Marcelo Ferrarini Carneiro, Senior Manager, Global Insights at the LEGO Group wrote an article titled What I wish I knew about brand strategy 10 years ago (when he joined a brand consultancy straight out of school with finance-focused business degree).
« It’s the behaviour, stupid! … Instead of spending a lot of time debating and asking people what they think about your brand and category (which has its relevance), focus on what they are doing. This will provide critical insights into what you need to do along the customer journey to maximise the chances of your brand to be chosen. »
« Differentiation is overrated… 2X2 matrixes would try to make the case for a “gap” in the market, but we knew the axis were forcing that space. »
« Targeting has its place, but is overrated… but we now know that reaching all potential consumers in the market, especially light ones, is the critical task of marketing. We also know that the consumer base of different brands will look relatively similar to each other (the Harley Davidson average consumer is not like we see in the ppt decks), which makes obsessing about targeting in the traditional sense a much more nuanced job. »
« You need to be authentic to what your brand stands for in the minds of consumers. Authenticity is a topic we would discuss over and over, but which I feel is losing space with the stubborn tendency of some to jump straight into trends, hypes, and new hot marketing tools. There is a place for that, but if you don’t plan campaigns or new product launches starting from what consumers expect your brand to deliver, you are dramatically increasing the risk of those initiatives to fail. Start planning your marketing activities with what your brand stands for. »
« Consistency is a business matter… Our brains are wired to capture and process the consistency in stories, so effective communications depend on that. Also, brands need to build strong visual and verbal assets to be recognised and chosen, and those can only be successful in doing so with consistent application in all touchpoints… with a pinch of freshness every time… That’s why the audit I worked as an intern on colours, logos and taglines was indeed a business critical task! »
« Emotion is powerful… Now we know that to grow brands we need to create mental availability, and a key component to that is emotional communications, as they have a higher chance to stick in our memories. »
« Marketers would benefit from remembering the importance of brand authenticity, consistency and emotion. Without those fundamentals, you will either pay too much to acquire a new customer or not grow fast enough to compete. »
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