Why brands shouldn't forget to be likeable

I once worked on a big UK sofa retailer. It wasn't always fun to be honest.

They were well known and kind of the default choice.

But they were always in sale. Few buy a sofa because they really want to, they're not cheap, they buy it because they have to.

And they put it off because they don't expect a nice shopping experience.

I told them they might be doing well now, but there would come a time when they should try and make people actually like them, and put the experience at the heart of the communication, not just the product (it was a lot better than people thought).

They didn't then, but eventually they did and apparently the commercial success is off the charts.

Tesco made a mistake when they were seen as the titans of grocery shopping,. There was an under current in culture of people thinking they weren't using their powers for good. If Tesco was down the road, folks would shop there because there were few alternatives, but few really liked them.

Dictators always end up suffering revolutions. 

So when they were hit by nimbler discounters on one side and scandals about provenance on the other (horsemeat etc) few shed a tear.

I  also worked with one of the best creative agencies in London. They were really good, no they were amazing. But even the best make mistakes and have dud campaigns. This is fine if clients and partners like you, but part of their 'brand' seemed to be about being rude to everyone. The client we shared loved their work but hated them. 

Of course, as soon as they messed up, their was no love to get them through it and they were fired.

This is why tech companies all end up investing in emotional brand campaigns. They eventually realise that disrupting the market only gets you so far. Eventually you'll mess up, and someone will disrupt you.

Put another way, it's not enough to get people to buy you, eventually they have to like to buy you.

This is missing from much of what Byron discusses about the fallacy of differentiation. It's true that most people don't know that much about the brand they buy or why it's different. But we buy stuff not just because we remember it (distinctive) the brand and they have 'removed reasons not to buy.

It feels right, and that's something that rarely shows up in quant surveys. 

This is what is missing from those who believe the future is about precision targeting and conversion. There will always be someone else with better data. 

Everyone thought Microsoft was invincible, like they do about Google now...

Comments

[John]

Recently found myself at a talk at Linkedin given by Binet, Field and Ritson where the former were giving a first look at their B2B research and Ritson was being himself.

This all resonated with your point about being liked - Binet explicitly suggested that tech firms should be doing brand campaigns eighteen months after launch, but they all start them too late.