Whether a brand is selling spices or soap, a luxury watch or a video game, appealing to consumers on an emotional level and connecting during cultural moments is the way to break through, according to executives on the stage at Brand Innovators’ Media & Marketing Innovation Summit at IPG Mediabrands in London this week.
“Every second of every day that you are awake, your brain is processing 11 million bits of information,” said Richard Pallister, senior brand manager at Vodafone, in a presentation in which he argued that 90-95% of consumer behavior is unconscious and the most successful brands focus on three key ingredients to be meaningful, different and salient.
In his talk, he said that the limbic and reptilian parts of the brain influence what we buy, no matter how much we try to rationalize product benefits. “The real reason we like Nike is because of their advertising and experience which appeals to the limbic and reptilian part of our brains,” said Pallister. “The idea that you can do whatever you want to do if you are wearing Nike.”
Suvit Yeung, McCormick & Company & Laura Kleffer, Dove Deodorants, Unilever chat with Croud’s Emma Turner
“Nike believes that there is an athlete in each and every one of us. They exist to help us find our own greatness within everyone. It is something that is relevant for both for the brand and the consumer, it is not a one way dialog,” added Suvit Yeung, senior brand & innovation manager – EMEA platform innovation lead (core & growth), McCormick & Company.
“Emotional connection is the sole reason Dove is where it is today,” said Laura Kleffer, global brand director Dove Deodorants at Unilever. Their “purpose of making beauty a source of happiness and not anxiety” with the Dove Real Beauty platform resonates today as much as it did when it launched 20 years ago.
“It became a source of huge competitive advantage for us, it is relevant today even among younger audiences,” said Kleffer, noting that the brand has stayed consistent in the era of AI and TikTok filters.
HMD’s Barbie Phone
Connecting with cultural moments is one way to appeal to the signals and elements that consumers are already connecting to on an unconscious level. Human Mobile Devices (HMD) was working to build a new brand in an already established category – mobile phones. But their promise is different: to limit the time kids and adults alike spend on phones with a basic flip phone. They wanted to partner with other brands in creative ways to reach new audiences hoping to engage further than their “Taxi driver from Liverpool” aka men over 50. They decided to partner with Mattel to promote a simple Barbie phone to younger women.
Mattel was the perfect partner not only because it is a well respected and recognizable brand that having quite the cultural moment, but also because they share values with HMD. “Ethics are one of the most important parts of their business,” said James Robinson, senior vice president Americas, enterprise, Europe at HMD Global. Barbie’s mission to empower women and support digital-free play aligned with HMD’s goal to offer a fun and pink alternative to smartphones.
Rachel Walsh, TAG Heuer
When Barbie was being made, LVMH’s Swiss watch brand TAG Heuer worked with Barbie star and brand ambassador Ryan Gosling to create a five minute film showcasing his talent as an actor. “We want to work with ambassadors in the field where they are brilliant,” said Rachel Walsh, marketing & digital director of TAG Heuer. “We created a mini movie with Ryan that allowed us to showcase him at his best and lean into entertainment.”
The brand is always looking for cultural movements to show up with ambassadors including working with teen skater Sky Brown in the UK when she skated a floating half-pipe between two double decker buses floating on the River Thames in London. LVMH’s other brands have also brought their signature elegance to global moments whether it is Louis Vuitton’s medal trays at the Olympics or Tiffany’s trophies in NBA Finals.
Ross Jenkins, Mediahub, chats with BeenThereDoneThat’s Dan Gibson
When it comes to new media formats and AI, Ross Jenkins, CEO, EMEA & APAC, Mediahub is focused on “More pilot. Less auto” to get the best out of the new tools without losing the creativity of the human touch.
The agency recently created work for client Activision to promote the new Call of Duty 6. The game lets players use disinformation to hurt enemies, so the brand showed up with these messages both digitally and out-of-home. A teaser video showed a defaced Mt. Rushmore. A van drove around London at night with lasers projected onto key British monuments that said “the truth lies” onto the buildings. These events were publicized on social. An actor playing a key character in the game replaced the presenter in a sports news feed to hack into the broadcast. “There is an idea and the media is just there to accelerate and amplify that idea,” said Jenkins.
