Reasons lead to conclusion; emotions lead to action: Kevin Roberts

In a session on Saatchi & Saatchi's trademark Lovemarks philosophy, Kevin Roberts, CEO, Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi spoke on the reason to have an emotional connect with the consumer.

It's uncommon for a company's CEO to remind clients sitting in the audience how long the company has worked on their brands. It's even rarer to poke fun at a rival in a packed room. And, it's probably unheard of to make a confession of a slow growth to an engrossed audience. Kevin Roberts, CEO, Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi did all three, right at the beginning of a session on Lovemarks, held at the Taj Palace, Colaba, Mumbai.

Roberts reminded General Mills that the agency has worked with it for 87 years, and in the same breath, instead of painting a rosy picture, confessed, "We have been slow here. But, this is the time for Saatchi & Saatchi in India, and no messing around," he said, adding, "We want to be famous, revered and the fastest digital creative agency in the world, and we want to do this root up from India."

Giving an anecdote, Roberts narrated an incident when he was invited to deliver a lecture to the US military on 'How to improve the image of America, internationally'.

"A room full of 300 military men and women told me how they live in a VUCA world full of volatility, complexity, ambiguity and uncertainty. Hence, they need to use force." To this, Roberts responded, "I live in a super-VUCA world with super models and Super Bowls. It is a world that is crazy and vibrant. It is not the force that wins here."

According to Roberts, we have moved from the era of new to the era of now. "We have moved from merely giving information to the consumers to actually inspiring consumers. Our job as advertisers and marketers is to inspire people," he emphasised.

Roberts said that during his journey from Mumbai airport to the hotel, he was both shocked and appalled at the number of hoardings en route. To him, it is money gone down the drain. "There is a change from merely seeking consumer attention to looking for participation. We cannot merely interrupt them, we need to interact with them," he added.

The role of marketing, he said, is elevated, along with the role of marketers, who can no longer merely look for return on investments, but fetch return on involvement.

Stressing on the need for emotional involvement, he said that consumers have a very busy life, and it is important to make them laugh and cry. "Finally, at the end of the day, consumers must buy into us. Reasons lead to conclusion. Emotions lead to action. Hence, emotional advertising is important," he asserted.

Roberts then spoke about Lovemarks, which is a Saatchi & Saatchi philosophy defined as 'a product, service or entity that inspires Loyalty Beyond Reason'. He differentiated a brand from a Lovemark, saying that a brand is owned by a manager, shareholder and company. A Lovemark, on the other hand, is owned by people. "A brand builds loyalty for a reason but a Lovemark builds loyalty beyond reason. A brand is irreplaceable, but a Lovemark is irresistible," he explained, citing the Apple-iPad as a perfect example for this.

Roberts also gave an example of how Saatchi & Saatchi created a Lovemark for T-Mobile in the oversupplied UK telecom space. It adopted 'Life's for Sharing' as a perfect positioning and portrayed the Royal Wedding in an interesting dance format. The dance witnessed many Facebook and YouTube views.

He narrated several ideas to create Lovemarks. The first one, which he called 'Purpose-inspired', is perfectly exemplified by Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream'.

The second one is to have a lot of creative ideas. For this, Roberts gave the example of Andes Beer's Teletransporter. The Teletransporter is a sound-proof booth that simulates ambient noises of hundreds of environments (such as traffic jams, hospitals or airports). People can slip into a Teletransporter, choose a sound environment as a background to make an excuse call, and go back to enjoying beer with their buddies. The objective was to transform Andes Beer into a Lovemark by getting right into the hearts of beer drinkers throughout Argentina. Teletransporters were installed in bars throughout Mendoza, Argentina and word got out fast about these magical devices, resulting in increased brand preference.

Roberts asserted that selling by yelling is dead, and more innovative approaches are required in the current scenario. He unveiled the secrets for Lovemarks, which are mystery and sensuality. "Tell stories - everyone likes a mystery. But, at the same time, a consumer should be able to sense a brand in terms of its colour, taste and other aspects. However, at the end of it, you have to make things happen," concluded Roberts, laying emphasis on effective execution.