For Bose, the shift to digital has been happening for the last few years, but has speeded up significantly since stores closed and they had to tell the story of high end headphones without in-store demonstrations.
“Everything over the last couple of months, and years maybe, has set out in motion to transition to digital,” said Jorma Kremser, Global Media Manager, Bose during Brand Innovators’ Future of Media Livecast on November 5th.
The brand has been focusing on its digital storytelling and use of data to help improve the customer experience across channels, which is helping as its store footprint has been shrinking in recent years. The pandemic just accelerated the brand’s digital transformation which was already under way.
“Even before COVID (if anyone can remember those days), we had already announced a reduction in our own stores and with that came the challenges of physical traffic, physical sales falling somewhat away, with COVID we saw that traffic go down so badly with our resellers,” Kremser said. “Physical store sales and physical demos are really important, as well as trials as part of our business.”
Bose uses first-party data to tie the “knots between upper and lower funnel and applied learnings about existing customers,” which has helped the brand identify new ones.
As the brand enters the holiday season, they have more focus than they ever have before, Kremser said.
Kremer was joined at the half-day summit by senior marketing executives at Domino’s, Cameo and Hulu. Below are four takeaways from their talks that marketers can use to innovate as media evolves. Head to Brand Innovators’ YouTube page to watch the whole event.
Consider the whole customer journey. Bose set out to increasingly leverage digital channels a while back because their customers were interacting increasingly through digital touchpoints.
“We understood that and we had a great opportunity to bridge the gap in the consumer journey,” Bose’s Kremser said. “In the traditional sense we advertised in the upper funnel and somewhat caught sales in the lower funnel, and we are now able to measure the connection of that consumer journey.”
Invest in technology. The QSR category has seen a large acceleration in digital ordering this year and for Domino’s it is about meeting consumer expectations to easily click and receive.
“We’re a franchise organization which comes with its complexities, but we were able to convince the franchisees the power of technology very early on, and we just ran with it,” said Mark Messing, Director, Digital Marketing, Domino’s. “We really focus on how we can be there whenever someone wants to order pizza, and how can we make that experience as smooth as possible by investing in technologies that solve real problems for them. We have our pencils sharpened and have a good idea of where to be focused to be the best solution for folks right now.”
Keep an open mind about the audience. Many brands are keen to connect with Gen Z and Millennials but it is important to be open to any demographic. When Mike Hondorp, Head of Business Marketing & Brand Partnerships at Cameo joined the company he thought the audience would be mostly Gen Z and Millennial.
“Surprisingly it’s not,” Hondorp said. “We do have a massive footprint of Gen Z and Millennials on the platform but our most prolific segment is mid 30’s to 50+. I think it’s really great because these people have disposable incomes and they are who we want to target with our messaging. Our Millennial crowd will really only grow over time so it’s great to see how well dispersed our fans are in terms of age brackets, geographical, racial and gender diversity.”
Provide a Daily Habit. Hulu is trying to grow its audience by nurturing its current customers and acquiring new viewers. The brand has found that focusing on the user experience is the best way to do this. According to the company, 91% of consumers that stream content would rather give up their music service, social media, favorite food or favorite item of clothing before they would give up their streaming TV service.
“I think that says something really powerful about streaming companies like Hulu,” said Kendra Upham, Head of Media, at Hulu. “Now more than ever, we need to be with our favorite fandoms, shows, actors and actresses to help keep us comforted. It comes back to our foundational belief of staring everything with the viewer. We want them to make Hulu a daily habit. We are really cognizant of how and where we reach our desired audience and those moments where they will be the most receptive. Our ultimate North Star is growing our viewership. And that’s with a combination of building relationships
