Since the turn of the millennium, there have been thousands of books and articles assessing how the ways brands are built and marketed in the Internet age have changed. The most common thesis is that one should throw out all the old rules because digital marketing has completely changed the game. However, I have found that the first rule of branding is: never throw out all the rules. True, our digitally dominant world requires many new theories of customer segmentation, messaging and engagement. But as much as our technology changes, our emotional and cognitive capacity remains stubbornly human. As the Devo song points out:
Freedom of choice
is what you got.
Freedom from choice
is what you want.
I will stipulate that digital media is a magnificent new venue where brands can engage customers in ways never before imagined. Anyone with an Internet connection and a device can learn anything they want in seconds about a brand. Information is everywhere. But if information is what people seek about brands on line, they also seek an emotional refuge found in their pursuit of brand choices. This human need existed far before the advent of the digital age: reassurance.
While people like to believe that they are unique, and that they want brands that reflect their own individuality, the overwhelming majority end up aligning themselves with brand experiences that are very popular. That is—to paraphrase an old Reebok campaign—They seek the brand that let’s you be you (like everybody else).
Evidence of this phenomenon is found for brands of all kinds. Restaurant brands? Trip Advisor arranges its content not by what’s most unique or innovative, but rather by what’s most popular—what most people feel is a safe common denominator. (Up until a year ago, the top New York City restaurant on Trip Advisor was The Capital Grill—a chain.) What’s the top value gracing the promotional platform for the Toyota Camry? It’s reliability? It’s gas mileage? No. It’s the best selling car in America year after year. The Camry web page invites you to join the rest of the masses in experiencing the “Camry Effect.” Share your personal, individual stories about…all owning the same car.
The majority of humans cannot often act without the validation that comes from being in the majority. Nowhere is this more the case than in healthcare branding, where the inherent risks to one’s well-being posed by illness—and treated by therapeutic brands—compel people to play it safe and chose what everyone else is doing. Tylenol boasts that it is the number one choice of hospitals for pain relief. This despite clinical studies that show that Tylenol is inferior to other over-the-counter medications for relieving pain. Doctors and patients alike gravitate toward brands that represent the safe haven of popular choice. Avonex (interferon beta 1a) is the exact bioequivalent as three of its competitors, yet it is the leading choice among both audiences for treating multiple sclerosis. The brand value of mass appeal was so important to Biogen Idec that it incorporated it into the US logo for Avonex years ago:
When healthcare customers browse the web for details about a condition with which they or a friend has been diagnosed, or a therapeutic solution, they learn everything from facts to opinions to myths. Vaccines cause autism. Hand sanitizer diminishes your immune system, making you more vulnerable to disease. Ulcers are caused by an infection in the stomach lining. Hepatitis has no cure. And so on. People want information, and boy do they get it. So much stuff, and such confusing stuff, that they call into question their own ability to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is not surprising that one in this position would seek the safe harbor of the majority rather than embark on one’s own into less popular territory with its own confusing signs and signals. When people contract an illness, especially a chronic illness (i.e. one that they will have for the rest of their lives), they cease to become “consumers” in the accepted definition of “buyers.” The purchase of consumer goods and services is usually a celebration of self: hey, I got a new phone…car…Gucci bag! The purchase of a drug, therapy or health service is more often than not a protection of self. What people seek in a branded healthcare choice is their new normal: how much of their former selves can they preserve in light of a compromising illness.
Don’t get me wrong. Individual choice—what the digital world offers up in such easy and enticing ways—is still a factor when building a healthcare brand on line. My point is, don’t confuse the buying transaction of healthcare brands with the celebration of surfing on iTunes, selecting smartphone cases and finding just the right color of lipstick. If anything, it’s more of an Amazon model: people who bought X diabetes medicine also bought Y glucose monitor.
So if popularity happens to be an asset for your healthcare brand, then you should give serious consideration to showcasing that in all media, especially digital venues. And if your healthcare brand is not the most popular overall, consider segmenting your audience to discover for whom the brand is a safe harbor. Even if you are number three in the category, you could be number one with, say, women 30-50 who have a family history of the condition. Do this well, and you’ll probably move up the ladder overall. Be well. Stay safe.