Consumer Engagement Building Sustainable Brands in 2020 and Beyond

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The 20,000 Foot View:  Brands have an ongoing engagement problem. No matter how much data they use or how targeted they go, competition is fierce, consumer attention is saturated, and all usage comes at the expense of time spent elsewhere. With the ubiquity of advertising, brand choices are as much a personal statement by the consumer to their peers as a testament to trust and loyalty in a company. Brand engagement – allowing consumers to collaborate with, own, and feel at home amidst the community of their fellow brand devotees – has enabled a new type of audience community that can survive market hardships and ensure lower levels of churn.

Key Insights

• In a saturated attention economy, when all attention spent is at the expense of other propositions, served advertisements are disruptive and steal priceless user time
       of consumers normally stop paying attention when ads come on, rising to        of the music-listening passive majority and        of the passive majority of gamers
• If able, most consumers choose not to watch ads:        skip video ads online, rising to        of music listeners,        of TV viewers and        of games players
• However, sentiment plays a role, with        of consumers not skipping relevant ads rising to        of music streamers,        of binge viewers, and        of games video viewers
• In a        shutdown, working from home and social isolation means home entertainment has a potential        of workers’ extra time to fill
• Brands need true loyalty and fandom amongst their audiences, so that they are chosen to be kept amidst a recession-driven expense cull
• Consumer messaging must build fandom and enable fans to play a role in the development of their own brand communities
• Audience-led brand communities drive personal satisfaction and result in greater loyalty and brand sentiment 
• Brands can optimise their positioning in relation to other content types and brands that their audiences enjoy to facilitate flourishing, loyal and growing communities 

Companies and brands mentioned in this report:   Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Fortnite, The Mandalorian, Marshmello, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Peacock, Rick and Morty, Star Wars, Twitch, Un:hurd, Universal Music Group, The Witcher, YouTube