Occasions

On a recent innovation project, we hit the often ignored element of occasion - basically, when were the target consumers going to use our new product and how could we reflect this occasion in our Brand Essence Wheel / Key Brand Benefit.

This is the biggest opportunity area for a marketeer - understanding when the consumer is in need of the product and look to expand that opportunity with an extended occasion.

The client initially viewed the occasion opportunity as lunch and weekends, with some consumption in the morning. This was pretty straightforward and based purely upon the current consumption patterns of the generic category.

That is to say, that unprompted by advertising, consumers enjoy this category at two distinct times-  lunchtime and over the weekend. All well and good.  Now the choice becomes do we want to fight a share war just over these two occasions with generic offerings that can compete better on price because of their lower quality or can we bake a bigger cake and take the largest slice of that cake

Well by looking at the occasion of consumption we can start to see opportunities where with a little prompting, consumers can start to see how a brand can be relevant in these other specific occasions, and what's more, the brand will own that occasion, as opposed to sharing it with every other brand in the more generic occasions.

A good example would be Diet Coke.  Back in the day, Diet Coke's consumption occasion was pretty much limited to lunchtime, especially by female office dwellers.  So how could Diet Coke look to expand its occasion (and therefore its marketshare)?  It could look at other meal times, since consumers had already associated Diet Coke with food for lunch, but it was highly unlikely that Diet Coke would offer an appetising choice at the breakfast table.  It could offer an opportunity for the evening meal, but given the choice of drinks in the home (from tea, coffee, water, cordials, fresh fruit juices, never mind the array of wines & beers available) or when out for dinner (more likely than not to be an alcohol occasion) it probably seemed quite a limiting opportunity area. 

They hit upon the idea of owning "the break".  The time in the day when people need a physical refreshment but also a emotional refreshment.  And the great piece of news was that we all need a break EVERY day and Diet Coke can credible offer refreshment during a break. Thus was born the Diet Coke break moment.

So using Diet Coke as an example with my client, I have been able to lift their sights above just the existing generic consumption occasions and find not only a time that fits with the physical requirements (e.g. thirst) but also emotionally (e.g. refresh).  This means that it reinforces the brand's identity and creates a powerful connection moment for the brand in the eyes of the consumer.