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Brands

The importance of a solid brand’s purpose

admin
September 24, 2021

Brand purpose is vital because it demonstrates to your customers that you are more than your products, services, or advertising efforts. You have a goal that is larger than merely making a profit. A new generation of customers wants businesses to stand for something broader than the items they sell. They want businesses to represent an inspirational ethos, have a strong point of view, and take action to influence the world positively. So check out if your brand has the guidelines to earn a check on the purpose section.

Examine your own brand’s purpose as well as the brand you represent

A brand mission is a brand’s reason for existence other than to make money. It’s the ‘Why?’ behind the brand, the spirit of your company — it connects with customers on an emotional level via shared ideals, solved challenges, and distilled meaning. It propels business, helps individuals, and improves society: Is your brand’s motivation for a purpose other than to make money?

Think of your brand purpose manifests itself positively in the eyes of others? Is it capable of fostering emotional attachments and connections? After all, we are all in the same boat, so ask yourself if your brand is improving business, people, and society; most importantly, how do these responses relate to your company’s or product’s brand?

Difference between brand purpose and brand vision, mission, and values

So far, we’ve discussed the brand purpose, but it’s equally critical to define what a brand’s mission isn’t. Your brand’s purpose is not the same as its vision, mission, or values. They are interconnected; each builds on the other. However, if your brand’s vision, mission, and values are the building bricks, consider your brand’s purpose of being the foundation.

Where you are heading is defined by your brand vision. Your mission will determine how you will get there. And your values will determine how you act along the way. They are all inward-looking. They represent you when discussing your brand. They are crucial to identify, but none are as potent as your purpose.

Your purpose—or Big Audacious Meaning—is the overarching explanation for why you do what you do. It should be placed above the vision, purpose, and values to educate and guide them. It is priceless because it is outward-looking, defining the change you will make in a person’s life, a community, or perhaps the planet. Clarifying your mission helps consumers understand how your brand benefits them and their world.

Purpose that sells

The concept of brand purpose is especially crucial when marketing to millennials, who favor businesses that generate social and environmental change, according to 71% of them. A groundbreaking global study analyzing the value of brands with a well-defined “Purpose” shows that consumers are four to six times more likely to buy from those brands, as a Forbes article reveals.

In many circumstances, the contemporary customer is seeking a relationship rather than a product. They do not need to be sold; instead, they must be inspired. What emotions does the brand elicit in them? Is it consistent with their fundamental values and beliefs? As consumers’ interests shift, marketers must interact with social audiences deeper, more personal level than ever before.

To build a strong relationship with your brand, you can apply Keller’s brand equity model and boost your brand’s equity. This tool outlines four actions you can take to create and manage a brand that your consumers will support. Overall Purpose-Driven Marketing is at the core of a previous strategy to achieve more significant customer connections.

At 121, we aim to help you achieve your brand’s objective, not to compete against your creative, strategic, or In-House agencies. We adapt and implement your global campaigns to suit and comply with your outlets’ requirements while also aligned with your brand’s equity and helping you build a clear purpose.

From Social & E-comm content, graphic design, digital implementation to integrated production, 121 will work with you to grow your brand while giving you peace of mind. We genuinely believe that we can play a significant role in your success, for us, the Fastest day-to-day Design and Content Studio for many global Fortune 500 companies.

Creativity

Data at the service of creativity

admin
August 3, 2021

The marketing sector is undergoing enormous transformations at the moment, with creativity blending with statistics to achieve precise outcomes. Traditional marketers, on the other hand, find this combination perplexing. After all, creativity and data are two opposites of the same coin.

You’ll be surprised to learn that the bulk of the decisions you believed were based only on creativity are supported by data as well. Analyzing significant trends, determining what appeals to the public, and developing a product in reaction to all of this is essentially data-driven. Let’s find out how these two different features get along.

Data-Supported Creativity

The majority of marketers feel that technology and creativity will become increasingly important in developing effective marketing campaigns. However, there are many unsolved concerns about how companies might profit from this merger.

