How VitaminWater, Heinz and Chiquita Create Brand Loyalty with Customers

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One of the most consistent problems we see in marketing is a brand’s inability to have a conversation with their customers and prospects. By having a conversation with your customers and prospects, you create brand preference and brand loyalty.brain fuel

A brand has a conversation with its customers:

  • when it speaks in plain English, not corporate-speak;
  • when it talks about things that are important to its customer (not what’s important to the corporation), and
  • when it has a dialogue, not a monologue.

About a year ago, the 60 Second Marketer wrote a blog posting on Glaceau and the fun, conversational copy they use on their labels. If you read the label on a VitaminWater bottle, you’ll notice that it reads more like a dialogue than a monologue.

heinzAnother company that uses this approach is Chiquita. They don’t have a large label for their product, so they’ve added short, snappy phrases on their labels that promote the benefits of the product. Each label is designed to leave a positive impression about the product and the brand in the mind of the consumer.

And, of course, there’s Heinz. For years, Heinz has been putting memorable, clever lines on their ketchup bottles. Their intent is to create a brand personality that stays with the consumer well past their purchase experience. After all, a brand isn’t just about positioning anymore, it’s about your experience with the product.

If you really want to create brand loyalty, you should ask yourselves the following questions:

  1. Am I using a conversational tone in all my marketing copy?
  2. Does my marketing copy have a personality that I can identify just by reading it?
  3. Does my copy sound as though I’m sitting at lunch or at a bar having a conversation with someone?
  4. Have I eliminated any words on my copy that smack of corporate-speak?
  5. Would my CFO be frightened by the casual tone of my copy? (NOTE: You want the CFO to be frightened by the casual tone of your copy. That’s why they’re not copywriters.)

When you have a conversation with your customers, you’re creating loyalty. Think of your relationship with your customer as a friendship. That’ll get you in the proper mindset for writing copy that’s fun, engaging and readable.

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Time Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, 6:00 am   |   CategoryGeneral Marketing, Glaceau  |  RssRSS feed |  CommentRespond  |  TrackbackTrackback

  • http://thelostjacket.com Stuart Foster

    I wish more brands would just wake up to the fact that this is so obvious. A brand HAS to have a conversation with its customers.

  • http://www.60SecondMarketer.com Jamie Turner

    I’m in total agreement, Stuart. I’m perplexed when I see copy that’s written as though an engineer wrote it (nothing against engineers). In the meantime, since not everyone is using conversational copy, the brands that do have one more thing that differentiates them.

    Best,
    Jamie

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