Finding just the right balance between emotion and reason in brand marketing is one of the classic challenges facing brand-builders. Jim Garrity of First Union, Kathy Dennett of Tropicana, David Shinnebarger of Peppers & Rogers and Chris Maher of Marketing Drive USA discuss the challenges of building bonds with consumers in today's marketplace.


How do you define the brand promise for your brand?

GARRITY: We define ourselves as the institution that brings customers smart, straightforward financial solutions that are in their best interests. We actually have six attributes that we try to make sure we pay off to reinforce the brand positioning in everything we do. The brand filter looks at the brand position and these six attributes, and if the marketing communications plan we're working on doesn't reinforce the brand position, and the attributes, then we don't execute against that plan.

DENNETT: We conduct very extensive consumer research to target and really understand the brand’s essence as described by consumers.What they say and the interpretation of that is very important. What they said the juice did for them tends to go in one direction -- a tropical paradise kind of thing -- when in fact what they were really saying was the experience is transformational.

Once we have those brand essence pyramids, our communication strategies can be built from them. We continue to refine them by spending a lot of time with consumers, making sure that we are not guessing as to what they want, but really hearing what they say and refining it with them, versus refining it for them.

Given the growing complexity of the marketing landscape, how do you keep pace with today's consumers?

DENNETT: Some of it is focus groups. Other ways that we're working with them is online dialoging through a website, utilizing the latest technologies, doing intercept in-store with product. We take advantage of every opportunity to talk to consumers and learn what they're thinking and then know where to put that thinking. We have an internal group that is focused on getting the information faster than we have traditionally gotten it.

We have a mantra that says that we need to do some things differently, and do different things. Being out in the stores, being pretty much everywhere people are when they're in a mind set to talk to us is not easily found, but really important.

MAHER: We use a variety of research and analytical tools to track and evaluate -- or keep up with -- consumers as it relates to the brands we are marketing for our clients.

As a general principle, we view the consumer in terms three different types of emotional states. The first is what we call "inherent emotions," which has to do with cultural and ethnic considerations. Then there are "intrinsic emotions," which focuses on their view of the world -- how they define wealth and happiness, as well as their attitudes toward the government, for example. Finally, we have "incidental emotions," which relate to trends of the moment, status symbols and special interests like music, fashion and sports.

GARRITY: One way is consistency across all touch points, all experiences and all channels. The quality of each touch-point -- the quality of each experience with your brand -- needs to not only be positive but also consistent with all of the others. Consistency of experience includes look and feel, sound and consistency of information.

For example, a customer could be driving to work early in the morning and call our voice response unit and check a balance. They could, on their way from the parking garage to the office building, pass an ATM and withdraw a hundred bucks. They can get to their office, fire up their PC, go online and look at their account balance and ideally see that it's a hundred dollars less than it was. That same person during his or her lunch hour might go to a financial center to make a deposit. Again, if they were to check online later, hopefully that deposit would show up in their account balance. Then they might, while they're online, transfer some funds from one account to another. There are opportunities for branding at every step of the way.

What are the primary emotional elements that connect your brands to your consumers? What are the rational elements?

GARRITY: The key rational message -- and some of this borders on emotion too -- is that First Union is in your neighborhood; you can walk or drive just a short distance to get to a financial center. Our ATMs are everywhere, meaning that consumers don't have to pay any transaction fees. We've got an outstanding online offering that allows consumers to do virtually all the things they need to do financially online, including trade stocks and invest.

And we've got this tremendous capability in First Union Direct, which is our call center housing 5000 employees who conduct 160 million conversations a year. In this world, where none of us has enough time to do what we need to do, we make the financial services component of the consumer's life simple. That's both rational and emotional.

DENNETT: The emotional elements are the facts that Tropicana is a good-for-you product, and that it's convenient nutrition. It tastes good, it’s refreshing, and it’s rejuvenating. That's kind of the bond to us. The fact that we've been in the business for so long -- more than fifty years-- means that they really do trust the trademark. On the rational side of it, we know that consumers prefer the taste of Pure Premium and we know that for the most part they feel that it’s a fair value.

Given the rise of the Web and all of the product information it offers, are consumer purchasing decisions more rational today than they were five years ago?

DENNETT: There is a growing group of consumers, particularly our types of consumers who are much more health conscious, who are looking for more information beyond just what's on the side panel, and adjusting lifestyles to accommodate a more healthy life. But I don't think they're any more rational. I still see them buying tons of chips, and things that aren't good for them. Yet when we look at our business, we see those items that are fortified, items that give them more than just orange juice, extra vitamin C, vitamin E, etc., those businesses are the growth businesses.

