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Chapter
How Brand
Communication Works
Key Points in This Chapter
1. How do the elements of the basic communication model relate to marketing
communication?
2. What are the six components of communication, and how do they relate to
marketing communication?
3. What are the four types of brand-customer touch points?
Chapter Perspective
,'
LOVE AND ICE CREAM: THE HB STORY
McCann-Erickson, Dublin, Ireland
Marketing communication consists of the messages Tiger" through a sustained level of high economic
companies send and receive and the media involved. growth during the 1990s. As unemployment rates,
It's also about perceptions, how customers interpret stubbornly high for many years, eased downward,
the many messages they receive about a brand. In larger numbers of lrish young~.people
. (18 to 34 years
the late 1990s, HB Ice Cream, Ireland's number-one old) opted to stay home rather than emigrate,
ice-cream brand, decided to change i t s stodgy brand creating the youngest population profile in western
perception. This i s the story about how that message Europe.
was communicated at every possible point of con- Because of i t s long heritage in the lrish market
tact with the brand. (since 1926), HB i s regarded with great affection by
With increasing competition facing i t s ice cream, lrish consumers as "our ice cream." It dominates
HB's parent company, Unilever, decided to intro- the market despite being bought in 1973 by global
duce a new brand identity for HB across Europe. marketer Unilever. The HB brand name acts as an
McCann-Erickson Dublin was asked to develop a umbrella for a wide range of products-three take-
communication program to launch the new HB brand home ice-cream brands and five impulse brands
identity and test it in Ireland. McCannJscommuni- (bars and cones bought out of a freezer in a store).
cation effort was so successful that it not only The challenge? Because HB already had a leading
achieved high awareness scores in a highly competi- share of the lrish ice-cream market, the business ob-
tive product category but also was a winner in the jective was to grow the category by increasing ice-
Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness (AME) inter- cream consumption.
national award program.
Campaign Strategy
The Marketing Challenge HB planned to fight for a share of the market in
Traditionally a "poor relation" on the fringe of Eu- the bigger category of refreshment, using i t s impulse
rope, the Republic of Ireland earned the tag "Celtic brands. HB's consumer research had determined that
EXHIBIT 4-1
Chapter 4 How Brand Communication Works 1 OF
the key target audience for the HB take-home brands The communication effort needed to touch the
consisted of housewives with children, and that the emotions of the audience. The new design contin-
target for the impulse was young adults aged 15 to ued to use the familiar HB initials (see Exhibit 4-2)
34. However, McCann decided that the strategy but replaced the oval with a heart shape. The
needed to move beyond these two audiences. Execu- design sought to communicate the values of natural
tives wanted a new brand identity with a more con- togetherness and love. "Natural togetherness"
temporary brand perception, especially for the provided a key emotional benefit by focusing on
younger people in the HB market. Given HB's ubiq- people enjoying ice cream in a social, interactive
uity and broad acceptance, the identity effort could environment.
be aimed at everyone in the lrish market. The message strategy utilized a major public
event to spearhead the campaign and involve the
The Brand Message audience. The big idea was to capitalize on the
new heart-shaped logo by using St. Valentine's Day
For 30 years the HB logo, with i t s initials (from the
weekend as a launch platform t o create rapid
original founders, the Hughes Brothers) in script
and widespread awareness, excitement, and recog-
mounted in an oval and printed over four bars, had
nition of the new HB identity. The event wou1.d be
been a familiar symbol in the lrish media, on signs
supported by advertising so that when consumers
in the streets, and in shops. The brand also had a
saw on-pack and in-store changes, they wou1.d
high pan-European advertising presence on TV and
understand what was happening to the familiar HB
on billboards. lrish consumers came in contact with
brand.
