Stay true to yourself

Column Ronald Jansen – Consulting Partner

The last column of the year. The column where you usually look back, whilst you know everyone would prefer to forget the year, and look forward to 2021. The impact of Covid was massive, especially for industries such as travel, bars and restaurants and events. From a marketing communication standpoint, it was an interesting year, to say the least. We will quickly look back, but certainly also ahead.

From the first moment of the pandemic and the lockdowns, DVJ Insights studied the consequences for marketers. Questions such as whether you should respond to the situation or not, and how it influences consumer behaviour, we have continuously and proactively measured for our clients this past year. Brand Growth also continued with vision interviews with CMO’s in multiple European countries, a quantitative study among hundreds of marketeers, all coming together in an online event with Les Binet and Mark Ritson, viewed by over 400 people from 15 countries! And once again our very own Brand Growth magazine.

From all the research we did, it became clear that yes, the situation has impacted us all, but marketers should not get too caught up in it. Harvard studies from previous crises in the past 100 years revealed that brands that continue to invest, or invest more in times of crisis, come out stronger. Our Covid measurements around adjusting commercials showed that the connection with the brand could not always be made. So, what seems logical, does not always work best in advertising.

So, stay true to yourself. Ritson predicted it at the start of the pandemic; at the core, human behaviour does not really change. Above all, brands should stay recognisable. Yet, there are plenty of predictions that our buying behaviour will never be the same again. The brand will become less important, and purchase will happen even more online and digital. Mankind has never been good at predicting the future of its own behaviour, but DVJ Insights will continue to follow its steps. Next year there will be another Brand Growth Study, the 5th edition, our first lustrum. Our agency will continue to gain knowledge from science and marketing practice, so our research can lead to the best research products and the best advertising, so it matches the objectives of our clients as closely as possible. We will continue to innovate, a condition for growth, as we know from our own practice and the Brand Growth Study!

We look back on an exceptional year, in which, as in previous years, we once again managed to achieve growth with our clients. I am incredibly proud of that, and it means that we continue to innovate and renew with confidence in 2021. We would like to thank all our clients and relations for the great partnerships in 2020, and look forward to continuing it in the new year, of course in full health and an eye for growth!

Happy holidays,
Ronald Jansen