What’s Love Got to do with it ?(Does Your Brand Love You?)

Max Blackston, Juan Pablo Carrera & Ed Lebar

Summary• What has love got to do with brand performance?

– Actually, quite a bit. Building brand love is a good start for

creating acquisition, retention, brand equity and pricing power.

But if marketers just focus on building and measuring brand

love, an enormous amount of potential brand performance will

be left on the table

• If there is strong brand love, then what is constraining

brand performance?

– Simply put, an appropriate emotional response from the brand.

BlackBar research in the USA and Mexico shows that about

half of the brands that are loved by consumers display a weak

emotional response ( see p.7 for details). As in any relationship,

a brand must return consumers’ love; otherwise, it remains

unrequited.

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Summary Continued

• Why should marketers provide a strong emotional response from

the brand in the face of consumer love?

– Significantly higher social brand activity especially search and

recommendation/endorsement type behaviors

– Higher perceived value of the brand . . . pricing power

– Big improvements in usage and preference

• So it is obvious. Marketers must also make sure that consumer feel

the brand loves them!

3

What’s love got to do with it ? Having consumers that love your brand is

a good start; the more consumers there are that love it, the more there

will be that buy it; and the more that they love it, the more they should

buy it.

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1 A Brand IHate

2 3 4 No StrongFeelings

5 6 7 A Brand ILove

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USA

Mexico

In BlackBar surveys in the US and Mexico, just under 50% of brands were rated on

the positive end (5+) of the Love scale. Although there was some divergence between

the two countries at the negative end of the scale, the percentage of brands rated

4 or higher was very consistent.

4

Do people use the brands they love ? People generally do

not buy brands they don’t love - or at least like; but the

opposite is not necessarily true; many people like brands

they do not buy – and sometimes they like them a lot.

In the USA, over a quarter of non-users and in Mexico just under a quarter of non-

users say they love or like a lot brands that they do not use.

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14

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5

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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Non-UsersUSA

Non-Users

Mexico

1 Hate 2 3 4 No Strong Feelings 5 6 7 Love

5

Unrequited Love

The old line that "it

takes two to tango" is

as true of the

relationship between a

consumer and a brand

as it is of that between

two people. Unless

there is some

reciprocity in the

relationship, unless the

consumer's love for the

brand is met with an

appropriate emotional

response, then the

consumer’s love remains unrequited.

In fact, brands can and do act in

such a way that the consumer

experiences their actions as an

emotional response to their own.

6

How Brands Respond to the Consumer

BlackBar measures brands’ emotional response to the consumer in terms of the

inferred attitudes (examples 1-6 above) and personally directed behaviors

(examples 7-12) that consumers project on to the brand.

1. Cares about me (the brand thinks that my needs are worth caring about)2. Cares what I think (the brand values me/my opinion)3. Doesn’t talk down to me (the brand thinks I am on the same level)4. Shares my values (the brand values what I value)5. Makes me feel good about myself (the brand likes me)6. Helps me to express myself (the brand is interested in me)7. Provides a little treat for me8. Inspires me9. Connects me with other people10. Simplifies my life11. Brings back good memories12. Makes me look good to others

7

How Brands Respond to the Consumer

In the USA 37% and in Mexico 27% of brands were seen as giving no emotional

response at all to consumers. In both the US and Mexico, the median level of brands’

emotional response to consumers was just over 10% of the maximum.

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0 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

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Percentage of Brand Attitudes Endorsed

USA

Mexico

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How Brands Respond to Consumers’ Love

In both countries, brands that are not loved particularly mainly give no or a

weak emotional response to the consumer. Loved brands give either a weak

or a strong emotional response. In both countries roughly half of loved

brands give only a weak emotional response and half give a strong

emotional response.

What difference does this make ?

9

Social Activities with Loved Brands

In both countries the emotional response of loved brands – weak or strong – makes a

difference to the level of engagement with the brand in various social activities. In

particular, searching for it online, “liking” the brand, and recommending it to a friend

are all substantially higher for loved brands that respond strongly to the consumer.

10

Pricing Power of Loved Brands

In both countries the emotional response of loved brands – weak or strong – makes

a difference to the perceived value of brands. In both countries those rating loved

brands as worth more than they cost is 50% higher for those with a strong emotional

response.

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Use of and Preference for Loved Brands

In both countries, loved brands with a strong emotional response have more users

than those with a weak emotional response; more importantly, the greater proportion

of these additional users are those who prefer the brand.

USA Mexico

29 3022

15

33

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4667

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Loved Brands with WeakEmotional Response

Loved Brands with StrongEmotional Response

Loved Brands with WeakEmotional Response

Loved Brands with StrongEmotional Response

use andprefer

use, oneof severalbrands

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