These days, it can be challenging to find a love that lasts. And for brands navigating increased competition, evolved consumer preferences, and rapid digital advancements, a little extra TLC is needed to cultivate long-term connections.
It’s no secret that the brand-and-consumer relationship has evolved greatly in recent years. Increased competition means consumers can be more selective about who they engage with, while the crowded and fast-paced media landscape poses as much of a challenge as it does opportunity. With brands — and their competitors — able to reach consumers 24/7, they need to be more compelling than ever in this fight for attention and work hard to maintain trust once consumers choo-choo-choose them. Suffice to say, strong connections in this day and age are earned, not guaranteed.
With so many other fish in the sea, a brand must put its whole heart into building a relationship with its consumer on a deeper, more meaningful level – just like FCB Chicago did for Dramamine.
A Relationship Success Story: Dramamine
When FCB Chicago and Dramamine teamed up to develop “The Last Barf Bag”, they understood that the key to the consumer’s heart was through… their stomach?
The idea for this campaign came about when FCB learned of the decline of the humble barf bag. Turns out, an entire sub-culture was at risk of being eradicated, perhaps due to the high effectiveness of anti-nausea treatments like Dramamine.
“We found an incredible coincidence that barf bags and Dramamine were both invented in 1949," says Monique Kaplan, Executive Creative Director at FCB Chicago. “Naturally, we then became obsessed with barf bags. We uncovered a whole world of the barf bag industry and barf bag collectors. We knew we had to tell this story in the most charming and authentic way. And we brought it to clients proactively. If we want clients to buy brave work, we have to be brave enough to bring it.”
To pay homage to an unintended victim of Dramamine’s success, FCB Chicago and Prestige Healthcare, a leading consumer healthcare products company, created “The Last Barf Bag: A Tribute to a Cultural Icon.” The documentary introduces the world to doctors, pilots, historians, collectors, brand managers, suppliers, flight attendants, and even regular people discussing their barf-worthy experiences. The campaign also included a pop-up barf bag exhibition in New York City, as well as a limited-edition collection of reimagined and repurposed barf bags to pay tribute to a once iconic part of our culture and history, while also filling barf bags with new purpose.
This multi-faceted campaign elevated Dramamine from a simple nausea remedy to a brand with a relatable, fun identity, fostering a deeper emotional connection with its consumer beyond its functional purpose.
“We always knew that the brand had this quirky, lovable strand of DNA. And with a household name that everyone knew, we didn't have to do heavy leg work of explaining the brand to our audience,” Kaplan expands. “Consumers crave content that makes them laugh and feel good, and that was our north star. Tell a lighthearted story that only our brand could tell.”
Pillars of an Ever-Lasting Relationship
We spoke with Randi Jachino, Vice President Marketing at Prestige Consumer Healthcare about this campaign, and the brand pillars for maintaining strong consumer relationships.
Understanding & Empathy
Jachino emphasizes that empathy and understanding are essential in establishing a strong brand-consumer relationship. “Truly understand your consumer and their lives –– even beyond your product and specific category usage.” Brands must invest time into developing a deeper understanding of their consumers to identify what emotionally drives them. The relationship is a two-way street — consumers can tell when a brand doesn’t truly “get” them.
Differentiation
Consumers have more options than ever, making it important for brands to find ways to stand out. “Have a POD (Point of Difference) for your brand and a ‘why,’” says Jachino. “Ideally, it would be a product difference AND an emotional one. The functional benefit solves a need — or a want — while the emotional component helps you build a relationship.”
Effective Communication
Everything comes down to strong and effective communication. Brands must translate consumer insights and their own differentiators into succinct and compelling messaging that reaches their target audiences. And this communication should not stop after an initial “love-at-first-sight” connection. Jachino notes, “continue to reinforce those messages — even to your current consumers.”
Preventing Lovesickness: Nurturing the Relationship
Like any successful relationship, brand-consumer connections require continuous nurturing. “Think of it like a best friend that you have had for 10 years,” says Jachino. “You know you can count on them to sound and act a certain way… but it’s also evolving over time.” Relationships naturally evolve, but the key to making them last is remaining authentic. “Brands are so much like people,” Jachino expands. “And the people that everyone always gravitates to are those that are authentically themselves and not trying to be something they’re not.” Brands must embrace evolution while still staying true to their core values to maintain consumer trust.
Bring on the Passion
According to Jachino, passion is critical. “There have been three times in my 20+ year career, at three different companies, where I really felt ‘brand love’ status. When I look back on those three experiences, it not only includes everything I’ve previously mentioned, but also the people around me on the entire team — people who are passionate about the brand.”
In the case of the “Last Barf Bag,” passion was spewed across the whole team. The success of this campaign came down to this: “The Prestige team and FCB Chicago truly understood our consumer and our brand — to the point where it had a voice and story to tell, and we realized this was the way to tell it,” says Jachino. “When you can sign on with your agency to develop a short film with minimal details before shooting, it’s because all of us (including the directors and producers) were clearly 1000% understanding our brand, our consumer — and we all trusted each other.”
Check out “The Last Barf Bag” short film documentary below and keep an eye out for more success stories as part of an ongoing brand-consumer love series.