Beverage marketing evolves

From Innocent's new dairy-free beverages to Pepsi J-Cola for Japanese taste preferences, marketers are expanding their product mixes to expand their customer base and appeal to variety-seeking loyal brand fans.

Another reason for the proliferation of product extensions and brand extensions is consumers' desire for healthy, nutritious beverages. At the same time, beverage marketers are responding to governmental efforts to encourage healthier lifestyles.

In the UK, there is now a levy on high-added-sugar drinks. Beverages that are made of 100% fruit or vegetables will not be subject to this levy. Ireland and South Africa are also taxing high-sugar beverage products. Individual US cities are similarly taxing high-sugar soft drinks, all part of the effort to encourage healthy eating.

In this UK marketing environment, Britvic has experienced strong demand for its no- and low-sugar soft drinks. Barr is also experiencing strong demand for its low-sugar and no-sugar soft drinks. Watch for more product introductions as beverage marketers compete for the attention of consumers during the high-demand summer months.

Top UK consumer brands of 2017

SuperBrands has released its list of the top consumer brands for this year, as determined by UK consumers.

Here are the top 5, along with a bit of news about each of these leading consumer brands.

5. Gillette - Gillette is facing competition from UK newcomer Harry's, which offers a subscription-based alternative to buying razor blades at retail. Backed by Procter & Gamble, Gillete's traditional strengths are positive brand recognition and product innovation.

4. Andrex - The well-known toilet-tissue brand is celebrating its 75th anniversary with nostalgia-laden marketing. Andrex enjoys high market share and has slightly shrunk its rolls to cut costs and fund product investments.

3. Rolex - Reinforcing its brand's luxury positioning, Rolex sponsors special events like the Rolex Fastnet yacht race and the Rolex Grand Prix at CHIO Aachen showjumping competition. These special events keep the brand top-of-mind in the target market.

2. LEGO - The recent Bricklive special event in Belfast offered LEGO fans the opportunity to build and to watch others build creatively. More than 10,000 brand fans showed up, some to build and many to enjoy seeing the process and the finished results--reinforcing loyalty and engaging fans.

1. British Airways - As part of a trend toward entertaining passengers (and the public), BA recently released a funny safety video starring celebs like Gordon Ramsay, 'Mister Bean' (Rowan Atkinson) and Gillian Anderson. The airline's CEO says he wants passengers to watch the safety video from start to finish. It's also a positive branding association.

Marketing results of second annual Amazon Prime Day

Amazon's Fire TV Stick, a best-seller on Amazon Prime Day

Despite some technical problems that prevented shoppers from clicking to buy a few of the deeply-discounted items, the second annual Amazon Prime Day was a huge success. Reportedly the online retailer's UK division received the most orders ever in a single day. Just as important, Amazon gained new Prime memberships and promoted the use of its exclusive shopping app.

Amazon's proprietary products were prominently featured and shoppers clicked to buy. The Fire TV Stick gadget was a top seller, and Alexa was also popular--being used to order other Amazon products, as well. Overall Amazon customer sentiment was positive and customer engagement was high.

From a marketing standpoint, Prime Day reinforced brand loyalty, attracted new Prime members, showcased Amazon's unique products and shaped customer behaviour by providing a mid-summer shopping 'holiday' branded by the world's original online retailer.

Amazon plans to continue Prime Day because it is achieving so many key objectives, both in customer relationships and in financial results. Not to mention good publicity for the brand.

New and improved: the brand comeback

Marketing Week features an intriguing article this week: 'Comeback brands: Raising the dead'.

One of the brands discussed is Golden Wonder, a highly popular brand of the past that is now owned by Tayto, a family-backed business that has become the UK's third largest snack company.

Golden Wonder must make itself much more visible (within a limited marketing budget) to effectively compete with Walkers, which dominates the crisp category. Golden Wonder's marketing head director tells Marketing Week in a separate Q&A article: 'We’re never going to outmuscle the market leader in terms of spend so you have to consider how to create conversations about the brand at a lower cost'.

To leverage brand fans' nostalgia and enthusiasm as part of the marketing strategy to compete against Walkers, the company is becoming increasingly active in public relations and social media. The Golden Wonder Facebook page currently has 12,100 likes; its Twitter account currently has just under 2,000 followers. Both accounts are filled with frequent posts and some consumer responses, keeping the conversation going day by day.

Wider distribution is giving sales a boost. Can Golden Wonder win back customers who once loved the brand and attract new brand fans who will become loyal buyers?

Marketers look to lower churn

Source: Accenture research

Churn is what happens when customers switch away from their current brand or service provider. It happens all the time, yet much of this churn can be avoided by paying attention to the basics, notes Accenture, the international consultancy. The graphic above, from Accenture's recent report, shows the top six reasons why customers would stop doing business with a firm.

Another study of satisfaction, by Capgemini and Efma, shows that a mere 30% of customers worldwide report a positive experience with insurance firms. In other words, 70% are dissatisfied or neutral about their customer experience, opening the door to switching if these customers accept the marketing overtures of other insurance firms.

Bank marketers are starting to implement new measures to avoid churn and improve satisfaction. For example, Lloyds is now planning to award bonuses to branch staff based on customer feedback.

Improving customer satisfaction and reducing churn opportunities is vital as the UK Payments Council introduces account switching rules that, from September, will make it faster and easier to change from one bank to another.

Look for more marketing programmes to strengthen loyalty as the economy improves and customers open their wallets even wider.

Is brand loyalty still alive?

According to a 2012 study by Ernst & Young, brand loyalty is influential in developing markets but diminishing in Western nations, where consumers are willing to switch brands. A new UK shopper survey by Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel concludes: On average, 50% of a brand’s ‘loyal’ users will not be with them the following year.

Yet brand loyalty is still alive. Consider that 96% of UK adults are members of at least one loyalty programme. Even if these customers buy only occasionally, they're interested enough to enroll--and therefore represent significant opportunity for brands that make the effort to connect by:

• Providing tiers to reward higher loyalty. Virgin Atlantic Airways offers red, silver and gold reward levels for frequent travelers. Tier points depend on the type of ticket purchased (Upper Class, etc) and the length of the flight (going to Australia earns more points than trans-Atlantic). This way, all members can feel rewarded in some way for their loyalty and those who are close to the next tier may be motivated to move up by consolidating their travels with Virgin.
• Engaging and rewarding brand fans. Domino's discounts pizzas and other menu items each time a particular hashtag is retweeted on Twitter. This means brand fans have to be watching the Domino's Twitter feed and spring into action with the hashtag. The reward--lower prices--lasts for a very limited time, which drives immediate purchasing.
• Personalising the programme and access choices. It's a multichannel world, with customers using all kinds of devices when and where they please. Marketers are using 'Big Data' to dig into customer info, understand preferences and customise programme details and/or rewards. Tablet and mobile access are the norm, so marketers must be sure their communications look good on these screens, too.
• Gamification. It doesn't have to be Angry Birds or Bubble Witch Saga. Gamification simply makes loyalty programmes more fun, more challenging and more satisfying. Who doesn't want to win or at least move up a level?