In a world where companies are competing to grab eyeballs, brand love becomes critical to create strong emotional bonds with consumers , drive customer loyalty and higher engagement resulting in sustained business growth according to industry experts.

At a Knowledge session on Day 1 of Goafest 2023, the biggest festival of the advertising, media and marketing fraternity, Prabha Narasimhan, MD & CEO, Colgate-Palmolive India pointed out that brands need to deliver on their promise consistently. She was speaking at a session titled “Brand Love Suffering At The Altar Of Short Term Sale”

Asked about the “toolkit” to create brand love or brand preference, Narasimhan said, “The first part is that you need to have a product that delivers. If you make a promise to consumers, you need to deliver on that promise.The second key aspect is that there needs to be consistency in what the brand offers. For instance : If a brand promises value it must deliver value. If the brand promises cutting edge science, then the consumers are expecting the brand to deliver on cutting edge science even if the science may evolve.”

She added that brands need to also focus on communicating the proposition in a manner that it attracts attention in a fragmented world. “That’s the part I think that is really difficult because you can create the communication but you have to cut through a humongous amount of noise and degree of scepticism and cynicism,” Narasimhan pointed out.

Meanwhile, Hemant Malik - Divisional Chief Executive - ITC’s Foods Business pointed out that gauging consumer feedback is also an important aspect to strengthen brand equity. “Consumer insights become more important. Brands need to focus on insights related to consumers’ shopper behaviour, need states of consumers as well as the different kind of consumer cohorts you cager to. Today, brands have that kind of access to consumer feedback.”

Rohit Kapoor, CEO- Food Marketplace, Swiggy stressed on the need for brands to have clarity on what they stand for.

“We at Swiggy, for instance, stand for delivering unparalleled convenience to our consumers. Brands also need to be extremely agile to connect with the consumers at the right time and stay relevant,” he added.

Stating that the fundamentals of “brand love” have not changed, the panelists also spoke on the technological advances and their impact on the ecosystem.