Four decades into working in the broad marketing/advertising/research world and I am still not sure.
When I first joined a famous advertising agency back in the 1980s, to work on market research and help build briefs for new brand campaigns, I received an early lesson in humility. Like a lot of people that I overheard in focus groups, interviews, meetings and, yes in surveys, I was often describing our client, Levi’s, as “cool”. Until the day the senior creative director pulled me up mid-sentence and asked, “What does that mean?”.
His point was not to be niggly but to ask for some clear direction. As he pointed out having research telling him that a brand was or wanted to be cool was just too vague. “Cool” was, and I would suggest still is, a word over used to cover a plethora of feelings and emotions.
Did I mean cool as in surprising, delightful, acceptable by a certain trend group, laid back, etc.? On and on it went. The message was accepted and never a brief was delivered after that with the word “cool” in it, or at least detailed description of what was meant by “cool”. A description relevant to gaining interest, or approval, or application from the people we were trying to influence.
LESSON 1: Be specific
Levi’s could be cool. But we were there to tell people why they were cool or why they matched those people’s idea of what they may want from a cool jeans brand. Not from jeans, from the brand.
Because a “brand” is very different from the “product” or “category”. Hard to believe now maybe but Levi’s had no interest in growing the category, or making jeans fashionable. They wanted a certain type of people with a certain self view of what might be attractive to want to wear Levy’s. Not jeans.
And it was the job of market research to understand that in detail. Not just find out “that Levy’s are cool”.
Lesson 2: Understand what a word means
Some times we researchers just don’t put enough thought in to what words mean to people.
When MasterCard launched it’s “Priceless” rebranding in the late 1990s there had been a lot of research done in to what mattered to people and how spending/paying for things could affect their lives. The result was what was and is a true insight : that there are some things in life that are worth more than you pay for them. So let MasterCard take care of organizing payment and just go make the most of those moments.
It was a strategy that was well-researched in markets all over the world. Except for the word. Priceless. The idea was good, the belief universal. Sort of. Because in some countries, like Japan for example, there was no word for “priceless”.
People liked the idea, the thought of there being things, experiences, in life worth more than what you paid.
But in Japanese culture and language there was no sense of “priceless”. And so we, the ad agency and our clients, had to spend years teaching the Japanese nation the meaning of the word.
“Priceless” as a concept works when explained. When the marketer defines and illustrates it. But words change, are different, and have different meanings depending on cultures and sub-cultures and time periods and many other factors.
And that raises the issue of whether we as marketers, researchers, and communication strategists actually do enough in defining what a word means? Maybe not.
Lesson 3: Do the homework; you may be surprised
We all know that we, our partners, and the public throw words around rather loosely. Slang, jargon, and euphemisms are part of life. But don’t we, as researchers, have a duty of care to understand what our various audiences mean by them?
I once got a brief from a global infant formula brand. All pretty standard stuff. But the target description just said “good mothers” to which I awkwardly asked, “Who or what is a good mother?”
That somewhat dumbfounded the client. They said all mothers were good. To which I pointed out that obviously not all were no matter how you defined it. And more importantly, what aspect of being good resulted in them making the right decision in buying formula.
Well, we got to an answer via detailed interviews with 100 mothers of infants, then taking all that input and creating three definitions, then asking another 1000 mothers which definition they would like to be known by and which definition they really thought they lived by. Because the idealized and the reality were quite different.
When we beta tested campaigns in market using the different definitions we found that what people said made someone a “good mum” was just too risky for real life. And so they were more comfortable with and will to make a buying decision based a description of a “good mum” that they saw as less than ideal but more able to fulfill. (I am happy to share more details when you next want to hear my “Brushing Your Way to Insights” keynote).
Which goes back to my thought that researchers don’t do this enough. We throw out words without really understanding how the market defines them.
Lesson 4: Brand love? Really?
Lots of companies use it. Greenbook has published articles about it. So have many others. Some famous research agencies and their advertising equivalents have built their business around it. But I still don’t get it. Love a brand? What does that mean?
I love my wife, I love my children, I love a few dear friends. But not most. I care about them. I might feel protective. I may be willing to make a sacrifice to help them. I probably would not swap them, unless of course they did something to really hurt, or offend, or ignore me.
Get the point? When I use the word love about people, it is complicated. We may agree that lust and love are different. That to worship and to love are different. To trust, to desire, to cherish, be passionate. All different. When you say love you may mean some or all or … well, lots of other things.
If you know me you know I am a Coca-Cola passionate devotee. I have drunk a Coke or two every day of the last fifty years. Or very close. Yes, I worked on the brand advertising strategy and developed campaigns for it for a quarter century across Asia.
And yes, I know all the bad stuff. But from the time I was around fifteen there has been nothing like that first Coke of the day for me. My family knows that, my friends know that. I have refused alternatives always. I have gone without rather than drink competitors, or even Coca-Cola’s zero, diet abominations.
Should governments ban it I would protest and mourn. I am passionate about it. Do I love it ? Well maybe by the definition of some marketers but before I could say yes or no, I would need you to tell me what you mean by love it.
Think about what you might call elements of “love” and which brands you feel they apply to. I did that last night … here are some examples:
Lust for: Cherry Ripe … the king of candy bars … ask an Australian … it’s my first purchase when ever I go home to Sydney.
Desire always: Coca-Cola…for all the reason above … I am hooked.
Passionate to be near: The Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok … my favorite hotel but also a place that excels in making me feel good.
Trusted always: Darlie Toothpaste … a brand that does what it says.
Can’t imagine living without: Tottenham Hotspurs … I am a fourth generation fan, my affection is lifelong, it helps define me.
Brings joy to my life: Nespresso … because there is a morning ritual involving it that defines my home life, my day and my relationships.
Go on. You try it. Write down a list of definitions of “love” and see what brands pop. And then maybe try actually doing that with a bunch of regular people. All of the above I feel for some brand or other. But no brand gets them all. And so I could say I love them all. But I don’t “love” them in a sense I feel love. Each is more specific.
LESSON 5: The danger of generalizing
My friend Adrian Terron at TATA recently led research into what “empathy” means. Another much bandied about and rather lazily used term in the marketing world of late. Another word that can mean all sorts of things in all sorts of situations. And I say well done to Adrian for doing more than make up a definition for internal use. His team have created a detailed study of what empathy means to different people in different circumstances and what other words and terms could be used to be more specific.
And I think that is GREAT.
For two clear reasons:
First we need to be understanding what people really think. Not generalizations. Not fitting opinions in to easy definitions. That, after all, is what market research is really about isn’t it?
And second, well, generalizations. My fear of what that might mean in the world of “generative AI”. I am all in favor of using artificial intelligence. Have been for near a decade.
You may have seen me present case studies at IIEX conferences of my using AI platforms to get great learning for clients. But let’s be sure that in using these amazing new generative platforms we are constantly investigating and feeding in to them exactly what definitions they should be using for love, for cool, for anything. What and how do real people think these words mean in the context we are exploring?
“Brand love” … I am still not sure what that means. I am not sure that any group of 3 or 30 market research professionals would agree on a meaning. I am pretty positive the people out there we are trying to learn from would and do look at us rather strangely when we use the term.
So maybe more thought on what we mean when we talk might help?
Come and see me at IIEX Asia Pacific on 5-6th March in Bangkok and I will share a Coke with you and we can talk love.
Brand LOVE is a mystery to me
Always has been. And even more so in 2023 than when I first heard it bandied about 35 years ago.
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