HOW CONSUMER LOVE
FITS INTO BRAND LOVE
Overview
Brand Love is a marketing concept that has become popular among marketers who seek to establish meaningful connections with consumers. There has been contrasting views among marketers about the exact definition of Brand Love, however, they unanimously agree that Brand Love does exist.
LoveMarks
Recently, the concept of Lovemarks has been identified by some marketers as a sequel concept to Brand Love, and the future of brands. According to the MD of Saatch&Saatch who coined the term Lovemarks, “the concept is intended to replace the idea of brands altogether”. Unlike brands, Lovemarks create loyalty beyond reason by using emotional connections that generate the highest levels of love and respect for a brand. The idea is that you can replace a brand but you cannot replace a Lovemark because Lovermark creates intimate, emotional connections that consumers just can’t live without.
Our View
Whether marketers choose to call it Brand Love or Lovemarks, one thing is clear; a consumer’s emotional affinity towards a brand begins with brand satisfaction. Consumers always make a judgement based on how satisfied they are with the brand’s performance and, secondly, on loyalty. So it does not matter whether its Brand Love or Lovemark, the point of departure is the same. What’s important for marketers to understand is that loyalty alone is not enough to retain consumers, furthermore in instances where Brand Love exists – it should never be assumed that this love is infinite because it is not. Genuine connections require thorough nurturing, ongoing effort, and consistent maintenance — this is where Consumer Love plays a role.
Consumer Love
Petaltheory® believes that Brand Love is possible to attain. However, unlike most agencies, our approach is not half-baked. We believe that Brand Love begins with Consumer Love.
We believe that the consumer’s voice, opinions, beliefs, lifestyle and aspirations should be at the centre of how a brand connects with that respective consumer. Consumer Love should precede Brand Love and always maintain it.
Most brands want to attain Brand Love without first “loving” their consumer. Consumer love means brands genuinely caring for its consumers. It places social development goals that benefit communities at the heart of the brand ethos through meaningful & consistent engagement with consumers. It is when a brand goes above the consumer’s expectation to meet their needs of which they didn’t even know they had. When Consumer Love is at the heart of a brand strategy, Brand Love is inevitable.
At Petaltheory®, our objective is to help organizations build successful brands that place their consumers at the heart of all they do, because we understand that Brand Love begins when consumers are first loved.
Consumer Love is truly the glue that maintains Brand Love, and sustains a brand’s relevance towards the consumer — for now or a decade later.