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May 12, 2005
Preference, not awareness
Posted by Jennifer Rice
Something caught my eye when I read the interview with Tom Asacker at Jacobsmedia.com. Tom says:
Just because I have knowledge of something doesn’t mean that I desire it. Branding is all about creating something that is truly desirable. Something that people will go out of their way for, pay a premium for, and tell their friends about.
Try it with your friends. Ask them to name the first brand that comes to mind when you say . . . Pizza. They’ll likely name Dominoes or Pizza Hut. Then ask them where you should go to buy a great pizza. Different answer. Right? For me, it’s Sal’s on South Willow Street.
I was just thinking about this while watching the NBA playoffs last night (go Mavs!). American Airlines sponsors the arena in Phoenix and Dallas; what exactly do they get from those sponsorships? Sure, there's "American Airlines" plastered all over the courts, building awareness... but where's the ROI? How does seeing the words "American Airlines" entice people to fly with AA instead of Southwest, JetBlue, or any other airline? They spent millions to get their name on two arenas, but I bet those millions could have been better spent improving the customer experience. On a related note, they're spending more millions on a new ad campaign. Sure, I like the campaign, but let's face it: I fly AA because they're based in Dallas and I have a lot of frequent flier miles. All this effort to brand AA is just putting expensive lipstick on a pig. It's still the same non-descript, commodity experience.
If you're working with an agency that talks about building awareness as the primary objective, get a new agency. Your primary objective is to create preference, not awareness. And that usually happens by investing in your product or service and creating a compelling experience. Create preference, and awareness will follow.
(PS. According to this article, it looks like AA is working on the experience, primarily through customer database and CRM initiatives. IMO, these are ancillary nice-to-have's, but I still have to pay $3 extra to get something more than pretzels on a 3-hour flight, and I still experience delays... I'd rather see improvements in the flying experience itself, versus little perks like flight-status alerts. But hey, maybe that's just me...)
Comments (10)
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Jennifer Rice
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1. Bruce DeBoer on May 12, 2005 01:56 PM writes...
Exactly. I'm feeling the ground shift aren't you? [or should I say I'm feeling the "brand shift".]
Get the balance right: Brand awareness is important but not as important as the experience.
Permalink to Comment2. Michael Perman on May 12, 2005 07:58 PM writes...
The indellible etching of being
Noticed Jennifer's comments on need to develop brand preference vs. just brand awareness. Absolutely agree since awareness is elusive and nestles on a spectrum accuracy. I may be aware the sky is blue and has some clouds, but if I'm not engaged with the movement and shapes, then I am not really aware of what the sky has to offer.
Preference is love, gotta love the brand and the experience you have needs to be indellibly etched in your conciousness. I actually hate American Airlines, will fly if forced...have a negative impression of their top brass and having a nice meal on that plane would not overcome my lack of preference because a negative image is indellibly etched. I don't even think a personal concierge service would help since my first experiences were negative.
Brands just need to build the love, one person at a time. Like getting a personal, hand written greeting card in the mail instead of a digital replica.
Permalink to Comment3. jens on May 13, 2005 09:11 AM writes...
here is to jennifer and tom.
cheers. good observations.
the old top-of-mind thinking is rooted in the fmcg-marketing. impulsive decision making in front of an overcrowded supermarket shelf. and it still holds for low-involvement goods - or impulsive / low involvement situations. if i buy detergent or toothpaste it is always about a mixture of top-of-mind and price. chewing gum the same thing.
clothes, travel, eating-out, newspaper, financial services, capital goods etc. is something completely different for me. i do not think i have ever brought a shoe brand that actually uses advertising in their communications strategy. - well, maybe jp tods for leisure... but that is my personal profile.
tom had another great article posted
http://www.acleareye.com/articles/Article%20-%20Nike%20Golf.pdf
same story, different punchline.
the funny thing is, how much marketing as a whole still is regarded as something that can be understood through fmcg-practice.