HB brands everywhere. It was impossible to walk
down an lrish street without seeing HB signage,
point-of-purchase displays, branded litter bins, or
Delivering the Message
window stickers on the local corner shop. HB Fitting a brand of HB's stature and ubiquity with a
branded freezer cabinets were a prominent feature new identity was clearly a task that needed t o go far
in shops. beyond advertising to engage all possible contact
The original logo was appropriate to a relatively points. Changing all HB's packaging, shop-front sig-
undeveloped market in both ice-cream consump- nage, point-of-purchase, and freezer cabinet brand
tion and other refreshments. However, competition messages in every supermarket and grocery store in
had recently become much fiercer as the lines had the country was a logistical challenge.
started to blur between ice cream, carbonated Rather than relying on a TV commercial t o an-
soft drinks, confectionery, and yogurt categories. nounce the logo, the McCann team felt strongly that
The time had come to recognize consumers' greater the communication should include new media and
familiarity with ice cream. contact points where appropriate. The core media
idea was to create Ireland's first-ever themed week-
end on lrish TV. St. Valentine's weekend was dubbed
"The Love Weekend," and themed television pro-
gramming sponsored by HB included movies such as
Sleepless in Seattle, Truly Madly Deeply, and Brief
Encounter; romantic episodes of The Simpsons,
Friends, and Golden Girls; and a special called An
Intimate Evening with Michael Bolton. In addition, a
Local television network created a phone-in music
video request show called Cupid's Corner.
McCann's event-based plan allowed the agency
to put in place a completely integrated communi-
cation strategy. That meant combining the three
elements-the TV spot, a local media launch event,
and on-the-street promotional activity-so that con-
sumers were involved with a 360-degree commu-
nication program for the new brand identity. In
addition to traditional media time and space place-
ments, the campaign also used sponsorship "stings,"
short TV spots that announced HB's sponsorship of
the Love Weekend. The networks also ran tie-in
106 Chapter 4 How Brand Communication Works
promotional teasers for the programs. In news- purchase changes found that nearly half of all lrish
papers, the TV listings were printed over color recognized the new symbol. Furthermore, 70 per-
watermarks of the heart logo. cent of the 15 to 24 age group were aware of the
A key element of HB's strategy to compete logo, and 75 percent of these immediately associ-
against the major refreshment brands was to estab- ated the logo with HB Ice Cream.
lish a strong street presence in the main urban cen- Ice-cream sales in Ireland are seasonally biased t o
ters. To get the new HB logo on the street, McCann the summer months, so another objective was to
teamed up with a Dublin film-production company stretch the impulse ice-cream season so that it
to project video images on large outdoor screens or starts earlier. Given the success of the Love Week-
walls. The Love Weekend TV reminder ads were also end with increasing sales in February, it i s now part
projected on large walls at city center locations on of HB's strategy to launch the new impulse season
St. Valentine's night in Dublin, Cork, and Belfast. If each year with a St. Valentine's weekend themed N
the event didn't quite cause national gridlock, it did event.
manage to slow Saturday-night traffic near the light Unilever managers were so impressed with the
projections. McCann also had "hit squads" at each lrish campaign and the results it achieved that they
location distributing HB "Passion Test" cards, short decided to replicate the strategy in all their ice-
questionnaires that tested the passion in one's life. cream markets. McCann's video of the whole cam-
In an effort t o further bring the event alive, paign has become the template for similar launch
McCann placed a color ad leading into the TV listings activity in other markets.
that offered people the chance t o win a family holi-
day. This strengthened HB's ownership of the week- Source: This case was adapted with permission fvom the
end's N listings while at the same time the contest Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness ( A M E ) brief for the
generated excitement and enthusiasm. HB brand-identity campaign prcpared by McCann-Erickson
Dublin.
Evaluation of the HB Campaign
Market research conducted two weeks after the
Love Weekend but prior t o any signage or point-of-
I
Immediate Response
Delayed Response
No Response
A good understanding of
this model is necessary
in order to understand
The receiver is anyone who is exposed to a message. Once receivers, usually cus-
tomers and prospects, receive a message, they must decode it. Decoding is the
process of interpreting what a message means. After customers decode a message, they
respond in some way, indicating to what extent the message was received, prop-
erly decoded, and persuasive. This response is called feedback, which is a response
that conveys a message back to the source.
