more closely at how this works.

 

Amplifying the Product Experience

Where does branding fit into the experience mode? Are we saying that the softer side of branding is becoming less important? Certainly not. Branding works like a magnifying glass, a lens which enlarges and amplifies the product experience for the user, capturing the user’s imagination. But a magnifying glass on its own is of no use – you need to have something to magnify!

 

The foundation of the brand has to be a product experience – this is what many consumers are searching for. In the experience mode a consumer has a feeling of intense identification with the brand, possibly including a feeling of personal transformation that lasts as long as the experience.

 

Longer stronger relationships

Why does all this matter? Strong brand-consumer identification combined with a superb product performance creates a very hard bond to break. Consumer/brand relationships in the experience mode are stronger than relationships formed in other modes, and they may also last longer.

 

“If brands are looking for long term relationships they have to do things differently”

Deliver a powerful product experience and you are on the way to achieving this.

 

 

So how do you get consumers into the experience mode?

• Differentiate your product within the market
• Be consistent across all consumer touchpoints and journeys.
• Use branding and marketing to guide the consumer towards the product experience

 

Platforms to differentiate the product

Authenticity: The make-up of a product can be a vital point of differentiation, particularly in creating a sense of authenticity. In a more mass market context the promotion of a ‘unique recipe’ or ‘secret ingredient’ can reproduce a sense of authenticity, especially in the context of a F&B brand. This platform is especially important in parts of the world where a large parallel market in locally produced fake products exists. Here consumers must believe that the authentic brands – offer real advantages in terms of performance.

 

Design, UX, UI: A simple and elegant user interface is an asset to any product or service. But design is also of growing importance for products that are used frequently around the house, like household cleaners or key consumer durables. Think perhaps of the way shampoo and ketchup bottles have evolved ‘upside down’ shapes to make pouring easier. Samsung’s clamshell phones, If you remember, were an excellent example of differentiated design or of Google search, which has become the biggest brand by using its clean web design to emphasise the simplicity of its user experience and quality of search.

 

Sensory Excellence: Sensory pleasure is an often-neglected aspect of the product experience. It allows a brand experience to be remembered, savoured and communicated to others. Intense sensory experience is not confined to luxury products – it’s applicable to a very broad range of categories.

 

Innovation: Innovation on its own rarely creates a high-intensity relationship but it can be vital in introducing a consumer to a brand in the first place and keeping the consumer’s interest. A brand’s innovation activity needs to offer genuine benefit to the consumer and must genuinely enhance the product experience. But innovation can be a double-edged sword – a misplaced or needless attempt to innovate can ruin a product experience.

 

Consistency with consumers across the touchpoints and the customer journey

There is no point in giving a customer the best experience of their life if their next encounter with the brand is awful. Consistency doesn’t just mean making sure your brand experience is the same each time. It means making sure that every touchpoint enhances the experience. Consistency is what turns an intense experience into a lasting relationship. This applies particularly to service-based sectors. The experience must be a complete one – from booking to leaving the airport, in the case of an airline. Remember that intense, transformative experiences last throughout the use of a product – and this applies equally to services.

 

Using branding and marketing to guide customer towards product experience

Care: Important aspect in creating an experience mode connection is in making the product the hero of your brand’s story – to let the communications lead consumers towards the intense product experience. One way of doing this is to give the user a sense that the brand cares about them and their needs. If a user feels the brand cares for them, their identification with the product experience will be much higher.

 

Storytelling: The final platform is storytelling – telling a story of which your product is the hero. This helps to…’Provide continuity between product experiences’; ‘Spark the consumer’s imagination’ and ‘Amplify the experience’. All brands have a story, but we believe that to create experience mode relationships the stories should lead consumers towards the product experience.

 

The Heart Breakers

While we have the seen the recipe to offer a successful ‘product experience’, we should also explore the reasons why consumers reject brands they once loved. Changes in the brand, the consumer or the environment can all spark rejection. The different modes of consumer / brand relationships are each vulnerable to some of the following ‘heartbreakers’’.

 

• A decline in product or service quality, or inconsistency, can lead to a betrayal of consumer trust.
• Any brand is vulnerable to a crisis and a brand’s response to this can make or break its relationship with customers. Respond late or poorly and consumers can turn away. This also applies to personal crises affecting only a single consumer – rude service, for instance.
• Brands need to stay fresh to prosper – or they may well lose their high-intensity connections with consumers.
• Even if a brand is offering high quality functional performance, an inappropriate or irritating brand story can frustrate and turn off consumers – get your story right!
• A change in circumstance or life-stage means that a consumer rejects a previously cherished brand. An upwardly mobile individual might change car or clothes brands, for instance.
• The behaviour of a brand or its parent company can have a significant effect on the relationships consumers form with it, as the sense of personal identification with the brand is strong and can be damaged by a perceived clash of values.
• Sometimes, wider cultural issues, which are outside the control of brand managers.

 

Fulfil these needs and one can…‘Create lifetime brand relationships’; ‘Assert control of your brand’s meaning’ and ‘Guard against the deal-breakers’.

 

 “a brand is what a brand does”

A ‘reset’ button for all of us

COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on our lives as consumers and shoppers. In just a few months, the pandemic has in many ways made us ‘reset’ our attitudes, behaviors and purchasing habits, many of which will ‘stick’ in post-pandemic times.

