Mood matters - targeting consumers in the right mindset just makes sense

Brand Republic 16-May-05, 12:00

Reaching the right consumers is no longer enough; the real opportunities for driving relevance and differentiation will be seized by brands that go beyond traditional targeting to connect with consumers at the right moment in the right mindset, writes SPF 15's Steve Baer.

Dove get real women.

Its insightful campaign for real beauty has been extended from last summer, and rightfully so. It's a campaign that strikes the right chords, achieving consumer understanding, relevance and even empathy. As an awareness campaign, it's far reaching -- in fact, it's hard to miss when strolling most London streets.

But despite Dove's insightful strategy and top execution, it has missed a trick to make a great campaign go even further. You see, there's targeting women. And then there's targeting women in the mood.

Go on, just ask any woman what goes on inside her mind from the time she books her beach holiday in April to the time she makes her beach debut in July. "The First Bikini Moment of Summer" is not something that is taken lightly; there is a great deal of preparation that goes into such a moment. Is there a more relevant time for Dove to talk to women about firming? An impassioned quote from our consumer research races to mind: "This body is going on holiday next month and quite frankly it's not up to scratch! Only a product overdose can help me now."

Imagine the power of a well-timed Dove message or sample at the point of beach holiday booking, re-affirmed two weeks before the holiday kicks off and again at the point of departure. Coupled with "transumerism", a trend identified by Fitch Consultancy that describes frenzied consumer spending at airports during the hour prior to departure, it's not just relevant and timely brand messaging but the kind that actively drives retail footfall. And with 71% of British travellers claiming to have taken a summer beach holiday in the past 12 months, according to ABTA, we're not just talking about a niche media approach here; we're talking scale of the mass kind.

"Big Little Moments" such as the summer bikini kind permeate the lives of all demographic audiences. Guys getting ready for a big date, couples expecting their first child, people buying a new home, post-grad students hunting for their first job... Some are big life stages and some are smaller re-occurring life moments, while all are fleeting moments when a brand can become a timely hero.

It's a new approach to marketing -- we've labelled it mindset marketing. It begins with understanding the various mindsets where a brand can come to the rescue but serving a specific functional need and positioning itself firmly within the moment's emotional journey. Then it's about finding the moments that reproduce the mindset, and developing a strong messaging and media strategy to bring it to life.

There are barriers to such an approach of course, the biggest one being effort. How can you reach 500,000 women who have booked a beach holiday exactly two weeks before they depart? When they return home? Mindset marketing is not turnkey, and rarely involves the traditional media channels.

It requires a dedicated resource and a willingness to pioneer. It requires partnerships with other companies that have never before viewed themselves as "media". It requires aggregating multiple partners to achieve scale. And it is hard work, to analyse the ROI of such efforts to determine which moments will deliver the most returns.

It's not quite advertising, and it's not a turnkey media buy, either. It is part strategic, part creative, part negotiation and all rigorous project management. These obstacles can be overcome with dedicated resource and can-do attitude, and the rewards can far outweigh the negatives.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that mindset marketing replaces traditional brand efforts, rather it should be used to complement existing campaigns. Driving and maintaining awareness will remain a key objective for many brands, Dove being no exception. But there are real opportunities to drive relevance and differentiation off the back of traditional campaigns and, as a result, drive trial among consumers who are in the right mindset. It's a matter of timing and placement, and winning brands will be the ones that won't let moments pass them by.

Brands like Dove may always get real women and, with a bit of mindset marketing to complement the strong brand work, real women will really get Dove.

Steve Baer, director of SPF 15, the mindset marketing company that develops life's 'big little moments' into marketing opportunities. Find out more about SPF 15 and mindset marketing at www.spf15.co.uk.

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