This, perhaps, has never been more evident than in the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shot in the back in midtown Manhattan as he was walking to an investor conference. A 262-word manifesto found in the possession of the suspect now in custody appears to confirm early speculation that frustration with health insurance coverage was, at least in part, behind the shooting.

More telling, this act of violence unleashed a torrent of angry, odious vitriol denouncing the health insurance industry. This outpouring of venomous opinion got to the point that it became front-page news in major media outlets like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, sitting alongside breaking coverage of the manhunt for the killer.

The healthcare industry knows that it is poorly perceived. A recent Gallup poll found only 44% rate healthcare quality as good or excellent, down every year since 2020 and well below the high this century of 62% in both 2010 and 2012.

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Science, too, has taken a hit in recent years. A Pew survey last year found that confidence in “science” has been steadily declining since 2020 — among both Republicans and Democrats.

But it’s not just healthcare. For two decades, the National Customer Rage Study, conducted under the auspices of Arizona State University, has been tracking dissatisfaction with brands and customer service. The most recent survey found 74% of consumers reported at least one problem with a product or service during the previous year. This is a record percentage, way more than double the 32% reporting a problem in a 1976 White House survey and nearly double the 39% on average reporting a problem over the first four waves of this study from 2003 to 2007.

The National Customer Rage Study also finds that 63% of those with a problem became extremely angry — a.k.a.: enraged — when trying to get the problem resolved. Do the multiplication, and it’s almost half of Americans who get pissed off about some product or service every year. By comparison, that same multiplication two decades ago finds just 28% enraged then. Anger is more commonplace than before.

This frustration is about trust. The trust equation is simple. People trust experts and institutions when they perceive there is an alignment of interests. Which is to say people want to feel reassured and confident that their interests are being advanced not shortchanged when experts and institutions maximize their interests. Much of the disconnect these days comes from a feeling of misalignment — from the perception that experts and institutions are pursuing their own interests at the expense of others.

This is certainly what’s in evidence in the anti-health insurance bombasts that have abounded on social media since Thompson’s murder. “Thoughts and deductibles to the family…Unfortunately, my condolences are out-of-network,” read one particularly hateful comment in a CNN thread.

This is a difficult situation for brands. In the strategic choice between value-add and value-out, brands are often forced into the latter. During the worst of the post-pandemic inflationary spike, many FMCG brands had to engage in shrinkflation to hold unit prices. Private equity owners often saddle portfolio companies with so much debt that brands have no choice but to reduce the quality and scope of their offerings in order to stay afloat. In the natural progression of greater cost efficiencies, companies have turned more and more to outsourcing and tech-assisted DIY options for customer service, which has seeded untold numbers of memes about wasted time and unresolved problems.

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While technology has improved many points of interaction between brands and consumers, it has also created more ways to annoy, frustrate, and anger people. The more technology is applied, the more risks that emerge. For example, with social media now used as a customer service platform, consumers are newly at risk from imposters posing as online service agents who then steal information and money.

And not just social media. It’s the whole array of things that can create frustration and annoyance, whether IVR (interactive voice responder) or chatbots or outsourcing. Not to mention data breaches and hackers.

The biggest challenge for brands, though, is other brands, which can poison the waters for all. People angered by one brand often carry over that foul mood and mistrust to every brand. Sullen customers are more likely to act out no matter what a brand does. Indeed, it is often the case that some small glitch with a brand is the proverbial last straw. It’s not the brand in that moment — it’s everything else leading up to that moment, especially other brands. Increasingly, this is the consumer that brands encounter, which is difficult and costly.

It’s discouraging to realize that incivility is the backdrop of life nowadays. But that is the situation in which people find themselves. The litany of incivility is long and onerous. Road rage shootings and mass shootings are up. Hate crime incidents and school bomb threats are up. Unruly airline passenger incidents and speeding-related auto fatalities are up. Swearing at work is up. So, too, being treated rudely by work colleagues. Obviously, this is not everyone. But it’s the context within which everyone must navigate their daily lives. And it keeps people on edge. To say it again, this is the consumer that brands encounter.

