Love for a toy or licensed brand has a massive impact on customer loyalty and recommendations, according to a new study.
People who love a brand are three times more likely to recommend it to others and will tolerate it making twice as many mistakes as any other, before taking their custom elsewhere. According to the Brand Love report, such a brand can mess up almost five times and people will still stay loyal to it.
The research – which was carried out by Energy PR among over 100 top marketers – identifies what it takes to create a great brand and what more is needed if it’s to be loved.
According to the marketing experts, contrary to popular opinion, being original isn’t that important when it comes to greatness. Despite the success of brands such as Apple and Tesla, only 17% of marketers think that uniqueness is important, and just 1 in 10 (11%) believe a brand’s greatness is determined by its level of innovation.
Instead, they argue the key ingredients for greatness are trust (60%) and how a brand makes a consumer feel (58%). These out-perform even practical considerations such as customer support (34%) and value for money (33%).
Even if a brand achieves greatness, this is no guarantee that it will be loved according to the Brand Love report.
To be loved involves a greater level of intimacy; over half of the marketers studied suggest a loved brand is aligned to the customer’s values (55%), indeed it must be part of their life according to 42%. Over a third (38%) went further, adding that such a brand needs to be closely tied with the customer’s identity.
The concept of brand love is especially important for toy and licensing brands whose products are often an emotive purchase for customers. Notably, the Paddington brand gets an honourable mention in the report, with an article devoted to its kindness, politeness and positivity.
When it comes to the most common mistakes brands make on the path to greatness and love, these centre around neglecting the feelings of customers by focusing solely on new customers (58%), forgetting current customers (54%), being inconsistent with messaging (28%), failing to understand customers properly (28%) and not being authentic (27%).
“A key take away from our research is that the best brands aren’t necessarily great innovators, but, if you read between the lines, they are all great communicators,” commented Louise Findlay-Wilson, md of Energy PR. “Without communications you will struggle to demonstrate your values or become part of someone’s life and identity. Communications are an effective way to show customers you ‘get them’, you care and to make them feel good. And once the customer loves you, those communications are still crucial.
“As our research shows, a consumer may tolerate a brand they love messing up, but they won’t tolerate it neglecting them in favour of new customers. That’s a massive betrayal of that all-important trust. That’s why great communications remain key for toy brands to cement their place in consumer’s hearts.”
The brands the 100 top marketers love the most are:
- Apple
- Nike
- Adidas
- Sky
- Samsung
- L’Oréal
- Amazon
- E.on
- Tesco
- Asda
You can download a copy of the Brand Love report, by clicking here.
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