According to a McKinsey analysis, firms that have combined these two areas are more successful than those still struggling to combine creativity and data. Other reports support that marketers believe that creativity and technology will be equally important in building effective marketing strategies.

Integrators’ creative functions are becoming more data-driven, while data-driven tasks are becoming more creative. Customer experience and consumer insights are two areas where we see this most clearly. Marketers who combine creativity and analytics create more significant development than others who don’t.

Overall, marketing is all about how a product interacts with customers. It is, in some ways, about customer involvement. Marketers can engage people in a way that assures results by combining creativity and data. Furthermore, technical developments in data analysis may accelerate marketing or creative processes by providing marketers with valuable insights from targeted customers. 

Competing in a data-driven world

Consider Spotify, which harnessed the power of data and utilized it to fuel an innovative marketing strategy. Spotify was able to usher in a new age of song-listening experience by leveraging available user data. They were able to construct their data-driven campaigns, which used outdoor billboards to provide goals for the future year, using the available statistics.

This data-driven marketing effort was not only timely, but it also drew the attention of a large number of people, making it a huge success, and the previous is known as data-led marketing.

Organizations like Spotify should not wait any longer to combine data with c o-reativity. However, this should be done in such a way that both of them complement each other. Remember that pushing this connection will never work since the goal is to strike a healthy balance.

Data Should Boost Creativity (Not Replace It)

The market is becoming increasingly competitive. Every day, businesses aim to differentiate themselves from the competition by devising novel ways to get their voices heard. However, sometimes more than just the ideal team members are required to break through the throng and have your message received the way you want it.

Marketing firms have the opportunity to peel back the layers and get to the heart of critical consumer data by using machine learning or other comparable technology. With the correct data comes insight, and with the proper insights, marketers have a good chance of creating accurate ads that are creative.

As additional technical improvements in the marketing, more and more businesses will follow the technique of making critical data useful. After all, the most engaging marketing initiatives are built on meaningful data about a particular target. This is where the connection between data and creativity may assist businesses in discovering new correlations.

In conclusion

Without data-driven insight, digital marketing services are like trying to hit a target while blindfolded. Given this, firms and marketing firms must craft messaging with their customers in mind, and data may assist in this process. The wonderful thing about creativity is that everyone has different preferences. This indicates that if one group enjoys something, it does not follow that the same thing will be well-received by another set of people, data that is provided while making a targeted campaign.

Marketers must grasp this to develop a better ad experience and, as a consequence, generate campaigns that will resonate with at least a more significant portion of the public.

A marketer must create individualized, memorable experiences that foster consumer loyalty. This is only achievable if an ad piece hooks its readers by appealing to their passions, interests, and concerns. This cannot be accomplished by putting statistics against creativity; rather, combining these two aspects will yield ideas worthy of acclaim. The future of marketing requires both technology and creativity.

121 is the Fastest day-to-day Design and Content Studio for many global Fortune 500 companies. We adapt and implement your global campaigns to suit and comply with all your outlets’ requirements while also aligned with your brand’s equity delivering high-quality solutions at superior Speed while remaining cost-effective; from Social & E-comm content, graphic design, digital implementation to integrated production, using both data and creativity to boost your global campaigns.

121 will work with you to grow your brand while giving you peace of mind. We aim to help you achieve your brand’s objective, not to compete against your creative, strategic, or In-House agencies. We genuinely believe that we can play a significant role in your success.

Creativity

Designing for the Shelf is not enough

admin
June 1, 2021

Nowadays, a ferocious competence takes place, old tactics seem obsolete, and you need to have more than a big name to outperform in the market; the rise of products in the United Kingdom against regular brands pictures the state of affairs. So, which differentiators are making people choose one product over the other? Take note.

The power of Influencers.

As recently in the UK’s household market and not precisely the cause of a direct influencer marketing strategy, or because they are getting paid for, influencers are backing own-label brands with their product reviews; This has impacted positively sales for own-label products thanks to Mrs. Hinch and the young people demographic who watch her reviews.

