The case of Ingredient Branding

In the current era of globalization and ever-increasing levels of mass production, saturation has affected all market segments, creating a growing need for communication strategies capable of differentiating brands from their competitors.

Today, against this backdrop, highlighting products’ high quality core components takes on new meaning in communication terms, allowing companies to differentiate themselves in a world where consumers have become more and more demanding about the products they buy.

Since the 1990s, ingredient branding has established itself as a common marketing strategy, involving many market sectors, from clothing (textile and fibres), to IT and high tech, optics (lenses), food and beverage (functional food) and the automotive industry.

Today, promoting ingredient branding strategies has become a new challenge for PR professionals, which need to focus on both suppliers’ and manufacturers’ benefits accrued through using modern and up-to-date communication tools.

Marketers talk about ingredient branding as a win-win situation, a marriage of convenience where both parties gain profit, both in terms of image enhancement and improvements in economic efficiency, because often the supplier and the manufacturer share production, promotion, advertising and distribution costs.

Savvy manufacturers of raw materials have leveraged ingredient branding strategies for many years, succeeding in enhancing their image by giving products quality assurance and added value; as well as becoming a crucial ‘plus’ and an advantage, in promotional terms.

How does an ingredient become a brand?  By establishing successful communication strategies that involve more than just putting a logo on the front of the end product, but talking directly to consumers, educating potential buyers on the benefit of purchasing a product with added credibility. Only educated costumers will be able to see the differences that the ingredient component will make in a product.

At one end, producers of raw ingredients benefit from the association with high profile, niche products by gaining wider visibility; at the other, suppliers improve credibility and boost differentiation by giving their product a distinct characteristic that is difficult for competitors to imitate.

Research, technological advancement and changing perceptions from a single product to innovative solutions are all key- aspects that need to be highlighted when communicating about an ingredient brand, concepts that become tangible and more easily perceivable by consumers if associated with an end product

In a world invaded by millions of products of questionable quality, consumers are willing to pay more for something they can trust -  as expressed by the concept of ‘winning for paying’ -  making this type of communication strategy advantageous in a commercial sense as well as justifying the high-end market positioning to consumers.

Maintaining the fine equilibrium of this winning combination is the task of PR professionals who need to find new solutions and identify new potential co-branding activities continuously, with the distinct advantage of having the chance to broaden their own opportunities by establishing new business relationships.

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Employer branding – how to create an employer’s image?

Improving business development, strengthening competitive advantage, loyalty and building trust among employees, business partners and clients: these are all key objectives of an increasing number of Polish companies.  But achieving these objectives is often connected with one critical component – a company’s reputation as an employer. For this reason, On Board PR has recently developed its ‘Employer Branding’ practice.

Employer branding includes several activities which companies and institutions adopt to build their image and perception as an attractive and desirable place to work; amongst both current and potential employees.  Because of the different target groups, we can divide employer branding activities into external and internal operations.

Employer branding activities need to be planned and implemented with the long term in mind and as part of the whole integrated company communications strategy. But before an employer branding strategy can be developed, we need to answer a few important questions, for example: ‘how are we perceived at the moment?’; ‘what do we want to achieve?’; ‘what are our strengths and weaknesses?’; ‘what do potential employees NOT know about us, that they should know?’ We also need to find out more about our target group – what are they interested in? Where do they spend their time? What are their important core values at work? And, finally, what kind of communications tools can we use to reach him?

This last component includes building an EVP (Employee Value Proposition), which means creating and implementing those values that will be important for our employees and will define their work at our company.

At that moment, we also need to answer the principal question – what kind of employees are we looking for and why would they want to work at OUR company? Why are we better than our competitors and what can we offer our people? What is crucial, is that the answers to these questions must be completely authentic and achievable. If they don’t meet these criteria, an employer’s good reputation amongst its workforce can easily be destroyed.

There are several tools which can help us to build an employer branding strategy. One of them is social media, which not only allows you to reach very precise target groups – especially young people – but also to engage them, communicate with them and observe their behaviour. Social media is then an important source of knowledge for building an employer branding strategy and provides a great opportunity for feedback.

Designing and implementing an employer branding strategy and building a positive reputation brings many benefits such as easier and more effective recruitment, more candidates with better skills, increased motivation, engagement and improved efficiency at work. Moreover, it not only helps build the company’s reputation among current and future employees, but also business partners. We need to realize that the best source of information about our company is our people, providing the strongest argument of all for investing in them – they may become our best company ambassadors, in turn positively influencing and improving the future recruitment of skilled employees.

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Swiss PR industry: Surprising findings

In the autumn of 2010, we came across two studies which provide interesting findings about the Swiss PR industry. Here’s an overview of the findings in brief and we’re curious whether other countries are seeing similar trends?