The communication process occurs in a context or environment where other
things are going on--competitive brand messages, people walking by, a tele-
phone ringing, as well as thoughts inside customers' heads. These "other things"
are called noise--interferences or distractions that can negatively affect the transmission
and reception of a message. Companies and their MC agencies go to great lengths to
create brand messages that have impact-that are attention getting as well as
memorable.
Now let's reinterpret the basic communication model as a model of how market-
ing communication works. The numbers 1 through 6 in the subheads refer to
numbers on Figure 4-1.
EXHIBIT 4-3
This Dunkin' Donuts
commercial opens with a
young boy with a box
of Dunkin' Donuts
Mtrnchkins watching an
oldw man feeding ducks in
a park. The boy tosses a
Munchkin to the ground.
It is picked u p not by a
duck but by a man i n
business suit, who eats it
, and walks on.
"Ducks" :30
SFX: Outdoor sounds.
(Open on a young boy w i t h a box of Dunkin' Donuts
Munchkins watching an older man feeding the ducks in
the park. The boy then takes a Munchkin and tosses it
at the ground, hoping for the same result. Instead, we
see a man in a business suit nonchalantly pick up the
Munchkin, eat it, and walk on)
Anncr. (VO): There's just something about Dunkin'
Donuts.
Logo and tagline
corporate or brand name that appears in these messages identifying them as the
sender of the MC messages.
Publicity, of course, is an exception. Although a company or its PR agency often
provides the information and ideas for a publicity story, and these stories include
the company (or brand) name, the perceived source of these MC messages are third
parties-the media. Unless a story is negative, a credible third-party source brings
Chapter 4 How Brand Communication Works
2 . Brand Messages:
Everything Communicates
When most people hear the term brand message, they think of such
things as magazine and TV ads, coupons, publicity releases, and
packaging. Those, however, are only one type of brand message-
namely, MC messages. Remember from Chapter 1 that a brand
message is all the information and experiences that impact how cus-
tomers and other stakeholders perceive a brand. A brand message can
.-----
originate from anywhere inside or outside a company. A company's .--.-
..----
.---
.----
,---.
1
I Brand Messages
7I Place Promotion
Computer introduced the iMac, the new computer attracted the attention of com-
puter users and shook up the entire computer industry and its approach to prod-
uct design (see Exhibit 4-5). The appearance of the iMac sent a powerful brand
message. The beautiful design of this computer reflected positively on Apple's as-
sociation with creativity.
IMC I N A.CTI.0N (7
f
L
The Customer Side of D m id Pricing
,
I
What brand message i s belng sent when prices sud- dill demand pricing make them
M-
denly change? Computers and databases have enabled switch from Coke to another
companies to use variations in price to help manage ca- brand the next time they go to the store and stock up
pacity and inventories. This strategy i s called demand on soft drinks?
pricing. When capacities decrease, prices are raised to
maximize revenue return on products being sold. Oil Think About It
and gas prices are good examples of demand pricing.
Airlines have been using demand pricing for years. What is demand pricing? How might it send negative
As the date of a scheduled flight comes closer, the air- messages to customers? Why i s demand pricing less of
lines' computers automatically raise or lower prices in a problem for airlines than for soft-drink companies?
response to how many seats for that flight remain un-
sold. Using a database of historical sales, the airlines
have good estimates of how many seats should be sold
one week out, two weeks out, and so on. When seats
I
for a particular flight are being sold faster than nor-
mal, the airlines raise the price for the remaining seats
(and vice versa when sales are slower than expected).
This is one reason why, for any given flight, the ticket
prices paid by passengers on board greatly vary.
Using the same strategy, Coca-Cola i s testing venu-
ing machines that raise and lower prices In response to
changes in the outside temperature. Because more
people buy soft drinks on hot days than on cold days,
machines are programmed to charge more for a can of
Coke when temperatures go up. It is also possible to
program vending machines to increase prices when
sales significantly increase in a short period of time
(for example, during a special event), in part to pre-
vent the machine from running out before i t s regularly
scheduled restocking.
