If Vodacom is anything to go by, branding has definitely solidified its status as a multi-million dollar industry. So as a brand marketer, who has spent millions on getting your message across, you have to ask yourself what you would do, if your customers were allowed to vote on whether or not you were allowed to use it.
We’re bombarded with so many messages these days, across a variety of platforms, from TV advertising, to print, in-store promotion, outdoor media, mobile marketing and of course social media. The problem is many marketing departments are making promises their organisations just can’t keep. Then there’s also the problem of trying to keep track of the promises being made, as brands seem to change slogans like regular folk change their underwear.
While most of us consumers are still feeling the pinch of recession and are increasingly disheartened when we hear regular newscasts telling of petrol price increases, electricity price hikes, public service strikes, is it surprising that we get frustrated when we see what we perceive to be wasteful spend, by the conglomerates that are constantly adding to our woes?
Imagine if marketers were required by law to place a red and green electronic buzzer in each of their stores, and add it as an app on their websites. The hording above the buttons reads “We kept our brand promise to you”. The word above the green button “Pass” and above the red button the word “Failed”.
Every customer that passes gets to hit the buzzer they feel is relevant to their purchasing experience. When you fail 100 times, your signage rolls over to reveal a plain white banner, or it vanishes from your website. After that it takes 100 “Passes”, to turn the cogs that roll your branding back into place. It’s a scary thought to have the branding you spent millions on disappearing when you don’t live up to expectations generated by your promise to your customer.
Failed
Vodacom’s service is poor, its network glitchy, and its account department completely unhelpful. Currently, claims of maladministration of data accounts are rife (from personal experience and from colleagues experiences), with people suddenly being stung with bills in the thousands when their regular usage never went above R300. The best Vodacom can do is blame their customers for not using high end anti-virus and anti-malware protection. Did they perhaps turn red from embarrassment at their shocking service?
“Connect and you can” – Mweb manages to secure an award for best service provider, (granted the award was for the previous year), in a year when their service was appalling. They were down more often than not, sometimes for days at a time. Now we hear via Daily Maverick’s Opinionista Mandy de Waal, that the CEO Rudi Jansen doesn’t want the 4000 – 5000 customers who cannot currently connect, to know that there is a problem never mind how to fix it because, consumers “will mess things up and this will just make matters worse, rather than making them better.” Ouch. Bet he’s regretting making that comment.
What about the likes of the big retailers like PnP, who over the years have made brand promises of being “Inspired by you” and their latest “Fresh” approach? Their customers apparently chose the “Inspired by you” tagline for them out of a possible four they were shown – does this mean it reflected their customers’ feelings about the PnP brand or just that it was the best sounding tagline from the four available choices? Let’s be honest here – in marketing and PR, we’re in the business of “manipulating” customers opinions through persuasion. I would have been more impressed if they had a write-in contest where the tagline that came up most often from 1000s of customers was chosen.
It’s obviously not me they’re talking about being inspired by – I’m a regular at the manager’s desk at my local Midrand PnP store complaining about the myriad of bug-stung and ruined “fresh” vegetables on offer that they’re trying to sneak to their customers. Clearly best by dates don’t mean a thing either because the stuff goes off before the stipulated date arrives. (I’m well-read. I understand that the year’s rains have wreaked havoc on the crops, but some retailers have still managed to secure good quality produce.)
Then there are the PnP store names to consider. For me personally, arriving with my two-year old at the then newly refurbished Kyalami “Family” Store, to find they had no child-friendly trolley’s available for me to pop my daughter into while I traversed the aisles, was just a little frustrating.
Waiting the fifteen minutes for the trolley to come up from the basement with a tired child, was more than I could stand and I left and went up the road to Woolworths, for a much more pleasant retail experience.
Passed
Spar’s tagline used to be “Good for you” and they aim to provide “friendly, caring” service, which cannot be matched”. They also have a “double your money back guarantee” on all the Spar branded products. I frequent a number of the Spars in my area, and I can definitely attest to their friendly, caring staff. They seem genuinely happy to be Spar ambassadors and they’re always chatty and engaging. Their bakeries are definitely good for me too (just not great for the waistline.)
Their current My Spar campaign is engaging with customers asking them to tell their personal story. I think this is a great way for marketers to learn what people’s true experiences are – the good and the bad. There’s no guarantee they’ll publish the bad, but at least it will provide valuable feedback for them if they choose to listen to what their customers are really saying.
The Pass pickings are slim – it’s been tough to find taglines that do keep their promises. I’d love to hear about your positive brand experiences.
Conclusion
In what are still frugal times, perhaps it would be wiser for our marketers to look at ways of really engaging with their target markets to ascertain what is really important to them.
I do understand that many brand managers are focussed on operational and logistical side of their business, and are more numbers orientated rather than creative. Perhaps they need to take a more hands on approach and not simply leave it to the agencies to define the personality and promise of their brand. Either that, or take the time to find an agency who will care as much about the brand as they do.
There’s enough corruption in our country already. Instead of telling our customers what we think they want to hear, or what we think they should believe about our brands, let’s put honesty into the picture for a change. It’s time for more meaningful personal interactions again and less extravagance, less wasteful spending. We have the tools, let’s use them.
Copyright© 2011 Lindsay Grubb
About the Author
Lindsay Grubb is a passionate communicator. She is the owner of L Communications, a Johannesburg-based marketing and PR consultancy and a freelance writer. She has appeared in print and online media locally and around the world.
She’s in the business of figuring out what it is you’re trying to say and helping you get the right message across to the right audience. Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
