Lion CMO Anubha Sahasrabuddhe – “How To Make Consumers Respond To Your Brand”

In this guest post, CMO at Lion, Anubha Sahasrabuddhe (lead image), offers her pro tips to ensure your brand stands out when consumers are confronted with too much marketing noise…

The challenge with maintaining relevance in Australia

In the 18 months since I have returned to Australia, I have wrestled with the paradox of being both excited about the opportunity to connect with consumers with new cultural codes, and at the same time, frustrated with how little things have evolved with how our industry is contributing to shaping culture.

The fact is Australia has witnessed enormous change in even just the time I have been back – from inflation and rising costs to frequent episodes of extreme weather, to the increasing voice of our next generation on issues of gender, equality, and our role in the world. Coping with these rapid changes, among other nuances of cultural shifts, has all contributed to the landscape we live in now, where the value of local relevance, provenance and transparency for brands cannot be underestimated.

My view is: no matter what the prevailing headlines for the week, month or year, having ongoing relevance remains the most important thing to aspire to as a brand. For many (including my own organisation), this means having to get a lot more savvy about how they demonstrate their relevance to Aussies in their everyday life, as well as showing up in moments of culture. My experience has shown that brands need to listen to the consumer and stay tuned with their needs and expectations and how they evolve. Consumers in Australia are far from homogenous, when businesses and marketers really understand this and can act on it – this is where the impact can be amplified and we get in sync culturally.

Brands with legacy

Brands have to be humble and hungry to stay relevant, so what does this mean for brands with decades of legacy to their name? I believe that a brand’s DNA can’t be changed fundamentally, but the opportunity for brands is to evolve through timely understanding of context and culture.

In fact, for brands with heritage, there’s an advantage in being able to look back on its foundation and history to inform and guide how they show up in the present day and create a compelling case for its ‘why’ for the next generation of consumers. Take Nike for example, which has leveraged its scale and meaning with its core consumers to support cultural issues on diversity that align with its key audience.

For longstanding brands in Australia, there’s the opportunity to get the local context and culture really on point. Consumers are keenly scrutinising, curating and weighing in on many issues they feel strongly about, and this influence is changing their behaviours and impacting the way we need to reach and engage with them. For example, the alcohol industry has seen a huge shift in favour of the mindful drinking movement, and brands are responding with products that align with new attitudes. It’s through this lens that brands will start to create the change that resonates and eventually recruit new consumers.

Cultivating authenticity

While diversity has been a buzz word for our industry, many brands are still caught in using messaging that lacks inclusivity and holding onto old cliches when speaking to their customers. Working in an alcohol company, we recognise the need and our responsibility in shaping change that will help us connect with the next generation of drinkers. We are far from perfect – but change starts with the courage of one to inspire the many, and whilst cynics will think what they want, as businesses we can and will continue to move conversations forward instead being stuck out of fear and trying nothing.

With continued growth in the last decade, craft beer is a great example of how relevance can help brands perform, both in the beer industry and beyond. Craft beer is a category born out from a lack of diversity in the mainstream beer market and it continues to grow because there is such synergy in the values of the brand, its consumers and its community.  The most successful craft beers exhibit many of the qualities we have mentioned – humble, always listening and evolving with its consumer to ensure it’s in step with what matters to deliver a whole brand experience not just a product. Understanding the values of Australians today is key for brands. Leaning into consumer needs will help brands connect with more credibility and less cringey tokenism.

Building cultural meaning and distinctiveness for your brand is a privilege when marketers have both the humility to respect the past and the courage to forge a vibrant future by understanding the expectations of consumers and the communities in which they live. It may sound obvious, but the most successful brands that continue to stand the test of time are those that mirror deep human truths and have value resonance. Evolving as a brand doesn’t need outlandish gestures to grab attention. When bringing consumers along the journey to change, each brand has to find the right way to play at the edge of their culture, but not be afraid to take risks.