Influencer marketing is nothing new, with big brands from all markets capitalizing on the reputation of social media personalities on a range of channels, such as Tik Tok or Instagram, to attract a broader audience, which can be an excellent opportunity for your brand.

All it takes is the proper collaboration with a relevant influencer, and your product will soar to new heights.

Emotional connection, building a stronger bond.

The key for your business and brands to grow is to make your product matter in peoples’ lives and preserve those values you have. Premiumization and personalization happen by adding value to your product, reflecting in the community loyalty.

For example, Xiaohongshu, a thriving lifestyle community platform with over 300 million users, started sharing the products they were buying overseas, usually luxury products. Over time, this developed more and more into a larger community and a place to purchase products.

And it’s a great example of how successful brands that make that emotional connection in consumers’ lives are those that combine community and personalization. However, brands must take care of their premium side, as well as their reputation because they can become tomorrow’s commodity.

Personality and Humanized brands.

Your brand’s Personality is essential when you have many competitors; as humans, outstanding personalities attract us; if a brand lacks one, it will remain an average one; if it does, it will induce brand loyalty, and for instance, people will not be influenced by competence even if there’s a better price in between.

Hone your brand’s personality public perception according to the five types of the brand personality framework and don’t miss the opportunity to make it stand out; for example, Tik Tok falls under the umbrella of excitement, and Apple in the sophistication one.

Brand experience & authenticity

If a Brand is like a person, then its experience refers to the relationship you have with customers, how you interact with them in the long term, and the holistic perception this brings, which eventually translates to commercial ROI.

However, stick true to your brand’s authenticity; for 86% of consumers, authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support.

Lego consistently creates a fantastic experience for customers before, during, and after their transactions has earned the honor to be one of the top authentic brands.

Price & E-commerce solutions

Although the price might remain an obvious differentiator, the price differential is particularly noticeable for people looking for coupons, bogofs, and all kinds of discounts; however, they still look for quality, so the price-quality ratio remains at peoples’ top mind;

People might choose own-label products over brands, but the price difference is not that big; this can affect the product; however, many people choose, while rushing so they don’t have time to focus on other differentiators brands have to offer other than price.

Following the sustainability trend.

Eco-friendly and sustainability-related consumer items are currently growing roughly six times faster than other brands, and 73% of global consumers indicated they would definitely modify their consumption patterns to decrease their environmental effect.

In the UK’s Household market, sustainability is one of the two key drivers for growth across the toilet tissue category this year.

More than half of customers (52%) feel they emotionally connect to items or organizations they consider sustainable. Brands like Adidas make this a definite trend with its most recent “Run for the Oceans” program.

You must feed your e-content daily and provide originality to your brand; it must feel like a person and not a robot; You must be relevant and, at the same time, have a personality: we can arrange that and give a change of look; if designing for the Shelf is not enough, we are that powerful tool that helps global brands have an impressive amount of content. 

From Social & E-comm content, graphic design, digital implementation to integrated production, 121 will work with you to grow your brand while giving you peace of mind. We aim to help you achieve your brand’s objective, not to compete against your creative, strategic, or In-House agencies. We adapt and implement your global campaigns to suit and comply with your outlets’ requirements while also aligned with your brand’s equity. We can play a significant role in your success.

Business

The future of E-Commerce after the vaccine

admin
March 29, 2021

2020 was sure a year to remember, not only because the pandemic hit us worldwide, but also because it was a year of transformation. We were forced to stop and take a step back. We started reflecting on what is important to us and realizing that nothing was going to be the same as before. 

Behaviors changed for everyone. We moved from eating out to cooking at home, from partying, to enjoying quality family time and from rushing to the nearest store, to buying online. And we see this behavioral shift in a booming 10 year growth in E-commerce happening in just 90 days.

