'The Hub': Profiles in Activation

Every day, consumers are bombarded with thousands of brand messages and offers. Especially these days with the continued encroachment of DVRs and satellite radio prompting people to skip TV and radio commercials -- brand messaging is popping up in the most unlikely of venues. Subway turnstiles. Water coolers. Airplane tray tables. Gas pumps. Parking lot stripes. (Yes, parking lot stripes). The fact is, wherever there's a spare few inches of unused space, located near a consumer, it will probably be occupied by a brand message before very long. Amid this massive assault of visual and aural noise, the marketer has to be asking a key question: "How in the world do I break through the cacophony and get consumers to connect with my brand and purchase my product?" One way is via "consumer activation." Consumer activation is not about defining your brand. While branding is all about establishing a perception about a company or product in the consumer's mind, consumer activation is all about leveraging that perception to get the consumer to take action. Consumer activation focuses not on dissecting your brand, but rather on connecting with your consumer on behalf of your brand. Whom, exactly, might that be? After all, to activate the consumer, it's imperative to know whom you're talking to. Forgive the apparent obviousness of that statement, but it's surprising how many companies focus solely on their brands at the expense of their consumers. The fact is, at the beginning of many marketing initiatives, the consumer is many times identified by a cursory one- to two-sentence description on a creative brief. Males 18-to-34. Tween girls with cell phones. Soccer moms who go grocery shopping at least three times a week. At a time when we are all continually assaulted by marketing messages, superficial consumer descriptions will simply not suffice. To activate consumers, we must dig deeper and glean a more comprehensive understanding of who they are, what they care about, how and where they shop, how they would like to be communicated with and, most importantly, which incentives they respond to. These are the critical components of consumer activation. Consumer activation begins with creating a "living profile" of the consumer. Think of it as a "consumer brief" to accompany the brand brief. Once that profile is complete, it is used as the grounding point to develop integrated promotional programs to activate the target. This comprehensive profile of a brand's target consumer is built using what we call our Consumer Lab, which works to understand consumers' motivations and interests and drives toward strategically correct and relevant consumer activation programs. To achieve this, we do in-depth work with consumer anthropologists, conduct online overnight surveys and employ tactics such as "shop-alongs." We actually go shopping with target consumers, asking questions throughout, and come away with some enlightening discoveries, such as why they select one brand over another, for example. Or how a Saturday afternoon family trip to Wal-Mart differs from a quick in-and-out drugstore run. Profiling a target consumer, which is a continually evolving process, starts on a macro level, as the Consumer Lab focuses on overarching consumer segments such as women, young men and teens/tweens. That's just the beginning, however. Within each of those categories, we further segment and dissect the target in three, overlapping ways: Demographic and psychographic profiling. We come to understand the target's age, household income, marital status, education level, and where they live and congregate -- as well as finding out their issues, concerns and hot buttons. We glean this information via multiple sources -- from U.S. Census reports to Spectra data to client-conducted surveys to our own onsite and online "consumer engagement sessions." Identifying content that engages the target. Which movies do they like? Which TV programs are they watching and connecting with? Which books are on their nightstands? What are their hobbies and interests? And most importantly, what are the underlying themes that course through all of these? By piecing the puzzle together, we discover what the consumer cares about and is most likely to notice amid the ever-present "noise."Establishing the most appropriate vehicles. Sure, reaching and activating our targets may involve traditional marketing media. But more likely, our mix goes well beyond the usual. It may include in-store media. Maybe interactive displays. Perhaps texting and blogging. Or even burgeoning cell phone/GPS promotional technology that alerts consumers as they're approaching a store. ("Best Buy 500 feet ahead. 20% off plasma TVs.") We also look to understand vocal influencers and trendsetters, and how to best reach them via appropriate communications and promotional tactics. When all of this information and insights are assembled, the Consumer Lab "brings the consumer into the room" and reveals a complete picture of who they are, what they do (and don't do), how they feel, and what's important to them. We even name the consumer -- Debra, Diana, Ken, etc. -- to make him or her more real. We focus on how he or she relates with -- and to -- the brand, the product and the category. And we combine that information with our knowledge of which tactics work most effectively for that business. Here, the creative component of an integrated promotion discipline kicks in. We develop a program that incorporates proven sales promotional tactics (often down to the most historically successful coupon value), then add the creative that builds the brand and communicates a call-to-action. By combining proven promotional tactics and compelling creative, we motivate consumers to take action. To buy. To try. To be loyal. To act now. The end result of all this is a marketing program that works for both the target and the brand by driving measurable results -- that is, sales. For the Mexican imported beer Tecate, our research determined that the brand's target of Mexican-American males is passionate about both their work ethic and their play ethic. Whether on the job or on the soccer field, they go all out. So we built a "Work Hard, Play Hard" promotion, partnering with local amateur soccer tournaments to reach the target in key Mexican-American markets. To engage those with more desire than athleticism, we created local market foosball competitions. As a result, the Tecate brand growth has outpaced the category. For Wisk laundry detergent, we played off the brand's innovative positioning: "Dirt Is Good." Our "type D" Moms should want their kids to go outside, have fun and get dirty: "Don't worry. Wisk can handle it." We looked more closely at these moms, and discovered that they are integrally involved in their kids' sports activities. Well beyond practice and game drop-offs and pick-ups, they become part of their kids' sports organizations. With that knowledge, we built a promotion featuring a collect-proofs-of-purchase contest that offered to upgrade and refurbish local ball fields. Retired baseball great Cal Ripken, Jr. was brought on as a spokesperson, and activation elements included print, on-shelf, on-package, point-of-purchase, and more. The result: the program was well received by consumers and customers and is now in its third year. The marketing noise level is not going to ebb. The consumer will continue to feel even more bombarded by daily messages. In this environment, marketers would do well to remember that moving the sales needle means connecting your brand to the consumer in targeted, engaging ways. Know your consumer as well as you know your brand, and your message and offer becomes sharper, more focused, more compelling -- seen, heard and, most importantly, acted upon. That's what consumer activation is all about: Driving powerful connections, which in turn deliver powerful sales results. About the Author: Jim Zembruski is evp, chief marketing officer of Alcone Marketing Group, an integrated sales promotion agency.

'The Hub': Profiles in Activation

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