When there is a seemingly infinite number of choices, “findability” is the KEY to your brand’s connection with consumers. As Wired magazine tech guru, Kevin Kelly, puts it in his fantastic article Better Than Free, “unfound masterpieces are worthless”. Not to compare a box of cereal to a Van Gogh, but if your package gets lost in the sea of products on today’s store shelves, it doesn’t even get to be a BRAND.
It’s a daunting problem, but creating brand loyalty isn’t impossible if you understand the obstacles your product faces to be noticed. Justin Crout’s seminal book Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Competition still paints the picture best. With printed knowledge doubling every 4 to 5 years, 4,000 books published daily and the internet growing by 1 million sites a day, the demands on a person’s time and attention are overwhelming to say the least. Since those statistics were first published in 2000, the pace has only quickened! So, even taking into consideration that Crout’s calculation that the average person has been exposed to an excess of 140,000 commercials by the age of 18(!!!) is somewhat softened by TV viewers’ ability to fast forward through those commercials with their DVRs; consumers are being bombarded by media in a relentless way. Standing out in such a competitive environment has never been more crucial to the “findability” of your brand.
Further complicating things are the mass of technological trends that have become a part of our daily lives since 2000. Smart phones, instant messaging, texting, Facebook, Twitter: these devices and apps all represent separate, individual content streams, often overlapping and competing for attention simultaneously. One recent market research study by Crowd Science found that about 10% of consumers under 30 actually follow brands on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, which certainly makes it a trend worth watching. The same research found that while younger generations, ranging in age from 16-49, are far more brand aware than older consumers, their loyalty to brands varies widely. Generation X-ers(those born between 1961-1981), tend to be the most loyal to the brands they like, sticking with them even if there is a cheaper alternative readily available. Whereas, the Generation Y crowd(born roughly between 1982-1995), like to mix it up and try new brands more often.
The most successful brands to clear these hurdles and be SEEN by consumers will be the ones best able to make, and maintain, connections that make people repeat customers. Strong brandmarks and packaging that communicate a clear DIFFERENCE from their competitors, will go a long way towards pushing through the clutter and achieving that “findability” absolutely necessary for today’s brands.



