Editor’s note: This paper was presented at the ARF AUDIENCExSCIENCE Conference in mid-June. The reportage here covers only a portion of their work, however, the full presentation is available with the link below.
Building Brands: Heavy Buyers or Non-Buyers – The Debate Goes On
Original research conducted by:
Rachel Kennedy – Associate Director, Product Development, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
Leslie Wood – Chief Research Officer, Nielsen Catalina Solutions
Two apparently opposite points of view – both supported by lots of empirical evidence and research rigor. To resolve this issue, EBI and NCS got together to provide a nuanced combined approach:
- To build a brand, you need to align your strategy, your creative and your target. They need to support and align with each other.
- Know your brand, set your strategy and build your creative. Then test your creative. Test to see if it there is a strong response from your strategic target.
- If yes, great. If no, go back and rework your creative. This takes time, so either use an older creative or target the audience that is receptive to your creative.
- Select the target to fit the creative and measure.
From the NCS Playbook:
- Know your brand. Use the NCS brand signatures to understand who the consumers are.
- Creative messages resonate differently by segment. Advertise to those who respond, even if it means changing the target. But also think about the whole spectrum, some creative messages just don’t resonant enough. No matter who you target, you get an audience outside of your resonant target.
- Select the media that aligns with who the message resonates with – advertising to consumers who don’t respond to wastes media dollars.
From Ehrenberg-Bass:
- Benchmarks give context for the category and brand – how any brand should look and how it will grow for growth opportunities.
- Brands are in different starting positions (Stable, Growing, New Successful, New Failed, Declining).
- Loyalty is broadly predictable and a function of the category and size. Brands vary in penetration but not so much in purchase frequency. In general, there are very few loyal brands.
- Chasing ROI metrics can be counter to a growth strategy. Higher response is only as good as segment size. If you have a campaign that doesn’t work, get rid of it, bring an old one back or create a new campaign.
Read the full presentation here