Get them talking – why designing for advocacy is crucial for FMCG brands

Reckitt’s Jos Harrison believes FMCG should aspire for heartfelt advocacy, much like cosmetics or electronics brands enjoy…
By Jos Harrison
“I used this Harpic product the other day – wow, that does an amazing job, I love it!” This is not the type of endorsement you hear every day about a hygiene product. Probably ever.
Such heartfelt advocacy is more common within cosmetics, or electronics – and people wouldn’t think twice about recommending Nike or Volkswagen, but hygiene and home products? Can we even aspire to this type of endorsement? Can and should we be designing for genuine advocacy? Yes, absolutely. This is exactly what we need to be striving for within FMCG.
Marketers have spent years coaching people in intrinsic expectations – whether at a product, a service or a brand level. And different categories set different levels of expectations for what’s good, or what’s merely ‘good enough’. So much of FMCG, particularly homecare brands, have established an expectation for what’s ‘good enough’ – at certain points you can expect something outstanding in your interaction with the brand, but there are so many touchpoints in the brand journey where you’re expected to be OK to settle for mediocre experiences.
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