On Wednesday 24th November we welcomed hundreds of eventprofs online on Arena and in-person to Central Hall Westminster for EventLAB 2021.
As well as plenty of panel discussions, there were also several workshops covering a range of topics. This workshop led by Kuba Wieczorek, Co-Founder & former CMO of eve sleep, discussed marketing principles and encouraged us to consider the role events can play in a broader brand marketing strategy. Read on for Kuba's expert advice.
You can also read our takeaways and watch the recording of Kuba's keynote session on 'The Future of Brand Building & Marketing'.
Key Takeaways
A brand is the consumer's idea of a product
In order to understand marketing, it's important to go back to basics and define what a brand truly is. A brand resides in the mind of the consumer - it's not a physical thing you touch or a logo you can see, it's a psychological idea of what your brand represents for them. To help marketers understand this a little better, Kuba reiterated his top three branding principles which he shared with us in his previous session:
- Know your consumer. Know your audience and know what attitudes gel your consumers together. Kuba gave the example of the Umbro goalposts campaign, which could only truly be understood by the target consumer (in this case, football fans).
- Have a point. Don't let your brand ramble on, have a point. This will make it much more interesting for the consumer.
- Be authentic. The world is changing, and it's important to remain true to your brand's identity. The brands that will survive are the ones that hold on to that identity, and that don't try to keep up with every new trend that comes along.
Make your consumer feel something
Commodities or products make the consumer do something, but a truly authentic brand will make the consumer feel something. So, if you can make your consumer feel something with the power of your brand, you've won half the battle.
As well as the above advice, below are Kuba's 5 marketing principles that are important to abide by.
- Have a genuine purpose. Know why your brand exists, have a purpose and this will help build trust in your brand.
- Freedom to be different. Have the confidence to be different and stand out!
- Confidence to be consistent. Consistency is paramount for building awareness of your brand and making your brand recognisable and 'sticky'.
- Customer experience first and always. From how you answer the phones to the confirmation email you send, investing in customer experience is crucial.
- Invest in long-term brand equity. This will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your performance marketing spend.
The perfect start
Kuba shared with the group that one of the key ideas that he and the team believed in at eve sleep was giving everyone 'the perfect start'. This essentially means that everyone should be given the best possible chance to start at something, and for some, second chances. For example, Kuba shared that he worked with a charity that helps ex-offenders get work. The ex-offender they hired was one of their first employees.
Another charity they worked with was literacy charity Bookmark, which teaches children from low socio-economic backgrounds how to read and write. This inspired eve to create their baby mattress range.
So, Kuba made the point here that you should first figure out what you believe in as a brand, and this links back to having a genuine purpose. This will not only help you to develop your brand in terms of tone of voice, product range, and solving consumer problems, but you can help others too. It's all tied together.
Brands can become iconic when done right
Branding can elevate everyday products, and truly iconic brands have a point of difference; they don't need to tell the consumer what's different about them because they're already embedded in the consumer's mind. The shape of a Heinz ketchup bottle, the blue Tiffany box, the Nike tick, the M&S adverts; all of these brands are so recognisable, the consumer doesn't even need to see the logo to know what it is.
If marketers want to develop their brand with the view of becoming extremely well known, they must identify what really makes them unique, and emphasise it.
Apply it in practice
Choose an iconic brand, one that is truly memorable and has nailed their marketing strategy and brand voice, and think about the kind of event they would run. Consider:
- How they would brand the event
- How they would market the event
- How they would make it different
- What audience they’d be targeting
Once you've done this exercise, give some thought to how you can apply these same principles to your own brand, to elevate your recognition and nail your messaging.
Examples of iconic brands and their events could include: producing a luxurious jazz-infused event for Playboy, producing a tech-focused event for Amazon Web Services, or a sustainable, more hands-on experiential event for Patagonia.
If you loved reading Kuba's advice from this workshop and would like to chat with him regarding marketing or developing your own brand, you can find him at Kuba & Friends.
About The Speaker
Kuba Wieczorek, Co-Founder & former CMO, eve sleep
Kuba started his career in the world of advertising, somehow being lucky enough to land in several of the world’s most awarded creative agencies. After landing his dream job of working at Channel 4 Creative Kuba spent 2 years working on the 2012 Paralympics Superhumans campaign (still his proudest professional moment) and then a further 2 years on the Channel 4 rebrand. In 2014 he left agency life behind to found the sleep start-up eve sleep plc with his wife and cousin. Eve IPO’d in 2017 - the fastest retail float in UK history. Kuba is now running Kuba & Friends - a design and creative agency.
We hope you found Kuba's workshop useful and picked up lots of practical insights for your brand strategy. Make sure to check out Kuba's keynote session on 'The Future of Brand Building & Marketing', and read the rest of the EventLAB 2021 session writeups too.
Author
Izzie Lachecki
Izzie brings a deep understanding of the events world to Hire Space, and keeps busy by writing lots of Hire Space and EventLAB content and managing the Hire Space social media presence.
