“Digital is evolving very rapidly,” said Bodier. “Most of the growth in the smart phone and tablet market is in China, while Europe and the US are already saturated.”
In the food and beverage sector, under which dairy products fall, the undisputed king of social media is Coca-Cola, which has 53 million fans on Facebook.
“By comparison, milk has 100 followers on Facebook in France,” said Laurent Damiens, communications director of the French Dairy Council (CNIEL).
Bodier said that young people like interacting with drink brands on the internet in a fun and entertaining way: “This includes watching videos and content linked to sporting events like the Fifa World Cup and the Olympic Games.”
The funnel model of interacting with a brand has been replaced with a more sophisticated model representing brand loyalty, said Penny de Villiers, CEO of Impi Social Media. “In the past, it was believed that consumers started out by being aware of and considering a brand, gradually leading to a point where they purchased the product. The new way of thinking, as articulated by McKinsey’s ‘journey of the consumer’, is one of growing evaluation and consideration, leading to a loyalty loop, where customers are not only loyal, but also advocates of the brand.”
De Villiers emphasised the power of storytelling and that internet users want to engage with a brand in a more personal way than before.
“The hero is no longer the brand, but the audience,” she said. “There has been a shift from brand affinity to focusing on people and what they value. We should be helping people to become more heroic in their own lives.”
She mentioned the example of Pepsi, which had started an online campaign called Pepsi Refresh, which gave people a platform to post videos and suggest ideas about how to ‘green the planet’.
De Villiers said that companies who wanted to promote their brands online need to ask themselves the following questions: “What are the key building blocks of your brand, and what values do you want to defend? Brands need to live from the inside out. This includes how you treat your staff and how you treat your customers. There’s never been a better time to tell your story and there have never been more places to tell it.”
Dominique Poisson, head of media services at CNIEL, mentioned a recent TV and online campaign in France to promote milk to teenagers: “Research shows there has been a decrease in the consumption of milk in France among 15-to-24-year-olds. They associate it with their childhood as something that isn’t cool.”
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