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Brands need to worry about what doesn’t change more than what does by Michelle Randal
BRANDS NEED TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT DOESN’T CHANGE MORE THAN WHAT DOES
BY MICHELLE RANDALL
Covid-19 has done terrible damage to commerce and business globally. Some commentators are predicting that the future will be entirely different to how we have lived up until now, and that consumer behaviour will change dramatically.
This uncertainty has thrown the world of marketing and media into a state of turmoil and flux. However, what we now know from evidence-based marketing principles, is that consumer behaviour won’t change substantially. It may evolve but, because our behaviour is driven by our hard-wired brains, how we react to marketing and advertising, and how we process information, won’t change fundamentally. Advancement in the field of neuro marketing has provided us with a framework and a checklist of key fundamentals for effective advertising. As much as some things do change, we need to ensure we don’t lose focus on what doesn’t. The objective of any media strategy is to find ways to reach enough of the right audiences, at the right time, in meaningful ways. What is enough?
Reach matters the most. The more people that see our commercial messages, the more will potentially be nudged to buy us, more often, and for more reasons. But it’s not just about the scale of the reach that matters, but as important is the quality of the connection. The challenge marketers face is how to cut through the clutter and ensure their messages get people’s attention. Factors such as viewability, time on screen, and contextual suitability of the media channel, play a vital role in delivering the necessary dwell time spent processing the message. Delivering effective mass reach is a critical factor in driving mental availability in the minds of more relevant consumers.
When is the right time?
Recency is a driver of effectiveness. Delivering advertising close to the point of purchase, or when buyers are in the brand selection stage of the purchase funnel, has a higher propensity to influence behaviour. Real-time data and insights can effectively guide marketers and brands in ensuring that the timing of the messaging is relevant. Consumers who are “in market” are primed to pay attention to the message. But every week, for different reasons, different consumers are ready to buy, so to nudge “primed consumers” it is necessary to try to be “in market” every week with your advertising. In other words, aim for continuity of exposure, rather than a burst, followed by periods of no activity. What is meaningful?
Artificial Intelligence (AI), data and
The big take-out:
insights help brands and marketers to better understand consumers’ behaviour, tones and context. This offers brands an enormous opportunity to deliver better, more effective, and more relevant advertising. The opportunity is not necessarily “hyper-targeting”, but rather, “hyperpersonalisation” at scale. Relevant messaging to relevant consumers increases the probability of the message being noticed. Delivering meaningful connections with category consumers, in line with authentic and distinctive brand tones, will set brands a bar above the rest. Effective reach of the right people, coupled with recency and relevance play a fundamental role in ensuring attention is critical and needs to be a key metric in measuring the success of media executions. “Attention is a finite resource. Just because people can see something does not mean that they will see something. And if people don’t look at your ads, they can’t remember or act on them,” says international eye-tracking research company Lumen. Advances in digital technologies and AI offer the opportunity for brands to apply these fundamentals in collaboration with broader media types. The challenge we are faced with now is how to survive this storm. Perhaps not for immediate growth, but for sustainability. “Brand advertising is not only about profiting in recession; it is about capitalising on recovery,” says UK advertising effectiveness authority Peter Field. Michelle Randal is the sales director at Christopher Africa.
