Functional versus Emotional Brands
Former Chief Marketing Officer at Bacardi & Walgreens Boots Alliance
inpractise.com/articles/brand-marketing-bacardi-walgreens
Why is this interview interesting?
- The difference in marketing functional versus emotional brands
Andy Gibson
Former Chief Marketing Officer at Bacardi & Walgreens Boots Alliance
Interview Transcript
How would you describe marketing spirits, versus the healthcare brands, within the pharmacy world, at Walgreens Boots Alliance?
They are two really different categories. I call everyone a brand manager. Everyone in the world is a brand manager, who touches a brand in any way. It’s absolutely imperative that brand managers understand their category, understand how their category operates and what the drivers for consumer choice are, of their category.
The spirits category is an emotional category. You can’t talk function in the spirits category. You can’t market off, mine is stronger than yours. It’s illegal. If we boil it down, all spirits are, are ethanol. What you’ve got to do, in the spirits category is build the emotional reasons that consumers want to purchase your brand. You’ve got to build a world, in your consumer’s hearts and minds, that’s better than the world they currently live in and a world that they want to go to, that differentiates from your competitors. It’s all emotional. It’s all badging.
If this didn’t exist in the world, we’d all be walking around drinking plastic bags of ethanol. But we’re not. We’re buying Grey Goose, at three times the price of Smirnoff, because we’re creating worlds when we do spirit marketing. We’re creating this emotional place, that consumers want to say, this is me. I badge with this. In the healthcare world, consumers aren’t looking for emotional benefits, primarily. Primarily, they are working for efficacy. They’re working for, I have a symptom, I have an issue and what I want is efficacy. I want to know that what I’m taking is going to work, first and foremost. It’s going to work better than, perhaps, the brand that I’m currently consuming. In the healthcare world, the messaging shifts, very much, to an efficacy first driven message, followed by an emotional message.
People are still buying into the emotionality of the brand, otherwise there wouldn’t be brands in the healthcare world. But they want to know that they work, first. So very, very different.
Copyright Notice
This document may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means including resale of any part, unauthorised distribution to a third party or other electronic methods, without the prior written permission of IP 1 Ltd.
IP 1 Ltd, trading as In Practise (herein referred to as "IP") is a company registered in England and Wales and is not a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer, and is not licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice.
In Practise reserves all copyright, intellectual and other property rights in the Content. The information published in this transcript (“Content”) is for information purposes only and should not be used as the sole basis for making any investment decision. Information provided by IP is to be used as an educational tool and nothing in this Content shall be construed as an offer, recommendation or solicitation regarding any financial product, service or management of investments or securities.
© 2024 IP 1 Ltd. All rights reserved.