Author: Rob Malcom, Executive in Residence in the Center for Customer Insight and Marketing Solution
Each of these brands - Folger's coffee in the 1980's, Johnnie
Walker starting in the late 90's and Dos Equis in the 2000's uncovered what I
believe is the most powerful secret in unlocking growth for brands -
"THE ONE TRANSFORMATIONAL INSIGHT ". This is the "singular
most powerful discovery about their target consumer's motivation that could be
leveraged to unlock growth".
For Folgers it was identifying the major generic category
motivation - why people drink coffee in the first place - "to get their
day off to a brighter start" which led them to abandon 20 years of
"better taste" positioning for the most successful, longest running
advertising campaign - " the Best part of wakin' up is Folger's in
your cup' - now in its 31st year on air.
For Johnnie Walker it was the discovery that the target
group of 25-30 upwardly mobile men all over the world were motivated by
the same core driving force - the desire to make progress in their lives.
This led to the breakthrough global campaign "Keep Walking", and
inspired men all over the world beginning in 1999, It turned years of
decline into rapid growth for the next decade and was awarded "global
campaign of the decade" in 2010.
Dos Equis cracked the code and separated itself from the tangled mass of imported beer, by uncovering that it's target - guys 23-28 - were maturing and no longer wanted to be seen as "crazy frat boys". At this point in their life they wanted to be seen as "more interesting or sophisticated." Enter the " Most Interesting Man in the World" - the most successful idea in beer in the last decade.
What so many marketers seem to forget in today's world of digitally enabled cool tactics, is the root of understanding all consumer behavior lies first in finding and harnessing the singular most powerful motivation that drives their behavior - their choice. Until this foundation work is complete - the rest really doesn't matter.