too few companies have understood that this is not leading anywhere. bmw is one of the few exceptions. they had never left their hard-nosed engineer’s thinking and gut-feeling heritage, kept a clear instinct at a time where daimlerchrysler got lost in economics of scale, and volkswagen in disney-dreams. other than volkswagen (audi is the remarkable exception in their portfolio) bmw also has fully understood the power of design (…amongst other things). whereas volkswagen has a highly diversified portfolio based on super-precise lifestyle segments their consumer and lifestyle strategy has eroded the credibility of almost all of their brands. it drives tears into the eyes of every car aficionado, what they have done to bentley for example. rolls royce (owned and driven by bmw) is a completely different story… mini too. (i wonder if this is due to the fact that bmw is still mainly owned by one tight knit family-clan, probably…)
like no other company in the market, bmw has understood that selling cars to a highly involved and educated audience does not have to stop at selling them blueprints for their lifestyle dreams. the emotions, a car company with the pedigree of bmw has to capitalize on, do not come from the market - do not come from the consumers - they have to come from the company itself, from the heart of the company, from the roaring, oil stinking and yet responsible and precise engineer’s heart.
if you look at mercedes, you see the worlds most well known car-brand being nothing but a hollow shell. yes, they may do some decent sponsoring, yes they do enough product placement in rap-videos…. hey, but bmw does their short movies….
and, let’s speak design now… i know it is a difficult topic, because we are also talking personal taste here… nevertheless: by looking at their global market – especially the us-market – mercedes design has been stuck in some kind of slickness (which some might call elegance… but hey, have a look inside the car… all these soft and pampers-style features… this is grand-uncle joe’s happy afternoon in the urological clinic). staring at market-share has paralyzed a company that by historical reputation should lead the market. … wait for a couple of more years, if they do not change… the verdict is out.
bmw on the contrary. i am not saying that i like their design language too much, the edges and all these kind of things, but hey, THEY DARE. bmw dares to be different. we are bmw! this is 2005! f*** retro. f*** indecisiveness. we are bmw. we are here today. for you. let’s go.
:)
Permalink to Comment4. jens on May 13, 2005 10:04 AM writes...
damn, why can't i edit my article in this blog-program here.
i spoted so many mistakes whilst just reading it again.
let me correct at least one:
it is "economies of scale"!
:)
Permalink to Comment5. jens on May 13, 2005 10:21 AM writes...
and i think it is "spotted"
:(
Permalink to Comment6. jens on May 13, 2005 02:17 PM writes...
and here some more:
today's ft on bmw's new plant in leipzig/germany.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/eeb26baa-c34a-11d9-abf1-00000e2511c8.html
and.. before i forget: you can also order your new bmw through me...
:)
Permalink to Comment7. Dustin on May 13, 2005 07:00 PM writes...
Jennifer,
Shhhh! If you tell people stuff like this then they're bound to pull out of sponsorships. Then, just think of the cost to attend sporting events. The price would skyrocket, people would stop attending, teams would start losing money, and the athletes would start making less... OK, maybe it's not such a bad idea after all.
In my opinion, athletic venue sponsorships are typically lazy and seductive marketing opportunities. I wonder how much affinity you could build by supporting the construction of little league fields or inner-city rec centers instead of slapping your name on Dirk's house.
At least that way even if the ROI isn't there, the IOI (Impact On Investment) is there for those who really need it.
Permalink to Comment8. David Vinjamuri on May 13, 2005 09:59 PM writes...
You might find Eva Lind-Mallo's take on the latest AA campaign interesting as she agrees with you on getting the fundamentals right: http://www.brandtrainers.com/blog/2005/05/american-airlines-we-know-why-you-fly.html
Permalink to Comment9. jens on May 14, 2005 08:28 AM writes...
a little more on the new bmw-plant by zaha hadid.
http://www.wallpaper.com/design/737
http://www.bmw-werk-leipzig.de/leipzig/deutsch/lowband/com/en/index.html
;)
Permalink to Comment10. Scott Miller on May 16, 2005 11:50 AM writes...
Awareness is nearly worthless without desire. And Al Ries & Jack Trout wrote the book on creating desire.
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