Your ultimate marketing goal is behavior change — for the simple reason that nothing matters unless it results in a shift in consumer actions. This might seem obvious but more often than not, marketing objectives are seldom cast in terms of behavioral modification. Said another way, if the objective of your strategy is X then consumers will need to do Y and Z. Once you are clear on actions the consumer must take, the rest...
Sound strategy is the province of brand and category leaders who influence culture and transform lives — bending the market in their direction while doing it. This is all too rare.
For the last 50 years CPG and retail brand building has been focused on chasing awareness. The theory is that top-of-funnel recognition will lead to consideration, and if the brand is persuasive while spiraling further down the funnel, a consumer purchase will occur. Leave it to the impact of evolving culture and the presence of existential, environmental threats to shift behaviors and push the funnel off its pedestal. A distinctive new path to brand building...
For a brand message to have any real impact, to influence behavior and seed advocacy, it requires more than awareness and publicity. It must advance a relevant higher purpose, cause or belief system that people who share your brand values can quickly resonate to. Only then will your message create any lasting marketplace advantage.
