This could be termed the era of consumer empowerment where
brands must work hard to gain attention and purchasing patterns that lead to
loyalty. Brand affection is pivotal.
Gary Reisman, Founder and CEO of LEAP Media
Investments , recently released an article on brand
loyalty among airlines. But emotional attachment to brands extends to every
product category. “It’s important for anybody, not just airlines ... the point
is, as we've always said, that people buy things not based on being 18 to 49 or
having done something six months ago or two days ago. They buy things because
they have a desire. And that desire is built on a need,” he stated.
This, coupled with that fact that viewing patterns are shifting, is leading the industry down a very dangerous path,
according to Reisman. “By relying too heavily on data and technology while chasing
scale for scale sake to drive revenues, we are killing the industry drip by
drip” he laments. “I’m sensing that agencies and ad tech vendors alike seem to
have forgotten why we are all here in the first place – to help marketers
develop and execute strategies that build consumer relationship and sell
product.”
What is the solution? For one, it is taking a step back and
considering the value of the brand affection of the consumer beyond the raw
data and the technology that drives it. From the marketers’ perspective, how do
we discover which content, among the vast array of choices out there, bests connect
with their brands' most passionate high potential consumers? And how do we
narrow down the overabundance of choices even on a single media outlet?
“By flipping the current TV model on its head,"
declared Gary Reisman, Founder and CEO of LEAP Media Investments, who
offered the following strategic media recommendations:
1.
STOP buying content the way you are used to.
Funneling money to content providers (e.g. networks) or specific content (such
as shows) and “hoping” your most-likely prospects will be present and engaged.
This is old school thinking. Historically, in a reach-based world this may have
made sense but, today, not so much. These only act as surrogates for actual
audiences because you are essentially seeking content that you infer may have a
high concentration of your desired consumers. In fact today, there are more
savvy ways to effectively target those consumers who you believe to be brand engaged
and open to your brands messaging. In this way you are no longer targeting
“proxies” but actual, high potential consumers.
2.
ACCEPT the fact that your brand targets are
going to flow through numerous media platforms (TV, social, mobile, et al) at
will. You have absolutely no
control over it and cannot model for that behavior. But you can prepare for
this consumer journey but crafting your message in a way that connects to your
prospective consumer segments you have and then …
3.
USE a “Customer First, identity-driven Approach”
that identifies consumers more likely to engage with your brand messages and
tags those prospects. This way you can follow your high potential targets,
regardless of which content they chose to engage with. Follow these tagged
consumers throughout their customer journey in linear, digital, social and mobile
media.
Reisman added, “That’s why we developed our marketing and
branding based model at LEAP. That is, to enable advertisers to first identify and
tag their brand’s engaged and emotionally connected consumers and then serve
ads to those customers throughout the media ecosystem. It’s identity-based
marketing and where the market needs to go.”
Importantly, we should be leveraging the vast array of data and
technology at our disposal, but toward goals primarily aimed at connecting with
consumers that matter most to our marketer clients.
As Cindy
Davis, Executive Vice President, Consumer Experience, Disney | ABC Television Group stated recently, the
next generation of viewers is different from previous generations
and the survival of certain brands is at stake. Reisman agrees: "While
change is difficult, the world has changed," he noted, and added, "brand
marketers, agencies and media companies must all change our ways or we might
just be left in dust."
This article first appeared in www.MediaVIllage.com
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