Current Topic: Strategy

Finding a marketing goldmine in unexpected situations

Do you take negative feedback with a pinch of salt, or do you react with fervor even at the risk of losing goodwill and customers’ business? Most brands will find themselves the subject of questionable public scrutiny at some point or another, with unfiltered social media channels fuelling unwarranted insults. Common responses include denying the accusations, ignoring them completely, or accommodating to the situation, even apologizing for no real cause.

We’ve all heard the phrase: “stop the scroll.” But what really makes someone pause and even better, hit the share button?

Picture yourself scrolling through your feed.

• One post says: “Our product is scientifically proven to improve performance by 25%.” 
• Another says: “Don’t miss out, sign up now and save!” 
• And then there’s one that says: “Thanks for helping us reach 100k followers, you’re the best!” 

Which one would you be most likely to share?

Imagine you’re in a cozy bistro. You’re browsing the menu, thinking about what you feel like eating. Now imagine a message on your table:

“We are committed to reducing food waste - you can help! About one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted. As our beloved guest, you can make a difference.”

What do you do? Chances are, you’ll order more mindfully, and leave less on your plate.

Byron Sharp has shattered many brand growth myths with his books How Brands Grow part 1 and 2. He provided clear empirical data that showed brand choice is rarely driven by passion, but rather by our lazy brains. Brand growth is consistently driven by

• Physical availability: the ease with which we can buy that brands (channels; shelf position; number of facings; etc)
• Mental availability: the ease with which the brand comes to mind in buying situations (driven by how rich the brand is forged in memory pathways with category entry points and ease of recognition by brand assets).

Thanks to Byron Sharp, brands know what they need to build, nurture and measure to ignite consistent brand growth.

But what does this mean for category growth? How did categories such as craft beer, electric vehicles and plant-based milk grow outside their niches and achieve mass appeal? As with brand growth, it’s not some unkowable magical force, but rather there exist consistent growth factors that can be measured and actively reinforced.

Which empirical laws fuel the growth dynamics of entire categories? Last month, a team of researchers from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute have widened their scope with ‘How Categories Grow’.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a bee on Instagram. Not just any bee — @Bee_nfluencer —a quirky, non-human virtual influencer buzzing about environmental change. I laughed, I clicked, I followed. I didn’t expect to feel anything, but oddly enough, I did.

That moment made me pause. Why did I connect with a cartoon bee?

It turns out, there’s a psychological reason for this — and a powerful one at that.