Where Do Brands Go From Here? 5 New Considerations for Setting Brand Strategy
If 2020 was all about resilience, then 2021 was about flexibility.
It seemed that the only constant this year was change. Changes in office re-openings, vaccine and mask policies, changes in well-oiled supply chains, changes in life. If it could change in 2021, it did.
Adapting to this much flexibility is challenging for established brands and businesses. And with society ricocheting like a pinball between volatile social conditions and markets, where it’s all headed has never been less clear. Which means it’s time to get out in front of these changing consumer trends and help make the crystal ball clear(er) again.
To do that, you might (should) build a deeper empathetic connection with your consumer and/or customer again. Your customer, like you, has had to become more resilient and flexible over the past two years. What if you could better understand how they see the world and live their life today so you could design and implement resonant strategies again? Could it take some of the uncertainty away?
Here are five questions to help you design a more resonant brand strategy in 2022:
1. How is geography impacting attitudes and behaviors?
There are two very different Americas forming based on geography, local government mandates, and the prevailing attitudes and behaviors. This goes beyond the traditional differences between urban, suburban, and rural or North v. South. Some major cities are requiring mask-wearing and proof of vaccination in restaurants and other indoor locations. You might notice that there are higher general habits of wearing masks in these metro markets than others. I’ve found that where you are makes a difference in how you are perceiving the pandemic and consumer behavior. If I were to conduct focus groups only in San Francisco and New York, I’d find a much more concerned population with greater mask compliance and vaccination levels as well as more interest in outdoor dining. Travel just 90-minutes east of the Bay Area to Sacramento and there is much less concern, more “old ways” of behavior or at least more reluctance and resistance to social safety measures. The lesson from this? Recognize that your perspective may be further apart from where your consumers are because of this new societal divide that has emerged. Expect this to continue well into the future and potentially against other government mandates.
2. What does a routine day look like now?
Not only are the large multi-nationals and other companies changing their return to office, many are adapting a hybrid or “flex” work model. We saw this employee-driven desire for more flexibility emerge this time last year when nearly 50% of people who started working from home during the pandemic indicated they wanted to continue that once the pandemic was over. These shifts have created new routines that don’t look exactly like the old routines. Some people are working more than ever before, using their old commute time for more meetings and more productivity. Others are not working, choosing to leave the work force until childcare stabilizes or the financial incentives to work outweigh the cost of parenting. The lesson from this? People are in a routine, and you might call that the ‘new normal.’ This can create opportunities and occasions for your brand or service to meet the new needs of your consumers.
3. Should my brand take a stand on current events?
This shift has been building for years and has its current roots in the authenticity movement of the past 15-20 years. The protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder and other social injustice issues have pushed brands to show where their values are. A study by Ipsos Mori/Pepsico showed that 90% of consumers want brands to show empathy through their behavior. This includes social justice and other political issues. To do so, brands must take definitive action, whether it’s DEI/DIB initiatives, increasing wages of hourly workers, solving for wage inequities, etc. Understanding the social values of your brand will be critical in 2022 and beyond. The lesson? Make room in your brand architecture for an addition – social values and how those link back to your target consumer.
4. Which old terms have new meaning?
With this shift in work schedules and work life, how has the shorthand vernacular you’ve used for years in your organization changed? One of my favorites is the ever-shifting meaning of the word “convenient.” We did some digging with our Navigating to a New Normal consumers and found the measure of time had changed. It’s no longer about quick. It’s about aspects of quality with ease. Similarly, with the master trend of Connectivity beginning to dominate, the ways of going out and other occasions look different. How people are engaging in social media and with their technology is adapting as well. Not all of this is due to the pandemic. Other societal factors are playing a role too, which need to be understood. The lesson? Make sure you familiarize yourself with the current definitions of the shorthand you’ve used for years. Recalibrate your value equations and new product guidelines based on these modified definitions.
5. How frazzled or fatigued are my consumers and with what?
Underlying many of the Navigating to a New Normal conversations is a sense of fatigue - one more variant with uncertainty around virulence and what it will mean for society, crime on the rise in urban centers, prices rising, and shelves empty (even Walmart in South Carolina was running short on Christmas trees according to one of our New Normal respondents), etc. The result is an undercurrent of exhaustion. You might even notice it among your colleagues as we all feel like we’re limping to the finish line of 2021. The lesson in this? Be understanding with your consumers and colleagues. Recognize the fatigue. If your brand can help offset it, do. But first, you need to understand where they are and what it means in the new year.
Every day we move closer and closer to the re-stabilization of society – what some would call “normal” – your consumers and customers are already exhibiting new behaviors for this next era.
The challenge for your brand is to meet them where they will be, not where they’ve been.
What are you prepared to do to get to know your consumer again? Email me rob@ignite-360.com and let’s talk.
For more reading insights
THE TRENDS OF CONNECTIVITY AND GRATITUDE EMERGED IN 2020
LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO GET TO A PLACE OF EMPATHY WITH THE 5 STEPS TO EMPATHY