Brands have always been a positive, uplifting influence on culture and society. The best advertising is aspirational. The best products improve lives. The best entertainments enrich the world.

Making things better by solving problems is the very essence of marketing. It’s needed more than ever. We’ve just gotten another wake-up call about it. Time now to recommit our brands to pleasing people, not pissing people off even more.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing at Kantar

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The study of attention across channels, creative and measurement is thorough and ongoing. This first thought piece in a three-part series here on Branding Strategy Insider complements this research with a perspective on the consumer experience. Which is all about clutter. Well before consumers can attend to ads they must deal with clutter. The challenge of clutter is navigation, as discussed here in part one. Part two is about the ripple effects of clutter, which give rise to delegation. The brand imperative is reciprocity, as outlined in part three.

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The consumer gripe is clutter. Not ads. Consumers like ads and dislike clutter. Increasingly, though, it can be hard to separate one from the other. Ads come clad in clutter—the unfortunate but unavoidable consequence of our overfull information (AKA: knowledge) society. The shopping journey is a jaunt through clutter. What consumers encounter is mostly clutter. Clearing a way through clutter is how consumers pay attention to ads.

The related concept of the attention economy—and its corollary elements of overload, scarcity, storage, processing and technology fixes—was first articulated by Turing and Nobel awards recipient Herbert Simon in 1971 as part of a conference panel on computers and communications.

In 1988, educational psychologist John Sweller showed that learning could be improved by reducing the cognitive load involved in problem-solving. People must throttle their attention to keep from being overwhelmed by overload. It’s not getting easier.

The quantity of information and data bits vying for attention is growing multiplicatively. While the number of ads consumers are exposed to each day is far short of 10,000 (yes, I am person zero for that flawed viral figure—long story), digital media and channel proliferation mean more ads than ever. Not to mention more entertainments, SKUs and stores.

It is not in the nature of marketers to hold back. Consider virtuoso Atlanta adman Joel Babbitt who once lamented the wasted billboard space on the sides of stray dogs. When he ran marketing for the 1996 Olympics, he sparked a global outcry with his plan—ultimately vetoed—to launch a gigantic metallic billboard into geosynchronous orbit to promote the event.

Nor is it good business to hold back—to stay competitive, more requires even more in response. Without crossover synergies from multiple touchpoints, channels and outlets, ad campaigns underperform.

IDC estimates two zettabytes of data were created worldwide in 2010, versus 64.2 in 2020 and 181 projected in 2025 (up from its earlier projection of 175). But the bigger part of cognitive load is density not number. Data flows are now much richer in quality and require greater interaction and response. All of which expends more of one’s limited reserve of cognitive energy.

The solution for consumers is better navigation. At the turn of the century, some counterintuitive research had a clickbait moment with findings that too much product choice is demotivating. This academic work got a real-world test post-financial crisis. Many retailers tried to jumpstart sales by slimming down choices. Walmart made the biggest splash with its 2009 Win-Place-Show program of SKU rationalization. It did not go well. Less choice led to less sales. Two years later, Walmart did a U-turn.

Consumers are not dissatisfied with lots of choices per se. Consumers become demotivated when it is difficult to navigate lots of choices. What is true of product SKUs is no less true of advertising. As is evident time and again in surveys about advertising and satisfaction.

Few consumers want less choice. Just better ways to navigate the plethora of options. Which should be relatively easy to engineer—it’s choices nested within choices nested within choices, etc., seven at a time plus or minus two.

Consumers like shopping and ads. As long as clutter—and, as it turns out, decluttering, too—doesn’t take away all the fun. Hence, the brand imperative of better navigation.

On The Radar

Clutter, however, is like weeds, about which George Washington Carver once said, “A weed is a flower growing in the wrong place.” Clutter is information, too, just not relevant or useful in the moment. As such, it gets in the way, competes for attention and detracts from the experience. Consumers only have so much attention to give. Clutter comes from the mismatch between cognitive capacity and the quantity of information consumers must sort through to find what they want.