Nevertheless, vaccination is becoming available, and brick and mortar shopping is, little by little, plunging back to normal, so how are these changes going to affect E-Commerce? Is E-Commerce on the verge of an exponential decrease? 

Not quite. 

COVID-19 has undoubtedly left us with a growing desire to escape from our homes, but we are still wary on doing activities we used to do before, and one of those activities is going to an in-store shopping. 

Due to the safety and convenience E-commerce brings to the table, it is becoming a default activity in our daily lives. In a research done in the UK market, 42% of people surveyed said that they will continue to shop online more frequently, even after the outbreak is over. It’s considered that this behavior will persist, but not to the same degree as last year, and all of this depends on the customer satisfaction with the E-Shopping experience. 

With new opportunities come new responsibilities. 

More and more E-shoppers are appearing every day, meaning there’s a new window for opportunities, as well as challenges that force E-shops to innovate and create better solutions for not only attracting new customers, but to keep the existing ones loyal. It’s crucial for companies to implement strategies that will retain their clients and stay relevant in its growing E-commerce competitive market. 

Time for uniqueness. 

E-Commerce companies have to be on the lookout of solutions that match the needs of immediacy, simplicity and convenience to their customers. Nowadays, people have the total control of their shopping and are continuously looking for E-shops that will fulfill their expectations, so it’s up to the companies to keep up with them. 

Build a robust omnichannel customer experience: – More and more people are turning to mobile shopping. Having your site responsive is a must if you don’t want customers to leave (if a site takes more than 5 seconds, the bounce rates will increase at 22.2%). Cultivate direct shopper relationships in every touchpoint, be active in social media with relevant content, have a quick response when help is needed and a quick checkout process are also effective ways to create retention. 

Loyalty programs at its best: – When it comes to E-shop, 75% of customers will only buy once in the same online store, so having a loyalty program is very important if we want people to come back. From creating a point or referrals system like Sephora, to free delivery and special offers, there are so many ways you can create an original top-of-the-line program in your E-Commerce sites that will keep customers happy and loyal. 

Everything has changed, but we are still optimistic that by giving you solutions such as content and fast up-to-date optimizations for your E-Commerce, we will make sure that your customers have a strong, trustworthy relationship with your company that will perdure in time, even when that time is hard.

Brands

Creativity: The non-negotiable ingredient

admin
October 29, 2020

Creativity! What is creativity exactly? Agencies worldwide take the challenge to take Fortune 500 companies’ brand materials and communication to the next level. Creativity is one of those things that not everyone can actually put into words. So, what does it mean to be creative?

Bestselling author and journalist Daniel Pink says Creativity is “Giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing.”

Steal Like an Artist author, Austin Kleon defines Creativity as “Taking what’s in front of you and everybody else and making something new out of it.

Today we associate Creativity with so much more. We think about imagination, ingeniousness, Innovation, invention, and originality. As Entrepreneur magazine states, Creativity is the best solving tool there is, and we agree entirely. Advertising is about reaching your target audience with audacity. Consumers want to see ads they actually like. We all love a good campaign. It makes us want to share it and participate in it.

CPG Power brands are cautious about messing with their brand’s equity. Implementation must be done creatively but without disturbing the brand’s guidelines.
This is why brands develop strict brand books so that every agency that manipulates their materials doesn’t generate different materials that don’t go along well. Can you imagine hundreds of agencies deforming a power brand’s logo? It would be too painful to watch!

Creativity on Adapting Global Campaigns (without losing a brand’s identity)

Global advertising and creative agencies such as IPG, GROUP M, Publicis, WPP Group, Dentsu, among others, take months to develop truly mindblowing campaigns. However, implementation agencies are in charge of adapting global campaigns into regional and seasonal materials.

Creativity shouldn’t be lost on adaptation. On the contrary, a good dose of it should be injected into materials. Ask our designers. We have loooots of fun delivering attractive pieces of content.

Old Spice, a Procter & Gamble brand, is known for its irreverent campaigns. The iconic “Hello Ladies” has resulted in hundreds of campaigns that will always give you a good laugh. We know we do. We have a lot of fun while adapting and developing engaging ad materials for social and e-comm channels.

