Long-term brand building is making a come back: Experts

At an event organised by The Times of India and WARC, held in Mumbai on 24 November, Rajdeepak Das, CCO and chairman, creative council, Publicis Groupe, South Asia; Neha Ahuja, director, head, marketing, Spotify, and Satyaki Ghosh, CEO, domestic textiles, Grasim Industries, Aditya Birla Group, had tips on how brands can build impactful connections with their consumers while chalking out creative strategies.  

The panel was moderated by Biprorshee Das, India editor, WARC. 

Creative effectiveness 

The panel kicked off with Ahuja sharing three principles she feels marketers are abiding by to create effectiveness for their brands. She expressed, “Firstly, we all approach creativity from a mindset of problem-solving. Secondly, a common thread that works is measurement. Numbers are a common language when approaching leadership. Thirdly, culture is important to understand what the user wants. We have to understand where the culture is heading and make every attempt to be part of it.”

Ghosh believed that when it comes to effectiveness in the digital era, people are focused on thinking here and now. He continued, “Short-term strategies are not going to deliver effective results for a brand in the long run. Long-term brand building is making a coming back. Moreover, cost structures are losing prominence and marketers can spend more investments on brand building.” 

Can short-term benefits be completely disregarded? 

The panellist's common sentiment was that there should be a healthy mix of long and short-term brand strategies. 

Das pointed out that small and immediate wins are important to win the game of brand love. “If a brand can not win the hearts of the consumer in a short period and there are no short wins the pressure increases for the marketing team”, he commented. 

Ahuja stated that, as marketers, business and brand metrics are sacrosanct. However, while developing an effective approach brand affinity should be the holy grail. Sharing her views, she said, “When I got the opportunity to launch Spotify in India, it was not about getting millions of users on the app after our first campaign. The brief we gave the agency was to just create brand love. In today’s market, it is crucial to not just sell a commoditised product, but it is about selling an emotional benefit. This approach gives rise to demand capturing which is amplified through performance and moment marketing campaigns.” 

Metrics essential for a marketing campaign

Ahuja explained, “This is the fourth year, where we will be rolling out our Spotify campaign titled ‘Wrapped’. This campaign is not about bringing in new customers or driving more consumption. It is about celebrating how the user has consumed music on the app and leveraging consumer advocacy. We are building brand love with users celebrating what they have streamed throughout the year and seeing them post about it organically on social media.”

Mistakes and learnings

For Ahuja, agility was an oversight she disregarded. She signed off saying, “We get married to our thoughts and the work that we have done. However, in today’s day and age, it is critical to know what the environment is, where we are going, quickly change course and adapt. We also get sucked into this seduction of wanting to do more. However, while bringing effectiveness to the fore, it is about doing less, focusing on something important and sticking to the brand purpose.” 

Das's advice was that in advertising three things need to be on top of the mind: gut, heart and brain. “Ideas should start from the gut instead of pondering on what isn't right. Rather than selling a product or service, we need to think about people and families and what inspires them", he concluded.