Is it difficult to understand the current wave of consumers? You, as a brand, want to create long-lasting relationships but you are unable to even connect with the consumer. 

Brands look for loyal consumers because they spend more and they refer more. However, they are in a dilemma today as consumers switch between brands faster than they switch channels on television. This is because brands’ persistent focus on ‘consumer loyalty’ and ‘brand loyalty’ does not resonate with consumers today. 

Brands believe that loyalty is equivalent to consumer’s purchasing power however, consumers have deviated from this ideology. A study by McKinsey of 55 different American and European companies demonstrates that companies with extensive loyalty programs did not grow any faster when compared to their counterparts without loyalty programs (Wood & Curry, 2014). Another study by Kantar Retail states that “71% of consumers now claim that loyalty incentive-programs don’t make them loyal at all” (Bellin, Wollan and Zealley, 2018). Currently, loyalty programs are based on a transactional relationship and people want an emotional connection. 

Consumers want to create an emotional connection with the brand. They seek brands who are relevant today and who consider the issues that they care about. When brands engage with the consumers on a personal level allowing them to build concrete emotional relationships, they are rewarded with loyal consumers as they express their gratitude to the brands. Gratitude is defined as, “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness” (Cambridge Dictionary). The key to connecting with the consumer today is to evoke gratitude through relevance. 

In the media today, representation and relevance is imperative to capture audiences. One of the main reasons why movies like Crazy Rich Asians performed so outstandingly well was because of the gratitude of the Asian population worldwide, like Eric Nam who booked the entire theatre (Salamat 2018). Representation is very important in media campaigns and when people see themselves being represented by the brand, they would try to support the brand by buying the product or through social media engagement. 

An example would be the Fenty Beauty launch which was accompanied with an inclusive marketing campaign featuring women of diverse ethnic backgrounds and different body shapes who are usually underrepresented or misrepresented in mass media. As a result, in their first year of business, the brand became the biggest beauty brand launch in Youtube history, was hugely successful commercially and named one of Time Magazine’s best inventions of 2017 (Saputo 2019). They were one of the first brands to have 40 shades of foundation covering multiple ranges of undertones and skin shades causing its darker shades to be sold out within a few hours of being online. Rihanna’s “Beauty for all” allowed many women to see themselves in the advertising campaign for the first time and just by including these women, Fenty Beauty stood out from their counterparts that made them successful commercially, which is symbolic of the gratitude that these underrepresented women had towards the brand. 

Ariel’s “Share the Load’ campaign in India is another example of brands evoking gratitude in the form of product sales and social media engagement as they shed light on a social issue. Ariel’s advertising campaign focused on gender inequality prevalent in Indian households and asking fathers to share the load of household chores with their wives so that their children’s understanding of gender roles is more equivalent. Their campaign was so effective that it received worldwide acclaim, with even Melinda Gates and Sheryl Sandberg singing its praises. 

The advertisement video gained 50 million views in 50 days. (Economic Times, 2016). It was shared on multiple social media platforms by ordinary people and celebrities alike. It led to 2.1 million men pledging their support to the cause (Economic Times, 2016). 2600 men showed their support for the cause by creating a Guinness World Record of most number of men washing clothes together (Economic Times, 2016). It received five Cannes Lions awards along with a plethora of other marketing and advertising awards making it the most illustrious advertising campaign in Indian history (Economic Times, 2016). 

Women continued to show gratitude towards Ariel by increasing its sales by 76% (The Thinking Brand, 2016). This is an example of how the consumer gives back to the brands when they create content that engages them emotionally. This campaign’s social media engagement and its viral nature led to receiving recognition worldwide in terms of celebrity forwards and media awards. Their sales rose by more than half and this campaign is still popular today. They have launched 4 adverts in this campaign and each one creates a mark on the society which is shown in their sales figures. 

As defined before, gratitude is the readiness to show appreciation in return of the kindness granted. This is an important aspect to consider when looking to build customer relationships and increasing sales consequently. These are some of the examples prevalent today of brands using social issues, inclusion of misrepresented and underrepresented women and feminism to create advertising campaigns that drive sales and create brand loyalty as these are the values that the consumer starts to associate with the brand. 

Today, Fenty Beauty is one of the most successful beauty brands because of them including women of all colours in their campaigns. All of their products outperform their predecessors in the industry and they have a huge line of loyal fans. This is because women are thankful to this brand. After the arrival of Fenty Beauty, many brands had to start catering to darker skin tones in order to remain competitive. Today, most brands have more than 20 shades in their foundation range as compared to 10-15 shades before. This is the impact of Fenty Beauty and this is why women continue to buy from Fenty Beauty notwithstanding the many options available in the market now. If brands create relevant campaigns, focus on current issues and try to give a voice to the underrepresented consumers, they will not only gain sales but also a whole community of loyal consumers who will be thankful at having their voice heard. 

Bibliography

Cambridge. “Gratitude.” Cambridge Dictionary, Cambridge English Corpus, dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gratitude.

Lebomukansi. “How a Detergent Brand Increased Sales in India by 76% by Encouraging Progressive Gender Roles.” Thethinkingbrand.wordpress.com, 24 Oct. 2016, thethinkingbrand.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/ariel-campaign-analysis-sharetheload/.

Salamat, Hidayah. “Korean-American Star Eric Nam Buys out Crazy Rich Asians Screening in Pursuit of #GoldOpen.” Channel News Asia, 17 Aug. 2018, http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/korean-eric-nam-crazy-rich-asians-gold-open-diversity-10624876.

Saputo, Sandy. “Fenty Beauty’s Inclusive Advertising Campaign – Think with Google.” Google, Google, June 2019, http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/-fenty-beauty-inclusive-advertising/.

Times, Economic. “Ariel Gets 2.1 Million Men to ‘Share the Load’.” BRANDEQUITY.COM, 3 Aug. 2016, brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/ariel-gets-2-1-million-men-to-share-the-load/53517503.

Wood, Craig, and Andrew Curry. “Beyond the Loyalty Paradox.” The Futures Company, 2014.

Zealley, John, et al. “Marketers Need to Stop Focusing on Loyalty and Start Thinking About Relevance.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business, 5 Dec. 2018, hbr.org/2018/03/marketers-need-to-stop-focusing-on-loyalty-and-start-thinking-about-relevance?referral=03759&cm_vc=rr_item_page.bottom.