WHAT DIGITAL BRANDS DO DIFFERENTLY AND BETTER

Digital Brand Transformation

A recent study shows that digital brands not only do things differently, but also think completely differently.

While traditional brands focus on positioning their brands in the minds of their customers, digital brands focus on positioning their brands in the lives and everyday lives of their customers.

Furthermore, they bind customers as "users" and not just as pure "buyers" and invest a large part of their advertising expenditure in after-sales service. As part of the study, an online survey was conducted among more than 5,000 consumers and they were asked about 50 different brands, both digital and traditional.

Significant differences were found between older/traditional brands and newcomer/digital brands, illustrated by different brand twins. (Airbnb vs Hilton/Marriott | Dollar Club vs Gillette |Red Bull vs Coca-Cola |Tesla vs BMW |etc.)

Brand Transformation

For classic brands, the statement "is a brand that people look up to" was rated higher. In the case of newcomer brands, everyone rated the statement "makes my life easier" higher.

The difference in brand perception shows the focus of digital brands on the positioning in the customer's everyday life and the actual benefit the customer experiences when using the product

Similar differences also existed in the way in which people's brand perception is formed and reinforced. Respondents heard about traditional brands mostly through advertising and traditional media and about digital brands more often through social media and direct Word of Mouth recommendations.

Based on these findings, the brands were divided into two different clusters: Buying brands and usage brands.

buying brands vs. user brands

Buying brands focus on creating demand for the pure purchase of the product, while usage brands focus on creating demand for the use of the product.

The example of a classic make-up department of a department store makes it clearer. The whole focus is on buying the product with the help of patterns and professional styling. In contrast, Sephora, for example, offers tutorials, application tips and a community to help people feel good and safe when using make-up at home.

Buying brands emphasize advertising; user brands are more likely to "lobby".

Vail Resorts, for example, has redesigned its entire marketing strategy. It is a social network for skiers, using performance data and photos as social currencies that skiers want to share with their friends. While most other resorts focus on promoting their snowmaking skills and offering discounts on lift passes.

Buying brands care about what they say to their customers themselves; user brands care about what customers say to each other.

For example, where traditional hotels place more emphasis on content in their advertising, Airbnb places more emphasis on the content generated and shared by hosts and guests through their experiences.

Buying brands try to influence what people think about the brand on the way to purchase; Usage brands influence how people experience the brand at each brand touch point.

Apple Stores are an example of this shift. Where other stores focus on one purchase, Apple Retail Stores are all about having a unique brand experience.

The simplest conclusion now would be that traditional brands are buying brands and digital brands are consuming brands.
For the most part, this is true, although there are exceptions, such as Visa, FedEx, Lego and Costco, which have many of the characteristics of consumer brands.

They have a direct influence on the type of products and services, the corporate culture and the characteristics of the business model. The use-oriented mentality of these companies results from the mindset of seeing customers less as one-time buyers and more as users or members with an ongoing brand-to-customer relationship.

The real difference between buying and usage brands is shown by the "moments of truth" method, which has become a cornerstone of customer experience design.