Cognitive capacity is limited. This is old news, with enduring insights. The post-WW2 surge of computing spurred a lot of research into the best ways to integrate computers with people. Information theory was an originating idea in the budding field of cognitive psychology (as it butted heads with behavioralist orthodoxy), from which came George Miller’s 1956 paper on the cognitive limits of working memory, “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two.” Seven is our real-time cognitive capacity. The influence of Miller’s paper is so great that it has its own Wikipedia page.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing at Kantar

The Blake Project Helps Brands In All Stages Of Development Gain An Emotional Advantage, A Distinctive Advantage And A Connective Advantage

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I wasn’t particularly close to Larry nor did I work closely with him. But his ideas, his influence and his master strokes of innovation have been a constant in my career. Indeed, whether you realize it or not, they have been a constant in your career, too.

Larry was one of a handful of marketers whose thinking and example shaped an entire era of business. It is the one we are working in right now. Larry invented brand communications for the digital era. He did so as Global CMO for McDonald’s, rolling it out in 2004 as brand journalism, most notably manifesting in the i’m lovin’ it campaign. It is what we do today in all the ways Larry anticipated back then—content marketing, content sharing, influencer marketing, viral marketing, social media, social commerce, user-generated content, native advertising, retargeting, personalization.

Larry foresaw an interactive future of dialogue and fragmentation. He got there ahead of it, showing us how to succeed in a marketplace that would demand, as he wrote looking back a decade later, a “content stream approach” of “multi-dimensional messages via multiple channels to multiple audiences,” not just “a single, repetitive message.” Larry instructed us to “think like a journalist,” not like a traditional marketer.

Which is ironic. Because Larry made his bones as a Mad Men marketer. He started at BBDO in the early sixties, bringing the nascent field of marketing science into its research practice. He moved to Ted Bates, eventually rising to Chairman and CEO of its international group. After a merger, he left to start his consultancy, Arcature, with stints along the way running marketing at McDonald’s and IHG.

I first encountered Larry at Yankelovich where he served on our advisory board. Kevin Clancy, our Chairman and another legendary figure, had started at BBDO at the same time as Larry. A few years later, a newly hired Yankelovich CEO and I tried unsuccessfully to hire Larry. It was during this time that Larry’s ideas on brand equity were being put into action with the development of Brand Asset Valuator by Stuart Agres at Y&R. I’d bump into Larry at the occasional conference, but his thinking circulated widely. My last interaction was during his time at IHG, for which we did a segmentation and collaborated on some thought-leadership pieces.

Larry’s legacy is everywhere. It’s in what we do. But it’s also there for us to study. Larry co-authored four impactful books; Six Rules for Brand Revitalization, Six Rules of Brand Revitalization (second edition), New Brand Leadership, and The Paradox Planet. He also contributed 150 articles here on Branding Strategy Insider over the past four years. He never stopped sharing his thinking.

You can count on two hands the business thinkers whose impact will endure—Peter Drucker, Ted Levitt, Philip Kotler, Michael Porter, Jack Trout, Al Ries. To that list I would add Larry Light. He championed brands. He challenged brand managers. He changed marketing. RIP, Larry Light.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider By Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing at Kantar

At The Blake Project, we help clients worldwide, in all stages of development, define and articulate what makes them competitive and valuable. Please email us to learn how we can help you compete differently.

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Remarkably the century old thinking that underpins the funnel was first developed in 1896 by E. St. Elmo Lewis, owner of a Philadelphia-based ad agency, who published the first theory on “consumer path to purchase” he called AIDA – short for Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action. By 1924 this concept had morphed into what we now refer to as the Purchase Funnel. Yes, there have been a few modifications along the way to accommodate digital and social media channels, but the basic view of awareness as the golden goal has traveled with the adjustments, until now.

The Funnel Is Dead, Long Live The Funnel…

The fundamental weaknesses of the funnel model have been exposed, as follows:

• It is grounded in transactional thinking that positions consumers as walking wallets
• It fails to address the dynamics of how real brand relationships are built
• Assumes that consumers will behave in a linear fashion on the road to purchase

It’s fair to say that the focus of brand marketing work and investment has leaned heavily on top of funnel activity, frustrated somewhat by the demise of mass media, the splintering of consumer attention across channels and their uncanny newfound ability to avoid it all. Of note, tactical sophistication here in digital media eyeball aggregation isn’t helped by inherent strategic weakness.