Demand pricing may help Coke maximize its profits
on vending machines, but it may also send a negative
brand message to people who regularly use the vend-
ing machine. One day a can of Coke may cost 75 cents,
and the next day, when the temperature goes up, a
can may cost a dollar. Will customers think they are
getting ripped off! Will customers look for a bepsi
machine, where they know the price doesn't change?
Promotion (Marketing
ec" r-;,r
Communication) Brand Messages
Promotion is about marketing communication mes-
sages. What must be kept in mind, however, is that
how a company communicates sends a message in ad-
dition to the actual words and content. How an MC
message is designed and what media carry the mes-
sage add to or subtract from the intended meaning.
Most of the remainder of this book is about how7 to
create and send MC messages.
3. Media Channels:
Connecting Companies
and Customers b
Media are the channels that connect companies with
k
customers. Most MC messages are carried by TV,
radio, newspapers, magazines, internet, mail, and
outdoor boards. Most of these types of media can be
used to reach not only mass audiences but smaller, n BROADCAS I ING SYSTEM
specialized markets, as Exhibit 4-7 illustrates.
Nontraditional media-including buildings and
sports stadiums that have electronic billboards and
signage, faxes, kiosks, movies and TV shows (which have product placements), X 14 1 1 4 7
packaging, and even sidewalks-are carrying an increasing number of MC mes- fiadifional media are
sages. And buzz, the word of mouth that happens when people talk about a prod- u s u a l l ~thought as
uct, is also the focus of some nontraditional strategies. Some movies, like the The mass media that reach
large audiences.
Hours and Chicago, are released in limited venues in order to heighten the antici-
However,a niche
pation generated by buzz.6 such as Hispnnic
For many years media were considered primarily as vehicles or delivery sys- in the United
tems. However, they should be thought of as channels that link companies and states can be reac]zed
customers psychologically as well as physically. Psychologically, media can add to with media such as the
(or subtract from) the intended meaning of a MC message and campaign. Each Spanish Broadcasting
medium has an image just as every brand has. A message in Forbes has a different System.
significance than a message in Playboy, Cosmopolitan, or Rolling Stone. The more \
positive and relevant the image of a medium is to a brand, the more the medium
can enhance that brand's messages. For example, B2B companies like to advertise
in magazines such as Business Week and Fortune, which are seen as prestigious
business publications and thus provide a prestigious editorial environment for
ads. In a way, media are the stage on which a brand message "performs."
.. ~
nz.
I " . 4 ... . . .,.
. .> - -7.- .1*- .... ..':'.. .-
i
-Lill
re from outride a Brnnd$
,. .I ?- . .,
I
.
~ ~ r n r u n l c a Y a
m a c a n s sqhts and b
to be noise drowning out the companies' messages intended for customers and
prospects.
All communication, including marketing communication, takes place within an
environment that contains distractions. Noise can be physical or psychological,
and it can come from within or outside the intended communication effort (see
Table 4-1). Although zero-defect communication is impossible to obtain, marketers
must constantly work to minimize noise.
One of the most troublesome sources of psychological noise is inconsistent
brand messages. A past advertising campaign for a popular American beer pro-
vides an example. A content analysis of the TV commercials found three different
selling strategies. Some of the commercials were selling "good taste," others "fun
with friends," and still others "high quality." It was not realistic to expect cus-
tomers to remember all these product claims, but customers who did remember
them probably were confused about what this beer was really all about.
