Taste Test 2021 milkshake 5
This is kind of definition of customer
loyalty and confidence that Anders
McGillis says all brands should strive for.
McGillis, Strategy Principal at leading
customer engagement reinvention firm
Jackman, says that while Peloton and
its community primarily exists digitally
with little to no in-person interactions,
it has built a circle of fiercely loyal users
who feel deeply connected to the brand
and its instructors. Peloton enables
consumers to engage with each other
directly on their machines—a place where
users can send high-fives, ride/run with
friends or start classes at the same time
as other strangers so they experience it
together.
“The brand has humanized itself
through its instructors, how it engages
with consumers on its social channels,
and how it enables consumers to connect
with, high five, or exercise with each
other,” McGillis says. “Its retention rate
numbers indicate a successful community
can lead to stickiness and loyalty.”
These days, brand loyalty seems to be
a street many consumers are trying to
sidestep. According to Deloitte’s “2021
Global Marketing Trends Study,” C-suite
executives have seen more than a 35% drop
in customer confidence in the pandemic
and the early beginnings of the postpandemic
timeframe.
While the reasonings vary from market
to market, the overriding consensus may
be that there is a broader trend of declining
consumer trust in brands and advertising,
resulting in a true loss of authentic brand
connection. As the Deloitte study shows,
part of the problem may rest in the fact
that purpose-driven brands inherently
understand why they exist and who they
are best built to serve regardless of what
they sell today—and the other brands don’t.
“While people increasingly believe that
organizations need to be held accountable
for their decisions, they are also increasingly
wary that they will follow through on
their social commitments,” McGillis
says. “Unfortunately, brands are giving
consumers reason to be skeptical.”
In his book, “Brand Hacks: How to Build
Brands by Fulfilling the Consumer Quest
for Meaning,” Emmanuel Probst reveals
why most advertising campaigns fail by
examining the personal, social and cultural
meanings that successful brands bring to
consumers’ everyday lives.
Probst, a Consumer Psychologist and
Consumer Market Research Professor at
UCLA, believes that C-suite executives
must put their “same-old” tactics to rest.
“Marketers tend to focus on short-term
tactics that will appeal to their audience
in the moment, rather than dedicating
resources and efforts to long-term
brand building. Brands can no longer
lure consumers by remixing marketing
platitudes. They are now expected to
inform and educate the public and make a
positive contribution to the world around
them.”