 

While purchases initially were centered mostly around basic needs, we are now shopping more consciously, buying local and embracing digital commerce. Attitudes regarding socially responsible behavior are also being redefined – not just ours but also our expectations from the brands we consume, experience, support, etc.

 

A ‘tipping point’ for local businesses and local brands

SMEs form the backbone of any economy; however, they are the ones who are worst affected because of this pandemic. During these times, our ‘neighborhood’ groceries, merchants, and service providers have been our saviors. We realized how important they are to us – they are our ecosystem, our community – without whom, our lives would have been tough to sustain over the last few months.

Opting for locally grown/produced products may fast become a necessity for businesses and consumers who are concerned about product/sourcing origin (especially if they are from severely impacted countries) as well as practical supply chain and logistical challenges. This has created a fertile ground for the local businesses and local brands to thrive, while presenting an opportunity for us (consumers) to become ‘more responsible, ‘caring’ and contributing to resurrect / support our local heroes – our ecosystem, our lifeline. This ‘responsibility/care’ may now have to border on activism – this may be required to bring our local economies back.

‘Trust is foundational’ in this symbiotic structure

The relationship between a business and its customers is often a delicate one. One bad experience and the consumer will remember that and may even socialize with others. “Trust is that feeling when you walk away from an interaction with a brand or business and feel happy about it – you were treated well, the interaction was pleasant, satisfied with the item or service you received and an overall great experience”.

Between a local neighborhood store and an established retail, we know what we are most likely to experience at either location. It is that personal connection that differentiates these experiences and that is what matters to consumers!

Global and big businesses are investing heavily in achieving this “personalized customer experience” digitally – local businesses/brands counter this with the “human element”, a crucial ingredient in the post-pandemic world…we have learnt it the hard way, isn’t it?

International Brands, raise your ‘responsibility quotient’

For consumers, supporting local business is critical in a post-pandemic world, in terms of reviving local economies. Supporting local business typically could mean sourcing local products and/or an associated national pride with home-grown brands and/or seeking products that meet the local palate preferences.

This is where the opportunity for global manufacturers, retailers and brands lies – leverage the local appeal to mitigate consumer concerns, by being a partner in the equation. Consumers are expecting these companies to raise their ‘responsibility quotient’!

Communicate with different Responsible Consumer ‘Personas’

Individual opinions and needs are shaped by our own psychology and how we view our environment and the role we have in it.

 

One size doesn’t fit all – though the concern about the current situation is mainstream, the strategies adopted by consumers are more likely to be shaped by their personalities, motivations, how they want to react under such circumstances, the role they would like to play, etc.

 

Businesses and brands, both local and international, need to engage with them in alignment with their brand’s essence – ensuring that the message is the right shade of ‘responsibility’ that resonates with their target consumer’s persona.

 

Below are some examples of the different ‘responsible consumer’ personas…

 

Persona 1: “The time to act is NOW. We should not sit back”

• Who they are?
  • Confident, bold individuals; action oriented; proactive
• What are their motivations?
  • Cause worth fighting for; excitement; untamed energies – crusaders
• What is their role and how they want to react?
  • Sense of urgency, wants to lead the way
  • Totally committed, making a stand; self-righteous
• What are they doing now?
  • Actively involved (supporting, doing their part, activism, significant actions)
  • Buying and supporting products & services from local business
  • Buying locally made products
  • Boycotting brands that are not in line with the cause
  • Are overt/visible with their support

 

Persona 2: “Let us get the facts right. We need a long-term plan”

• Who they are?
  • Organized, well-informed and well-read; competent and responsible
• What are their motivations?
  • Everything should be in control; situations to be governed wisely, decisions should be well thought through
• What is their role and how they want to react?
  • Take an informed approach; focused on the details
  • Share knowledge and understanding
  • Change behaviour step by step
• What are they doing now?
  • Supporting research-based companies/businesses
  • Checking whether the sourcing of local raw materials or using local resources is genuine and in line with the cause
  • Vigilantly watching all developments, following the details

 

Persona 3: “This challenge is bigger than us. We all have to do our bit”

• Who they are?
  • Open and welcoming; Practical, sensible; community focused; down-to-earth
• What are their motivations?
  • Harmony and balance; a shared responsibility; what unites us all
• What is their role and how they want to react?
  • Balanced and moderate; doing what is realistic
  • Changing everyday habits
  • Working with others, sharing the burden
• What are they doing now?
  • Playing their part, never letting others down
  • Buying and supporting products & services from local businesses
  • Buying locally made products
  • Conserving resources, being judicious
  • Mobilize people for supporting the local businesses; socialize the cause

These are not the only personas. There would be more, covering other nuances – worth conducting an insights project to uncover other personas and size them.

So, what next.

As consumers, while the overall sentiment at a personal level is negative, supporting local businesses and brands is mandatory – it is directly linked with the revival of their own situation.

 

Being a Responsible Consumer is the mantra.

 

While it is important to provide that level of positive interaction and trust for the consumers, many businesses may not know where to start. They should be willing to reach out and cultivate active relationships with consumers, by identifying the right persona (aligned with their brand’s essence) and engaging/involving them in their journey of revival. Consumers will be more than happy to contribute – make them your brand Influencer, brand ambassador, get their testimonial out there to engage with more such prospects.