One type of noise of particular concern to marketers is clutter, which is competi-
tion among commercial messages. Clutter is evident when you open a newspaper
and a bunch of ads stares you in the face. Clutter makes it difficult for a particular
EXHIBIT 4-8 brand message to get attention. It is important, therefore, to know what competi-
In this type ofvisual- tors are saying, as well as when and where they are delivering their messages.
heavy environment, Marketers compete not only with brands but also for the attention of customers and
every brand message is
surrounded by a lot of prospects, as well as other stakeholders, as Exhibit 4-8 shows.
visual noise that is TV commercial breaks, for example, often contain up to 10 commercials. Maga-
distracting. zines' and newspapers' content is 50 to 70 percent ads. Primacy and recency theo-
ries say that the first thing and the last thing you see,
hear, or read (in any situation) are more likely to be
remembered than all the messages in the middle.
Knowing this, agencies negotiate for the first or last
place in a print publication or broadcast commercial
break, to improve the odds that their messages will
be remembered.
significant potential to respond positively to a brand message. There are two types of re-'
sponses to messages. One is physical. When you look through a magazine or have
the TV on, you physically receive many ads. But even though these ads may regis-
ter on your senses, you probably only really read, watch, or listen to a small per-
centage of them. The other type of response is psychological. In this more
advanced manner of decoding, the receiver selects messages to pay attention to,
understand, and, if the marketer is lucky, remember.
Decoding is basically the reverse of encoding. Symbols sent by the source must
be reconstructed into the original idea or into something close to it. For decoding
to be successful, there needs to be shared meaning between the source and re-
ceiver. Otherwise, the receiver (the customer) will not correctly understand what
the source (the company) is saying about the brand. Shared understanding of sym-
bols is the result of common fields of experience between encoders and the in-
tended audience.
Receivers' fields of experience determined by past activities and observations
EXHIBIT 4-9
\
-
by the receiver's immediate needs, wants, and concerns. If you're hungry, you will
likely respond differently to a sign for pizza than you would if you had just eaten. the "Team
Marketers can help ensure that messages are decoded as intended by having a and in the body
thorough understanding of customers, empathizing with them, and speaking their
copy, ". . . they can all be
harnessed as one Nef."
"literal and emotional l a n g ~ a g e . "Even
~ then, the po-
tential for misinterpretation often still exists. For ex- ,
ample, when a brand is advertised as selling for half
price, the message can be decoded as "a good value"
or as "a cheap, low-quality product." To c l a w MC
messages, companies use strategic redundancy,
which means saying the same thing in several different
ways, so that receivers will have several chances to get
the message. One of the big advantages of an IMC
program is that it is designed to build in strategic re-
dundancy by coordinating all the messages delivered
by the various MC functional areas so they reinforce
one another. Look at the ad in Exhibit 4-9. Notice that
the headline, illustration, and body copy all "say"
that communication systems need to work together
as a team. To help ensure that messages are decoded
as intended, companies need to be aware of their tar-
get audience's field of experience^.^
Another technique to help ensure proper decoding
is keeping messages simple. An old rule of thumb in
advertising says, "Be single-minded." This means
that there should be only one main idea in a brand
message. A variation on that principle is KISS-
"Keep it simple, stupidu-which recognizes that the
simpler the message thought and execution, the eas-
ier it is for receivers to get the main point.
IMC helps close the gap between intended and N0Ve-u.
lhe power to chattee
perceived messages and thus minimizes the miscom-
munication, misperception, and misunderstanding
that results from inadequate brand communication. It
116 Chapter 4 How Brand Communication Works
does this by being responsible for the way messages set expectations, and by mon-
itoring what perceptions customers have about the brand. When expectations rise
too high, a company must either work to bring its product performance up to that
level or create MC messages that make more realistic promises.
A company can use two-way communication to give a brand a more positive
perception. One way to do this is to invite customers to ask questions. Caring for
a new baby, for example, may sound like a simple thing, but new parents often en-
counter unexpected difficulties. The baby-food company Gerber has a toll-free
telephone number that parents can call with questions about feeding and raising
a baby. The company does not give medical advice, but its representatives do
answer thousands of questions each month from new parents. Merely knowing
that there is a place where they can call and get answers is a tremendous added
value to these parents and leads them to perceive Gerber as an especially caring
company.
