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brand activationWhenever you go shopping for a certain popular brand, have you always paused to think how did this brand has come to be so popular? By all means, when that product was first introduced, it was virtually unknown outside of its factory. However, through the use of a combination of several consumer engagement platforms, such as advertising, viral growth, and user experiences, the brand managed to gain consumer acceptance. This process of bringing a particular brand to life is known as brand activation.

Brand activation is an indispensable part of the evolution of any brand. It involves analyzing the core values or features-usually one or two features- of a brand that can help it distinguish it in a crowded marketplace. In other words, it involves looking deeper into the brand to find the possibilities, its position and strategy to spot assets that offer benefits to the company in the long-run. Customers must have a real emotional engagement with your brand; it must evoke positive feelings within their hearts and minds in order to convince them to buy your product.

Principles of Brand Activation

Example:

Let’s have a look at this example that simplifies how brand activation works. For Shell to promote its VPower brand, it relies on a strategy built on partnership with Ferrari autos. Its extrinsic value is this partnership, while the intrinsic value is the brand’s engine cleaning power. This emotionally engages the consumer in a deep way, as Ferrari cars are associated with superior engine performance.

How to Implement a Process For Brand Activation

There are various methods you can use to activate your brand:

Promotional Marketing

This is one of the most efficient and quickest methods of brand activation. As the name suggests, it involves raising awareness of your product in order to generate sales and build a loyal consumer base.  Promotional marketing can be targeted at final consumer (consumer promotions), or to wholesalers and retailers (trade promotions), business customers (business promotions) or sales force members (sales force promotions).

Consumer promotions involve using loyalty reward programs, special offers, celebrity endorsements, samplings, competitions and bonuses as well as point of sale display materials. Business promotions are carried out using trade show displays, workshops and seminars, event sponsorship, direct mail campaigns and telemarketing and, conference presentations and newsletters. Sales force promotions involve using commissions or competitions with awards or prizes. Lastly, trade promotions involve corporate entertainment, giving incentives to resellers, bonus stocks and competitions.

Events & Seminars

Holding a key event plays a huge role in positioning the brand into the minds of consumers and attracting and engaging potential consumers. Such events provide a platform for engaging in discussions with consumers to answer any queries they may have about the brand. Most consumers prefer using a product that has been recommended by someone, or which they have no qualms about.

Retail Marketing

Just as advertising stimulates the demand for a product in the mind of a consumer, retail marketing helps a customer choose one product/brand over the other. It helps enhance the image of the brand or product, and states the benefits the consumer will obtain by using it. In retail marketing, a brand can be activated using attractive design, installation of promotional shelves and point of purchase displays.

Evaluating Brand Activation

When drawing your brand activation strategy, the primary objective should always to develop a two-way conversation with your consumers. Brand activations help you bring your brand to life, and hence to build consumer loyalty, you must cultivate a healthy relationship and emotional engagement between the brand and the consumers.

Advantages of Brand Activation

The following are some of the benefits of brand activation:

Drawbacks of Brand Activation

What Brand Managers Need to Do

Brand managers must clearly know who the target audience is, and what the brand symbolizes. The activation strategy should then be broken down into a guide that indicates what should be done and what should not be done. Normally, the brand activation process shows how the brand-marketing activities will be approached and managed.

You must clearly identify and state what the brand position is. Furthermore, the brand activation campaign should be managed by employees instead of third-party consultants. This is because employees will do everything to ensure the activation process is successful unlike marketing consultants.

You should never underestimate the influence that brand activation can play in shaping the future of the brand. If you successfully implement the process, the brand will be able to attract more consumers and still retain its market share. If this process is botched, the result will be a brand that will perform poorly in the market, leading to loss of market share.

Conclusion

In conclusion, don’t confuse brand activation with below-the-line activities, which are mostly sales-oriented. Instead, brand activation should be viewed as a process that aims to build the visibility of a brand through real engagement with target consumers.

 

Page Last Updated: February 2020

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