Brand strategy: The agile consumer

Chris Chalk
Admap
November 2014
 
 

   Title: Brand strategy: The agile consumer

   Author(s): Chris Chalk
   Source: Admap
   Issue: November 2014
 

Brand strategy: The agile consumer

Chris Chalk
Cheil Worldwide

Business agility is the defining business challenge of the 21st century. Brands, therefore, need to think differently
and they must be less rigid by breaking away from the assumption of sustainable competitive advantage and
instead embracing adaptable differentiation.

In today's 'change is the only constant' world, agility is the asset that successful brands must possess to succeed. Technology
has fundamentally changed how people behave. Whereas mass-market consumers would passively absorb marketing
messages conveyed by television and print media, the new agile consumer has discovered the 'off' switch and seeks her
recommendations elsewhere. The agile consumer is a connected and marketing-literate individual who learns quickly, acts fast
and embraces rapid change.

Agile consumers are empowered by technology to shift their brand relationships from old-style consumerism to a relational and
purpose-driven consumerism. Mobile technology in particular has created a new communication realm where brands are
anything but king. The agile consumer is a social animal and values relationships with friends and peers more highly than
those with purveyors of brand fairy tales.

Technology has also changed the way in which communications are enabled and how brands manage their relationships with
consumers.

This empowerment is creating an adoption of new values and perspectives. The agile consumer is not simply the old mass
market consumer armed with more information to which they can react more quickly. Agile consumers think differently about
brands and marketing, not least in their suspicion of the mismatch between marketing communications and business reality.

With this new agility, the potential for dramatic change in any market is exponentially greater than it used to be. The rate of
turnover in Fortune 1000 companies is increasing. Between 1973 and 1983, 35% of Fortune 1000 companies were new. By
the following decade, it had increased to 45%, and to 60% in the decade after that. By 2013, 70% of the companies that had
been in the previous decade's list had disappeared because they had been unable to adapt to change quickly enough.

Business as usual is no longer an option; in fact, 'usual' is an idea that belongs back in the 20th century.

Business agility is the defining business challenge of the 21st century, and the uncertainty this creates is keeping CEOs
awake at night. Brands, therefore, need to think differently and they must be less rigid. Researcher Forrester said that today's

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companies must break away from the assumption of sustainable competitive advantage and embrace adaptable differentiation.
In other words, they must develop an agility advantage.

What does this actually mean for brands? In some ways, the marketing and communications capabilities of many organisations
have been less agile than other capabilities. Brand models have been too rigid to allow for the increasingly complex demands
of the agile consumer and need to be more fluid. Brands now have to operate in environments that move at different speeds,
and must adapt accordingly.

In his book, How Buildings Learn, architect Stewart Brand talks about the principle that different elements of a building age at
different speeds. For example, the ground plot structure ages slowly, whereas elements such as furnishings and decoration
age, and are replaced, more quickly. It's a thought and philosophy that is now built into a lot of IT system development. You
need to work the speed at which things change into your development strategy. This approach, known as pace layering, holds
that different applications in an organisation don't need to change at the same time, and that by adopting a differentiated
approach, the organisation can be more fluid and organic in its development.

Similarly, there are elements of brands that develop at different speeds. At the centre of every brand there should be a strong
core purpose and a set of values that are its bedrock and which should provide meaningful continuity over time. Overlaid
around that core are medium-paced behaviours such as seasonal activity or launch cycles; and around that are the
behaviours that deal with the fast-moving realities of our technology-enabled world – retail experiences that must be instant,
everywhere and personal; social interaction that must be real-time, topical and rewarding.

This requires marketers to think about brands and communications in a different way. A lot of what we see in modern
communications involves brands that have rushed to the 'digital' edge. This is important, and brands need to be involved here,
but it is peripheral stuff that needs to be informed by a deeper set of considerations.

The core brand values determine the other layers. This is important because the agile consumer looks at brands in a different
way to the consumer of the past.

Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard said in the 1960s that businessmen should "Set out to build a company and make a
contribution, not an empire and a fortune", and that "A company that focuses solely on profits ultimately betrays both itself and
society".

