Jane Madden considers advertising veteran Rory Sutherland’s take on brand value
In the second Spotlight interview, Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland discusses the value of brands, engagement and the little extras brands deliver to set themselves apart. If you are a marketer, brand value is unquestioned. Brand elevates products/services beyond commodity status, enabling you to command a price premium and ensuring product selection over competitors.
But what really makes a brand and what is its real value? Is there such a thing as true brand love? These are some of the questions we put to Rory Sutherland. In our conversation with him, Sutherland asserts that there are two levels on which brands operate within any market. There is the undergrowth of anonymous products and then there is a ‘floor of acceptability’.
The second level is where established brands should live, forming part of a consumer’s repertoire. It is the level where brands have gained trust. Consumers assume any brand within this level is of a certain standard. Beyond that, Sutherland says, any further notion of brand love can be misleading as they should merely consider themselves tolerated.
We have all been guilty of overestimating the role brands play in people’s lives. The truth is that people don’t really care about brands and most people don’t know that much about the brands they buy. Despite marketing rhetoric telling us that consumers are savvier and more engaged, research suggests that 56 per cent of all knowledge about a brand is held by just 20 per cent of its buyers and 80 per cent of a brand’s buyers know little about the brand.
Most consumers have multiple brand partners. For example, 72 per cent of Pepsi drinkers also drink Coke. Your consumers are not a collection of monogamous devotees. They are a group of people who, as well as buying other brands, also buy your brand. As Sutherland succinctly states; consumers don’t choose brands but rather use brands to help them choose.
Used to help choose: Most consumers have multiple brand partners. For example, 72 per cent of Pepsi drinkers also drink Coke. Consumers are not a collection of monogamous devotees. They are people who, as well as buying other brands, also buy your brand. As Sutherland succinctly states; consumers don’t choose brands but use brands to help them choose.
So our task therefore is not necessarily nurturing enthusiasm but, instead, using marketing to overcome indifference. The next area that we discussed was ‘engagement. Sutherland warns against the obsession that marketers have with this key performance indicator – KPI. We all know that engagement is the by-word for success and much of this has been triggered by the development of new and exciting technologies and media touchpoints.
There is no doubt but that for some brands engagement is what is needed to set your product or service apart. But in the rush to embrace this marketing activity, maybe we have forgotten to ask ourselves if consumers really want to interact, and do all brands need to engage to be successful? Do we need consumers to always share, visit or comment?
Sutherland simply says that in many instances brands are selected because they can be purchased in a disengaged way, without thinking. One further consideration around this area is that in pursuing engagement, the benefits of traditional mass communications can be overlooked. Arguably, for some categories, traditional communications have a more central role as powerhouses in building a brand and driving sales.
It may be smarter to focus on building an emotional tie or enabling a simpler purchasing route rather than ticking the engagement box. A recent survey by TiVo in the US adds credence to this. The study found that for every dollar less brands spent on television advertising, they lost three times that amount in sales. TiVo estimated those brands spent an average of $3.1 million less on TV advertising and lost an average of $8.6m in sales.
Sutherland also touched on what he calls ‘discretionary effort’. These are the little extras that a brand provides as an extra to consumers. By going above and beyond, consumers will take disproportionate meaning from these small gives. Consider the chocolate you get on your pillow in a good hotel or the free piece of fruit SuperValu offers your child while shopping.
These extra unneeded elements, while not necessarily driving sales, add long term implicit value and set your brand apart from your competitors. It is almost like brand manners – the brand holding open the door for you. It does not have to do it, but when it does, the goodwill created far outweighs the effort it took. So when developing brand and communication strategies, we still need to keep a level head and try and stay focused on what matters.
Jane Madden is head of strategy at Vizeum
