Charlie Cook On Air: Brand Loyalty

We greet every day with the hope that we can build a brand as strong as Apple. This is true if you work at a radio station or a record company. This is the goal if you’re a performer or work with performers. We would all like to be thought of as WABC in its heyday. Wouldn’t you like to create a brand as strong as the old RCA Records or have the staying power of Elvis?

Wouldn’t we all like to be top of mind with the consumer? Wouldn’t we all like to be Apple, Amazon or Facebook? These are three of the top four brands in the English-speaking world today. Every tablet is an iPad. (Unfortunately for this ACER owner, that is not true, btw.) Amazon sells everything that isn’t bolted down and then some things that are. Social Media and Facebook are synonymous.

How do we get to that point?

The obvious answer is to build a great product, market that product and then deliver great customer service. Kind of.

Have you heard of the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Index? Neither had I. The 2012 Engagement Index has recently been released and I found a couple of surprises on the list.

I was not surprised to learn that the aforementioned three brands topped the list, but was surprised to learn that the top car manufacturer was Hyundai. I have nothing against Hyundai. I think that the Genesis is a beautiful car and I had a Sonata as a rental recently and really liked it.

This index measures the emotional value with the rational value and identifies a bond with the consumer.

The number one credit card: Discover; Cosmetic: Mary Kay; Tequila: Patron; Drug Store: Walgreens; and Cellular service: ATT. Okay, that last one really throws me off considering ATT has become the punch line for cell phone jokes, and they kind of throw out the “best customer service” issue.

I don’t think I would have correctly guessed any of those brands as No. 1.

My point here is that being the best in your brand may not be all it takes to build a bond with your target. The BKCLI also measures the entire category and then finds your place in it.

So if listeners rank radio as an important part of their day, you then you need to find your place in that category. It does no good to be number in a category that is not important. I am going to stretch this a bit by asking how important would it be to be the No. 1 Country Music artist in the Chinese-speaking community in San Francisco?

Building a bond with the consumer will make your message stand out. It will help you build your brand through word of mouth and give you the benefit of the doubt when there is a question of choosing you over a competitor.

I thought of this while watching the Super Bowl. Auto dealers were the biggest category but the top spots were snack food and beer. What were you doing during the Super Bowl? Snack food and beer or thinking about buying a new car?

Doritos has become the go-to snack food and their spots are expected in the Super Bowl. They own that category. Budweiser is the same for beer. While I felt many of their spots were weak this year, the Weego spot was the No. 1-ranked commercial. But when you think of beer during the Super Bowl you think of Bud. Now they need you to think of Bud while you’re at Joe’s Bar.

All of the money spent during the Super Bowl, $3.5 million per spot, and neither of those brands are in the top 20 on the loyalty engagement brand list.

Oh, but there is hope for America. No, not the Clint Eastwood spot. Though that was inspiring (maybe a little political), David Beckham ranked No. 35 and Adrianna Lima ranked No. 36 and the two Go Daddy spots ranked No. 50 and 54—last.