These business maxims sound remarkably in tune with the demands of modern agile consumers, for brands and companies
are now judged as much on what they do as what they say. This has fundamental repercussions for how they communicate
with their audiences.

Trite marketing slogans that were once the way into consumers' purses no longer weave their spell. People are quick to spot
any mismatches between the message and the reality. Woe betide any brand that bathes its communications in touchy, feely
tones only to be uncovered as using cheap labour in a Third World country. Once upon a time, this could have been a remote
consideration, but now the image of a high street brand being sewn into a garment by a school-age child in a sweatshop can
be around the world in seconds.

Just as client organisations are challenged by the demands of agility, agencies too have to change their modes of operation.
Not only does the pace of change require faster responses than ever but agile consumers seek a dialogue with brands rather
than a one-way conversation, and they expect it across a myriad of channels, instantly.

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HP: its founder Bill Hewlett said 'A company that focuses solely on profits ultimately betrays both itself and society'

This has implications for agency recruitment, selection and resource optimisation. They must seek talent that is aligned to the
thinking and expectations of the new paradigm. Experience and capability in given functions is important, but it is no longer
enough in itself. Instead, agencies must recruit a new school of 'curious mutants' who are inquisitive about other channels and
subjects. They must be fully rounded and not just blinkered specialists, and the whole agency must be unavoidably integrated.

Only with this set-up can an agency hope to deliver ideas that can move across the many different channels that the agile
consumer inhabits. TV is no longer the category killer it was, so any idea must be genuinely adaptable to be effective –
powerful ideas are ideas that move, and the agency must have the talent to realise it wherever it can have most impact.

The good news for brands is that despite all that has changed in the world of the agile consumer, they are still valued. In this
maelstrom of change, strong brands represent something solid that consumers

want as part of their lives. However, it has to be something meaningful. The agile consumer values good relationships. Only
8% will change their brand for features, but 31% will do so for service reasons.

So, when it comes to responding to the agile consumer, there are some key factors to remember.

l Brand values are more important than ever. However, they cannot be synthetic, grafted-on values, but need a basis
in authenticity. Furthermore, they should be social values that are not merely self-serving. Brands need to rethink their
values to align them with prevailing social values.
l Values must be consistent. Brands that have focused on consistency of execution need to exert the same rigour in
sustaining persistent relevance across time and different consumer groups. Be willing to change everything but the logo.
l Respond rapidly. The agile consumer is a fast learner, acts quickly and initiates rapid change, and existing marketing
metrics and techniques can't keep up. Big Data and real-time analytics have amplified the uncertainty of creative
decision-making. Imagine testing a tweet. Brands need to find new ways of learning about the real human experience.
l Communal thinking. Agile brands must be informed by communal, rather than individual experience. Defining how your
brand can be social is a great starting point for defining core values and purpose.
l Creative consumers. New ways of engaging encourages creative self-expression through personalisation of products

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or sharing of stories, images and more. Engaging with early adopters can lead the narrative of your category and your
brand.
l Doing vs. claiming. The days when companies could manage their images through TV and PR are over. Truth drives
perception, so behave in a way that creates loyalty and preference, and engage in a way that reflects your brand's social
values.
l Help reduce purchase anxiety. Many consumers feel overwhelmed by the complexity of modern marketplaces. Look to
simplify the process for your consumers.
l Follow youth. Even if your brand is not targeting a youth market, it is worth paying close attention to them as they are
tomorrow's consumers. Keep your finger on their pulse.
l Technology and social change. Social change is being led by technological change. Start an annual review of
emerging social trends, as well as those trends that are fading.
l Everyone matters. Marketers used to believe in segments that could be communicated to with different messages. Now
the brand is the company and its values cross its market as conversations between consumers of all types. Establish
corporate brand values that infuse all you do.

About the author

Chris Chalk is global chief strategy officer at Cheil, leading a diverse team of worldwide strategists to deliver brand agility for
clients including Samsung and Coca-Cola.

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