PART I ‐ DEFINING EXPERIENTIAL BRANDING
10 T HE NEED FOR AUTHENTICITY
10.6 Building authenticity
The building of authenticity must follow the same lines as the building of brand equity based on the discussion above – namely the establishment of perceptions of the brand on values, in the minds of the consumers. In this regards, managers seeking to build authenticity are faced with the same problems in communicating effectively as when seeking to build brand equity (cf. discussion in chapter 2). However, as described above, the establishment of authenticity is not dependent on the formation of strong positive judgments or feeling, as brand equity is, but merely needs to create knowledge of the given brand characteristics (authenticity source parameters) in the minds of the consumers. Nevertheless, this does not remedy the limitations of traditional advertisement in traditional media, as consumers still are hard to reach and still engage in avoidance behavior. Hence, companies seeking to build authenticity must engage in acts of communication with a broad reach in which marketing messages are not avoided. This could be in the form of product placements or sponsorships, where the brand communication is part of the entertainment. Intuitively one would
think that the existence of media with such characteristics for communication would render experiential branding unnecessary, as the same objectives would be attainable through these.
However, the communications effort of brands sponsoring a certain activity or being placed in the context of a movie or TV‐show is limited in several ways. The pro’s and con’s of these two
communication “media” in relation to building authenticity will be discussed further in the following:
10.6.1 Product Placement
Product placement involves the deliberate placing of brands in movies and TV‐series/shows either as a “natural” part of a scene as a prop, or through the direct inclusion of the brand in the script as a source of dialogue. Through such insertions of a brand in given contexts and showing its use by certain characters, the values associated with the movie/show and characters are to some extend coupled with the brand in the minds of the consumers (Russel and Stern 2006).
In relation to the building of authenticity (and brand equity for that matter) it is this value transfer that will create the associations between the brand and its given sources of authenticity. Hence in evaluating alternatives for product placement the company must identify which movie, TV‐
show/series, character etc. will best match the source(s) of authenticity to be established.
An example of a product placement that could build authenticity would be e.g. Coca Cola’s placement of their soft drink in the 2009 movie “The curious life of Benjamin Button” in which the brand is shown in scenes displaying the time around the 1930‐40’s creating referential and original authenticity.
The use of product placement has certain positive and negative characteristics as a communications medium:
The Pro’s
• Product placements are inherently uninterruptive as opposed to traditional advertisement as they are part of the actual entertainment instead of being brought in segments in between.
This reduces the intrusiveness of the communication, which as mentioned in chapter 2 is one of main reasons for the negative attitude towards traditional advertisement.
• Through the specific appeals of different movies, TV‐Shows/series and characters, product placements can be targeted specifically at certain consumers based on their movie/TV preferences and aspirations relating to certain characters.
The Con’s
• Product placements are inherently discrete as the products are not the focus of the content of the movie or show and hence are not the main subject of focus of the viewers.
• The communicative effects of product placements are much more indirect than those of traditional advertisement, as the actual articulated communication must fit within the content of the movies or show.
10.6.2 Sponsorships
Sponsorships are generally defined as the act of contributing financially to support a given entity such as a sports team, athlete, charity or event, in exchange for exposure which is broadcasted through media coverage (Belch and Belch 2007). The rationale for engaging in sponsorship activities from a marketing perspective should be to establish a direct association between the brand and the sponsee. The choice of sponsee should then be based on the target group’s interests and
involvement (Gi‐Yong Koo, Quarterman, and Flynn 2006), much like the case in choosing an event content in experiential branding.
In building authenticity as a means for staging events effectively, sponsorships can be utilized in two ways:
1. Through a direct relation to a desired event content world through the sponsorship of persons/teams from this “world” or sponsorship of other already established events of the
“world”. An example of authenticity building in direct relation to an event content world would be a company seeking to stage a sporting event sponsoring an athlete or team or professional tournament from that discipline.
2. Through an indirect relation to a desired event content through the sponsorship of a person/team or other event, that relates directly to a potential source of authenticity of the brand not equal to the given event content world. An example of authenticity building in indirect relation to an event content could be a high quality food retailer sponsoring an organic food festival as building natural and exceptional authenticity as the base for e.g. a gourmet cooking event.
Like product placement, sponsorships have both pro’s and con’s as a communications medium.
These are:
The Pro’s
• Like product placements, sponsorships are in the vast majority of cases uninterruptive, countering much of the consumer antipathy towards traditional advertisement
• Through the sponsoring of entities in which the target group is involved and interested, the brand will be linked with the specific sponsee and the “world” hereof in the minds of the consumers, building authenticity and brand equity with fans.
The Con’s
• Sponsorships have like traditional advertisement and media become ubiquitous in most genres of televised sports and sporting events, often with multiple main sponsors and a plethora of sub sponsors. Under such circumstances it is easily conceivable that the communicative effect of the individual sponsorship may drown out in the shouting competition.
• Team‐ or athlete ‐specific sponsorships in sports will most likely be viewed positively by fans hereof, but may just as well create antipathy towards the brand from rivaling teams or athletes. Hence a company must be careful not to alienate large parts of its target group(s) through sponsorships.
• The sponsor gives up part of the control of the communication of the brand as this is influenced greatly by the actions and success of the sponsee.
Product placements and sponsorships should of course not be employed solely as a means of
building authenticity with the end goal of staging successful events. Rather they should be utilized for their brand equity building potential in an integrated marketing program, with the added benefit of building authenticity. Further, as these “media” are often televised they have the benefit of a much broader reach than an experiential branding campaign. Hence product placements and sponsorships relating to the events of experiential branding may serve to leverage the brand equity building potential here‐of, integrating the three. The leveraging of experiential branding campaigns will be analyzed further in section 15.1.2