1. How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
- Marketing manifesto rooted in evidence-based marketing and based on scientific research and data, mostly CPG brands like Coca-Cola.
2. The Long and Short of It by Les Binet & Peter Field
- Report based on the analysis of 996 campaigns entered into the IPA Effectiveness Awards between 1980 and 2010.
1. Key Takeaways from How Brands Grow:
- Brands can grow by acquiring new customers rather than convincing existing customers to stay.
- Maximise your reach by reaching as many people as possible who want to buy your category. Don't limit your reach by taking off a part of the market (through segmentation) that you think might not be for your brand.
- Big brands have more light and infrequent buyers than smaller brands. So if you want to grow from small to big, you must target and appeal to light buyers instead of focusing only on heavy buyers.
- Customers are not as loyal as marketers think and often switch between brands.
- Becoming noticeable (distinct and memorable) is more effective than being different (different and unique).
- Brand should be available mentally (top of mind) and physically (easy to find and buy) to drive growth.
- Advertise constantly, not in bursts, so that your target buyers keep you top of the mind.
- Advertising isn't a strong force and doesn't alter buyer behavior. It's a weak force, which increases a customer's propensity to buy with each exposure.
- Create campaigns that are distinct and stand out to drive cut-through. The brand/campaign doesn't have to be very entertaining or likable to do that.
- Use consistent brand assets and visual cues to make the brand recognisable. Minimise changes whilst keeping the brand fresh and interesting.
- Startups should focus on earned channels more because consumers are more likely to accept new ideas when introduced via earned channels (plus innovative startups are more likely to earn PR than incumbents).
2. Key Takeaways from The Long and Short of It:
- Brands with SoV (Share of Voice) greater than SoM (Share of Market) grow, and the others shrink. This growth is proportion to Excess SoV (ESOV = SOV - SOM).
- Brands should spend 60% of their budget on brand-building for long-term growth, and 40% on sales activation for maximum effectiveness to drive short-term sales.
- The 3 key ingredients for brand building are emotion, reach, and fame.
- TV (including VOD) advertising is crucial to driving long-term profitability.
- Targeted digital activation should work together with mass media, and support mass marketing (TV, radio, etc.).
- Market penetration is three times more likely to be the main driver of growth and profit compared to loyalty.
- Emotional campaigns positively impact the brand and the business more than rational ones.
- The effect of a campaign on a business is directly proportional to the longevity of the campaign.
- Loyalty campaigns aimed at existing customers are a lot less successful at driving growth than acquisition campaigns.
- Sales campaigns boost sales temporarily, but they don't drive long-term growth or increase loyalty.
- The most effective and efficient campaigns target the whole category rather than a particular segment.
- Campaigns that generate a large amount of brand salience (strong brand image and presence) are twice as likely to drive short-term and long-term growth than those without.
- Campaigns that get talked about and gain popularity drive significant uplift across all business metrics.
- Even the most creative campaigns need scale to succeed and longer evaluation periods to prove their impact.
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Until next time,
Sush