All good advertising agencies believe in the power of ideas. After all, the ad world is commonly referred to as “the Idea Industry.” But if all these well-respected agencies have this one ideal in common, there must be something that separates the great agencies from the good ones. This “something” isn’t a specific type of person with an extraordinary skill set, nor is it a technologically advanced 3-D design program. What most great agencies have in common is that they strive to understand the consumer, for understanding who is buying the product directly affects how the product will be sold. And here is where the problem lies: the brands that do not understand their consumers are the brands that struggle to sell their product.
Jason Ehrlich founded his own agency in 1991 because he too believed in this power of ideas. Originally named Steelhead, Ehrlich’s agency now known as Yonder soon found that to be the best, a change had to be made. Ehrlich began to implement account planning into Yonder’s regiment, and quickly saw the results. Ehrlich claims that account planning “transformed our agency,” and that along with the planning came even stronger creative work. The account planning used by Yonder consists of four steps: Planning, Expedition, Strategy, and Execution. Among this process, the consumer begins to play a more important role after each step. Ehrlich and the rest of Yonder now use this account planning as a part of their process for every client, because they realize that it brings them closer to the consumer. But what does understanding the consumer really mean?
To Yonder, understanding the consumer is centered around trust. This trust that goes a long ways is gained through breaking down the barrier between brands and their audience, providing their brand with a 360-degree marketing plan. Jason Ehrlich shared a great example of how Yonder built trust with their client and with their client’s consumers. According the Ehrlich, the client focused 90% of their marketing and advertising on one specific product. However, when Yonder began to interview the consumers and started the client’s process of building trust, they came across an incredible result: the consumers of the client did not like the product that the client focused 90% of their marketing on, and instead strongly preferred a different product that the client made. Sitting down and interviewing segmented consumers allowed Yonder access to know what resonated best with their target audience. Jason explained it as simply “incredible common sense” that brands can directly interact with their consumers to build the best product.
We have learned through the success of Yonder that the biggest obstacle for a brand is understanding and connecting with their consumer. It was the building of trust that propelled Jason Ehrlich and the people of Yonder to produce great advertising for their client. Brands need to realize the importance of this connection, and focus more on their consumers than their competition through direct communication and complete transparency.
