Make Lovemarks not brands

Singapore - Ahead of a guest speaker appearance at the Global Brand Forum Singapore in August, worldwide CEO for Saatchi & Saatchi, Kevin Roberts spoke to Marketing about branding, his diagnosis on the Asian scene, and what the future holds.

"Over the last five or so years we have seen a major power shift, it's not about what brands can use to reach consumers, it's about what consumers are prepared to engage with. They have taken control of brands and the advertising industry is starting to get the picture - slowly," Roberts said.

Roberts went on to described brands with high respect and love, and that attract loyalty beyond reason as Lovemarks, and said "people are no longer interested in being preached to about functional benefits and features. We are heading from the Attention Economy to the Attraction Economy where Lovemarks thrive and ad agencies have to step up and out, or be buried. They don't spend any time considering the differences between brands and advertising, so we don't either".

Regional markets such as Singapore with brands like Singapore Airlines and Tiger Beer, and Thailand with brands like Red Bull, were mentioned by Roberts as examples of Asian brands that "made it", and dismissed the theory that the region was proving to be a harder place to build strong brands saying that "brands from elsewhere determined to expand in Asian markets have sometimes had a tougher time, so maybe that is where the idea that it is so difficult has come from".

"The economy of this region is tremendously dynamic, many countries have very young populations, and there is huge optimism and hope for a better life in the future. Many more millions of people here are engaging with brands. Asian brands have an amazing platform to head out and change the world," he said.

When asked about the importance of digital, Roberts referenced the book Sisomo: the future on screen which he authored - Sisomo represents Sight, Sound and Motion.

"Once you aspire to Lovemarks, not brands, it makes more sense to work with sisomo ideas, and get beyond the limitations of digital thinking. Sisomo starts with the experience of consumers, not the technologies. I believe that in a very few years all media will be interactive and so Singapore's high internet uptake will mean communities and games, tools and entertainment.  From now on there is no single solution as there was when television dominated," he said.

According to Roberts, the most common branding mistake marketers make is "they forget that the consumer is in control" and that in the Attraction Economy marketing is the art of making sustainable, long term emotional connections with consumers. As for the future of branding, its direction is headed towards Lovemarks because "there is nowhere else to go".

"Brands have run out of juice and are struggling with too much competition, too many extensions, too many media and far too much information. Even worse, consumers find it tough to tell one brand from another, and they don't care. That's why brands have to evolve into Lovemarks. They have to move from trying to become irreplaceable to becoming truly irresistible," he said.

Top of his Lovemarks list are the New Zealand All Blacks which he says are a sports team with passion, mystery, heritage and inspiration that reached out to him when he was a kid in the north of England.

"I love everything about them," he said.