+2%

BRAZIL
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
TOP 50 MOST VALUABLE LATIN AMERICAN BRANDS 2015
'DEAR BRAND,
I RECALL YOU.
BUT I DON'T
WANT TO BUY YOU'
RENATO DUO
Strategic Planning Manager
J. Walter Thompson, São Paulo
Renato.Duo@jwt.com
Emotional promises made by
brands are no longer merely passive
messages received by the consumer.
Brand equity is built on relevance of
purpose that is meaningful to the
empowered consumer´s point of view.
You know those awesome emotional
benefits your brand has? The ones that
were generated after a meticulous
decision-making process? Decisions
that included a very complex process
with many costly and timely steps
like: thousands of hours of analysis,
form-filling, an infinite number
of emails, pre-trials, discussions,
rejections, approvals, brainstorming
and what-ifs, inside marketing and
communication departments or
agencies’ communication and branding
rooms.
Is this picture familiar?
Well, it’s better to forget it.
Or, being less apocalyptic: you need to
rethink it.
The new game requires more extensive
perspective and a deeper dive. The
building of positive equity in this
postmillennial, post comments, post
everything era requires more complex
thinking.
In this new world, the borders around
emotional promises are wider. And
easier to breach.
AS A CONSUMER,
I NEED TO BELIEVE
It’s no longer an issue of advertising in
itself. It’s something much bigger, that
goes beyond equity building. Nowadays,
any movement made by the brand
counts. Even the more prosaic decisions
in a production line help to define this
emotional bonding. Building equity is
becoming more and more complex.
Everything brands do in their daily
routines to sustain business has an
enormous influence on the consumers
when they are at the point of sale,
deciding whether to choose the box
on the top or bottom shelf. Nothing
escapes the consumer’s radar.
THE 'BUT' SYNDROME:
A NEW TENSION
IN THE BRAND-
CONSUMER
RELATIONSHIP
My bank is constantly telling me that
it is there when I need it. But they raise
fees every year and I keep reading
how they have been breaking revenue
records.
My mobile phone carrier had very good
reception. But I heard someone in
customer services added an abuse to
the system and that was printed on the
client’s bill.
There’s a delicious yogurt brand. But I
read a blogger talking about the amount
of preservatives used to make it creamy
and that scared me.
There is always a “but”. That’s one of the
results of this hyper-information era.
This tiny little word has damaged many
relationships, especially between brands
and consumers. We are all looking for
relationships that we can hold on to in
the long term to support us, introduce
to our parents and take out to dinner
unashamedly. You wouldn’t do any of
that if you were in doubt, would you?
Relationships between brands, people
and channels are becoming more and
more liquid. It’s up to the brands to pick
up on this fluidity and truly embrace
transparency. After all, perceptions
change at every turn.
J. Walter Thompson Worldwide,
the world’s best-known marketing
communications brand, has been
creating pioneering solutions that build
enduring brands and business for more
than 150 years. Headquartered in New
York, J. Walter Thompson is a true
global network with more than 200
offices in over 90 countries, employing
nearly 10,000 marketing professionals.
The agency consistently ranks among
the top networks in the world and
continues to hold a dominant presence
in the industry by staying on the
leading edge—from hiring the industry’s
first female copywriter to developing
award-winning branded content today.
For more information, follow us @JWT_
Worldwide.
www.jwt.com
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