Australian consumers place a high premium on brands that get involved in cultural and social issues and they regard a brand’s cultural involvement as nearly as important as having a positive brand perception.
That is one of the key findings from a new joint study from Magna, the global media intelligence firm, and Twitter, which contends that brands benefit in “a big way” from getting involved in culture.
Entitled Impact of Culture: What it Means for Brands Today, the report is based on responses from more than 1,000 Australian adults, including 250 users of Twitter.
As reported by AdNews, key findings from the study are laid out below.
• More than half of consumers think it’s important for brands to be involved in social issues and movements, and almost half think it’s important for brands to be involved in events and trends.
• Brand involvement in culture is especially important among consumers aged 18–35, and Twitter users.
• The top ways for a brand to be culturally relevant include giving back to the community (59%), supporting social issues that benefit everyone (52%), demonstrating that they put their customers first (52%), and are inclusive of all (52%).
• Being involved in culture is nearly as important as having positive brand perceptions, and a brand’s cultural involvement makes up almost one fifth of a consumer's purchase decision.
• Brands supporting social issues have the most potential to impact consumer purchase decisions.
“Culture is often hard to define and we definitely found consumers’ perspective on culture had expanded,” said Hannah Rook, intelligence and insights director at Magna.
“In fact, 74% of Australians thought of culture other than that of tradition. It’s exciting for brands today to see just how diverse their cultural involvement can be and where priorities lie for Australians,” she added.
Emily Foat, head of agency at Twitter Australia, also noted that the definition of what culture is has changed but its importance has not.
“Consumers want brands to get involved in the issues and moments that matter most to them and those that do, will reap the rewards,” she said.
“For marketers, this presents an exciting opportunity because involvement in culture is something in their control. Price and quality will always be the top driver of purchase decisions, but those are relatively set, and brand perceptions can take years, if not decades, to meaningfully shift.
“A brand’s involvement in culture is something that can be changed with a single campaign.”
Sourced from AdNews, Magna, Twitter
