What Do Consumers Really Want Out of Online Brands?

Co.Design notes how the old rules that have always worked with traditional advertising mediums like television or billboards don’t work online. Big brands have slashed investment in Facebook spending, opting instead to go bigger and louder and take over our screens, leading most of us to tune them out with things like ad blockers. So what about a brand does resonate with consumers?

They asked over 5,000 people around the world that very question, and the answers may surprise you. One major takeaway? People respond to four kinds of emotionally compelling content: funny, useful, beautiful and inspiring. The most successful online brands utilize all four.

Take Jaguar, for instance. Co.Design says the company’s “Good To Be Bad” campaign nailed parody and brought surprise and fun to what people perceived to be a stuffy brand.

Or how about Victoria’s Secret? When your models are known for having nearly unattainable figures, it makes it hard for consumers to relate. The lingerie giant solved that problem with their brand by tickling the funny bone, showing the models cutting up on Instagram or fouling up in blooper reels on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/UhdnndEVJKU
Many more examples are provided, and they’re not all multinational ones either. Worth a quick look!