by Irma Mutuc
Andy Greenaway, Asia Pacific Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro on the “why” of brands being more important to their “how” and “what”
MANILA – Most responsible marketing or advertising practitioner trust their gut feel but still rely on research to guide their actions and decisions. Andy Greenaway, however, during his talk at the adobo-Tambuli APAC Conference, challenged this practice saying that during research, respondents give you answers that they think they’re looking for, thus, using research as a guide is like “using a yardstick to measure weight”. Instead, he believes that practitioners need to start looking at psychology and embracing some of its principles.
For starters he referred to the three Fs to differentiate brands: 1. Flaunt me (brand which offer prestige and status); 2. For me (brands which offer comfort and pleasure); and 3. Fix me (brands which solves a particular concern/problem). Some brands clearly offer either of the three while some may stand for more than one F.
Greenaway cited and showed video case studies of the retail brand Target and Stella Artois beer while he shared pointers on how he thinks brands can more effectively use their knowledge of psychology to gain or strengthen their foothold in the highly volatile and fickle market: be distinctive because it’s what gives you an edge, repetition worked during the Broadcast era and remains a powerful weapon until now, consistency is good so when you hit on a big idea, stick with it, in other words, be true to your DNA. In closing, he encouraged everyone to trust their gut and believe in their instinct, “ Don’t be a slave to focus groups. Be a master of your own genius.”