Mucinex, Reckitt Benckiser’s flu remedy, is most certainly a fun brand to work with thanks to Mr. Mucus, the star we love to dismiss from their ads. KY, also from RB, is vibrant and creative. Having both a line for women and men makes them stand out because of their bold and unapologetic communication. Consumers find it genuine and playful, good to know, considering the nature of their brand.

Effective implementation is about providing artistic value on adaptation material, adding verbal, visual, and creative sound elements to elevate a brand’s communication. Creativity is not always valued at first. However, taking it into account will make campaigns more appealing as they roll out, and consumers get to appreciate our work.

Speed and Agility: A match made in heaven

Agility & Speed are not the same. Being agile means always in a position to take account of market changes and act on them. Speed is something we were born with, not be that braggy. Improving a consumer’s omnichannel experience over time is something brands should consider. Marketing teams must take so much change into the equation.

Brand Managers and Marketers require their agencies to deliver on very, very, veryyyyy short notice. Let’s just say we’ve developed entire product range adaptations in less than 24 hours. Its an arduous task, but we are ready to get our hands busy.

The world, as we knew it changed. Today brands require creativity if they want to stand out on social media, A+ pages, and every major e-commerce platform. Online Seasonal Sales have stolen the spotlight from brick and mortar stores. 

At 121, we swear by our speed, our reputation precedes us as we are a reliable partner delivering POS and Packaging design as well as Web Solutions. Today we do so much more than that. 2020 propelled us immensely into the world of content. Social and e-comm are booming right now, and our clients started demanding astonishing amounts of it in a blink of an eye. Let’s make great things happen!

Brands

Speed: How to embrace digital marketing

admin
May 1, 2020

Today we find ourselves surfing all day for all the kinds of content you can ever imagine. People are streaming movies and series, looking at memes, reading celebrity gossip, playing video games, listening to music, podcasts, and let’s not forget, staying up to date with the news.

As the population has more time on their hands, 87% of U.S. consumers say they’re consuming more content online than ever. According to Global Web Index (G.W.I.), around 80% of consumers in the U.S. and U.K. say they are consuming more content since the outbreak. YouTube and TikTok described as being favorite across genders and generations.

DIGIDAY says that advertisers are currently moving away from traditional Tv advertising because, in these times, they’re just not willing to commit to spending so far in advance. Shifting to online advertising has its benefits. Even though content has to be generated at a speed of light, sharing new and fresh content is what it takes to stay relevant to your audience.

Whether business owners like it or not, these past months have increased consumers’ online presence. It’s a grave mistake not to go digital right now, it can even be fatal to many small and medium businesses if they don’t willingly adapt.

You should think twice before slaughtering your marketing budget.

1. E-comm, enhanced marketplaces.

Amazon is cashing in. We know, it’s no surprise to us either. 2020 Q1 Earnings boosted up a whopping 24.5% compared to the industry’s average growth of 2.7%. According to Comscore, Amazon’s website hit 2.54 billion visitors only in March 2020.

If you are already selling on Amazon, you should step up your A+ Page game. “Adding A+ to your product detail pages can result in higher conversion rates, increased traffic, and increased sales when used effectively.” – Amazon seller central.

Another retailer that cashed in due to mayor updates is Walmart, who recently surpassed eBay in e-commerce sales thanks to their considerable improvement on their web page and shopping app.

Target has also joined the high ranks club, for the past two years, they had already had their focus set on high-merchandising as well as express delivery and curbside pick-up arrangements can say they were on the right track well before the crisis hit.

Home Depot is also expected to see a considerable 38% increase due to their digital sales mixed with in-store pick-up.

Some brands are reporting sales similar to the ones on shopping holidays such as Black Friday. Spending is going particularly up on items such as exercise equipment, bread machines, kitchenware, and health supplements.

