Brands chasing eyeballs, streams of web hits and marketing ROI need to re-think their strategies as there's a new A game plan in town – authenticity.
MD of global experiential creative comms agency, Imagination, Anthony Gowthorp, told AdNews that brands need to switch their focus from scoring eyeballs on goods and instead, work on engaging with customers - without always wanting to make a buck off the back of it.
“It's not all about eyeballs – where is the connection there?” Gowthorp said.
“People aren't stupid and I think some brands can forget this and don't realise that we can see straight through their campaigns.
“If a brand is portraying something in a campaign that is not inline with their brand values, then they are not living their brand values. The consumer is in turn aware of this and there is no connection made between the brand and the person.”
Gowthorp said the best strategy a brand can adopt is to effectively strip the dollar signs away and try to think about what experience that person should and can have from a brand. He said more and more brands are now looking at ways to appeal to consumers on a deeper and more integrated level, by offering them more of an 'experience'.
He stressed that consumers are wiser than ever and it's the smart brands that focus on real authenticity that are going to be one step ahead.
Director at Imagination, Heath Campanaro, added that any company can claim whatever fact they want, but if it's not true, consumers are smart enough to see through this.
He used Qantas' latest campaign which promotes 'real emotions' from 'real people' flying the nation's airline, as an example. Campanaro said he would much rather the airline, which he uses, came out with a more direct strategy.
“I fly Qantas and I have been that person flying back home after a time away, but that advert just doesn't match up with what you actually get flying Qantas,” Campanaro said.
“I would just much rather they came out with 'we are your nation's airline and business is going to die if you don't fly with us, so please support us'.”
Campanaro alludes to the fact that while Qantas hopes to woo more flyers with an emotive ad plea, in fact it does the opposite and creates an unauthentic brand representation because there is a disconnect between what is portrayed and what is delivered.
Do you agree? Comment below and let us know.
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Apple and Google smash $100bn in brand value
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