The Participation Game: How the Top 100 Brands Build Loyalty In A Skeptical World

by Norty Cohen

Overview

How The Top 100 Brands Build Loyalty In A Skeptical World: Today's consumers are in charge of the ads they see – and the brands they choose to let into their world. Their friends are generating hundreds of interesting and compelling posts a day and commanding their attention.

For marketers who assume they can join the conversation, the question is not just how to get some of this attention. It’s how to give it. Even though the game has changed, many brands still play by the old rules – assuming that consumers want to welcome their messaging. Yet other brands easily build authentic connectivity and lead consumers through the purchase funnel to loyalty.

When Creative Agency Moosylvania’s Owner, Norty Cohen, opened his own research facility six years ago, his team set out to answer the question, “How and Why Do Consumers Adopt Brands?” The author’s team asked the write-in question, “Name Your Three Favorite Brands,” a total of 5,000 times over a five-year period. Given the responses, the Moosylvania team probed into how and why they became their favorites.

In this entertaining and informative journey, consumer responses match up to case studies, key findings and interviews with top brands. The study reveals a new approach – asserting that brand participation is the X factor to building loyalty.

For five years, "The Top 100 Brands Report" has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur and Business Insider.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781940858296
Publisher:	Ideapress Publishing
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Pages:	229
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Norty Cohen is a creative/account guy/researcher whose agency, Moosylvania, develops programming for top national brands. His agency houses a research facility on its campus – and they use national research services to continually dig into consumer motivation. He is featured speaker on national marketing panels and has presented his work at AT&T, Western Union, Taco Bell, Burger King and numerous CMO conferences. The updated study is featured annually in Business Insider and other publications. His other passions include serving as an Executive Board Member of Gateway to Hope, a Breast Cancer Lifeline and playing music in a rock band. He lives in New York and St. Louis.

Norty Cohen is a creative/account guy/researcher whose agency, Moosylvania, develops programming for top national brands. His agency houses a research facility on its campus – and they use national research services to continually dig into consumer motivation. He is featured speaker on national marketing panels and has presented his work at AT&T, Western Union, Taco Bell, Burger King and numerous CMO conferences. The updated study is featured annually in Business Insider and other publications. His other passions include serving as an Executive Board Member of Gateway to Hope, a Breast Cancer Lifeline and playing music in a rock band. He lives in New York and St. Louis.

Read an Excerpt

Originality Only Happens Once

Consumers are pretty good at knowing when they have an original idea to share. Or if they can get credit for being the first to share yours. But either way, their level of discernment grows more every day.

First Things First: Earn Their Attention

When I'm in the room with a group, I love to ask when was the last time they put up a post and took it down. Then I ask why. The answer is always something like, “I was politically incorrect.” Or, “I didn’t look good in the photo.” Finally; the cold hard truth comes out. “Only a few people liked my post.” So that’s the filter.

Consumers know a good ideas from a bad one. They know an original idea from a me-too. And there are more new ones coming out every day. So just like you need to go to the gym, you need to study ideas to keep your creativity in shape.

Make Me Look Good, Make Me Feel Good, Keep Me Entertained

After our first year of talking to consumers, we got introspective and wondered if we had been asking the wrong questions. Our research partner suggested that we do some focus groups to understand, in their own words, what is important to them.

We started with an empty white board and let them tell us. Later we went back and ranked the characteristics with larger groups.

Make Me Look Good: Build Their Brand To Win

We also started analyzing engagement by categories. We asked about what was holding their interests. Where did they spend their time?; We saw that categories differed by engagement.

In Other Words, They Like What They Like.

We were particularly interested what had lost badge value to consumers. What we saw was that apparel and entertainment had the most engagement. But Why?

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE
Participation is the X Factor

CHAPTER TWO
No Such Thing as a Traditional Consumer

CHAPTER THREE
Emotion is the Gateway to Curiosity

CHAPTER FOUR
Originality Only Happens Once

CHAPTER FIVE
Make Me Look Good, Make Me Feel Good, Keep Me Entertained

CHAPTER SIX
Play for Keeps

CHAPTER SEVEN
There's No Such Thing as Branded Content

CHAPTER EIGHT
Sharing is Caring

CHAPTER NINE
Not Your Target Market, It's Your Target's Market