Kolbrener has always argued that stirring the hearts of prospects and customers is not the sole province of consumer brands — in fact, we've been downright evangelical about the importance of emotionally appealing brands for B-to-B companies. With our own clients, we have shown again and again that even businesses in outwardly "unlovable" industries experience benefits when their brands become more robust and more emotionally engaging.
Our rhetoric — and practices — were corroborated recently at "B-to-B Marketing: Beyond Best Practice to Next Practice," a conference hosted by the Study of Business Markets (ISBM). Speakers at the two-day event consistently talked about the strategic and financial benefits of emotionally appealing brands. And Ellis Booker, editor of BtoB magazine, echoed the advice we've long given to clients in the title of his March 12, 2007 article summarizing the conference: "Emotional connection with brand is important."
The opening day keynote at the conference was delivered by Philip Kotler, the S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He pointed out the many advantages of a strong brand, including higher prices for products and services, lower customer turnover, healthier supplier relationships, and even better employee retention. He added, however, that while most B-to-B companies think they have strong, well-managed brands, few really do. Kotler's valuable insights can be found in his recent book, B2B Brand Management.
But does emotional appeal really strengthen B-to-B brands? D. Keith Pigues, VP of Marketing at Cemex, offered proof that it does when he talked about repositioning the global cement and concrete provider's brand. After an integrated, one-year campaign to move the brand away from a purely rational value proposition to a "rational plus emotional" position emphasizing spectacular customer applications of concrete, the company increased sales volume by 229% and profit by 201%.
Ralph Oliva, ISBM's executive director, enunciated the conference's recurring theme in a passage quoted by Booker: "The challenge we have as B-to-B marketers is to lead our firms to really understand the left brain impact of what we do — the emotional contact we have with customers, the emotional impact of our brand, how to measure that and make it better and stronger."
In another presentation, John Fleming, principal and chief scientist at the Gallup Organization, said that "satisfying customers is not sufficient," and explained that customers who are "passionate" about a brand deliver two times the profitability of average customers. Similarly, company performance improves when employees feel emotionally connected to a brand.
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