Get Set America for the Product Era.

Back in the day when I worked for General Mills, and we’re talking late nineties here, it was not uncommon for advertising creative to generate a 6-10% uplift in sales. Oh, happy days, because today’s marketing commentators have a different story to tell.

In 2019, Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Proctor & Gamble declared that ‘the days of advertising as we know it are numbered’, advising that we must ‘plan for a world without ads.'

He may have been reading ‘The Long & Short of It’, by Peter Field and Les Binet, which make it abundantly clear that marketing campaigns are losing impact. They blamed a shift towards short term activation at the expense of long-term brand building.

And just before the pandemic struck, WPP told The New York Times that these are ‘dangerous days for advertisers’, adding that ‘shifts in viewing habits, commercial impressions in the most viewable, highest-attention media are in free fall across the world.”

No wonder then, that in an exclusive survey for MMR conducted in September 2021, 45% of CPG professionals agree that brand building will become more difficult.

But there is a way forward for America’s top consumer brands. With many marketing commentators predicting a surge in ‘sensory seekers’ – people wired for new experiences – product development professionals have an opportunity to push past standard liking metrics and create products that are far more engaging and memorable.

As a result of the pandemic, people are going to place even greater value on experiences in their lives. The last 18 months have deprived us of so much that many grocery items were bought in order to fill a void. In future, this expectation of experience is going to filter down to everyday consumer goods. I expect that the Post Corona American will want to be wowed, surprised, and thrilled by what they find in their grocery store. They will want an elevated product experience that makes life a little more satisfying.

To grow core ranges, America’s greatest brands will need more than a new flavor or format. I anticipate demand for supercharged innovation that is capable of swooning Generation Z - famous for their preference of experiences over stuff.

So, to make a lasting impression with your product, it is time to tune into the work of psychologists, who report that people tend to only remember the peak of an experience, and how it ends. Moreover, exceptional peaks have the power to lift residual memory of the whole experience – even if the bulk of it was unremarkable.

Post Corona, America’s legacy brands have a valuable and unexpected chance to reassert themselves and reward people’s display of affection. And that time is now!

Dr Sara Bru Garcia of MMR’s Behavioral Science think tank remarks that ‘In 2020, high levels of stress and anxiety caused a shift towards habitual shopping behavior in a bid to reduce uncertainty. But as we move into the Post Corona era, we can see that people’s preference for legacy brands will wane.’

Challenger brands have every chance of bouncing back and even surpassing their pre-pandemic momentum. Many commentators talk about ‘huge pent-up demand for newness.’

Coincidently, in our survey CPG professionals, 61% agree that sales growth will become harder over the next 18 months. Creating elevated user experiences for the future will help brand hold on to recent increases in penetration and loyalty.