As marketers and agency people, we prefer to work on campaigns that are eye-catching, effective and award-winning. The big advertisers have this in order, but how do you do it as a marketer with smaller budgets? In other words, how can I achieve the most effective campaign possible with a modest budget looking at the most important KPIs: brand (brand) and performance (sales)?
2 components: Brand Fame & CEPs
Brand Fame is the rate at which someone in the target audience thinks of your brand, within your category. It helps to create "mental brain position" so that a brand rises quickly in a buying situation. A combination of image, mental brain position and fame in your category/industry. There are countless examples of famous brands being among the first to be mentioned in their category, think Coca Cola, Patagonia, Volvo, etc. They owe this fame, in addition to bold communication, to their CEPs, Category Entry Points: Fun, Nature and Safety.
Les Binet and Peter Field show through their "aim for fame" strategy that when a campaign has a surprise effect, it becomes significantly more famous. Famous campaigns then have 1.5 times better price effect and 1.5 times better share of voice efficiency.
A fame campaign surprises the target audience, making you as a brand more likely to stick with your message. It is a fairly simple and effective way to get into the mind of the target audience, a way that is still too little considered as an objective.
Fame in practice
The core is a creative/surprising campaign direction that makes you big with unconventional (reach) media. Think, for example, of Sultana's red/white rag doll, or the brand Zeeman that puts eye-catching products like perfume and designer sunglasses at the center of its communications in a down-to-earth way.
A good example from STROOM are Hero Cassis' The Refrigerator Check Weeks.
This brand is competing with the world's biggest brands, so the 'Aim for fame' strategy is an appropriate one to capture the hearts of the Gen-Z target group. The surprise effects in the campaign focus on "unconventional media use" and "extreme humor. Based on these principles, a humorous mini video series was developed, in which Cassis' product placement played an important role. A "bold" Cassis reporter haphazardly checked refrigerators everywhere in the Netherlands for the presence of Cassis. This idea was then propelled through reach media and a very considerable degree of "fame" was acquired within the target group and category.
How do you become "famous" in your category faster?
Brand Fame becomes an interesting metric when you combine it with Byron Sharp's Category Entry Points (CEPs).
A CEP is a moment/situation where you, as a brand, pop up in the mind of the target audience. For example, when you think of a safe car for my family, you quickly think of Volvo. Or what soft drink should I have in my fridge as standard; Hero Cassis.
By researching what solution you as a brand offer for your target audience, you can capitalize on unclaimed CEPs. When you do this consistently and especially strikingly/distinctively, you can claim mental availability around a CEP and thus grow your brand's mental market share. Then it may still be that Volkswagen or Opel is the market leader in the Netherlands, but in terms of safety it is Volvo.
And exactly there lies the opportunity for many brands that are not in the budget top of advertising Holland. Research on which theme the brand can distinguish itself and do so in a "celebrity-making" way. One that fits your brand identity, your culture but also blows away the competition in terms of surprising creation. And then driven creatively and effectively in media. With the main result that your brand's celebrity has grown, you've claimed key CEPs, and you've made more impact with less budget.