PR / News

Carmela Soares: If Brands Could Talk

25 March 2021

Carmela Soares  

Creative Strategist at Facebook
 
Carmela's career saw her go from Copywriter to Executive Creative Director in agencies like  Ogilvy, DDB, JWT, Havas, Isobar and  BBDO across Brazil, US, Portugal and Australia. Last year Carmela joined Facebook Creative Shop in Melbourne.
 
Carmela has won more than 100 international awards and her career highlights include wining 'Creative Women in Media' and 'Campaign Asia Women Leading Change'.
 
 
 
 
 
 
If Brands Could Talk.
 
I like wine. Preferably a dry red. Or a sparkling, brut. A good Riesling. And more recently, I’ve discovered the Pet Nats.
 
According to the Wine Industry Directory, there are an estimated 2361 wineries in Australia across more than 60 designated wine regions. This makes choosing the right dry red a bit of a nightmare.
 
I can stick with the tried and tested, the four or five drops I know and enjoy. Or take a risk and go with something different. Which has a 50/50 chance of going really well or ruining my dinner.
 
One day, I went into a wine store and stared at the Shiraz shelf until the owner approached me and asked about my favourite wine. That turned into a conversation, and ten minutes later, I walked out with a wine that I had never tried before. And didn't regret it.
 
This interaction happened many other times, and every chat we had, I left the establishment with an even more enjoyable bottle.
 
That storeowner is a human algorithm. I still think his wine shop is the best I’ve come across. And all our chats were master classes in brand building.
 
Brand advertising was always anchored in broadcasting attributes. When innovation is involved, that might still work. But for the majority of products and services, the functional difference doesn't exist anymore. What stands out is its terroir, its value system. And if these values don't match the consumer's, they will resort back to the four or five other brands they've tried and enjoyed. Just like my go-to Scotchmans Hill Pinot Noir.
 
When you have to build something based on value systems, you can do tons of research and drown in a sea of behavioural data. Or you can talk to people. At scale.
 
Conversational experiences like Messenger or Whatsapp, for example, create an environment where brands can ask people – not users or audiences – actual people, what they really like, what's important for them and what language resonates.
 
A conversation is at the same time persuasion, acknowledgement and appreciation of the consumer. And these are things they will always remember.
 
Through interactions, a brand can learn, create intimacy and shift the perception needle from indifferent to recognisable and valued. And despite these being essentially emotional words, they can be measured. It's human language for favourability, consideration, awareness. This is, essentially and fundamentally, the modern framework for effective brand building.
 
A campaign ecosystem that allows for participation and evolving storytelling is more powerful than any three-month media flight. Broadcast tactics create moments. But platforms that allow participation create the foundations of the relationship that will take brand and consumer on a long-term journey. Think Reels asking us to join an idea, a movement. Think going Live - one of the most exciting moments of connection between people and brands, even when physically apart. Think degustating the world through AR, augmenting its flavour.
 
Intelligent brands are built through conversations, not in monologues. Influential brands are built through interactive storytelling, not just broadcast. And loved brands are co-created, built and inspired by us.