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Consumers of brands are looking for a meaningful
connection to the product. This connection is
established through a common value system rather than a
common demographic denominator, or a psychographic one.
They established communities around a brand because they
believe the brand believes in them. Marketers,
therefore, need to humanize their targeting exercises.
After all, you can’t collaborate with a statistic. You
can’t cocreate your brand with a “21- to 35-year-old
white, college-educated professional.” But you can
collaborate with a group of people that shares a set of
values.
Furthermore, it is hard to define an audience for
brands, especially through traditional segmentation
techniques. Take Jollibee, for instance. How could you
possibly segment that market? How does the 15-year-old
raver kid fit into the same segment as the 40-year-old
music lover dying to see an Osmonds reunion one last
time? Not by fitting them into any of our preexisting
“target audience” boxes. The lesson here: Don’t define
your audience. Create them.
Jollibee
made consumers real, personable and part of a community
we would like to be part of ourselves, rather than
abstract targets.
“Our
marketing programs all begin with an intimate
understanding of our target consumers. Every step we
take is a byproduct of continuous, rigorous research.
Concepts are presented to consumers in full
consideration of both top- and bottom-line potentials.
We strike a balance between what our consumers want as
against what we can realistically deliver from a
business standpoint,” vice president for strategic
business unit marketing of Jollibee Foods Corp. Joanna
Marigold Flores Tantoco said in a recent interview.
The
company’s quest for consistent product superiority takes
the lead—its basic premise to the consumer. Next would
be its relentless drive to make Jollibee the most
endearing brand to consumers. Another factor that
Jollibee exploited was its thorough understanding of the
Filipino’s preference for flavorful foods, which spelled
the difference between the local taste and one that’s
foreign-based.
Riding
on the beginnings of the Filipino’s resurgent
nationalistic pride in the early ’80s, this strategy
proved to be a stroke of genius. It emphasized that
there was a Filipino fast-food company worth being proud
about. It has the Filipino taste, and knew the Filipino
mind when it came to customer service, product
satisfaction and quality.
During
this time, Jollibee launched its highly successful
“Langhap Sarap” TVC, which emphasized that its hamburger
has a “cooked-in taste” judging from its appetizing
aroma.
“Our
burgers, from Yum to Champ, are the ‘best-tasting’
burgers in the country. Our spaghetti is the ‘meatiest
and the spaghettiest.’ Our French fries are the
‘tastiest and the crispiest’ in town,” she said, as her
claims are backed up by consumer research on preference.
More
products were thus introduced to widen customers’ menu
choice, and a host of more awards of excellence followed
suit. Yearlong aggressive advertising was the gospel for
the company’s marketing strategists whose goal was to
increase public awareness of the all-Filipino company.
More and more better ads appeared on television. The
sale of novelty items was begun by the company to boost
sales promotions. The appearance of mascots—a unique
marketing tool designed for children—was pioneered by
Jollibee. This innovation set a trend, later giving rise
to the new cottage industry of mascot-making.
As this
shows, good marketing involves careful research into the
market opportunity and the preparation of financial
estimates based on the proposed strategy indicating
whether the returns would meet the company’s financial
objectives.
“We make
sure that our products continue to match the tastes and
preferences of Filipinos; for instance, Filipinos like
their spaghetti sweet, they also love crispy and crunchy
foods—that’s why our R&D people factored that in for our
Chicken Joy and fries. In other countries where we are
present, we also tweak our products to conform to the
palates and food preferences of the locales. We even
have their version of their favorite local food/delicacy
at the store,” Tantoco added.
People
form brand preferences. Brands are familiar, and they
create an expectation. Jollibee’s brand means
great-tasting food. “By 2020, we want Jollibee to be as
well-known as any brand in the world,” Tantoco stressed.
The
company has, for the past years, been active in its
expansion program, thereby providing greater
accessibility to the eating public—pushing the Jollibee
presence to a total of 652 stores in the Philippines and
41 abroad (Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Spain, Vietnam,
Saudi Arabia and the US).
“Brand-wise, we want to be known as the brand that
magnifies happiness as little joys are celebrated with
family and friends over Jollibee food. We’d like to
think that we continue to be a haven for our customers—a
place where they can feel at home. And finally, we want
to be known as a purveyor of positive Filipino values,”
she said.
Toward
this end, the company will continue improving its
service delivery, investing in research and product
development, maintaining overall cost efficiency, as
well as hiring and keeping the best people. As the
marketing arm of Jollibee, Tantoco pointed out that the
Jollibee brand will continue to strengthen and reinforce
its standing as a credible player in the QSR industry in
any country where Jollibee is in.
“The
fast-food companies are thriving even during difficult
times. When times are hard, people may eat out less
often. But if and when they decide to eat out, fast
foods are the most practical choice as this is where
they get value for money,” she explained.
Staying
on top will require as much awareness about market
trends as when Jollibee was still racing for the crown.
“It is never good to be comfortable,” Tantoco added.