GARRITY: The emotional component of the decision is more important today than it was in the past. Brands are becoming more important. Yankelovich studies show that people's decisions were more strongly influenced by brands in the past year or so than they were three or four years ago. So brands really help simplify decisions.

MAHER: Not necessarily, because people today are inundated with so much information via the Internet. I question how much of the information that's available can be synthesized into a purchase decision.

In a packaged goods environment, there's only so much emotional or intellectual capital that a consumer is going to invest in the purchase decision. It is critical for manufacturer programs to make an emotional connection by linking brand benefits to consumer needs.

In general, the Internet provides manufacturers a greater opportunity to interact with their consumers and to tailor their messages and their offers on a more individual consumer level. It provides an opportunity to create engagement, and thus potentially a more rational consumer.

Have your media and marketing strategies changed to foster closer relationships between your brands and your consumers?

DENNETT: Absolutely. Our media strategy has evolved to not just be totally reliant on mass media, television, but to take those same dollars and expand print and then more recently expand into what will be a very different feel and look for our website. This is really about relationships and community; it's not about selling them orange juice. We've also recognized that our customers, other retailers, can help us to marry brand loyalty or brand equity and store loyalty. We need to partner with them because it's not one or the other, it's the two doing it together.

SHINNEBARGER: When I arrived in Silicon Valley my perception was that there was a bunch of rocket-scientist kids out here who thought, "Hey man, you throw up your Web site and the money meter starts ringing." These kids just couldn't figure out why it wasn't ringing.

It's called awareness and trial baby, and you don't get that unless you tell people where the hell your URL is. And the only way to do that when you've only got Web-surfers looking at Web sites, is to go back to traditional marketing. Who are your target customers? How you going to attract them? How many impressions do you want to throw up against them and at what cost? Direct mail still has the best ROI in the business.

GARRITY: We literally have a team of people, about twenty of them, called Communications Integration Managers. They manage the advertising, the advertising agency, and the advertising budget. But they've also taken on what we call a general contractor role. They pull together a virtual team to kick off any marketing communications project that includes outside agencies from every appropriate discipline. A creative brief is developed that every agency and every creative group operates against.

The result then is print advertising that looks like TV, direct mail that looks like the print, screens on our web site that look like TV and print, screens on our ATM that have the same look and feel. There's a team that meets every month that focuses on a twelve-month rolling message strategy so that whatever you see in any given month in our financial centers will tie to the message theme on our Web site in our print advertising, in our direct mail, and so forth.

MAHER: Absolutely. Non-traditional -- or new -- media, are gaining popularity in part because of their potential to engage consumers. We're also seeing a move toward non-traditional media as the manufacturers change the way they reward advertising agencies. Now that the commission system for traditional media is disappearing, agencies are far more likely to consider including new media in their marketing strategies.

In terms of promotion, we're also seeing tremendous shifts in terms of the way consumers are engaged. I happen to think that the Internet is an especially powerful medium for promotions simply because it provides a great way not only to deliver a message and build a relationship, but also provide a tangible call to action.

In terms of marketing concepts, the difference between the Internet and traditional media is that rather than simply launching the best campaign you think you have, you may be able to test five or six different ideas. You can take an immediate read over the period of a few days -- or even hours -- and assess which have the greatest appeal. You can then quickly screen out and implement in a full-blown effort.

But you still need to engage consumers. We talk about touch points -- the variety of ways that you connect brands with consumers. In today's environment -- whether it's via the Internet, broadcast or in-store media -- you need a combination of vehicles and tactics to ensure that you make the right connection with the right consumer. That basic principle hasn’t changed over time.

Has the way in which you develop new products changed to better align with changing consumer behavior?

DENNETT: Yes and no. We've always grounded our product innovation on consumer assessments, using research as a way to determine what they are looking for. What's changed is the methodology by which new products are developed. We use more empowered teams, faster cycles. You can burn a new item out just by asking too many questions about it -- and wondering and hoping and wishing -- that at the end of the day there is no product. It's really about getting those products designed by the people who know, taking some risk, and accelerating the development cycle.

GARRITY: It absolutely has. In the past, there were silo organizations in the product world that would develop a product to meet their business unit objectives. We still have some product groups, but now but they're all working together. With our focus on segmentation, we're trying to put together bundles, if you will, that are solutions-oriented, and focused on the needs of the particular segment.

