Brand Relevance is a marketing innovation that applies the interpersonal principles of Emotional Intelligence at a corporate level in order to influence consumer behavior. Companies are starting to characterize their products not just as tools or items of consumption, but instead are shifting their marketing focus based on the belief that their products and services are a meaningful and important part of their customer’s lives.
Brand Relevance, or Emotional Branding, has been causing industry experts to sit up and take notice for some time now. The types of skills that enable people to connect with others and create thriving and growing relationships are known as Emotional Intelligence. These are the same set of skills now being implemented in Branding strategies of countless companies.
By creating emotional ties through advertising campaigns across all media platforms, as companies we can aim to use Brand Relevance to create Brand Loyalty, the long-lasting relationship between brands and their customers. A great example of a company that has gotten Brand Relevance right is Apple, which represents their products as part of a desired lifestyle while espousing a technological philosophy of user friendliness.
The fact is, Brand Relevance doesn’t even try to compete with the two traditionally accepted pathways to Brand Loyalty. Focusing on product preference/competition (Coke vs. Pepsi), or creating a new category or subcategory market for a Brand (Spanks as a ‘body-shaper’ and not ‘girdle’) need no longer be a primary focus of marketing teams.
Helping consumers feel they possess a personal connection to a Brand or having a Brand that understands who they are on an elemental level has proven to be the missing link between attaining a one-time consumer and retaining a repeat customer. This strategy targeting Brand Loyalty has resonated strongly in our ever-changing, fast-paced, technology loving consumer culture.
Truly, who wouldn’t want to participate amongst a uniquely Branded community of product users across social media, or to be recognized as possessing certain traits associated with your Brand when encountering a fellow Brand follower on the street? Just think of your own reactions when you spot someone wearing a Fitbit or Apple’s iconic white earbuds!