Every new year brings changing consumer demands so we asked our integrated team of marketing experts to share key examples of marketing insights of how they turned observations into a winning strategy for our clients.
Any marketer will tell you that when it comes to developing a winning strategy, knowing your customer base is critical. That’s why every year, like clockwork, marketers across the globe begin market research: collecting surveys, interviews, testimonials, and any other form of data that can fuel their strategy for the coming year. We spend countless hours digesting all of the latest trend reports, bookmarking the campaigns that kept us inspired, and taking a look back at the results of our earlier strategies.
It’s a multilayered process that in the past has led to great results, but we believe that “way of doing things” simply doesn’t cut it anymore.
The shock of 2020 has long been dissolved and now, nearly two years later, our world is still in a stasis. This prolonged state of ambiguity means understanding your target audience takes more than what they tell you. It involves being empathetic to their constantly changing desires and motivations. Most of all, it’s getting beyond our own bias with the use of crowd-sourced observations.
Starting in 2021, the COHN team decided to host regular brainstorming sessions where our team could share examples of marketing insights. It could be as broad or narrow as they liked and speak to their personal feelings or general sense of the world. We simply wanted to start a conversation and see what patterns or similarities we unlocked.
This exercise started as observing the world around us and turned into creative, strategic marketing campaigns that moved our world forward. Below we’ve shared three real examples of how this process led to some of our favorite 2021 campaigns based on the customer journey.
Project Hopscotch at Old Town Lafayette
Old Town Lafayette is a small, tight-knit community of artists, entrepreneurs and passionate residents all mixing together in one unique downtown district. It’s an eclectic destination with roots in organic, homegrown marketing so we knew any campaign put forth couldn’t feel too planned or polished.
After a brainstorming session with the COHN team, we settled on the observation that consumers are craving the comforts of nostalgia which led to our month-long experiential campaign, Project Hopscotch. This integrated campaign invited the community to visit 10 custom hopscotch courses that were designed by local artists and scattered through the downtown. Each course included a QR code that when scanned, donated $1 towards a local art student. This campaign successfully allowed our audiences to slow down, unlock memories, and embrace whatever adventures they happened to stumble upon.
Team You for Panorama Orthopedics
Panorama Ortho & Spine was growing quickly along the Front Range of Colorado. They wanted a campaign that speaks to the breadth of offerings and locations, depth of knowledge, and top-notch care they provide to their patients. COHN knew we needed to develop a strategy that was unique in the healthcare spectrum and true to our client.
After brainstorming, we found that across industries and individuals, people want an unfiltered lens on life. This was the perfect starting point for “Team You,” a campaign that used real-life patient storylines, photography and content angles to showcase the unscripted, real side of recovery and preventative care to our audiences.
Lifetopia for Credit Union of Colorado
With an ever-growing and extremely competitive financial market, Credit Union of Colorado had to differentiate itself to grow its membership base, while also retaining current customers. With so many banks and credit unions to choose from, COHN needed to create a campaign that did more than just resonate with people. It needed to inspire people which led to our observation that consumers want to redefine and embrace happiness. We are adapting to an entirely new worldview which means that our joys, hobbies and dreams are being rewritten. Lifetopia is a campaign that allows audiences to indulge their blissful state of mind. It shows that Credit Union of Colorado supports all your ambitions at all your stages of life, without taking itself too seriously.
It’s no secret that navigating our clients and our agency through COVID-19 took many stumbles, pivots and new pathways forward. We stayed agile and committed our team to always be listening and learning along the way. We’re not sure what the next great examples of marketing insights will be, but if you believe your business could benefit from our full-service, integrated agency then connect with COHN and we’ll work together—as a team—to ensure a winning strategy for 2022 and beyond.
