Brand Activation: What It Is and Its Role in Brand Building

Regardless of your business’s size, you’d want to be a crowd favourite because it indicates growth, more business opportunities, and a positive reputation. It also means that you have a unique competitive advantage that no other company can replicate. 

However, seeing your customers not accept or be unfamiliar with your newest product or brand can be frustrating. For this reason, you need brand activation. It means analysing your product’s core values and finding ways to give it life and make it popular. This comprehensive process also involves evoking positive feelings in your customers. 

If you want to enjoy a successful marketing campaign, this article will discuss brand activation, how it works, how to do it, and some crucial things to remember.

What Are the Main Principles of Brand Activation?

Brand activation strategies must emotionally connect with the consumer and use an idea to awaken their passion for the brand. This principle will motivate them to purchase the product and establish a relationship with the company. 

What Are the Advantages of Brand Activation? 

Businesses can benefit from brand activation because it can help them revitalise their brand, minimise distortion, support advertising claims, and make the brand more prominent. It also helps them provide consumer feedback and convey their positioning.

What Are the Disadvantages?

While this process can benefit businesses regardless of their size, it also has its fair share of drawbacks. Brand activation can be challenging for company owners to measure its success, and there may be no initiative to roll out the strategy. 

How Does It Work?

Let’s cite an example to help you understand brand activation better. Shell uses its partnership with Ferrari to activate its VPower Brand. When the oil company links itself to the luxury auto manufacturer, the former tries to connect emotionally with the consumer. This connection brings prestige and engine cleaning power to the VPower brand, which evokes an emotional response in the consumer. 

4 Ways to Activate Your Brand 

After discussing the main principles, pros and cons, and how branding activation works, here are four ways to activate your brand. 

1. Organise Events and Seminars

Organising significant events can help a brand to create a positive image in the potential customers’ minds. It lets them showcase the brand’s products and services and answer questions. This strategy will also help them build trusting relationships with the consumers. Moreover, these events allow them to engage with customers, listen to their feedback, and use the responses to improve their products or services. 

2. Implement Promotional Marketing

Promotional marketing is an effective way to raise product awareness and generate sales. Businesses use tactics like loyalty programs, special offers, celebrity endorsements, samplings, competitions, and point-of-sale displays. 

3. Launch Retail Marketing

Retail marketing means persuading customers to select a specific product or brand. It creates an image of the product and emphasises the advantages consumers will gain from buying it. You can attain this strategy by using attractive designs, unique shelves for promotions, and placing displays in easy-to-access locations. 

4. Evaluate Brand Activation

When creating a brand activation plan, you should prioritise dialoguing between your company and its customers. After all, it’s an opportunity to let your business develop a tangible presence.

What Should Brand Managers Do? 

Brand managers must clearly understand their target audience and what values resonate with them. Then, they should create an action plan outlining the steps to reach their goals. This plan should show what activities to do and which ones to avoid to promote their brand successfully and achieve the desired results.

Conclusion

Brand activation lets businesses build customer loyalty, increase brand awareness, and boost sales. Creating interactive experiences and working with a reputable branding agency can help you build lasting customer relationships and enjoy a more successful marketing strategy. 

If your business needs professional brand activation in Dublin, Ireland, work with Brand Elevation! We are a results-driven agency that specialises in brand activation and promotional materials. Contact us now to get started!