When people think about any product they desire or need, they tend to think about a brand in specific most of the time. This thought of the brand varies among different people. A good example is when people think about beer, which beer comes to their mind first? In my case, the first beer that comes into my mind is Corona Extra. Why is that? When I was starting in Marketing, I started by promoting and doing events in different bars to increase sales. In two weeks, we had Corona Extra as a sponsor of the small company we were beginning. They started investing in us by bringing live bands, decorations, boxes of beers, and other promotional elements for our events. I started to learn what Corona Extra is as a brand, what its purpose is, and how experiencing it will change my point of view of the brand. I went to many events of the brand; most of them were on the beach, and they all had the “chill and relaxed” type of vibe. After that stage of my life, I still think of Corona as my go-to beer whenever I’m about to order one. Sometimes, I don’t order a Corona, but it is always at the top of my mind in that scenario. This phenomenon is called the positioning.
Based on Forbes.com, brand positioning is the process of getting your brand out there and establishing it as something worth thinking about. On the other hand, Philip Korter, a marketing author, consultant, and professor, says that brand positioning is the art of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target audience. It is an abstract concept that only an individual will experience with itself, like the example I provided about Corona Extra. How can a brand achieve this? How can a brand position itself in someone’s mind whenever it thinks about a certain product or service when there are different products that probably do the same “work”?
When I started to do the events with the crew, there were more companies doing the same, and we knew that. We started thinking about what we could do that could be different than the competitors, something that would be front to them. The answer was doing the events in bars near colleges and targeting that campus or campuses near the bar. We focused on college students who are looking to hang out close to their residence or who want to get out of class and go somewhere close to have a drink without making too much effort. We started doing these events in one bar on Wednesdays, which was before the weekend, which was when all the competitors would do their events. With this said, the location was practical for the target audience, and the day was strategic since the promotions were around the message, “We reach the middle of the week. Let’s chill before we end this week strong.” Somehow, this message was viral. The first day I remember, I finger counted 82 people; the second day, there were almost 150 people; after a month, the events started to get more than 300+ people. Corona started to give more since they saw the movement and saw the opportunity to penetrate a new market for them. New people started drinking Corona and started going out on Wednesdays religiously. We noticed that we started to create better experiences for them, like new decorations, live bands, cocktails, rewards, competitions, and others that will vary per week.
After months of these events, the bar started to get more traffic daily and generate more revenue, and also Corona Extra increased volume sales in that area, not only because of the high demand for Corona during the events but because this same target audience will go to other places to drink and will start ordering Corona because of the “Chill and relaxed” message that corona and the events have. We help Corona Extra and the bar called El Varadero penetrate a new market by introducing a way of living and experiences that will make them feel that it is needed every week to slow down the week’s pace by drinking a Corona with their classmates and/or friends.
We did this without knowing anything about marketing. We were a group of friends in their early 20s who wanted to do “cool” things, and without knowing, we presented the brand personality of Corona and El Varadero to a target audience that would identify themselves with it.
Based on investomedia.com, brand personality is a set of human characteristics commonly used to shape or define the tone of the voice for a brand’s communication, such as advertisement, packaging, employee image, and more. Brand personality completely differs from imagery, though the creative assets should show or portray the company’s brand personality. Defining the right brand personality will help to resonate with the right consumers. Usually, consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand if its personality is similar to theirs.
The five main human elements or characteristics of a positive brand personality (image taken from looka.com)
When doing the events for Corona Extra and El Varadero, our small company was identified as part of the Corona Extra events crew. We were able to deliver the message using social media, flyers, and word of mouth, presenting all these elements. We were honest, we knew all our crowd at some point, we always heard their feedback and applied it, we always maintained positivity with our customers, and we always made things we said happen. Every Wednesday, we will show the process of assembling the music equipment. We will also show the boxes of Corona extra being delivered to the store and try to communicate the excitement of “check this out; you can’t miss this Wednesday event.” Our crowd knew who we were; we created this “movement” with friends, and they were showing how successful we were in our first gig. People started supporting us, and sometimes, they would even come to help get everything ready for that day. They will see us before they arrive at the bar, and they will never see us leaving. Our competence was there. Since we know a lot of the people who were customers, we will always give some random exclusivity to those who were regulars. We were never a high-end bar, but we tend to maintain the crowd with certain demographics so they can feel they are not “anywhere.” In terms of sophistication, every quarter, we will bring a stage, sofas, and other features that will transform the event into one for sophistication. This way, it will not always be the same. This will make each Wednesday adventurous and unconventional. The bar was half indoor and half outdoor, and you will encounter many people you see on campus but don’t know. So, you have the adventure of meeting more people than you have seen before or that you have only seen in class.
We did something without knowing what we were doing.
Check the environment at the event (Click here)
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