We recently attended Born this (brand building) way, an IPA web seminar that followed on from a successful session the IPA had run on stage in Cannes.

The key question posed was, ‘does an early commitment to brand building pay back?’

Here’s what we learned.

The case for investing in brand from day one;

Laurence Green, IPA’s Director of Effectiveness, began the session with some bold statements. He explained that while every marketeer knows brand building drives profit, the wins are quicker when you lean on performance in the early days of a business. Too many startups focus on stats as they think this will drive sales, yet fail to understand the importance of brand.

How (and why) to invest in brand at the start

Leanne Tomasevic, Tracksuit’s Head of Insights, took the floor. She shared that just 5% of shoppers are shopping ‘in the moment’. A whopping 95% of consumers are shopping in the future - storing your brand in their brain to make a purchase at a point in time of their choosing. Immediacy is secondary, which makes building a brand that sticks around (and sticks in peoples’ memories) super important.

Raising brand awareness sustains longevity. And a good way to raise awareness, she explained, is to be ‘seen in lots of littles’. In present day marketing, it’s vital to be seen across different touchpoints, rather than one singular platform. However, Tomasevic did advise caution, since too much coverage can dilute a message. As ever, balance between awareness and saturation is key.

The Depop Story

Sara Tate, Partner at 21stCenturyBrand introduced the case of fashion reselling marketplace, Depop - a company that knows well the importance of brand building. She explained that brands which stand the test of time often choose an entertainment led-approach, building an emotional connection with their audience through humour, great content, reliability, or all of the above. A huge 97% of the top 30 most entertaining brands grew their revenue last year - a trend that Depop have successfully followed since their 2011 launch. Creativity, not cash, wins attention.

Duolingo is another great example of a young brand leveraging emotional connections for growth - in real life and online. The brand’s skill is its focus on humanity, and in the past 12 months, audience conversations have risen by 25,000%, the brand has seen a 51% uplift in daily active users, and a 217m increase in revenue.

It’s one thing to be liked as a brand, but being entertaining also means being remembered. And in today’s crowded marketplace, young brands need to know that awareness and memorability often translates into longevity.

Want an entertainment-led approach for your brand? Refinery’s award-winning creativity has helped hundreds of brands build awareness and memorability. Contact us for a chat and let’s see how we can help yours stand out.