BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World (excerpt)

Cover image from BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World, by Allen P. Adamson

By Allen P. Adamson
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Official Book Website

The following is an excerpt from Allen P. Adamson's book, BrandDigital: Simple ways top brands succeed in the digital world (Palgrave Macmillian, 2008): 238-42.

The importance of identifying the points of touch at which a brand can play and win is perhaps the most challenging factor organizations face in the digital age. Gaining someone’s attention, let alone getting them engaged, is hard in any market situation. The heightened ability of consumers to control the sales and purchasing process in the digital era has created additional barriers for organizations trying to get their brand message across and understood. Digital technology shines a bright light on the many new opportunities consumers have to interact with brands. And, it shines the same bright light on the many new opportunities brand organizations have to leverage these points of contact. The trick is to be able to uncover and then take advantage of insights about consumers in order to determine which points of touch along a customer’s journey with the brand will have the greatest potential to attract people and gain traction.

It’s never been easy to assess with absolute certainty which consumers’ interactions with a brand has most influenced their buying behavior and, until only about five or so years ago there were far fewer sources to be credited. Back in these dark ages of marketing, it was more likely than not that the creative strategy and execution, in the form of an inventive television spot, dictated branding strategy. After the TV ad was made, the media department or agency was brought in to determine where, based on the viewing habits of the target audience, the inventive spot should be placed. It was established protocol that making consumers aware of a product’s benefits en masse was the way to go to market. This traditional branding process started with radio and made a relatively easy transformation into the television era. As I wrote about in chapter 4, the television ad as engine drove most of the other branding components. This is not how it works anymore, nor should it be. In a society of fragmented audiences and fragmented channels of influence, the effectiveness of this approach is not only ineffective; it’s inefficient. (I once had a boss who alluded to an illconceived contact strategy as shoveling money off the roof. There has been a large sum of money shoveled off the roof these past few years, and smart organizations are quickly determining where to pick it up and how to use it.)

The decision about where to invest branding dollars has become a huge challenge for today’s brand organizations. And, it’s become acutely obvious that organizations need to think more broadly than just using paid media or advertising when assessing a branding strategy. It’s essential to scrutinize more carefully than ever before all of the channels by which a specific group of consumers might pick up information or interact with brands. It’s also essential to scrutinize how they behave on a category-by-category basis. What might work for automobiles or mobile phones won’t necessarily work for diapers or soft drinks. And even more complicating, what works for soft drinks in one age group won’t work for the same soft drink in another. In addition, if you go back to the idea of the customer’s journey with a brand, it’s critical to identify at which points of touch a consumer will stop and smell the coffee—in contrast to the point of touch where the customer will smell the coffee and then buy it.

Consumers behave very differently in the digital world. We’re all consumers, and we know how we behave. We search for information one way and make a purchase decision in another. The views of people half a world away can influence our decisions. The blogs or reviews of people we’re never likely to meet in person can cause us to change our opinion of a company overnight. The amount of information at our disposal, the copious results of search engine proficiency, can make a once easy decision complex and a once complex decision easy. Is it better to scale back the footprint of your branding reach and attempt to reach only those people that are most likely to react? Or, does it make more sense to go large scale? Is it smart to think about going after zealous brand evangelists and count on them to spread the word for you, or should you go after those who are straying from the flock and try to entice them back?

There are no magic answers to questions like these and the other questions that marketers grapple with in relation to their branding budgets. But there are some fundamental things you should do before you develop a branding strategy. First and foremost, stand back. Take a good hard look at the customer’s journey with your brand and determine where the people you really want to reach are doing most of their hanging out. Forget about the way you used to buy media or made your branding decisions...

The good news is that marketers today have at their disposal a full range of tools and technologies with which they can decipher where and how consumers are getting their information and making their buying decisions. The key is to use these tools to observe consumer behavior—to watch, listen, and learn about what’s relevant to consumers and not be tied to one type of branding solution over another. The ability to become flexible with your branding program may be more difficult for some than others, especially those who work in categories that have long been dependent on traditional media opportunities, including those in packaged goods and fast food. But, in a digital world in which consumers will engage only when and where they choose to, taking a narrow attitude won’t work. Organizations that look deeper for insights about their customers’ habits and desires, that don’t allow themselves to be constricted by one annual planning meeting, will have a better chance of identifying where to play and how to win. There is only one thing that’s set in stone in this marketplace: consumer behavior should be your guiding light. Be ready and flexible enough to go where they go and appeal to them in a way that makes sense—to them, and for your brand.

© 2008 Allen P. Adamson. All rights reserved.

For more information, please visit www.branddigital.com

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About the Author

Allen P. Adamson is the Managing Director of the New York office of Landor Associates and author of BrandSimple: How the Best Brands Keep it Simple and Succeed and the forthcoming BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World.

Responsible for all aspects of the New York office’s operations, Adamson has overseen branding efforts for a broad spectrum of corporate and consumer brands in industries ranging from technology to healthcare to fashion. Under his leadership, Landor’s New York office partners with a wide array of clients, including ANA, Blackberry, Citigroup, Diageo, GE, Kraft, P&G, PepsiCo, Pfizer, PGA, Wyeth, the United Negro College Fund and Verizon. Additionally, he counsels professional organizations on branding.

Adamson is a sought after industry commentator and has penned numerous articles on branding and marketing issues for industry publications. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CNBC and FOX Business Network. He is often quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post and Forbes. He regularly lectures at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the Yale School of Management. He is also a member of the American Management Association and speaks on branding for a range of professional organizations.