Here’s the truth as we now know it. Consumers – especially Gen Z and Millennials – no longer operate in linear fashion. For one, the purchase isn’t the end game, rather it is the starting point. Consumption is now an infinite loop of inspiration, exploration, community participation and advocacy.

• Old brand World: defined by conventional advertising, digital or analog
• New Brand World: defined by content, events, experiences and fandom 

What Are You Risking If You Continue To Be An Awareness Chaser?

• Declining Relevance: your brand and business are seen as exploitive, possibly manipulative and transactional.
• Lacking Authenticity: your brand expresses promotional hype over user help in a world now longing for trust and deeper meaning from the brands consumers care about.

Incidentally, this is why Emergent exists. We focus on new world approaches that are grounded in culture and the latest consumer insight. Today, when consumers buy a product, they are actually buying a story and not a stock keeping unit (sku).

Edelman Trust Barometer Sheds Light On The Shift

Edelman’s latest trust report revealed a remarkable change in behavior that has significant implications to sound brand building strategy. People have a strong cognitive bias for post-purchase rationalization. In fact, we also know that 95% of the time, consumers are driven by their efforts to avoid making a bad decision, or to experience disappointment.

Edelman’s research confirms where the action is: 50% of consumers now conduct the vast majority of their brand research AFTER purchase and not before. What’s more, 78% are looking for credible proof and validation that they made the right decision. Turns out post purchase is when people are most open to brand engagement.

You Might Be Wondering What’s Behind This Change…

1. The systematic dilution of trust and belief based in part on the absence of any prevailing brand value system, higher purpose or real, obvious evidence of same.
2. The precipitous rise of vulnerability, uneasiness over a perceived lack of personal control authored by political, social and environmental stresses.
3. Too many brands think all they have to do is invoke the word trust in their marketing and they are automatically, well, trusted. Not so. Trust is earned not acquired. Always deeds more than words.

Right below the surface people look for safety and security in the midst of accelerating experiences sponsored by uncontrollable events around them. This manifests as a desire for deeper meaning, purpose and trust – now at an all-time premium. Call it heightened expectations for visible, demonstrable, easy-to-see brand values and a courageous point of view.

So How Does It Work Now?

Consumer pre-purchase research leans into the influence of brand social communities where they uncover member reviews, experiences and hopefully advocacy. Thus, the strongest predictor of a thriving social strategy is the rate at which members connect with each other vs. the brand’s self-promoting posts. It just makes sense – people believe and respect the voices of their peers before they accept assertions claimed by brands.

Brand Marketing Is Now About Cultural Influence

The great news – consumers in a post-purchase focused world are primed for engagement. No need to wrestle them to the ground with look-at-me overreach. Here’s directional advice on best practices.

1. Trust creation: you should be conveying and demonstrating your brand purpose, mission and identity beyond the product on offer. Brand actions, reinforced through communication and education, helps you earn trust.
2. You’re working to confirm: competence, ethics, values and relevance to your consumer based on their identity and aspirations, which you endeavor to help enable.
3. You deploy: credible and trusted voices in the form of “people like me” (via User Generated Content), scientists and academic experts, brand tech experts and employees.

It’s exciting to know that following purchase 79% of consumers engage in branded content, will participate in brand activities and want to connect on your social platforms. Your brand marketing should be operating to help feed and encourage this behavior. Trusted brands are repurchased, they secure loyalty and encourage evangelism.

So here we are, 128 years since the introduction of the funnel; welcome to the age of post-funnel marketing.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by Robert Wheatley, CEO of Chicago-based Emergent, The Healthy Living Agency.

At The Blake Project, we help clients worldwide, in all stages of development, define and articulate what makes them competitive and valuable.  Please email us to learn how we can help you compete differently.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers