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Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age. 


What’s a word that begins with the letter ‘S’ that every human being does many times in their lives? It’s ’shopping’ (in case you’ve started imagining something else). Shopping is indeed as basic a human activity as some of its more biological counterparts.


The idea of shopping is best summed up in this quote, “If people shopped only when they needed to buy and bought only what they needed, the economy would collapse.” 


This brings us to a fundamental question, ‘Why do people shop?’ The answer lies beyond the obvious response ‘to buy stuff’.


Studies done globally have classified shopping trips into four types - these apply to both offline and online shopping:


•	Recreational Shopping 


•	List Shopping 


•	Item Shopping 


•	Impulse Shopping


Let us examine each of these with a focus on the shopper and implications for marketers and retailers.


Recreational shopping


Here the shopping trip is completely open-ended. In fact, it may not even result in a purchase. What we call ‘window shopping’.


It happens in categories like apparel, footwear, jewelry, cosmetics and accessories where people check out the latest fashions. 



In the case of gizmos like smart phones, home electronics and laptops, lots of shoppers just surf to keep abreast. Prior to refurbishing your home, you often browse through a home furnishing store to look for ideas.


The concept of ‘retail therapy’, where people, especially women, shop to relieve stress or relax is a part of modern lifestyle. 


Retailers and brands must encourage recreational shopping, because, more often, it leads to purchase. It’s proven that the more time people spend browsing at a store, the more likely they are to buy. Also, even if they don’t buy today, they may buy tomorrow. 


List shopping


This is where you pre-plan shopping with a specific list. List shopping is the bread and butter of the retail industry.


Shopping for food and groceries, medications and home needs come under this. Armed with a shopping list, the shopper is on a mission to acquire the merchandise quickly and with minimum fuss, as against its more exciting cousin-recreational shopping.


This is the domain of the lady of the house where she fulfills her role as the ‘gatherer and nurturer’. In fact, monthly shopping is now supplemented with ‘weekly top-ups’.


The implications of this are shorter purchase cycles, more frequent shopping trips, greater opportunity to try or switch to new brands and products, smaller basket sizes, and the expectation of constant deals and discounts.


Item shopping


Driven by a spontaneous trigger to shop for a specific item is what item shopping is all about. The trigger could be as mundane as ‘running out of sugar’, or as romantic as ‘shopping for an anniversary gift for your better half’.


Item shopping is most often driven by occasions and events. A foreign holiday is an occasion to buy new luggage, graduation day, an event to pick up a blazer, a new home, a reason to get new furniture, arrival of a baby, a trigger to pick up a whole bunch of baby care products, a party at home to stock up on booze and an invitation to the page-3 gala, an excuse to buy a designer label.


The retail and marketing industry have become poster boys at creating events and occasions for item shopping. Fathers’ Day, Mothers’ Day, Uncles’ Day, Aunties’ Day, Teachers’ Day, Valentine’s Day - a 365-day shopping jamboree. Not to mention the sea of festivals which surround our lives. 


If list shopping is the bread and butter of the retail business, then item shopping is the jam. The more occasions we can create, the merrier.


Impulse shopping


The most unplanned, spontaneous form of shopping is on impulse. It is the shopper at her unpredictable best. Yet, several categories make a living out of it.


In confectionery, chocolates, soft drinks and snack foods, impulse buying accounts for almost 60 percent of purchases. Impulse is a huge industry and helps retailers and brands expand the size of shopping baskets. Even when we shop with a list, don’t we always end up buying more? 


Though impulse buying is chaotic and unplanned, brands and retailers have discovered ways in which to stimulate it and bring methods into madness. Bins near the cash counter, interesting adjacencies, online recommendations, special offers, are some of the tactics used.


Another factor driving impulse is the ‘buy now, pay later’ credit culture. When you like something you buy it, thanks to plastic money. So, even the more expensive items are being bought on impulse. Some of the largest impulse categories are women’s footwear, handbags, and cosmetics.


Brands and retailers need to work out innovative ways of driving impulse and deploy it as a key growth strategy. 


It is critical for retailers and brand marketers to understand the types of shopping trips and the way shoppers behave in the context of their categories and brands. This will help them design shopper marketing strategies and tactics to stimulate more purchases, both offline and online.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-sight-to-insight-consumer-insights-explained-8061.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Sight to Insight - consumer insights explained</a> 


Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Marketing Mocktail: Shop till you drop - types of shopping trips explained

Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.


Consumer insight is one of the most used (and abused) terms in brand marketing and advertising.


If brand marketing is the business of ideas, then consumer insights are the illuminating force behind the ideas.


Unfortunately, marketers use the word ‘insight’ loosely. Everything from data to research findings to general observations are termed as insights.


What is a consumer insight? 


The dictionary meaning of insight is ‘the act or result of comprehending the inner nature of things or seeing intuitively.’


A consumer insight is a penetrating and discerning discovery about your consumer that unlocks a brand or communication opportunity.


The late Jeremy Bullmore said that an insight is like “When you open the fridge, and the light comes on." 


A consumer insight lies at the cusp of three things:


•Observation: What people say or do

•Cues: How people say it or do it

•Feelings: Why people say it or do it


A good insight should be:


•Fresh: it always makes you say, “Why didn’t I think of this before?”


•Intuitive: you should be able to feel the insight in your gut.


•Relevant: when played back to other target consumers it should strike a chord.


•Enduring: should have the potential to remain relevant over time.


•Inspiring: the team should be excited by the insight, and it should lead to ideas.


Consumer insights can be used to create brand ideas, advertising and communication, developing products and designing customer experience.


Consumer Insight v/s Universal Truth


More often, marketers make the mistake of equating universal truths for consumer insights. A consumer insight is much deeper, more specific, and not superficial.


A universal truth can be a starting point for an insight, but it’s not an insight.


For example, a universal truth is: ‘Parents want their kids to do well in life’ (too superficial to be an insight).


An insight in this context would be: ‘Parents want to fulfil their unfulfilled dreams through their kids.'


How to unlock an insight


While many tools and techniques have been propagated on insight mining, the truth is that unlocking an insight is non-linear, and more often, does not get discovered in a structured manner.


In fact, the best insights tend to come out of informal observations, conversations and by hanging out with consumers and not necessarily from formal research. 


As the saying goes, ‘If you want to know how a lion hunts, go to the jungle not to the zoo.’


Most of the time, you may not actually be hunting for an insight and viola it happens. It is a Eureka! moment like Newton’s Apple and Archimedes’ Tub. It can happen anywhere - while observing consumers use your brand, while chatting with them about their lives, while watching them shop, while reading a book or watching a movie.


A consumer insight should never be about validation through numbers. It can be a discovery even from a single consumer. 


A consumer can never articulate an insight, you must decipher it from what the consumer says and does. It is like reading between the lines by getting under the skin of the consumer.


Whatever may be the method, unlocking an insight is an art that evolves when a marketer’s radar is on and antenna up, all the time.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-friends-family-and-lovers-brand-user-relationships-explained-7862.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Friends, family and lovers-brand-user relationships explained</a> 


Some good insights


Great insights are simple yet powerful. They seamlessly dovetail into ideas.


Let’s look at some examples.


AXE


Insight: ‘Guys always fantasise about girls making the first move.’


Idea: The Babe Magnet - Axe Effect


SNICKERS


Insight: ‘You are not you when you’re hungry.’


Idea: Relieves hunger to make you, you again


DOVE


Insight: ‘Women don’t consider themselves beautiful, because they don’t fit the stereotype of beauty created by the media and society.’


Idea: Campaign for 'Real Beauty'


A BODY LOTION BRAND


Insight: ‘When it comes to skin, women tend to play favourites. It’s always face over body’.


Idea: Your body is as important as your face


BABYCHAKRA - Parenting platform and baby care products


Insight: ‘For first time parents, a baby brings both joy and anxiety. They look for ways to enhance the joy and reduce the anxiety.’


Idea: Discover the joy of parenting 


Insight: ‘Moms are hesitant about using insect repellent creams on their babies’ skin’.


Idea: Mosquito Repellent Patch - new product


TIDE


Insight: ‘Everyone is so spotlessly and perfectly clean in ads on TV. Every ad is a Tide ad’.


Idea: It’s a Tide ad - If it’s clean, it’s Tide.


LEVI’S


Insight: ‘My jeans are like a second skin. I live in them.’


Idea: Live in Levi’s


Next time you are looking for a big idea for your brand or advertising, start by unlocking an insight. Go to the jungle and not to the zoo. 


Remember, no insight - no idea.


Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Marketing Mocktail: Sight to Insight - consumer insights explained

Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.


People buy on emotion and justify with reason.


When consumers emotionally connect with a brand, it’s like connecting with a person. It is based on a chemistry or vibe and not a SWOT analysis of the brand. 


The emotional connection can be assessed based on the ‘Brand-User Relationship - what type of relationships do consumers have with your brand?


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-the-purpose-of-brand-purpose-explained-6347.htm">Marketing Mocktail: The purpose of Brand Purpose explained!</a> 


Brand-User Relationship Grid


There are 15 different types of brand-user relationships.


When mapped on two dimensions - brand affinity (emotional connection with the brand) and brand loyalty (stickiness to the brand), this is what the relationships look like:



[caption id="attachment_7864" align="aligncenter" width="960"]<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/2023/05/MM.jpg" alt="Brand-User Relationship Grid" width="960" height="720" class="size-full wp-image-7864" /> Brand-User Relationship Grid[/caption]



Remember, the same brand could have different relationships with different users. It is important to note what relationship the majority of the consumers have with the brand.


Let us examine each of these relationships based on the grid.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-brand-as-rubber-band-brand-extensions-explained-6657.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Brand as rubber band- brand extensions explained!</a>


High Brand Affinity - High Brand Loyalty


Best Friend


Voluntary and based on reciprocity. Characterised by true self, honesty and intimacy, with common personal interests.


“My Nikes are my jogging companion - my best friend. We hang out every morning and keep pushing each other, and our timing is getting better and better.”


Romantic Marriage


Exclusive commitment, high on love, intimacy and trust. Together through the ups and downs of life.


“For me, it’s Apple or nothing else. I don’t even bother to check out any other device. For the past ten years, Apple has been a part of my work and life.”


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-consumer-as-brand-manager-brand-co-creation-explained-6824.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Consumer as brand manager - brand co-creation explained!</a> 


Family


Strong lineage ties and support. A sense of belonging, comfort and security.


“Colgate is a part of my family. My parents use it and so do I. Once when I stayed over at a friend’s place and there was no Colgate, I felt lost. It was as though I hadn’t brushed.”


High Brand Affinity-Low Brand Loyalty


Specialised Friend


Highly specialised, situation confined or socially rewarding. Lower intimacy than other friendships.


“I carry my Louis Vuitton handbag only for special occasions. It’s too pricey to carry around every day.”



Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-if-you-rest-you-rust-brand-refreshment-explained-7007.htm">Marketing Mocktail: If you rest, you rust - Brand Refreshment explained</a> 


Childhood Friend


Infrequent engagement, reminiscent of earlier times. Provides comfort and nostalgia.


“My daughter drinks Horlicks every day. I also used to do that as a kid. Occasionally, I share a mug with my daughter, and it brings back my childhood.”


Courtship


Interim state, on the road to a committed partnership - checking it out.


“A few months ago I had a bad experience with Airtel’s network, so I started using Jio. So far so good, I hope to stay with it.”


Secret Affair


Highly passionate, privately held. Considered risky if exposed.


“Ever since I turned 50, I have started using Viagra. Obviously, I don’t tell that to my partners.”


Low Brand Affinity-High Brand Loyalty


Marriage of Convenience


Not a deliberate choice – influenced by the environment. Low level of commitment.


“The resort where I went on vacation was serving only Tuborg and I had it, although my preferred brand is Kingfisher.”


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-from-heart-to-cart-emotional-drivers-of-shopping-explained-7233.htm">Marketing Mocktail: From heart to cart - emotional drivers of shopping explained</a> 


Arranged Marriage


Intended for the long term with exclusive commitment, but low emotional involvement.


“I also use Pantene shampoo because my wife uses it and there is no point buying another brand, just for me.”


Dependency


Feeling of not being replaceable and separation causes anxiety. Something that becomes habitual, and you can’t do without.


“I suffer often from acidity and always keep Eno handy for relief. If Eno is not there, it makes me anxious.”


Low Brand Affinity-Low Brand Loyalty


Casual Friend


Infrequent engagement with low emotional involvement and intimacy. Often short lived.


“I rarely eat chips. When I do, I mostly have Lays.”


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-brand-as-a-person-brand-anatomy-explained-7502.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Brand as a person - brand anatomy explained</a> 


Hostility


Intensely negative emotions, with the objective to cause pain.


“I am so upset with the poor and rude service of this bank, that I have closed my account. I have started sharing my bad experience on social media.”


Rebound


Drawn by the desire to leave something, rather than attraction to another option.


“I was so hassled when Ola overcharged me that I now only book Uber.” 


Fling


Short term, high returns and zero commitment.


“I always use Dove. Last month, when I saw a free trial offer from this new D2C brand I tried it. But now I have gone back to Dove.”


Enslavement


Persists because of circumstances and involves negative feelings of being trapped.


“I only cook in Saffola, but during Covid-19, it was not available. So I had to use other oils. I really felt helpless.”


How to apply Brand-User Relationships


Understand the types of relationships that your users have with the brand through qualitative research and ask the following questions:


• What are the current relationships of your brand with its users?


• Are they strong enough to drive brand affinity and loyalty? (In the context of your category and brand)


• If not, what do you want them to be?


• What steps will you take to get there?


Brand-user relationships are a great tool to understand the context of your brand’s connection with its users and help create affinity and loyalty.


Strong and long-lasting relationships happen when brands put in the same effort to keep you, as they did to win you.


Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning brand marketing, advertising, consulting and teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-brief-or-grief-the-creative-brief-explained-7674.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Brief or Grief - the creative brief explained</a>

Marketing Mocktail: Friends, family and lovers-brand-user relationships explained

Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.


The creative brief is one of the most integral parts of advertising.


Yet, of late, briefs have become griefs - sterile and unimaginative.


We keep indulging in the over optimism of giving a bland brief and hoping for exciting creative work in return. Garbage-in, garbage-out.


Putting together a good brief is a dying art which needs to be revived.


From logic to magic


A brief is the inflection point in creating advertising and communication.


It’s the point where logic (the strategy) starts turning into magic (the idea).


It’s where planning ends and creativity begins.


Re-energising the brief


Definition of the brief should read, ‘The most insightful, inspiring, and igniting point in the creation of advertising’.


Insightful - Packed with gems and nuggets that bring the strategy to life.


Inspiring - Makes the creative team go ‘Wow!’ and take ownership of the brief.


Igniting - Triggers the creative to buzz with ideas that they can’t wait to get cracking on.


In fact, a good brief is like ‘an ad for creative people’.


What makes a great brief


While most agencies have their own briefing formats, based on their conceptual frameworks and creative philosophies, the basics of a great brief remain the same.


Here are a few key ideas that can help re-energise creative briefs.


Keep it simple and sharp


Don’t try to impress with mumbo-jumbo or jargon. Make it simple.


Rather than saying, ‘Increase TOM (Top-of-mind awareness) and brand salience’, it’s much better to say, ‘Make the brand famous.’


Instead of ‘Enhance width and depth of consumption’, why not ‘Get more people to use more’.


Also, never overload - stay focused, sharp and crisp. A brief should not be more than a page or two (that’s why it is called a brief).


Pull out little nuggets


Don’t dwell on information, instead dive for gems that bring your strategy to life and tell a story. Embed your brief with evocative and powerful nuggets.


When Taj Mahal tea bags were being launched, the nugget in the brief was to position them as ‘The Walkman of Teas’ to encapsulate the mobility, convenience and modernity of the format.


When Dabur honey was being repositioned as a health food from a home remedy, the brief summed up the challenge as moving the brand from ‘the medicine chest to the dining table’.


Bring your target person to life


One of the biggest sacrileges in briefs is the vague and rather generic definition of the target audience. You really can’t get a handle of who you are talking to until you bring that person alive.


This is how a bland brief will define the target audience for Axe deo:

Young men aged 16-25, who are concerned about their appearance and how they attract the opposite sex. They buy deodorants to smell fresh and feel confident. Axe with its masculine fragrance is the perfect choice to be attractive to girls.


Here’s an inspiring definition of the Axe target person:
Imagine Benjamin… he thinks about women a lot. A lot, a lot. But he’s not dreaming of romance, he’s a dirty boy who can’t stop thinking about sex with extraordinarily welcoming women. Yet in the real world, women are a completely different country - it’s somewhere he’s never been, it may be a while before he gets to go there, and you’re guaranteed he won’t be able to speak the language when he does. 
Deep down he wishes he could just be himself around girls and that it wasn’t so complicated, that he didn’t have to try so hard. What he wants isn’t deodorant at all, but a secret babe-magnet.


Which one do you think created the ‘Axe Effect’?


Dramatise it


A brief is more than just a piece of paper. It’s a piece of theatre.


Once, a bunch of creative people were packed like sardines into a cramped car and were told they were being taken to the client’s office for a briefing. Midway, they were intercepted by the account supervisor, driving a Maruti van (a move that was engineered). 


They were immediately transferred into the more spacious confines of the van and as they sprawled themselves, someone exclaimed, “Guys, this is the brief - travel in space.” How’s that for a powerful demonstration?


Here’s what a leading creative director told me, “I once had an account executive give me a brief with a hole burnt into it. That got me curious. Then I noticed it was for a fiery hot pizza. Right there, she got me.”


It’s time we changed the way we look at briefs, because great advertising is born out of great briefs. It may be a good idea for the industry to introduce an annual award for the best briefs as an incentive to encourage and reward great briefs. 


Can we bring the glory back into briefs? Can we have more briefs than griefs?


Yes, we can!


Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Marketing Mocktail: Brief or Grief - the creative brief explained

Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.


When I started teaching more than a decade ago, I would discuss various models of (brand) identity, positioning, personality and equity in the class.


I discovered two issues with these models. First, most of them were quite complex, and second, there was hardly any model that integrated all these key components of a brand. In addition, learners would get confused between these terms and often used them interchangeably.


This inspired me to create a framework that would address the issues. Something that would be simple, succinct and cohesive.


Brand as a person


A lot of literature and ideas on brands espouse the ‘brand as a person’. People relate to brands in the same way they relate to other people, in terms of their connections and relationships with brands.


The concept of ‘brand personification’ is used extensively to define what brands mean to consumers as a human entity. Studies conducted on ‘brand archetypes’ borrow from human psychology and sociology to classify brands as human beings. 


The idea of ‘brand as a person’ forms the basis of the framework.


Brand Anatomy: Human Analogy Canvas


Here is a snapshot of framework and how each brand component relates to a human being:


Brand Identity: The physique and clothing of the brand. 



How does the brand appear externally? 


Brand Positioning: The head (rational benefit) and the heart (emotional benefit). 


What does that brand do? How does it make me feel?


Brand Personality: The character and values of the brand. 


What does the brand stand for?


Brand Essence: The soul and spirit of the brand. 


What is the distillation of the brand? 


Applying the framework


The framework can be applied in two ways:


1. Analyse and articulate the anatomy of an existing brand – Deconstruction.


2. Create and develop the anatomy of a new brand- Construction.


Lux Soap - Human Analogy Canvas


Lux from Unilever has been a strong brand for over 90 years. It has been marketed as a glamorous ‘beauty soap’ across the globe and promoted as the ‘beauty soap of the film stars’ for decades.


Let’s apply the framework to Lux, as an example.


Brand Identity: The physique and clothing of the brand. 


How does the brand appear externally? 


Logo, packaging, beauty oils and exotic ingredients, endorsed by film stars.


Brand Positioning: The head (rational benefit) and the heart (emotional benefit). 


What does that brand do? How does it make me feel?


Makes my skin soft, smooth, and glowing. 


Makes me feel glamorous.


Brand Personality: The character and values of the brand. 


What does the brand stand for?


Indulgent. Elegant. Feminine.


Brand Essence: The soul and spirit of the brand. 


What is the distillation of the brand? Its DNA?


‘Glamorous Beauty’


Action Agenda


Having defined the Brand Anatomy applying the Human Analogy Canvas, the marketing strategies and tactics of the brand must be aligned with it.


Here’s the checklist of questions to ask:


•Have we aligned our product/service portfolio with our Brand Anatomy?


•Are we leveraging the Brand Identity elements consistently in all our communication?


•Are we demonstrating and communicating our Brand Positioning with clarity, across all our customer touch points?


•Are we walking-the- talk on our Brand Personality and going beyond ads, into acts?


•Have we made our Brand Essence the driving force behind everything we do?


•Finally, do our consumers relate to the brand as a person?




When you are constructing or deconstructing a brand, think of it as a person. A consumer is more likely to engage with a brand as a person, than a brand as an inanimate object.




Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Marketing Mocktail: Brand as a person - brand anatomy explained

Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.


Is shopping a rational activity or do emotions play a role in it?


Like any human endeavor, shopping too is driven by emotion, even though it may not be overtly evident. Studies conducted globally with shoppers have uncovered the hidden emotions behind shopping. 


There are eight emotional drivers that motivate and influence shopping behavior.



Retailers (both offline and online) and marketers need to understand and apply these emotional drivers in designing their shopping experience. This includes both the store experience design, as well as the category presentation.



Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-the-purpose-of-brand-purpose-explained-6347.htm">Marketing Mocktail: The purpose of Brand Purpose explained!</a> 



Let’s look at each of these eight emotional drivers with examples.


1. Sanctuary - Escape, Therapy, Relaxation


Here, the shopper is looking to take a break from everyday life and use shopping as a getaway.


Lululemon sells athleisure wear created with the philosophy ‘Helping our collective be well in every aspect of their lives – physically, mentally and socially.’ Their stores are a sanctuary for shoppers, where they conduct yoga sessions and events around holistic wellbeing, to help people destress and reboot themselves. 


2. Connection - Bonding, Belonging, Community


This is about building a community of shoppers to create a sense of belonging.


Costco, the big basket retailer has created the ‘Costco Club’, where members are invited to special shopping events that are filled with fun and games for the family centered around products, along with great discounts and offers. The members feel privileged and connected to Costco.


Amazon India’s campaign ‘Apki Apni Dukaan’ (Your own store), aims at creating an emotional bond with their shoppers.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-brand-as-rubber-band-brand-extensions-explained-6657.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Brand as rubber band- brand extensions explained! </a>


3. Sport - Adventure, Hunt, Competition 


Shoppers love the thrill of acquiring stuff at a great bargain. This gives them a sense of adventure where they need to outsmart others. It is like a metaphorical hunt.


The big-ticket end of season sales by apparel retailers and e-commerce marketplaces like FlipKart ‘Big Billion Sale’ and Amazon ‘Great Indian Shopping Festival’ target the predatory instinct of the shopper.


4. Security - Preparedness, Replenishment, Nesting



As a shopper, one always likes to be well prepared for things in life. Be it caring for the baby, combating minor ailments, or being stocked up with essentials.


At the beginning of the flu season, Walmart runs a shopper marketing program called the ‘Flu Preparedness Month’, where it sets up special displays and offers on brands that are remedies for coughs and colds.


Bath & Beyond has a ‘Ready for College’ program targeted at college goers to stock up on essentials required for college life.


5. Mastery - Learning, Performance, Sharing


Keeping abreast with the latest trends and learning about new things is a big reason for visiting stores.


Diageo has set up ‘Virtual Bartenders’ at liquor outlets. This touch-screen kiosk provides shoppers with tips on bartending, cocktail mixing and everything to do with drinking and enjoying spirits. This in turn stimulates purchase of Diageo’s brands at the store.



Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-consumer-as-brand-manager-brand-co-creation-explained-6824.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Consumer as brand manager - brand co-creation explained! </a>



Apple stores also are designed around this emotion.


6. Dreaming - Inspiration, Ambition, Hope


Inspiring shoppers and firing their imagination is a tried & tested recipe for increasing purchase.


Ikea stores are a classic example of making shoppers explore and imagine how Ikea can make their homes and workplaces more inspiring. Ikea’s augmented reality catalogues enable the shopper to dream and fulfil their hopes and desires of furnishing their homes.


7. Self-Creation - Self-Reflection, Status, Bragging Rights 


Shopping is also about ‘badge value’ and self-indulgence.


Luxury brand stores create a shopping experience which people love to flaunt. It also appeals to their inner self as discerning buyers who value pedigree and craftsmanship.


8. Play - Entertainment, Creativity, Stimulation


For many categories shopping is a fun filled activity. Shoppers love to play around with childlike curiosity. The phrase ‘kid in a candy bar’ aptly describes this emotion.


Dylan Candy Bar in the US display and present their candies like toys, where not just kids, but even adults start interacting and literally playing with the products.


Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlours encourage visitors to explore and play around with creative ice cream flavours.


How to apply the emotional drivers


Let’s take an example of the ‘Make-Up and Cosmetics’ category in a physical store or on an e-commerce site.


The category is driven by three emotions for the woman shopper:


Dreaming: Imagining possibilities and how they might contribute to her lifestyle and relationships.



Sanctuary: Positive diversion by providing an escape from the demands of day-to-day life.



Mastery: Staying on top of new trends, seeing what’s out there, and learning what’s new.


If the design, presentation and merchandising of the category is woven around these three themes, it will create greater shopper engagement and conversion.


Whether you are a retailer, e-tailer or a brand marketer, turbo charge your shopping experience with emotions. As Neuroscience has concluded, “Reasons lead to conclusions. Emotion leads to action.”


Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Marketing Mocktail: From heart to cart - emotional drivers of shopping explained

Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.

Brands often need to refresh themselves when they start getting tired and stale. 

While there are plenty of models on brand refreshment, in both industry and academia, here are five simple steps for refreshing a brand:


Step -1: Define the core issue - Why do you need to refresh the brand?


Is the market changing? Is the consumer changing? Has the competition redefined the category? Is technology changing? Has the brand lost its differentiation and relevance?

The answers to these questions will help you define the issue in the form of a problem, or an opportunity that your brand needs to address.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-consumer-as-brand-manager-brand-co-creation-explained-6824.htm">Marketing Mocktail: Consumer as brand manager - brand co-creation explained!</a>


Step - 2: Get Insights from Brand Rejecters - Why are people rejecting the brand?

Bill Gates famously said, “Your most unhappy customers are your best source of learning.” Rejecters of your brand are a great place to begin your search. Use a combination of formal and informal research, both qualitative and quantitative to analyse and draw insights.

Find out what they dislike about the brand? Why do they choose other brands over yours?

Do they like anything at all about your brand? What would make them reconsider your brand?


Step - 3: Get Insights from Brand Lovers - Why are some people still connecting with the brand?


Despite the changes and shifts, there will always be people who still buy and love your brand (even if they are in a minority). After all, these loyalists of your brand are still staying with you despite other choices. Something in the brand must be working for them.

Understand what they love about it? Why are they continuing to choose you over other brands? What will make them stay with your brand?


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Step - 4: Do the RDA Analysis


The discoveries and insights from the earlier steps will enable you to develop a ‘Retain-Divest-Acquire’ (RDA) analysis of your brand by applying the following framework:


[caption id="attachment_7013" align="aligncenter" width="906"]<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/2023/04/RDA.jpg" alt="The RDA Analysis Table" width="906" height="207" class="size-full wp-image-7013" /> The RDA Analysis Table[/caption]


Step - 5: Recraft Brand Elements 


In alignment with the RDA Analysis, the final step is to recraft one or more of the key elements as appropriate:

Brand Physique: How does the brand appear externally? Brand identity codes, products and services.

Brand Positioning: What role does the brand play in my life? Key benefit of the brand.

Brand Personality: What does the brand stand for? Values and character of the brand.


Applying the Framework


Let’s take an example of a leading premium men’s apparel brand that was positioned as the ‘voice of authority on formal dressing’ for the corporate executive. After decades of growth the brands started seeing a decline.


Core Issue: 


Sales had started declining, because the brand’s core consumer segment of corporate executives had become younger, due to demographic shifts in the population. Their market had shifted from ‘Baby Boomers’ to ‘Millennials’ and the brand had stopped connecting with the young, new age professionals.


Brand Rejectors’ POV:


The main reason for the disconnect with the new age professionals was that they saw it as their ‘Dad’s Brand’. It did not resonate with the attitudes and lifestyle of the younger audience. The brand was perceived as ‘too formal, stiff and boring’ for their liking because corporate dressing was no longer ultra formal.


Brand Lovers’ POV: 


A few young professionals who still loved and purchased the brand were attracted to the pedigree, legacy, and craftsmanship that the brand stood for over its 100-year existence. This was what they still held dear and were not lured away by the flamboyant and trendier brands.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-the-purpose-of-brand-purpose-explained-6347.htm">Marketing Mocktail: The purpose of Brand Purpose explained!</a> 


R-D-A Analysis: 



[caption id="attachment_7014" align="aligncenter" width="907"]<img src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/2023/04/The-RDA-Table.jpg" alt="The RDA Analysis Table" width="907" height="229" class="size-full wp-image-7014" /> The RDA Analysis Table[/caption]


The Recrafting:


Physique: Brand Identity - the logo was made more edgy. 


Product Portfolio - vibrant colors, trendy styles and a semi formal collection were introduced.


Positioning: the brand was repositioned as an ‘expression of the ambitious, new age professional, who still values pedigree and craftsmanship’.


Personality: The brand shifted its persona from being the ‘voice of authority on formal dressing’ to a ‘passionate ally of the new age professional’.



The proposed 5-Step Framework is designed to refresh brands to remain competitive in today’s VUCA world. Chris Locke, in his book The Cluetrain Manifesto says, “The bottom line is that markets are changing much faster than marketing”. Brands cannot afford to get stuck in a time warp and must adapt to the changes around them.



Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

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Note to readers: Our latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions and old concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age. 



In an over communicated society, there is a surplus of brands and information. While there is a deficit of time and attention, the challenge is: how can brands continue engaging with consumers, because one-way marketing does not cut ice like it used to before.


Brand co-creation


Brand co-creation means getting the consumer to actively participate in the brand. It involves collaborating with consumers to create products, services, and content. It’s a step ahead of just listening to consumers, to create greater engagement and involvement.


When consumers realise that their brand is committed, embracing, and delivering the way they want, they are likely to be far more connected with the brand.


A paradigm shift


The old ‘command and control’ paradigm has now shifted to a ‘collaborate and co-create’ paradigm for marketers. Brands are using co-creation with their consumers as a meaningful way to build connections and relationships. Social media triggered and ignited this latent desire by providing a forum for ‘User Generated Content’ (UGC). Brands have now caught onto this.



Read more: <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/storyboard18/how-it-works/marketing-mocktail-the-purpose-of-brand-purpose-explained-6347.htm">Marketing Mocktail: The purpose of Brand Purpose explained!</a>



Drivers of co-creation


The entire co-creation piece is driven by two key factors: 


• The first, from a consumer point-of-view is that today’s consumers are ‘Prosumers’- consumers as producers, who desire to have a say in the brands they consume. 


• Then, from the marketer’s point-of view, it is about two-way ‘Brand Conversations’ rather than one-way ‘Brand Propositions’.


A strategic tool


Co-creation needs to be embedded as a consistent, long-term strategy for brands and not just a one-off initiative, for it to yield transformational results.


Let’s discuss a few examples of co-creation and how brands have successfully deployed and adopted the idea in their marketing.


BabyChakra: co-created with Moms and Docs 


This D2C baby care brand co-created its products with the community of moms and doctors on their parenting platform. They co-created ideas to make products that are clean, baby safe and effective. This resulted in many innovative ideas that were built into the products. Some of these were mosquito repellent patch, nasal decongestant patch and bamboo wipes for babies.


P&G’s ‘Connect & Develop’


‘Connect and Develop’ is an open-source platform of Procter & Gamble that has helped the company co-create several breakthrough product ideas for its brands. The platform involves an ecosystem of several external audiences, including customers. 


In fact, around 40 percent of new product development comes from this initiative. For example, ‘Tide-to-Go’, an innovation that is a stain removing pen one can carry in their pocket or handbag, to remove stains on the go, was born out of the ‘Connect and Develop’ program. This program was launched in the year 2000 and is still going strong.


‘My Starbucks’ 


A website for consumers to contribute ideas to Starbucks for products and services. Consumers can track the progress of their ideas on the website and all feasible ideas are adopted. New coffee flavours, off-beat snacks and several service innovations have been the outcome of this. On an average, around 30,000 ideas are submitted and around 20 of these ideas are implemented every year. This initiative has been running for the past 15 years.


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GoPro Cameras: YouTube channel


A collaboration with YouTube, where customers post their videos recorded using GoPro. The entire content for the brand is totally user generated. Their mantra is ‘Don’t tell it. Share it.’ Nicholas Woodman, Gopro founder and chief executive officer says, “It’s our customers' fascinating content that makes the GoPro channel on YouTube so engaging. There is no script for the fantastic stories our customers are capturing and sharing every day.”


Glossier: The 4C’s


Glossier, a relatively new make-up and beauty brand launched in the US in 2014, is giving a run for money to the established giants and has acquired cult status among millennials. The Glossier brand has been built on 4-C’s: content, conversation, co-creation, and community. Before it became a brand, it started as a beauty blog by its founder Emily Weiss, where women exchanged ideas around beauty and make-up. 


Based on inputs from readers, Emily decided to co-create products that were based on unaddressed pain-points and unmet needs, where traditional brands were letting them down. The brand idea of Glossier is ‘Beauty products inspired by real life’, built around a ‘people-powered beauty ecosystem’.


Co-creation is a way of transferring brand ownership to consumers, where the company owns the brand commercially, while consumers own the brand emotionally.


The consumer is saying, “I create therefore I buy.” Are brands listening?


Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Marketing Mocktail: Consumer as brand manager - brand co-creation explained!

Note to readers: Storyboard18's latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions, older concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.


Brand extension is a commonly deployed strategy for growth by expanding brand potential. It is about extending the same brand name into an adjacent or new category. Having invested in creating a brand, it is a logical step for a company to leverage the brand equity by expanding its portfolio.



A brand is like a rubber band. If you don’t stretch it, you are not maximising its potential. If you over stretch it, it will snap. So, how much should you stretch it?


Colgate’s mad extension into Frozen Meals in the early 1980’s is a prime example of over stretch. The women’s fashion magazine Cosmopolitan went bonkers and launched low calorie yoghurts under the same name.


Pepsi Crystal failed because people expected a cola taste and colour from the Pepsi name and not a colourless, citrus drink. On the other hand, Pepsi Max is a big hit because it offers the same Pepsi taste, with zero sugar.


Brand extension is a tricky business. Data shows that an estimated 70 percent of brand extensions fail. 


In the world of brand extensions, success or failure of the extension is based on answering three fundamental questions. These questions provide the answer to extend or not to extend. While they may not guarantee success, they will reduce the chances of failure.


Does the extension present a lucrative market opportunity?


Is there an attractive enough market in the category that you are planning to extend into? Do you have a value proposition that is compelling? Do you have the resources and competency to compete in that category? Obviously, the answer to this must be ‘Yes’.


Does the extension fit with the parent brand equity?


Just a lucrative market opportunity is not sufficient. Is there a natural fit of the extension with the equity of the parent brand? Will it snugly align with the values of the parent brand? Again, the answer should be ‘Yes’.


Will the extension dilute or diffuse the equity of the parent brand?


While there may be a fit with the parent brand, the extension may end up harming it. Is it going to devalue the parent brand? Would it create a diffused image of the parent brand? The answer to this needs to be a ‘No’.


Only if the answer to these questions is ‘Yes, Yes, and No’ should you go ahead with the extension. 


Applying the three questions


Let us look at a few examples of applying these questions. Maybe, the companies did not ask these exact questions, but the thought process would have been along the same lines.


When Toyota decided to enter the luxury car segment to compete with Mercedes, BMW, and Audi, they did not extend the Toyota brand, but went with a new brand instead-Lexus. The reason was clear. Toyota is a mid-market brand built around quality, reliability, and price value. It would have been too much of a stretch to move the brand into the luxury and high-performance territory. In fact, Toyota and Lexus are completely delinked and operate as separate businesses.


The Titan Company is a great example to study in this context. When they wanted to enter the women’s dress watch segment, they extended the Titan brand into a sub-brand Titan Raga. It not only presented a lucrative market opportunity, but perfectly aligned with the equity of Titan- premium, sophisticated and elegant. And of course, it wouldn’t dilute or diffuse the equity of the Titan Brand but add to it. However, when Titan decided to target the Youth segment and the Economy segment, they went for new brands- Fastrack and Sonata. Reason being, a funky, cool, and irreverent youth brand would not fit with the equity of Titan, on the contrary it would diffuse it. An economy brand under the Titan name would dilute its premium image and devalue the brand.


Here are a few extensions to ponder over: Was the decision of Dove to extend the brand into Dove Men, right? How about Patanjali launching jeans? Kingfisher extending the brand to an Airline? And Uber launching UberEats?


When taking a brand extension decision, think it through by asking these three fundamental questions. In the end, don’t stretch the rubber band so much that it comes back and smacks you in the face.


Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Marketing Mocktail: Brand as rubber band- brand extensions explained!

Note to readers: Storyboard18's latest column Marketing Mocktail breaks down and explains the big ideas, new disruptions, older concepts and marketing practices that matter in the modern age.

‘Purpose’ has become a buzzword in marketing. Brands are making a beeline for jumping onto the purpose bandwagon. Some have succeeded, while many have ended up with egg on their face.

So, what exactly is Brand Purpose?

‘Purpose’ in English means, “The reason for which something is done or created. Or for which something exists.” For a brand, purpose is the raison d’etre for its existence. As Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” While products solve problems in our lives, purpose beats down the enemies that torment us every day. These enemies are conventions, beliefs, and behaviors in society that brands choose to fight.

Is it really a new concept?

When the Volkswagen Beetle was launched in America, it urged people to ‘Think Small’ (for a culture that loved everything big). When Apple introduced the Macintosh, Steve Jobs famously said, “We want to make computers people literate” (rather than making people computer literate). Closer home, TATA Steel proclaimed, ‘We also make steel’ (in addition to contributing to society). The label of Brand Purpose is new, but the idea has been around for decades.

Does purpose work for brands?

Today, while many marketers have bought into the idea of Brand Purpose, it has its share of critics who label it as mumbo jumbo. While the cheerleaders argue that today a successful brand must have a reason for being, not just a reason for selling. 

Research by Nielsen shows that 62 percent of young consumers are buying from brands/companies that are taking a stand on social, cultural, environmental, and political issues close to their hearts. Leo Burnett’s study on what they call ‘Humankind Brands’, shows that purpose-driven brands outperform others on all key metrics. 

Unilever, who has made it a mandate to make every one of their brands purpose-driven, created the idea of ‘Sustainable Living Brands’ and the company claims that their purpose driven brands grew 69 percent faster and delivered 75 percent of their growth.

Brand Purpose works, or does it?

It’s not an open and shut case. It depends on ‘when and how’ brands embrace a purpose. There are enough successes and failures. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind while making a brand purpose driven.

The Right Timing: Purpose works better for brands that have been around for a while. It is the last mile in a journey - where every brand begins life as ‘unknown’, then it gets ‘known’ (awareness), then ‘known for good things’ (promise), and finally ‘known for things people care about’ (purpose). Short-circuiting this journey and jumping straight to the purpose is like putting the cart before the horse. A brand like Dove propagated the idea of ‘Real Beauty’ after several decades of being known as a ‘moisturizing bar’. Purpose is not a short-term fix, it requires commitment and consistency.

Authenticity and Alignment: Never try to be what you’re not. Purpose must be embedded in the DNA of the brand and should ladder up from its rational and emotional benefits. Recently a popular milk additive brand did the #forcedpack initiative to take a stand against parental pressure of career choices being forced on kids, which got slammed by consumers on social media. People saw it as a force fit (pun intended), a gimmick. One of the most authentic brands in this context is Patagonia. This American outdoor clothing brand is a case study in Brand Purpose. It lives and breathes its purpose - ‘Earth is now our only shareholder’ and as a result ‘We’re in business to save our home planet’. From products, to people, to marketing activities and contribution to saving the planet, Patagonia aligns everything to its purpose. Only if the purpose is authentic, it’s credible. It can inspire and energize both employees and consumers.

Walking the Talk: A fatal error many brands commit is making their intended purpose just a clever ad campaign. People are smart enough to see through such posturing. A truly purpose driven brand must embody both, ‘Purpose Say and Purpose Do’. Lifebuoy whose purpose is ‘‘To make 5 billion people across the world feel safe and secure by meeting their personal care, hygiene & health needs”. Not only does compelling advertising educate consumers on handwash and personal hygiene, but more importantly conducts regular activities on-ground to promote this, across the world. It’s not just ads, it’s ‘acts’.

If done properly, Brand Purpose can be a powerful idea to connect with consumers and drive growth. If used only as a marketing gimmick, be prepared for backlash. Like a matchbox brand proclaiming, ‘We enlighten the world.’ Remember, “The consumer isn’t a moron, she’s your wife.” (RIP David Ogilvy).

Anand Narasimha is a corporate turned academician with over three decades of experience spanning Brand Marketing, Advertising, Consulting, and Teaching. He writes the column Marketing Mocktail for Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

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