Consumers want more brand involvement

Brands should realign their communications.A brand presence on Facebook, a corporate blog with a comment function, or sponsoring concerts: brands and the companies behind them are doing a lot today to involve their target group. But are they doing enough? And, above all, are they doing the right thing? The result of the Brand study the PR company Edelman is clear: 90 percent of consumers worldwide would like brands to offer them more opportunities to participate in their brand world. Only ten percent of respondents believe that brands are already good at this. Involving consumers pays off economically, as the study shows. However, not all inclusion is the same. It's a question of how.Six dimensions of participation for modern brand marketingWith brandshare, Edelman has identified six dimensions of sharing that can have a positive impact on business development: Shared Experience, Shared Dialog (talking to each other), Shared Goals, Shared Values, Shared Product (co-creating products), and Shared History (transparent origins and history). brandshare shows that not every one of these dimensions of sharing has the same importance for brands. Three dimensions are particularly important to consumers: shared goals, shared values and co-creation of products.Shared GoalsIn the dimension of common goals, it stands out that 90 percent of global consumers would like to be asked about their needs - especially in product categories in which they have little expertise, such as finance or technology (44 percent and 34 percent respectively). In France (50 percent), Brazil (43 percent) and the UK (40 percent) in particular, respondents said financial services providers should ask more about consumers' needs rather than just talking about their own products.Shared ValuesAlmost all consumers attach importance to brands sharing their own values. Almost half (47 percent) of all respondents would like to know about product manufacture and its origin. The majority of consumers believe that brands still have some catching up to do on this point. The 45- to 65-year-olds in particular (44 percent) want more transparency and information on this topic. Four out of ten respondents would like to see brands give something back to society.Shared ProductParticipation in product development is a crucial aspect of modern brand marketing. 91 percent of respondents say they would like to be involved in the design and development process. Nine out of ten of the consumers surveyed would like more information about how the products differ from the competition.Shared Dialog and Shared ExperienceIt is true that 92 percent of consumers would buy, use and also recommend products from companies that embody their values. Nevertheless, the respondents do not rate dialog with brands or shared experiences beyond the product level as particularly important. Only 40 percent would like to have a deeper dialogue with brands. "Apparently, customers assume that companies and brands are ready for dialog. This dimension of participation is no longer a differentiating factor," says Uta Behnke, Managing Director and Practice Leader Brand Marketing at Edelman in Hamburg, classifying the results. "The same applies to shared experiences. For many consumers, this type of interaction is no longer something absolutely outstanding."Shared HistoryThe view of the dimension of transparent history and story is exciting. Almost all consumers (89 percent) want to participate in the brand or company story. brandshare shows that brands that make their story - personalities, successes and failures - accessible and communicate it can activate consumers with it. This dimension of participation provides the strongest purchase and recommendation incentive.Brands must realign their communication with target groups"The study results clearly show that there is a gap between desire and reality when it comes to consumer involvement today," says Olaf Grewe, Managing Director of Edelman Switzerland. "While many brands now maintain an open dialogue, consumers primarily want shared values and goals, as well as participation in the creation of products. For brands, this means that they should rethink and realign their communication with their target groups. In this way, they not only strengthen their reputation, they also become more successful economically. The prerequisite for this is that marketing and corporate communications work together on these issues in companies.""Brand management has developed strongly toward dialog in recent years and created many opportunities for interaction for consumers," adds Uta Behnke. "Now it is time to develop the next generation of sharing. With brandshare, we can identify which forms of engagement or participation are relevant - for 12 different industry sectors and four different age target groups in eight countries.