A promise is not made without reason

It was a summer filled with brand activations, sponsorships, and campaigns. All aimed at making the name of a brand, company, or organization as big as possible. But we know the old saying that a large part of the communication budget might be wasted money. And even this past summer, the effects of those efforts sometimes fell short. So why does this keep happening? Why do we keep falling into the same trap, and most importantly, what can we do about it? The solution is more straightforward than you might imagine.

We may have forgotten for a moment, but it was a bustling summer. With the European Football Championship, the Olympic Games, tennis tournaments, and the Tour de France all happening together, it turned into a classic busy sports summer.
Additionally, since COVID, summers have finally been filled again with festivals and events. However, not all festivals are well-attended. The events industry is facing rising costs, a lack of staff, and is increasingly seeking alternative income through partnerships and sponsorships for these reasons.

Given this, it makes sense that the busy summer was also filled with even more advertising and activations. Advertising to capitalize on all the sporting events and to make the most of sponsorships or brand activations. Because, as every communication professional knows: you have to spend just as much on promoting your sponsorship as you do on the sponsorship itself. And I haven’t even mentioned the ‘regular’ summer advertisements filled with beer and barbecues.

All in all, it was a summer full of communication. But what has stuck with us? Did it yield any results?”

Logical

Let’s make this question personal: What do you remember? Because you are also a ‘regular consumer’ to whom all this has been presented. Do you still know who the main sponsor was for the European Championship? Wimbledon? Lowlands? And what do you remember from all the advertisements you were shown?

“If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic,” said Bill Berbach. So the logical first question is: what sticks in terms of brand name and message, and how is the awareness? Secondly: does the positive feeling remain with the recipient, how about the likeability?

This also leads to two logical principles of effective and impactful communication:

Marketing communication only works if what you do makes sense for your brand and aligns with your brand promise.

Ensure that what you do is relevant for the recipient, distinctive compared to your competitors, and impactful enough to stand out. Nothing more, but nothing less. And that is already challenging enough!”

Brand Promise

Many brands have certainly thought about their vision and mission, as well as the identity of their company or organization. However, they haven’t always carefully considered the role they want to play in the lives of their potential customers and users. What significance do they want to have in the minds of their target audience? What do they promise as a brand? Is this promise logical, achievable, and deliverable?
And that’s where it gets tricky; this promise can only be one thing!

If you know this, everything you do in communication and activation must align with it. Ideally, such a promise provides direction and energy to the entire organization, making the subsequent process easier. This also applies to the execution of a campaign. Just to clarify: a brand promise is not the same as a pay-off or campaign theme. However, it ensures that whatever you come up with from that brand promise has synergy with the brand and is more effective in achieving your objectives.

Because that’s also what we remember about communication and sponsorship: everything that strengthens the brand is effective. Anything that is generic, obligatory, or even doesn’t fit the brand will be forgotten.
In fact, if what you communicate doesn’t align with your brand, your efforts are more likely to benefit your competitor. And that’s the biggest pitfall: communicating for the competition. I still clearly remember that Aegon ran an advertising campaign years ago that had a positive effect on the awareness and likeability of my then-client Centraal Beheer. Now that was efficient

Relevant, Distinctive, and Impactful

From your brand promise, it becomes easier to communicate. You know what significance you want to have in the minds of your target audience. You have an idea of the ‘face’ you want to show. With that, you’ve figured out what your relevance should be for the consumer and how you want to be distinctive compared to your competitors. Then you just need to communicate this in an impactful way!

That is no small task, especially if you are a brand in transition looking to shake off an outdated image. You need to tell your new story clearly and consistently across all possible channels and media.

Just like we were able to do for the libraries in the Netherlands with the campaign ‘Discover what you can do.’ With this, the libraries want to make it clear that the library is much more than just borrowing and reading books. For example, you also have a maker space to craft, or you can take various training sessions and courses there.

The great thing is that when we first worked with them to define the brand promise, it became a manifesto that all the libraries could support. Because we were able to clearly define together what significance we wanted to have in the minds of our target audience, we could then effectively translate this promise into a campaign that was applicable both nationally and locally, with a ‘toolkit.’ The wonderful part was that the local libraries spontaneously embraced this campaign to showcase their local offerings under the same banner.

Or as we worked together with Bechtle to define a position as an IT service provider in the highly competitive B-to-B market. A position with a clear mentality, rooted in a ‘Bechtle DNA’ that everyone within the company already felt. We were able to translate this together into a brand promise and then into communication with the campaign theme ‘Not trendy, but happening.’

Bechtle knows what’s happening in IT, but only applies it when they are sure it works for their customers. Bechtle acts as a down-to-earth gatekeeper in the hype-driven world of IT.

This promise also provides direction and energy to their own organization, influencing their ‘tell and sell’ communication as well as their client management.

I wish more brands would embrace this: a clear promise.
Because a brand name you mention in communication is quickly forgotten if there isn’t a real meaning behind it.

Author: Milo van der Meij, Head of Campaigns, Total Design

Illustration: Demi Smits