Because a perception is the result of communication, a perception provides a
window on the success of a message strategy. In other words, tracking customer
perceptions is an important source of feedback and the first step in evaluating the
success of brand messages.
EXHIBIT 4-10
Touch points are all the different ways customer come in
cantact with a company. Gateway makes sure its "cow"
imagery is used on everything from retail buildings to
pah8ing.
of the company
- - to influ-
ence the touch-point experi-
ence, (3) cost of making each contact a positive experience, (4) extent to which
contacts can be used to gather customer data, and (5) extent to which contacts are
appropriate for carrying additional brand messages. Finally, touch points must be
integrated to ensure message consistency as the Gateway pictures point out (see
Exhibit 4-10). Every touch point, to some extent, strengthens, maintains, or weak-
ens the relationship between a brand and a customer. The four basic categories of
customer touch points are company created, intrinsic, unexpected, and customer
initiated (see Figure 4-31.
-
importance of these?
Unexpected
C h a ~ t e4r How Brand Communication Works
IMC I N A C T I O N i
E' XHI IT 4 1 -
Virgin Atlantic is well
2about you, knows your time is valuable, and will do a little more work on our end
to ensure that your experience is hassle free."
Most intrinsic touch points are connected with customer service. They send
known for the excellent powerful messages because they are generally personal and occur in real time. Be-
service it provides its cause these touch points are so important, companies such as Virgin Atlantic (see
customers. This ad, Exhibit 411) use ads to promote their customer service.
directed lo B2B mstomfls' Although marketing is often not directly responsible for many of the intrinsic
promises the same good
service even when touch points, such as managing service personnel, marketing can make sugges-
handling commercial tions about how to improve these interactions with customers in order to send a
cargo. positive brand message. How quickly does a company reply to customer inquiries
and complaints? A response seems more positive, re-
A gardless of its content, if it is given sooner rather than
later. A timely response "says" that the company is
concerned and has made the customer's problem a
top priority.
in the case of packaged goods, the package itself,
such as a jar of Smuckers jelly, is an intrinsic touch
point. How easy it is to open, to reseal, and to dispose
of all send messages about the brand. Because intrin-
sic touch points are inherent in the buying or using of
a brand, they have the attention of the customer
at least for a brief period of time. Recognizing this,
companies can use these touch points to deliver a
P company-created brand message. For example, on
the Smuckers jar can be printed a dessert recipe that
calls for Smuckers jelly, or the jar can contain a peel-
For a refresl - - - ~dservice off coupon good on the next purchase. In the case of
Hertz, promotional signs can be displayed and
brochures distributed at the checkout and check-in
touch points, as well as in the car. Unfortunately,
aome companies over exploit touch points, as ex-
plained in the Technology in Action box.
As you can see, intrinsic touch points not only
send messages, but often provide the opportunity to
deliver company-created messages. And because in-
trinsic touch points, by definition, involve current
customers, the messages sent at these touch points
are some of the most critical in retaining customers.
Chapter 4 How Brand Communication Works 121 j
TECHNOLOGY
'
,
r Touch-Point Sore Point
By over exploiting the opportunity to send a company-
initiated message, some companies turn what could bank's ATMs? How can they know
! be a good brand experience into a negative one. Some whether customers are interested in the products be-
intrinsic touch points are emotionally loaded inter- ing advertised when they walk up to the ATM? What
actions, such as calling a company with a complaint other communication might be offered at this touch
or trying to figure wt how to do a certain transaction point that would be more positive for the company
The media also produce unexpected touch points by writing about a brand or
company. In almost all product categories today-from cooking to computers-
there are experts who write and talk about products. Publicity releases generate
brand touch points, but companies have no control over what stories these releases
inspire the media to produce. A good example is a major utility company that an-
nounced it was requesting a multimillion-dollar rate increase and later sent out a
press release saying it was going to spend $25 million sponsoring the Olympics.
The Olympic sponsorship release appeared the day after the rate increase an-
nouncement and resulted in dozens of angry letters to the editor from customers.
