If you want to build your position in the market, it is not enough to have only an emotional connection with the brand, nor to be functional or nicely packaged. It is essential that you are desirable.
This characteristic has become one of the very important factors on the basis of which brands can compete in the competitive global market, and as assured by the company Clear (a member of the M&C Saatchi group), it has recently become measurable. For the last three years, Clear has been conducting research in the American, British, and Australian markets and providing lists of the most desirable brands based on responses collected from a sample of about 20,000 consumers. Of the results that are more or less expected (the most desirable brand for the British is Apple, for Americans it is Amazon), the more interesting conclusion drawn from the results of the past three years is that a one percent increase in desirability brings a 1.5 percent increase in sales. As they state, three principles play a key role in this, which, if introduced into the marketing strategy, increase desirability and thus improve sales results. More precisely, it all starts from the brand’s purpose, which ‘energizes’ or drives the entire business to deliver some ‘content’ and establish a ‘connection’ with the right people.
Energized Brands By ‘energy’, researchers do not only mean ambitious managers who drive the brand with their ambition and vision, but also make the entire category of products more desirable by encouraging competition to take action, innovate, and engage in quality marketing communication. A striking example of a brand that meets the energy criterion is the famous Apple, which not only launched the IT industry but also left a mark on the telecommunications industry with the iPhone, and on the music industry with the iTunes concept. In addition to it, global experts have also recognized the energy of the Durex brand, which has reformed the ‘purpose’ of existence in the market. As every adult knows, condoms serve to protect against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, but the team from Durex, in the early stages of their business, decided to emphasize the quality of sexual relationships in their marketing communication. Instead of protection, sex, and good sex, is in the first place. In their marketing campaigns, they deliver direct and witty messages to customers and strive to encourage consumers to think about the quality of their relationships, while the dark side, or the consequences of unprotected sex, remains in some subtext, unspoken, which has proven to be a brilliant strategy for Durex’s market share (the strongest global brand in the category). In contrast to Apple and Durex as good examples of brands that possess the energy factor, and thus desirability, Facebook has been identified by Clear.