Online retailers must be careful only to share quality product images and compositions. With the use of CGI’s brands can generate quality material at a fraction of the time. Employing CGIs will not limit the angles of your product shots. Sharing content on your e-commerce site was never easier.

Even though consumer behavior has changed, this doesn’t mean they aren’t spending. It’s essential to be up to date on consumer trends so you can invest your marketing budget accordingly in the most promising categories on your niche.

Forbes says that a brand’s customer experience is going to depend a lot on the look and feel of the customer-facing app. In the world of digital marketing, a brand can only make a strong impression by having even stronger content. Developing attractive digital assets is worth giving a try.

2. Stay social, stay connected.

The digital disruption that’s ben recently going on due to worldwide stay at home orders might be here to stay. People cannot touch, try on, and feel the products brands are selling. So, it is been up to brands to keep things fresh and step up their social game as well as partnering with the right people.

“Facebook has seen a 50% increase in messaging, Instagram usage is up 40%, and Twitter’s monetizable daily active users has spiked 23%”- Forbes.

Aerie closed its stores across the U.S. and Canada for the time being; however, they wasted no time jumping on Tik Tok. In just two weeks, Aerie spiked their following. Introducing challenges and getting their followers to participate. They are one of the few fashion brands actually putting money in for their digital campaigns. McCormick and E.L.F. Cosmetics have also been successful by taking this route.

When Levi’s partner on social commerce, they doubled their product views.

Brands are attempting to foster a sense of community through virtual social gatherings, sharing stories with their audience regularly, and inviting their consumers to participate in creative initiatives.

According to HBSWK, 89% of consumers want brands focusing on producing goods that can help people with pandemic-related challenges. But beware of sharing bad advice, fact-check your claims and point to respected health organizations.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. You must be sensitive to your content, but don’t be afraid to sell. Acknowledging the crisis rather than ignoring it is the way to go.

Consumers do want to hear from you, don’t you dare ghost them, or you shall deal with the consequences. Leaning into digital and connecting with customers will likely have lasting effects.

3. Video, Rockstar of digital content.

Creativity and high personalization must reign among your video content. To gain the consumer’s attention and maintain high levels of engagement, companies need to hire experts. Only exceptional marketers are capable of keeping a high volume of content output that resonates with their audiences. Quality design plays a vital role in extraordinary visuals.

The human’s attention span currently stops at eight valuable seconds if you didn’t connect with your viewer in that small lapse, you are doomed. Marketers have the quest to build unique and advanced experiences that will be of value to the target.

Thanks to data consumption stats, we can now highly personalize content for our audiences depending on age group, interests, location, and browsing history. Tailored content leaves a better impression on anyone. Think about it; you don’t want to be getting the same Christmas card from your Nonna, as your average human cousins, you expect her to address you as the one and only favorite grandchild.

Challenges, tutorials, webinars, you name it, video is the easiest most effective way of getting your messages across. However, it is said that around 20% of the people who start watching a YouTube video leave after only 10 seconds of viewing. Talk about engagement.

Soon X.R. ads will be playing mainstream across platforms. A mix of virtual and augmented reality will make consumers’ content consumption highly immersive. Papa John’s reached a 25% conversion rate employing an X.R. campaign. Users could order a pizza within Snapchat’s app.

Brands are having to go ahead with their product launches, and they are embracing full-on digital from virtual fragrance pop-ups to V.R. shoe releases.

Because some are pulling out their ads, today is the best time to go into video content and adds, rates are going down, and you can get more exposure. Remember to be true to your brand and to share genuine and creative content.

Speed is our core

Doing digital marketing right is a combination of creativity, empathy, and speed.

Times are uncertain, planning that much ahead is just isn’t an option. Social media strategy must be responsive and very flexible nowadays.

Advertising is no longer about interrupting but about interacting. Keeping up with generating content doesn’t have to be a hassle.

In 121, we understand that marketplaces move at an unforeseen pace, and we can reassure you that we are ready to create and design content worth sharing faster than anyone else.