JWT’s AnxietyIndex is designed as a place to discuss how brands and consumers are responding to the global recession. With daily content updates, AnxietyIndex.com includes contributions from around JWT’s network, offering a truly global perspective.
When the recession set in, many brands predictably focused on price and value messaging. For example, a print ad for Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese was headlined “Small price. Big cheese-eating grin.” A new theme introduced last month, “You know you love it,” drops the focus on value and lightheartedly plays up the comfort-food appeal of a mac ‘n’ cheese meal for adults with lines like “The most fun you can have with your stove on” and “Imported from your childhood.”
“We’re realizing a lot of our brands have the right to play in a more emotional space than the rational territory we’ve mined in the past,” a Kraft exec told The New York Times in a story about the brand’s change of direction. Brandweek cites the campaign as part of a wave of upbeat branding and image work that aims to make more emotional connections than the tactical approaches of the recession. (We’ve written about another example spotlighted by Brandweek, AT&T’s optimism-themed “Rethink Possible” campaign.)
While consumers are still looking for value as they continue to search for signs of stability, the time is right for brands to reassert their identities and invest in forging longer-term ties with consumers.
Recent American Express advertising in the U.K. attempts to reverse the brand’s luxury image, telling consumers they should no longer just consider it for “posh nosh” and “vintage bubbly” but also for burgers and shampoo (bubbles for your hair, not your glass). What’s interesting is that American Express has spent years creating its luxury image. But in this post-recessionary world, it’s frowned upon. Many of us are worried about being associated with the overtly upmarket or luxurious. Gone are the days of flashy watches, over-the-top cars and flashing the credit card that suggests you’re loaded. Frugal is still the new flash.
Consumers seem to like the ads—they garnered positive feel-good scores in a recent study of digital outdoor advertising by Clear Channel Outdoor and Kinetic that used new face-tracking technology. And what better cure for anxiety is there than that?
As we’ve noted, a couple of recent commercials are tapping into today’s populist sentiment. Hyundai does a good job of this in a recent spot for the popular Assurance Program, hammering home its commitment to the little guy. While “the dust has started to settle, and some indicators are up—especially for the big guys,” Hyundai understands that many people are still anxious. So it’s sticking with its Assurance Program, reassuring viewers that “The economy hasn’t really turned around for any of us until it turns around for all of us.”
An Ad Age article, “Now’s the Time to Reset Marketing for Post-Recession,” cites this spot as an example of messaging that “bridge[s] from recession to recovery.” But a real recovery isn’t likely to happen soon—as we noted in our 10 trends for the year ahead, consumer spending in 2010 will look very much as it did last year, with people continuing to exercise restraint until they see more clear and dependable signs of stability. By addressing the current sense of instability—and the resulting anxiety—head on, Hyundai offers yet another example of smart marketing in a downturn.
Kia Motors envisions a new future for the American auto industry in a spot introducing the company’s West Point, Ga., plant, its first manufacturing facility in the U.S.
The commercial features a young boy in 1951 riding a bicycle through time straight into 2010 and the company’s brand new Georgia plant. As the boy rides, a voiceover describes how Kia has evolved over the past 60 years from a bike manufacturer to a leading international automaker. Kia attributes its success to the company’s progressive spirit. Since the 1950s, Kia has continually challenged itself to “come up with better ways to help people get around.” The voiceover goes on to say how the new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in West Point, Ga., is the company’s proudest achievement yet, not because it demonstrates how far Kia has come, but because it offers “a glimpse of where we’re headed tomorrow.” The commercial concludes with Kia’s past and present alongside each other as the boy and his bike watch Kia’s newest car, the Sorento, drive off into the future.
This spot provides an excellent example of how hope-filled rather than fear-filled messaging can help brands transition into recovery. Instead of focusing on the auto industry’s turbulent past, Kia is shining a light on the future promising better days ahead for the American auto industry and auto worker. In this spot, Kia offers a future in which consumers will be better off thanks to the ambition, innovation and optimism at the core of the company.
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped in July—the first time since April 2008—from 9.5 percent to 9.4 percent, according to numbers out today. This is the latest in a string of promising signs, from a stock market rally to improved company earnings to real estate markets rising modestly. Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist with the Economic Outlook Group, told The Washington Post last week that “The economy is transitioning from recession to recovery.” And Newsweek’s cover proclaimed “The Recession Is Over,” though it added the cheeky footnote, “Good luck with the recovery.”
This begs the question for marketers: What role should brands play in what’s likely to be a “pokey, painful” recovery, in the words of Newsweek’s Daniel Gross?
American Express seems to be taking an inspirational role in the latest campaign for its OPEN small business platform. An anthem spot features several small-business owners and tells us that entrepreneurs like these “are the most powerful force in the economy. They drive change. And they’ll relentlessly push their businesses to innovate and connect.” The spot is nice enough, but what’s truly powerful is the brand’s new OPEN Forum, an online resource and social networking site for small businesses that features a virtual Rolodex of credentialed businesses, marketing tool kits and an idea hub, among other things.
While commercials may be able to inspire change, practical tools can help actually drive that change. And that’s real value. Brands that can provide people with such tools can form allegiances that go deeper than their product or service. While this is a good rule of thumb always (think Nike+), it’s even more relevant as the U.S. economy limps toward recovery.
When the recession set in, many brands predictably focused on price and value messaging. For example, a print ad for Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese was headlined “Small price. Big cheese-eating grin.” A new theme introduced last month, “You know you love it,” drops the focus on value and lightheartedly plays up the comfort-food appeal of a mac ‘n’ cheese meal for adults with lines like “The most fun you can have with your stove on” and “Imported from your childhood.”
“We’re realizing a lot of our brands have the right to play in a more emotional space than the rational territory we’ve mined in the past,” a Kraft exec told The New York Times in a story about the brand’s change of direction. Brandweek cites the campaign as part of a wave of upbeat branding and image work that aims to make more emotional connections than the tactical approaches of the recession. (We’ve written about another example spotlighted by Brandweek, AT&T’s optimism-themed “Rethink Possible” campaign.)
