The most powerful brands in the world are relationship brands like Apple and Harley Davidson. These are brands that people feel such a strong emotional connection with that they’re not only extremely loyal but they’re also extremely vocal about that loyalty. Social media marketing and content marketing make it easier than ever for companies to build relationships with consumers that lead to brand loyalty and advocacy, but Strauss Food Group of Israel took the concept of connecting consumers to its brand a bit further in Israel.
Instead of just saying that consumer relationships are important to Strauss, the company showed it by making consumers part of its logo. Check out the picture below to see how Strauss did it.
There are 180,000 surnames in Israel, and Strauss (with its advertising agency, Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R) made each and every one of those surnames part of its logo. Strauss markets itself as a family company, and the idea of sharing the logo with consumers was intended to make people feel like they’re part of the Strauss family, too.
The surname logos appeared in all marketing media, including billboards, print, online, and more. Importantly, Strauss didn’t forget the importance of building and retaining internal brand advocates. The company created posters using surnames of employees and displayed them around the Strauss offices and factories.
The campaign launched in March and Strauss reports already seeing an increase in the amount of time people spend on the company’s website, and the amount of interactivity on its site, particularly on what Strauss refers to as its online customer involvement platform, has also grown.
Of course, this type of promotion works best with a logo that is recognized by its icon without the company name attached to it. Without established brand identity recognition, the campaign wouldn’t attract the same level of attention and interest. In fact, it might go unnoticed entirely.
What do you think of the Strauss campaign? Could you do this with your logo? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
An interesting idea, we may consider incorporating customers into our own logo, not sure exactly how though.