CONSUMER CONNECTION
Consumer Centered
Brand Growth
By Enock Wandera
I
f we think back a few years, business
competition (both local and global)
was either weak or in some cases,
non-existent. Media and other connection
points with consumers were not as
fragmented as the landscape is now.
I guess achieving brand growth was
manageable back then, but we know that it
is no longer an easy feat now - consumers
and their deep needs are shifting quite
rapidly, the moments that brands need
to connect with them are also varied
and evolving. Brands that keep aligning
themselves to these shifting dynamics
are more likely to draw long term growth
and above all, protect their competitive
advantages.
The changes we are witnessing will get
even more complicated as the consumer
world evolves over time – as they say, it
is a VUCA world - Volatile, Uncertain,
Complex and Ambiguous. Businesses need
to constantly review their value chains to
ensure that relevant sources of value are
captured or exploited.
However, amidst all these, one thing
that remains constant as a driver of
growth is being close to the consumer or
being consumer centered. Notably, even
Alexander Osterwalder’s business model
canvas highlights customer relationships
and customer segments as central to
building business model - alongside key
partners, key activities, key resources,
key costs, revenue streams and value
propositions.
Consumer centeredness means that the
entire value chain needs to consider the
consumer from as early as possible in the
value chain. This may even include at the
point of sourcing for raw materials all
the way to the point of sale - and recent
times, even beyond the sale into post sale
relationships as a way of securing long
term value.
Brands are exploring ways of keeping
customers through all stages of life -
Building strong brand equity partly involves
setting mental networks in the consumers’
minds that give it an edge over competition
when it comes to the point of consideration
and eventual purchase, repurchase. The
mental availability of the brand partly re-
lies on brand communication - that needs to
be consumer centered as well - be noticeable,
evoke some emotion and drive purchase de-
cision.
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simple example is in banking where a
banking brand may choose to keep a
customer - from a junior account, to a
college account, first salary account, loan
account, savings account, credit card,
bancassurance, mortgage account and so
on and so forth. Whether such a customer
stays all through depends on many factors
but key is whether the bank remains
relevant and unique to them as they
transition through the stages of life.
An FMCG brand can choose to start
pursuing value growth by ensuring that
raw materials for its products are of top
standard - this way, it starts to secure
quality association for its products
or brands. Investing properly in the
downstream activities and involving the
key partners is a common approach -
for example, the way British American
Tobacco works with tobacco farmers to
ensure top quality of leaf or EABL with
barley or sorghum farmers.
Developing raw materials into products
calls for proper research but real value
comes from involving the consumer at
this early stage of innovation - ensuring
that the product is actually meeting a
specific need. More specifically, consumer
product testing can be structured to
provide feedback to the R&D teams to
enhance the product to fit consumer taste
preferences and out do competition as a
business objective. The product fitting
the consumer preference is a major step
towards being close to the consumer.
Uncovering specific need that a product
or brand needs to cater for is a critical
step before even developing the product
itself. In market research terms, this
would involve some creative qualitative
approaches to unearth the often-hidden
consumer motivations that the product
would need to appeal to.
As the world of the consumer becomes
more and more complex to interpret,
research approaches are gradually shifting
towards application of behavioral science
to help uncover indications of the deep
needs based on proven observation
techniques such as immersions or
ethnographic studies which are then later
interpreted within the assumption that
consumers are innately irrational in their
decision making - and largely influenced
by system 1 thinking and reaction (fast,
irrational) and less so or only later, by
system 2 thinking (slower, delayed,
rational).
The next level of value comes from
building a brand around the product
- in simple terms, a name, symbol or
other intangible associations that can
make consumers desire it. If the brand
is desired strongly, it means it has strong
brand equity.
Building strong brand equity partly
involves setting mental networks in the
consumers’ minds that give it an edge
over competition when it comes to the
point of consideration and eventual
purchase, repurchase. The mental
availability of the brand partly relies on
Consumer centered-
ness means that the
entire value chain
needs to consider the
consumer from as
early as possible in
the value chain. This
may even include at
the point of sourcing
for raw materials all
the way to the point
of sale - and recent
times, even beyond
the sale into post
sale relationships as
a way of securing
long term value.
As consumers experience the brand, they
would have points of view - either positive
or negative - that need to be addressed. With
the growth of social media, it has become
even more important to keep a tab on online
conversations around the brand through a
system for online listening and engagement
as part of being consumer centered.
brand communication - that needs to be
consumer centered as well - be noticeable,
evoke some emotion and drive purchase
decision.
Pre-testing of brand communication to
check if they broadly tick these three
boxes is good discipline that partly helps
the brand achieve long term growth -
communication that brings the consumer
closer to the brand is likely to also
contribute to long term sales growth
and also, reduces the risk of investing
too much in communication without
knowing whether it will have impact.
The brand then gets activated in the
market place. Tracking in-market brand
performance is equally critical. I have
talked about the value of brand Health
tracking in an earlier write up but just to
mention that the feedback system should
be detailed and well-rounded to help the
brand connect better to the consumers -
in a relevant and unique way.
At the point of sale, activation drives
value through right execution against
all competition - product availability in
full range (minimum out of stock levels),
in as many outlets as possible (numeric
distribution), in most important outlets
for the category (weighted distribution),
arranged in the right way (merchandising
standards), priced correctly (price
compliance), supported with the right
POS material and so and so forth.
Reviewing and planning a winning route
to market requires right insights focused
on meeting consumer needs. A properly
designed retail and consumer intelligence
research plan should be able to cover this
and bring the brand and business at large
closer to the consumer.
As consumers experience the brand, they
would have points of view - either positive
or negative - that need to be addressed
anyway. With the growth of social media,
it has become even more important to
keep a tab on online conversations around
the brand through a system for online
listening and engagement as part of being
consumer centered.
We have seen real cases of negative
conversations threatening the health of
some brands - underlining the importance
of having a strong structure of managing
word of mouth (online or offline). The
marketing effort would only be effective
if the company’s reputation is strong.
Tracking company reputation would be
an additional angle to look to identify
opportunities for strengthening the
relationship and thus make consumer
marketing easier.
In closing, it is clear that the discussion
around brand purpose will become more
and more intense and central to achieving
growth - the reason for the existence of
the brand. Getting to this reason has to
start with the consumer - to make it
clear and then, be expressed all round its
touch-points with consumers - product
experience, brand assets, corporate social
responsibility efforts and sustainability
programs.
The interconnectedness of all these aspects
to the consumer can partly help unlock the
growth that modern brands are looking
for - well, for now and until the situation
will require a different approach – and it
will – we just don’t know when and what
will be required. It is a VUCA world.
Enock Wandera currently serves as
the Chief Client Officer at Ipsos
Limited. You can commune with
him on this and related matters on
mail via: Enock.Wandera@ipsos.
com.