Keys to success of brand marketing debated at FIPP Congress
“Information and content travel at the speed of now,” said Layla Pavone, CEO of Isobar Italy today at FIPP’s Congress in Rome. “We need to be digital, online, and on-air. We need to try to meet the consumer anywhere, anytime.” It is the job of all media agencies to support brands and tell the consumer what they are doing at any given moment. In order to do this, agencies and brands need to first focus on building a community with trusted relationships with their consumers. Consumers want to receive the same treatment whether they are online or offline. “Consumers want to know more about the product. Its brand, values, principles, and the way they produce products. They want to be part of the story.” Pavone continued. She explained that all agencies need to work together with the ultimate goal of helping brands do business.
Another important factor? Real-time bidding (RTB). RTB allows brands to select content that is most useful based on social demographics, mixed with interest and behavior in real time. “Real-time bidding allows brands to work on audience planning and not media planning,” Pavone explained. There are seven key factors for successful brand communication strategy. There needs to be quality content generated, an emotional connection between the brand and the consumer, user generated content so that consumers feel as though they are part of the community, flexibility in roles, an international and regional approach, and proximity. Pavone closed by saying, “Agencies need to be available anytime, anywhere, 24/7, and be able to customise communication.”
David Pullan, global head of Unilever at Mindshare, UK, explained an important rule in how brands operate: the 1-9-90 rule. Online, one per cent of users create original content, nine per cent of users edit the original material by either changing or adapting it, and 90 per cent of users are only watching the material, making them passive consumers of content. There is still a large gap in the market for original content creation, which gives brands the opportunity to move into this space. In turn, brands are aggressively attempting to move into this area of brand marketing. They are moving into this space with five branded operations: utility, entertainment, curation, facilitation, and movement. Brands are focused on an emotional connection with their consumer, similar to agencies’ goals as brand marketers, through specifically-directed content and expertly curated brand platforms.
“The key is to be open-minded. Don’t say no. Think about the possibility to create a different business model and not just your visibility,” Pavone divulged. It is important to forget the old media planning approach that was based on silos, and instead focus on a brand ecosystem that brings brands and people together. Whether through an agency or by internal distribution, brands need to work together to reach the consumer on a more personal level to effectively enhance brand marketing.