If you're a high value customer to us and you walk into the financial center, you are greeted by every employee you see by name. They know what relationships you have with us. Through our technology they know what other relationships might be appropriate for you given what we do know about you.

MAHER: Procter & Gamble is using the Web to give consumers an inside look at products that haven't been formally launched yet. Consumers have an opportunity to try these new products and comment on them. The consumer then has some "ownership" of the product when it actually comes to market.

In general, manufacturers are becoming more proactive. They're involving a broader base of consumers in the product development process as well as in shaping marketing concepts. But that level of consumer involvement is relatively new on the curve and it remains to be seen how effective it is.

How has your company's relationship with the retail trade changed over the last few years?

DENNETT: They're getting bigger and we need to be friendlier. But more importantly, we're all realizing that we all share the same consumer. If we are in a position to be able to identify that very important consumer to the retailer and that very important consumer to us, and then work together to build one plan to market to and build loyalty with those consumers, then both of us are going to win.

This, versus the retailer taking a price route and us taking an equity route and hoping the consumer makes a connection at some point. That's easier said than done. Although some of the more aggressive retailers are saying it's really about the money, we really need to start partnering with those brands that really are driving revenue and can effectively drive transaction size and can affect category growth. If I can find those five or six manufacturers, I'm going to work with them.

I've always projected, although my dates have been wrong, that at some point it's not going to be if, it will be when. Retailers tell us, I know my consumer, you know your consumer, let's start with a blank piece of paper and write the marketing plan to drive these very important consumers, It's a blended approach that really focuses on the cadence of communication with the consumer, versus individual events or ads.

SHINNEBARGER: The challenge for anybody who doesn't have Microsoft-like velocity at retail is that you have a hard time getting shelf space. You're kind of buried. The retail channel has very little awareness in terms of the employees, the store-owners, or the franchise owners. They've put it on the shelf but if it doesn't move, they kick you out of the channel pretty quickly.

Traditional MDF and things like that don't work at retail for E-Stamp. Product demonstration seems to be the key to cracking the code on building awareness and trial for E-Stamp through the retail channel.

MAHER: The relationship between manufacturers and retailers has changed tremendously. First there's been tremendous retail consolidation. Ten years ago, in the food class alone, many manufacturers were tracking more than 300 customers just within the grocery channel. Today, the top four retailers represent the majority percentage of total grocery volume.

Second, there is a tremendous blurring of channels -- with drug and mass merchandisers and grocery chains all dipping into each other's domains. Third, there is a much broader product assortment that's being offered and there are retailers in one specific class of trade offering products that had traditionally only been available in another. For example, Wal-mart Supercenters are now clearly a key player in the grocery arena.

So, a manufacturer's approach to each retailer needs to reflect not the overall brand objectives but also be consistent with the way each retailer gos to market. Understanding who their shopper is provides the brand with a better understanding of the right message, how to meld the message delivery with the retailers in a way that's consistent with both the overall brand image and the overall store image.

Has your view of the retail environment changed in terms of its role in the marketing mix?

DENNETT: Yes. One piece is that Pepsi brought a whole new view to Tropicana when they purchased us a couple of years ago. They've done it, one in word, and two, in money. They've helped us to do the research that was necessary to determine how do we use the grocery store as a medium and provided funding to do what we feel most passionate about, which is doing the research up front, doing matched panel control store tests.

Is it really a good idea? What does it really deliver? And if you can't measure it than how are you going to know that it actually did anything? The most important part is, it's not just about winning, having a good idea and saying yep, we knew that was a good idea and we did it, but having the ability to fail. As we start to learn how we really need to be using that as a medium, and using it in a way that builds store image, our image, and ultimately velocity.

GARRITY: A couple of years ago we completely changed the design of our financial centers to move away from the appearance of a traditional bank to much more represent a full service financial center. Instead of just walking in and finding a teller line as the prominent component of the financial center, the consumer is greeted by a customer relationship manager who is kind of the "quarterback" of the financial center. The customer relationship managers direct consumers to whatever resources they might be looking for, answer general questions they might have and could provide some general advice.

Around the financial center are offices with signs outside them that will say, depending on the nature of the financial center, "investing", "insurance", "financial advice", and so forth. The take-away is -- wow, this is a full service financial center. There's a teller line, so can go do some transactions if you want to. But the customer sees that we can meet other needs, too.