Page 169 - BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2015

TOP 50 MOST VALUABLE INDIAN BRANDS 2015
What does Tata Tea have to do with young people registering as voters? The connection comes from the ability of the brand to move from a generic tea beneit (“wakes you up”) to an emotionally engaging one (“awakens you”).
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Taking this idea a step further, the brand then went on to develop a website that helped those who had turned 18 to register as voters. In a manner relevant to the brand, Tata advanced the idea that awakened citizens are engaged citizens and voting in elections is a simple but powerful way to participate in a democracy.
In a cluttered competitive environment, brands like Tata are able to transcend the product battle by speaking the language of empathy and empowerment. What makes their approach worth noticing? Brands that strive to solve a real problem in consumers’ lives are well-placed to rise above their competition.
Figuring out how your brand can seek to empower its audience should start with the answer to a few questions. What
are the biggest problems in consumers’ lives today? What can your brand do to solve them over and above delivering the physical and emotional beneits of your product? What societal tension can your brand credibly address and resolve? What is your brand’s bigger purpose?
Adopting a stance of consumer empowerment rather than just consumer engagement helps you
go beyond just ads. It converts opportunities to communicate into opportunities to act. Brands are remembered for their actions, not only their campaigns.
Purpose beneits consumers and brands
Unilever’s Project Shakti created many women entrepreneurs by appointing them as retailers for their products
in rural areas where the company’s traditional distribution was not viable.
Apart from positively impacting women’s lives, the company was also able to gain a lot of media coverage and became the subject of discussion among stakeholders and the public – a beneit that money can’t buy.
Consumers are less likely to tune out actions that relate to improving their lives. They will be more receptive to messages addressing real-life topics rather than simply selling products. A newspaper that advocated for a “No TV Day” engaged with audiences by taking on a consumer concern about excessive TV watching. The idea also was a clever way for the newspaper to take a dig at its biggest competitive threat at the time, TV news.
An empowerment approach can dramatically raise public awareness not only of the brand, but also of important social issues. By building wheelchair ramps, a leading loor tile brand advocated for equal access. Similarly, the ads of a leading laundry detergent made the case for a more equitable sharing of household work between men and women.
Competitors would be loath to undertake a similar exercise. This presents an opportunity to strongly “own” a particular concept in the consumer mind. So when Dove talks about “real beauty” and delivers on by
it creating a program of self-esteem education for young people, it is diicult for a competitor to even attempt something similar.
Taking up a particular cause also helps to create a multiplier efect as the campaign rolls out over time, across diferent geographies and to additional audiences.
Actions for advancing consumer empowerment
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INVEST TIME AND MONEY
A sincere, empathetic attempt will pay of in the longer term. In contrast, consumers can smell an insincere efort from a mile away.
SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
Success strongly depends on how deeply the initiative is able to touch the consumer.
GO BEYOND MESSAGING
An empowerment campaign could remain just an advertising message, but if you efect change in real life you’ll be more successful.
IDENTIFY A BRAND- RELEVANT PURPOSE While there is no dearth of problems to be solved or lives
to be touched, it is best to focus on a purpose that connects with your brand.
MAKE CONSUMERS YOUR ADVOCATES
The right audience appeal will build grass-roots support to ensure that the initiative gains a life of its own.
ADOPT THE
RIGHT METRICS
It’s important to measure
the success of consumer empowerment initiatives, but it requires more than metrics commonly used for sales or brand awareness.