Because of the timing, many customers thought the rate increase was going to pay
for the sponsorship, which made them very unhappy-a major unexpected touch
point for this company. As will be explained in Chapter 17 on PR and publicity,
although companies cannot control unexpected touch points, there are things they
can do to anticipate and influence them.
Customer-Initiated MC Message
i
4 Rs
(responsiveness, recourse, recognition, respect)
(Feedback]
Chapter 4 How Brand Communication Works 123
brand if they aren't satisfied. How a company responds can significantly impact
the repurchase decisions of these customers.
The new communication technologies make it easier for customers to contact a
company. At the same time, to show they are customer focused, more and more
companies are inviting customers and prospects to contact them by advertising
their 800 numbers and e-mail and website addresses on packages and in many of
their other MC messages. Many companies, however, do a poor job of responding
to customer-initiated messages. Studies on e-mail and phone contacts have found
that the majority of company responses are rated only fair or p00r.l~One of the
F
EXHIBIT 4-13
main problems facing companies today is how to cost-effectively interact with, In purposeful
and have a purposeful dialogue with, customers. communication,
companies listen as well
Interactivity as speak to customers.
Think about the last time
To create long-term, profitable relationships, integrated MC programs use interac-you contacted a
tivity, or two-way communication that sends and receives messages from customers and
company. Was the
other stakeholders. IMC interactivity does not mean merely collecting the names and
company a good Iistenw?
addresses of customers and potential cus-
tomers in order to send thLm more and
more brand messages. It does mean learn-
ing about customers in order to have a
purposeful dialogue with them, commu-
nication that is mutually beneficial for the
customer and the company.
Companies talk a great deal about cre-
ating a dialogue with customers. But in
too many cases their brand communica-
tion is intrusive and irritating and thus
perceived as self-serving and providing
no added value for the customer. Mar-
keters obviously want to tell customers
about products and persuade them to
buy. For the communication to be mutu-
ally useful, however, the customer must
want to hear about the products and
must choose to be exposed to this infor-
mation, as the FM Global ad in Exhibit
4-13 demonstrates.
Companies should not stimulate and
facilitate interactivity indiscriminately.
The gathering of feedback should be
done selectively, for not all brand rela-
tionships are equal, and having a dia-
logue with stakeholders always costs IT'6 AMAZING WHAT CIAN HAPPEN
money. One of the early mistakes made WHEN YOU LISTEN TO YOUR CU6TOMEBS.
by companies using the internet was
inviting everyone to talk to them. Many
responders were not customers or poten-
tial customers but merely people surfing
the internet looking for something to do.
Few companies can afford unproductive
interactivity.
An easy and useful thing that a mar-
keter can do to ensure that customers
perceive the dialogue to be purposeful is
Chapter 4 How Brand Communication Works
to ask customers what information they want about a brand, when and where they
want it, and in what form. This is especially true for B2B marketers selling com-
plex goods and services in which there are many product variations. Some cus-
tomers prefer receiving brand information by mail, others electronically; some
wish to meet with sales representatives only on certain days. Unless a marketer
asks for this information and makes it available to everyone in the company who
has contact with these customers, customers will not perceive companies as being
respectful of their time.
creates customer loyalty over time. How can you know whether your messages
are sticky? The answer is by using real-time feedback to monitor communication.
In the past, feedback that could be used to track the impact of marketing com-
munication was limited to periodic customer-tracking studies and ad hoc market
research surveys. Today, the concept and processes of acquiring feedback include
ongoing responses through dialogue and customer-initiated communication. As
you will learn in Chapter 5, in most buying situations there are numerous steps,
and at each step it is possible to involve customers and get feedback in order to
know what customers are thinking and planning to do. Also, brand relationships
encourage interactions and dialogue, each of which creates a feedback opportunity
for brand messages.