Monitor: Swiss PR realities

About the study:

The first Swiss Corporate Communication and Public Relations Practice Monitor is supported by key organizations in the Swiss PR industry and supplies insights into the state of the profession. 15 percent of Swiss PR professionals took part in the February 2010 survey with the findings published in the autumn of 2010.

Findings:

• Communication specialists are less influential than expected. Only one third feel themselves closely involved in strategic company decisions. Even fewer of the respondents reported that they participate in the development of the corporate brand and relations with relevant stakeholders or played a key role in sponsoring.

• The role of agencies was also surprising: Their managers rated the strategic involvement of agencies as very high. However, most customers regard the role of their contractors merely as campaign implementation.

• An especially interesting fact for ECCO: Only one in five customers is satisfied with the international capabilities and resources of Swiss agencies.

Read full study

Online survey: Attitudes of Swiss PR professionals towards professional ethics

About the study:

Between May and June last year, PR consultant Yvonne Raudzus surveyed 214 Swiss PR professionals on the subject of PR professional ethics for her thesis. She also supplied recommendations on how PR professionals can strengthen their knowledge of professional ethics.

Findings

• Few know about PR standard codes of practice. For example, 38.9 percent of respondents know the Lisbon Codex well; 36.5 percent by name and 24.5 percent not at all. The author explains this by the fact that the codes of practice are very abstract and that there are few consequences if they fail to keep to them due to the low level of industry self-regulation. A poignant fact – the ethical code of practice for journalists is more well-known than the PR one.

• PR professionals have a less positive image of the state of their own profession. Nonetheless, 66.7 percent admitted they acted with total integrity at all times. By contrast, 49.3 percent stated that the professional ethics of their colleagues were merely “moderate”. The author gives this explanation: the questionable conduct of individuals can influence the internal and external image of the PR industry as a whole.

• The subject of PR professional ethics aroused a lot of interest. Respondents want increasing awareness and discussion with 73.8 percent in favour of devoting more time to training and debating the issue.

Read article (German text only)

What is your opinion on these study findings? Let us know!

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The changing role between advertiser and consumer

The relationship between advertiser and consumer is changing leading to uncertainty and curiosity. From both perspectives, incidentally. Consumers, looking for brand clarity, depth and engagement in the “relationship”, are struggling with that changing role. The advertiser on the other hand, is struggling with more mature and more critical consumers. Let’s look a little closer….

How it used to be

Traditionally, the role of advertiser is one of being a ‘sender’. The brand wants to sell something to consumers. The message becomes a slick campaign, where ‘product’, ‘low price’ or another USP attempt to push the consumer into the desired action. Through various channels advertisers disseminate and bombard consumers with their messages. Consumers love the overload of attention and some respond – and act according to the desired behaviour. Objective achieved. Or not?  Once the budget is spent, the silence after the campaign can be deafening. The advertiser is still too often ‘the friend, only there when he needs you’.

This video shows -in an entertaining way- the traditional role between advertisers and consumers:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3qltEtl7H8&feature=player_embedded#!]

Where is it going?

In an increasingly complex society, the power structure between advertiser and consumer is shifting. This transforms the way services and products are developed and delivered.
A clearly discernible trend is ‘active participation’. The advertiser is no longer talking about his client, but with his client. About what? Well, for example about their complaints via the webcare team. But more and more about bigger stuff – like product innovation – a phenomenon called co-creation.

Why is this trend so desirable?

Active customers who participate in product innovation are more engaged. Engaged customers are taken more seriously by their brand and become loyal and grow into brand evangelists, ambassadors, and “friends of the brand.” When that stage is reached, aggressive advertising campaigns are not necessary anymore. Instead of the brief ‘advertising contact moments’ during a year, the brand has become top of mind 365 days of the year.

A good marriage = commitment

Creating relationships isn’t easy. And I’m not comparing it to marriage just yet. A relationship is one thing, maintaining it is another. Apple has been doing it with considerable success for many years. And with success, a brand creates a fan base – instead of simply ‘users’. But it requires patience, thorough and well-administered contact management and policy – and, perhaps most importantly, excellence in a product or service – making it worth becoming a fan of.

So…

For your organization this might mean a complete mind shift. Maybe you are already doing this – but the key is combining quick wins with long-term vision. How can a short-term sales target form a foundation for a brand community on the long term? In the future, let’s hope we all can collaborate and share our experiences to help deliver answers – and a true customer experience!

Take a look at this short video. Is provides some clear insights and ideas into the process. Have fun!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knQKdhGmL8s&feature=player_embedded#!]

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