Over the years there’s been all manner of phrases evoked where one’s focus should be when getting a brand’s message across… Content is King…Less is more…Don’t be clever…Don’t seek praise…Don’t be self-congratulatory…and many more.
But when it comes down to it, your customers will be self-selecting of the information they retain, be they implicitly or explictly delivered to them.
They’ll read or hear the benefit first, if the advertiser has bothered to communicate one. But they’ll only buy into a brand if we, as brand architects, communicate the essense of that brand accurately. One that truely reflects the personality and character of the brand and therefore strikes the right note of credibility, so they’ll trust the communications from hereon in.
We all want the consumer on our side and delivering the tone of voice that endears them to our clients or creates an affinity for the brand, is in my view a key determining factor in doing so and I would argue, one we should hold dear in all our executions.
Confident can equal Cocky, as Danyl Johnson’s personal brand has found of late, with his roller coaster ride on X-factor.
BMW’s ride has been that much smoother over the years. But even their confidence maybe described as arrogant on occasions. And when times are hard, we want our customers on our side even more, so even BMW have interestingly injected some warmer, more emotive words to complement the often deemed harshness of their German engineering. We are all now invited to have JOY when experiencing BMW. We can also protest too much!
So striking the balance is key.
As architects of our clients brands we should be brand advocates and by that I don’t just mean having their beer in the agency fridge and bar, or staff being given ASDA vouchers as our Xmas bonus – yes, that really happended one year! We need to champion our brands with the tone of voice that’s communicated within the agency, outside of the agency and within the halls of the brand owner too.
As agencies, we acquire brands on loan. If we’re lucky it will be on a long lease, but if we adopt a policy of smoke and mirrors we treat the brand with contempt and the consumer similarly so and it will be short let. If we believe, so will many more.
Smoke and mirrors won’t do the job any more. We’re not all going to go and kit our homes out with IKEA furniture, but if we talk of it in the egalitarian way that reflects the band’s ethos and not necessarily the shopping experience, until they get that to a more widely appreciated level, then we will assuredly get the message across that’ll win hearts and minds, bums on seats and charm all for whom the message is intended.