New telecommunication and computer technologies have made it more cost-
effective to listen to customers, record their comments, and facilitate their ques-
tions, complaints, and concerns. They have also made it possible for customers
and other stakeholders to initiate conversations with companies. Because of this
two-way communication, the interaction between companies and their customers
and stakeholders is more important than ever before.
( Key Terms
br'and-customer touch point 117 feedback 107 respect 125
brand message 109 fields of experience 115 respomiveners 124
channel 106 interactivity 123 sender 106
clutter 114 intrinsic touch point 119 source 106
company-created touch MC message 106 source credfbUlty 109
potM 118 media vehicle 106 strategic redundancy 115
custmer-initiated touch message 106 target audience 114
poht 122 noise 107 third-party credibility 121
customer remgnlitbn 124 purposeful dialogue 123 unexpected touch point 121
decoding 107 receiver 107 word-of-mouth brand
encoding 106 recourse 124 messages 121
( ~ e y Point Summary
I1
This chapter explains the basic swrcelmessa~lrnediaIr~etverlfe~back
communication model and how
it changes to accommodate the interactive dimensions of IMC.
- - - - - - -
c. Develop a l i s t of products for which your perception of value is the most important decision factor In-
fluencing your decision to buy them. Then create a list of products that yw buy M a m e of their price
and another because of perceiwd quality. What are the differences among the three lists?What do
these Hsts say about p w personality and vsllues?
d. H6W are messages ddivered in an IMC prqram?
e. Give an example d a nontraditimal media opportunity that you have experienced. Was it effective in
commanding yow attention?
f. In one of the magaztnes you read, find an advertirement that you think is confusing. Exptain why de-
coding the meaning of this ad gave you probkms,
g. Explain how perception works. What does R man to say that perception Is reality?
h. What role does purposeful dlalopue have In bdldng a brand?What band-customer toud-t polnts offer
the greatest opportunity for purposeful dial-
i. Does intcractivtty strengthen or waken a b m d reladonship? Explain,
&&..
-
a. Define the term brand-customer touch point. Explain the differences among the four types d touch
points. Analyze the HB Ice Cream case for examples of touch polots. If one or ma(, 4s not discussed ex-
pifcitty in the case, then recommend a way lo introduce thrt dement h t o next Wr's campaign.
b. Warking In a smaU group, develop for yourcdlegk or university a list of touch potnts that a potentiat
student might encounter. Analyze the pessa@ delivered a t those points, and prioritize them in terms
d the* fmportance to prospective students.
c. Explain what happened when yau ot a f r l d called a company to complain about a product. DId the
company make use of this touch point to get additional feedback from you?
Writing Assignment
You have been asked to advise a club on how to nunage Its communication program. Develop for the club
its own c m u n i c a t i a n model, and explain hcw the modet un help the club identify its cornmlmkatron
problems W develop better c o m r n ~ n l a t i mprograms and actfvitles.
Presentation Assignment
For a small retail bushes, develop a presemtation that shows how understanding the cornrnmCGatCan mod&
can help the retatter improve comrnmicath MI$ customers and prospects. In an outline, list the key
points you want to preswrt. Give the p r e s x h h n b your class or record it on videotape (audiotape is also
an optfon) to turn In to your instructor, along with the outline.
Internet Assignment
Have you ever had a bad experience wben travdlrrg by alr?Or a good experience? bld you make an effort to
complain to w compliment the company?A number af websltes hande cornplaints on behalf d travelers for
a fee, particularly complaints Phat can result In ticket refunds. The U.5. Depa~tmentof Transportation ha^
an electronic in-basket for complaints about two particular toplcs: airline pricing and overbooking
~www.oig.dot.gov). The Better Business h ~ w wof New York also compiles complaints f m i t s site
Cw.neywk.bbb.urg) and relays them to the Dqartment of Tramportation. The travel a w c y One-
Travel.com has set up a website (www.ltravel.com) with complaint channels and consumer-affairs mate-
rials. Consult two of these websites, and complte their d v k e and your own ideas about how to write a
complaint letter and a comptimcnt letter.