If you are a brand experiencing massive growth, your first instinct might be to just keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing.
Luckily for Thorne consumers, Mary Beech, the brand’s chief growth officer, and Ivan Kayser, the CEO of Redscout, refuse to do anything but.
In this episode, we’re taking a fly-on-the-wall look at how Beech, Kayser and their teams worked together to define Thorn’'s brand identity based on two key insights stemming from their joint brand research: the importance of Thorn’'s clinical, scientific rigor and the consumer’s deep desire for personalization.
They also share the secret behind their highly successful client-agency partnership, which starts with early morning breakfasts in Brooklyn, creating crystal-clear briefs and a simple golden rule: Don’t hire jerks. Both Beech and Kayser also discuss their take on the brands that have successfully transitioned from challenger brands to innovative leaders within their industries simply by "breaking the rules.”
"Authenticity comes first versus fame."
Lana Condor and Misty Copeland tackle once-taboo topics in Thorne’s new campaign
Ciara and Thorne ‘level up’ creatine marketing with new stigma-busting campaign
Thorne debuts on-the-go products through cinema-esque ad featuring Ben Shelton
Don’t settle for complacency. Innovate for the benefit of the consumers. When a brand is experiencing high growth, the instinct is often to just repeat the exact same tactics. However, marketers should take the time to extract the underlying strategic lessons of why those tactics worked, which allows the brand to diversify its marketing mix and experiment with intentionality.
Differentiate between category table stakes and true brand differentiators. Consumers will often state that certain product features like scientific excellence and rigor are essential. But what’s important to the consumer does not always fuel brand differentiation. Marketers must position the brand against the insights that actually drive preference and interest.
Define the brand’s “vibe” for the upper funnel. Lower funnel marketing can easily rely on specific claims, product stats or transactional hooks. However, when shifting spend to upper funnel awareness, the messaging gets "vibier," requiring the brand to be crystal clear on exactly what they are communicating to the consumer.
Design brand strategy for daily execution. A strategic positioning is useless if it just looks great on a wall or sits in a drawer. Brand strategy must have an orientation toward execution, providing tangible guardrails, messaging guidelines and tone directions so the creative teams can actually run with the work.
Establish a strict “order of operations” for messaging. To maintain a cohesive strategy across all touchpoints, establish clear rules for how the brand speaks. For Thorne, the strategy was “know me, show me,” meaning the brand had to prove it had an understanding of the consumer first, and only then provide the scientific proof points in response.
Target potential advocates, not just viable buyers. When conducting audience research, the goal should not just be finding out who you could target, but who you should target. Marketers should look for consumers whose behaviors, identities and motivations make them natural advocates and referrers for the brand.
Prioritize relatability over sheer fame. When choosing brand ambassadors, avoid using celebrities simply as a stamp of quality or relevance. Thorne tapped into talent including Misty Copeland, Lana Candor and Ben Shelton, who have authentic stories and personal journeys of product discovery that the target audience can relate to and feel seen by.
Build the brand foundation before bringing in talent. Launching a foundational brand campaign without a celeb forces the marketing team to crystallize their tone and message independently. By not letting talent become the foundation, the brand builds a strong core that subsequent ambassador campaigns can securely build upon.
Treat agencies as an extension of your internal team. Brands should approach hiring agency partners with the same mindset as hiring internal employees. Rather than just chasing agencies with awards, hire nice, smart people who will make the team and the work better. As Beech states, “I don’t hire jerks.”Avoid “garbage in, garbage out” briefs. Agencies cannot be expected to work miracles if the client hasn't defined the core problem first. Marketers must take the time to thoroughly prepare a brief, defining exactly what they want out of the work and what the expected business impact should be before handing it off to creative partners.
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Music - Take you Out by Lucid Tides, courtesy of Triple Scoop.
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