BRAND ENDURANCE
Consumer engagement
Chathurika Fonseka
Q: In an increasingly competitive landscape, branding is often viewed as a strategic asset rather than a creative function. How would you define its role today?
A: It is imperative that brands and their custodians think of the long game. Tactical campaigns and high investments in creating noise will only result in short-term benefits.
Brands seeking long-term impact on the consumer mind must consistently focus on driving brand equity.
While creativity helps break clutter and stands out, it is important that it’s rooted in consumer needs and aligned with long-term business objectives. For consistent and long-term success, brands must build strong relationships with their target audience.
Therefore, a clear brand promise, consistent proposition and storytelling that resonate with consumers will become a brand’s key strategic growth pillars.
Q: At a time when businesses are navigating geopolitical stressors and shifting market dynamics, to what extent can a strong brand act as a stabilising force?
A: In volatile environments, a strong brand becomes even more important for sustenance and growth. Especially in sectors with non-essential products where consumer focus can easily shift to commodities, a strong brand helps command consumer interest.
The strength of a brand’s relationship with consumers will determine how much they continue to seek a product, regardless of external pressures, renewed priorities and pressure on the wallet.
Q: Trust has emerged as a defining currency in modern branding. In your view, what are the key drivers of trust today?
A: The modern consumer is more pragmatic and educated, and prone to making more informed decisions. Therefore, the brand promise and its delivery play a key role in retention. Trust is instilled through a few key factors with quality and consistency being central.
Consumers seek value for money and expect a product or service experience that aligns with its brand promise. This promise of quality must also be consistent to build long-term trust and consumer endorsements.
Trust is also garnered through agility – the ability to listen to consumer needs through robust new product development (NPD) processes, respond to consumer feedback and address concerns.
New age consumers do not hesitate to switch brand preferences, making it essential for trust building to go hand in hand with driving brand equity.
Q: With consumers increasingly seeking meaning and relevance, how critical is emotional resonance in building lasting brand relationships?
A: Building long-lasting relationships with consumers should be an objective pursued by any brand.
The success and strength of this relationship depends on well executed strategies rooted in consumer and market insights. Brands must consistently deliver utilitarian value while creating a strong emotional connection to ensure both short and long-term success.
However, building long-term connections with today’s consumers requires greater effort and persistence than a decade ago, due to greater exposure to information, choice and alternatives.
Q: With audiences constantly exposed to competing messages across platforms, what strategies can brands adopt to cut through the noise while maintaining authenticity?
A: The answer goes back to the earlier discussion of building trust – in that no amount of noise or clutter can match a brand’s ability to create a lasting impact on the consumer’s mind through consistently building trust.
Whether through its promise or proposition, a brand that consumers can rely on and recommend without a doubt will ultimately win, against noise and clutter.
Q: In a climate where stakeholders expect greater accountability and purpose, should brands address social and environmental issues?
A: Being a purposeful brand should be ingrained it its DNA, regardless of stakeholder pressure or interest.
As custodians of large platforms that can influence society, brands have a responsibility to be socially aware and ride on this influence for the greater good.
