SINGAPORE – For brands, the conventional wisdom was long held that marketing their USP was key to gaining loyalty and a price premium over competitors. Y&R’s global planning head Sandy Thompson offered Spikes delegates a different take for today’s environment, where “people have started to trust brands less” and brands have become “more perceptually redundant”.
In her presentation, “Resist The Usual”, Thompson advocated: “Brands need to stop worrying about what makes them different, and think about what makes them interesting.” And perfection is the antithesis of interesting. “Perfection is the enemy of engagement – people don’t want their brands to be perfect mirrors of them,” she added, noting that things get more interesting, the less perfect they are.
Offering examples from popular culture backed by Y&R’s proprietary research on how brands can reclaim market leadership, Thompson pointed to the vastly different fates of two industries: Music and broadcast media. The music business is ailing and much of its wounds are self-inflicted: It blamed piracy and even attacked its fans and refused to accept new channels in the belief that the good old days would return.
In contrast, despite similar issues along with its audience base fragmenting amid the explosion of media choices, the broadcast sector has rebounded. Having watched what is happening, the industry has welcomed new channels, engaged the viewers and embraced the fact that the world of consumption has changed forever.
“TV is more alive today than it has ever been.”
