Chiat awards: Recognising excellence in strategic thinking

Where excellence in strategic thinking is feted. The big winners at the Chiat awards 2016 were Pedigree, Kraft Mac & Cheese and Comcast's Xfinity. They were recognised for demonstrating excellence in strategic thinking in a number of dimensions. Kraft Mac was recognised for running an innovative marketing campaign in which it was making the customers aware of its decision to remove all the artificial flavours from their products. This had been a follow-up on an earlier decision to inform customers by simply listing ingredients on the packaging of these products. The campaign was considered strategic due to its potential to offset potential controversies and also in the manner in which it was executed. It was very effective in increasing sales and interaction with customers.

Pedigree was recognised for its fact based approach in strategic marketing. It sought to exploit scientific research to demonstrate that dogs make a positive difference in people’s lives. To demonstrate this, the company focused on some of the traits of dogs including their genuine child-like happiness which dogs tend to embrace. Such behaviours bring humour and the happiness is contagious hence very good in relieving tension. By demonstrating that dogs are good for people, and that pedigree pet foods are good for the dogs, the underlying message being projected was that Pedigree is good for people. This provided the consumers with a platform through which they could identify with the brand. Legoland Florida was awarded for designing a hotel with children in mind while Turkcell was awarded for launching an app to help diabetes patients to control their condition.

The Pedigree strategy can be said to be most appealing to the rational consumers. These are people who need to evaluate the value of products to them so as to justify why they should purchase these products. The rational consumers are easiest to reach through messages that appeal to reason. Where possible, scientific proof needs to be provided so that they can demonstrate that the claims they are making about the products are true.

Comcast Xfinity was hailed as being strategic and effective in how it exploited its understanding of the local language culture. It targeted Hispanic consumers by portraying their common language where they flip flop between English and Spanish. The culture is so common that one needs to master both languages to be able to understand when being addressed by these Hispanics. This helped to endear the brand among Hispanics and the company was hailed for being the first to exploit this cultural element successfully and to its advantage.

The Comcast approach is emotional. It seeks to build trust by demonstrating its understanding of the consumers. Trust works by giving the consumers the confidence that since the company understands them, it is more likely to cater for their needs effectively. This is an effective approach to emotional branding and it is very strategic because the bonds formed between the brand and the consumers is unique and difficult to replicate. But whether a branding approach appeals to ration or emotion, the overall effectiveness is dependent on the level of creativity and the extent to which the message resonates with the target audience.