How Brands are Built in the Digital Age

: HOW BRANDS ARE BUILT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Purposeequals purchaseNew consumers are looking for their media experience to match the purpose with which they lead their lives. They want help fulfilling their needs, passions and interests. Purpose drives their shopping and purchases so much so that consumers end up choosing brands that engage them on their passions and interests 42% more often than they do those that simply urge them to buy the product being advertised. For these consumers, the path to purchase is actually the path to purpose.

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: HOW BRANDS ARE BUILT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Purpose driven consumersare great customers Some people go online to seek entertainment. Others are after connection with others. But there is a third group that is looking for more than that. These folks go online primarily for information on their passions and interests. And they are a market you want to reach. Not only are they better customers—70% more likely than others to have purchased a product or service online in the past month—but they are word of mouth machines, too (1.6 times more likely to rate a product or service once a week).

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: HOW BRANDS ARE BUILT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Media usage doesn’t =media influenceThe joint research project found that just because a media platform has heavy usage, that doesn’t mean that it has profound influence. In fact, there is little or no correlation between usage or influence. Consumers are more influenced by YouTube than by any other media touchpoint. It’s up there with word of mouth and store visits.

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: HOW BRANDS ARE BUILT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

The ownershipexperience Online video gives brands a way to connect with consumers in a way that no other media can provide: an experience of ownership (even before the purchase). Consumers turn to online video to get a digital test drive of products before they plunk down a credit card, but keep in mind that they’re not just looking at that nicely-produced video you made. 86% of the views for brand related content comes from YouTube creators, seller/intermediaries and users—not the brand itself. But that doesn’t mean brands are shut out. Consumers expect—welcome, even—brand communications. In fact, 18-34 year olds are 4 times more interested in watching an ad on YouTube than on any other platform.

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: HOW BRANDS ARE BUILT IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Is it content?Is it advertising? Yes.The line between content and advertising is blurred on YouTube, according to Google’s Tara Walpert Levy. Consumers can choose the ads they want to engage with and can, therefore, choose to be influenced. Even if they skip the—because, say, they’ve seen it before or because they are familiar with the product—it may still register influence. But what makes an ad impression lead to influence? When a consumer opts-in emotionally to what a brand is saying. Or, as Marc Mathieu of Unilever said, “Marketing used to be about making a myth and telling it. Now it’s about telling a truth and sharing it.”

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