The joy of not being sold anything

No-one needs advertising and consumers increasingly seek out channels or content experiences which allow us to bypass the advertising altogether.

So what can brands do about it?

Netflix has tested ads on its platform for its original content and its users were not pleased.

A Havas survey that looked into meaningful brands found that a lack of trust, attention and interest, and overall saturation of irrelevant content, led to low marketing engagement.

So we can change the adage “I know half my marketing works, but I don’t know which half”, to “I know half my marketing is annoying my customers, I just don’t know which half”.

This doesn’t spell the end for advertising or marketing.

It presents an opportunity; an opportunity to use marketing budgets to connect with people in a meaningful way.

To make their lives better. To make society better. To solve a real problem.

To create something consumers care for.

And to do this, it means we need to change how we think about consumers.

Step one is that we need to stop thinking of them as consumers and begin thinking of them as individuals.

A meaningful brand is defined by its impact on personal and collective wellbeing, plus its functional benefits.

And to communicate meaningfulness, you need content.

In the Havas survey, it reported that the correlation between how a brand performs on improving personal wellbeing and the strength of its content is 71%.

Great content is a great driver of personal wellbeing and therefore meaningfulness, and it needs to educate, inform, entertain, inspire, reward and help.

Here are two examples that beautifully demonstrate this:

Natty Light, a US college beer brand, is giving away $1m (R14.6m) in student debt relief

Dove Men+Care is using its voice to advocate for greater paternity leave

So it’s time to rethink content and entertain, tell stories, provide solutions and create experiences to remember.