“For it is when you are resting on your laurels that
somebody might just sneak up.”
New age
of digital media
Experts
say that in the coming decade, marketing will be
reengineered from A to Z. There is little doubt that
marketers and marketing will operate on quite different
principles in the early years of the 21st century. The
successor to the “industrial society”—the “information
economy”—will penetrate and change almost every aspect
of daily life. The digital revolution has fundamentally
altered our concepts of space, time and mass. A company
need not occupy much space; it can be virtual and
anywhere. Messages can be sent and received
simultaneously. And such objects as books, music and
film can be shipped in the form of “bits” rather than
mass.
Today,
there are more than 100 million people worldwide who can
connect to the Internet. More than 1.5 million domain
names are registered on the Internet. Traffic is
estimated to double every hundred days. These and other
developments in the media landscape are having a big
impact on marketers.
In a
roundtable discussion, OgilvyOne Asia-Pacific president
Kent Wertime and OgilvyOne managing director Elly Puyat
stressed that the use of digital media is one that has
been marked by relevant engagements and has focused on
media efficiency rather than on clout.
“Today’s
markets are fracturing into smaller collections of
minimarkets. As a result, more specialized media are
appearing. There is an exploding number of publications,
each designed to deliver ads and an editorial group to a
specific customer group,” Wertime said.
Advances
in television, cable networks and satellite transmission
are leading to an explosion in the number of TV
channels, expected to reach several hundred in the
not-so-distant future. Not only can segments and niches
be more efficiently reached, but also individuals,
“segments-of-one,” as a result of direct-to-consumer
marketing communication.
“We now
provide our clients the opportunity to use search-engine
optimization techniques to achieve top results in
‘natural’ search and offer an end-to-end pay-per-click
management service,” Puyat said, adding that Neo@Ogilvy
is a global digital media network tightly interwoven
with OgilvyOne’s creative and strategic teams to deliver
effective and measurable digital solutions.
Created
in January 2006, Neo@Ogilvy boasts of a comprehensive
suite of tools that measure media and Web performance,
allowing clients to hit their desired returns on
investment. It makes use of the 360-degree Brand
Stewardship, the proprietary framework that defines all
Ogilvy work regardless of the communication discipline.
“This approach allows for the crafting of unique media
opportunities that drive brand differentiation in highly
competitive markets,” Puyat explained.
According to Wertime, many feel overwhelmed by the speed
of change and don’t know how to take full advantage of
the new options. Digital channels will play the primary
role in marketers’ media options. “It will become part
of the mainstream of what marketers will do to sell
their products and build their brands,” he said.
Not just
a niche part of a marketing plan, new media will also
have a profound impact on consumers and marketers alike
for decades to come. For consumers, new media will
provide easy access to more options, but new media also
leave consumers more befuddled by those options. The
explosion of media forms and the ensuing increase in the
volume of communications have dramatically affected the
way people either take in or ignore the information
offered them. Others say overcommunication has changed
the whole game of communicating with and influencing
people.
The
shift to media is the inevitable result of a series of
deep, long-term structural changes. “Marketers must
seize this digital opportunity to accelerate their
market growth,” Wertime said.
Leo
Burnett’s Irvine to Japan
Richard
Irvine, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Manila,
has been named creative head at Beacon Communications in
Japan, Leo Burnett’s second-biggest agency worldwide
after Chicago. The move to Beacon follows Irvine’s nine
years at the helm of the Manila office, steering the
agency’s upward climb in creative rankings and
reputation.
Irvine is one of
the most accomplished creative leaders Leo Burnett has
ever had, and has served the network with his creative
brilliance in London, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh. Until
recently, he was overseeing the total creative output of
Leo Burnett’s three operations in Manila—Black Pencil,
Arc Worldwide and Leo Burnett. Last year the Creative
Guild of the Philippines elevated him to the Creative
Guild Hall of Fame, and Irvine distinguished himself as
the first foreigner to be so honored.
“I leave
Manila with a heavy heart, having somehow embraced much
of its rich, dynamic and diverse culture, but I am
delighted to leave behind some of the finest creative
talent in the country working in Leo Burnett Manila,”
Irvine said.
While
acknowledging that Irvine would be a hard act to follow,
Raymond Arrastia, Leo Burnett Manila managing director,
confirmed that the highly respected creative genius
Raoul Panes, executive creative director, will lead the
agency’s creative community from the front and continue
the agency’s strong creative charge.
Arrastia
also announced the return of multiawarded homegrown
creative couple Mike and Sheila de la Cuesta to the
agency after a four-year stint in Leo Burnett Singapore.
Highly respected within both the Singapore and
Philippine advertising communities, the de la Cuestas,
in tandem with Panes, bring to the table years of
experience producing effective award-winning work for
some of the world’s biggest brands. The couple are
credited for the phenomenal “Karen” TVC of McDonald’s,
which won for Leo Burnett Manila the Philippines’ first
gold in the Asia-Pacific AdFest. |
