Since you have successfully passed the third level, the RESPECT that your brand has achieved in the minds of your most profitable customers now leads you to their hearts.
To begin with, let's define the term, a ground-breaking concept that has revolutionised the New Marketing of this century.
Lovemarks are legendary Brands that are an intimate part of their customers' lives. They span generations, such as these household favourites of Lacasa, a leading Spanish chocolate company:
In the online store we've created, highly-personalised chocolates allow the Brands to be shared by consumers in their most intimate moments: weddings, communions, birthdays, etc.
In the Twentieth Century, before we were all assailed by the data avalanche of Digital Life, it now seems that life was so much simpler.
Before the era of Always-On choices and the noise of hundreds of channels, it was enough for a Brand to occupy a (coveted) place on a consumer's mental "Short List".
"Brand Awareness" formed part of a very rational decision-making process by potential buyers. It led them from awareness through very few steps to the product purchase.
The "Purchase Funnel" has become infinitely more complicated in the Internet Age.
A subtitle of the pioneer work of Saatchi's Worldwide Creative Director says it all: "loyalty beyond reason". Achieving Lovemark status for your Brand is the logical destination and "Final R" of your customers' Personal Cybersphere.
As Paul Fleming frequently quips:
Take care of "Wally", the 20% that causes 80% of your sales, -- really spoil him and invest in the relationship -- and sooner or later, your Wally will introduce you to her cousin: ROI.
As we conclude, enjoy this moving video of Samsung Turkey about the relationship they are creating with deaf customers.
This is a new way of hearing -- and of seeing -- for Marketing.
Key Points
- R4, the fourth and final level in the Personal Cybersphere, is RELATIONSHIP.
- The ROI we seek in our Marketing strategies is born out of Relationship
- Lovemarks, a concept created by Kevin Roberts, creates resilient, enduring Brands
- Key: reaching "R4" is only the beginning of an ongoing commitment
Read the entire series:
Introduction · R1: Recognition · R2: Response · R3: Respect · R4: Relationship
Download the Eurobest presentation:
Free download of Paul Fleming's speech at Eurobest 2015 in Antwerp, Belgium