People powered brands: How companies can inspire consumer action

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which brands have evolved beyond creating connections, to inspire deeper levels of emotional support from their audience. Building emotional connections used to be considered abstract and subjective, and was therefore dismissed by many in the industry, even until today, as being a ‘nice to have’ quality for a brand. But as the impact of traditional media weakens, and the value of earned media strengthens, marketers must evolve their perception of ‘value’ if they are to truly understand what matters in the connection between people and brands. The rise of social networks and Big Data enables marketers to have not only a better understanding of the life interests of consumers, but also how emotion can inspire advocacy into becoming action. The authors explore three different levels of community that form as a result of the emotional engagement in a brand. They discuss the motivating factors and illustrate the differences in engagement and impact through shared case studies. Their work focuses on defining the benefits of these communities for both marketer and consumer, and the unique characteristics that can empower shared interests to evolve from the marketed message, to becoming a transformative social movement. They draw from proprietary WPP research, academic studies on social and community behaviour, and over 40 years of combined experience in emotional branding.