4 reasons CPG brands need to embrace creative marketing

‍

We’ve listed some of the most common problems CPG brands face and how creative marketing helps solve them with examples.

‍

1. Problem: Low brand awareness among target consumers.

‍

Solution: By setting up creative marketing campaigns with memorable storytelling, visually striking content, and interactive experiences, brands can effectively capture the attention of their target audience and leave a lasting impression.

‍

Let's consider, Glotanicals,  a CPG brand that produces organic and sustainable skincare products. They want to increase brand awareness among their target audience, which includes environmentally conscious consumers who prioritize natural and ethical products.

‍

To address this, the brand developed a series of stunning videos that showcase the natural ingredients used in their skincare products and included a fun element to grab eyeballs. 

‍

‍

The other videos highlighted the brand's commitment to sustainability, featuring beautiful landscapes, lush forests, and pristine water sources to evoke a sense of connection with nature.

‍

‍

To further amplify the brand’s reach, it leveraged social media platforms and encouraged user-generated content. They also created a branded hashtag and encouraged customers to share their skincare routines, product reviews, or natural beauty tips, thereby creating a community of like-minded individuals who appreciate the brand's values.

‍

‍

Through this creative marketing campaign, Glotanicals can effectively increase brand awareness among its target audience. The unique storytelling, visually striking content, and interactive experiences help the brand stand out in the crowded market while aligning with the values and preferences of environmentally conscious consumers.

‍

2. Problem: Difficulty in connecting with younger or tech-savvy consumers.

‍

Solution: Creative marketing can help you connect with younger or tech-savvy consumers by leveraging digital platforms, social media, and innovative technologies. This includes developing viral campaigns, interactive mobile apps, and influencer collaborations to capture their interest and attention.

‍

Example: Let's consider We Rent Fashion, a CPG brand that produces sustainable and eco-friendly clothing. To connect with younger and tech-savvy consumers, they build a creative marketing campaign on social media platforms like TikTok frequented by young people. 

‍

‍

To promote the brand and engage with the target audience, it collaborated with popular fashion influencers or sustainability advocates who resonate with the values of the brand. 

‍

These influencers create content showcasing their personal style using the brand's clothing and highlight the app's features. This collaboration can attract the attention of their followers and generate interest in the brand's sustainable fashion offerings.

‍

‍

3. Problem: Lack of differentiation from competitors offering similar products.

‍

Solution: Creative marketing allows CPG brands to differentiate themselves by crafting a distinctive brand identity and positioning. This entails creating captivating brand stories, visually unique packaging designs, and showcasing the brand's values and sustainability efforts through creative marketing campaigns.

‍

Example: Let's consider, Waterbody,  a skincare brand that offers organic skincare products and draws inspiration from the wilderness of Alaska. While not specifically focused on sustainability, the brand can still differentiate itself by showing behind the scene videos of how they use ingredients from Alaska to make their product. 

‍

In their creative marketing campaigns, the brand tells captivating stories that evoke the spirit of Alaska. They highlight the use of indigenous botanical ingredients sourced from the region, emphasizing their commitment to utilizing nature's gifts in their skincare formulations. Through visually stunning videos and imagery, the brand can transport consumers to the majestic wilderness of Alaska, igniting their sense of wanderlust and curiosity.

‍

‍

4. Problem: As the brand grows, scaling creatives becomes difficult  

‍

Solution: Creative marketing, combined with creative automation and intelligence tools, provides a powerful framework for scaling creatives across different initiatives. These tools capture insights, lessons learned, and successful strategies from previous campaigns, making it easier to replicate and adapt creative assets. Here's an example to illustrate how creative marketing strategies and creative intelligence tools help scale creatives:

‍

Imagine a CPG brand called "Delicious Delights" that specializes in healthy snacks. They frequently launch new products, enter new markets, and run multiple campaigns simultaneously. To scale its creatives effectively, Delicious Delights utilizes a creative automation and intelligence tool.

‍

• Creative scaling tool: Leverage the power of creative automation to imbue your content with a local touch, scaling your creative output for various channels while maintaining a distinct, personalized approach with AI language translations.
• Creative intelligence tools: Delicious Delights leverages AI-powered creative intelligence tools like Artwork Flow, which gives creative insights and gives you information on consumer preferences and market trends. 

‍

How creative marketing strategies and creative intelligence tools work together:

• Replicating successful strategies: Creative intelligence tools like Artwork Flow capture successful strategies from past campaigns. This helps Delicious Delights identify high-performing elements, messaging approaches, or visual styles. These insights can then be incorporated into future campaigns, allowing for the replication of successful strategies.

‍

• Entering new markets: When launching new products or entering new markets, Delicious Delights can leverage creative marketing guidelines strategies to tailor messaging, visual elements, and content themes to align with the specific target audience and market.
  
  Creative intelligence tools assist in analyzing audience preferences and market trends, by analyzing different elements in the creative,  enabling Delicious Delights to optimize its creative assets for maximum impact.

‍

• Streamlining the creative process: Creative intelligence tools aid in streamlining the creative process by automating certain tasks, such as analyzing data, generating insights, or providing recommendations for optimizing creatives. This allows creative teams to focus more on ideation, strategic planning, and executing high-level creative concepts outlined in the marketing guidelines. It enhances efficiency and accelerates the production of creative assets, facilitating scalability.

‍

The 3-step creative marketing strategy every CPG brand should follow

‍

A creative marketing strategy serves to equip the team with the knowledge and resources necessary to excel in their roles. 

‍

It serves as a bridge between strategy and creativity, providing a framework that aligns marketing objectives with creative execution.

‍

It varies depending on the specific channel or marketing campaign being executed. For instance, if the goal is to enhance brand awareness through video content, the playbook will differ in terms of content strategy, channel selection, and key performance indicators (KPIs) compared to a campaign focused on revenue generation through strategic partnerships.

‍

But generally speaking, every creative marketing strategy has these three steps:

‍

1. Build a brand strategy 

‍

Building a brand strategy for CPG brands is crucial as it establishes the foundation for all creative decisions and ensures consistent branding across various marketing initiatives. 

‍

It outlines the brand's positioning, target audience, and unique value proposition, as well as provides guidance on the brand's voice, tone, and visual identity. Here's how you can write a brand strategy with a CPG brand:

2. Set down content guidelines

‍

Content creation guidelines ensure consistency, align with objectives, define roles, and streamline the content creation process. 

‍

Let’s use the example of Nature’s Bounty to understand what you should include when it comes to creating content guidelines.

3. Define metrics

‍

This step outlines the measurement and tracking methods to assess the success of each campaign, channel, or creative asset for CPG brands. 

‍

It includes defining primary and secondary key performance indicators (KPIs) and relevant metrics aligned with the marketing goals.

‍

When selecting metrics for a CPG brand, it's important to align them with specific marketing goals and objectives. Here's a general framework for choosing metrics:

‍

• Define marketing goals: Identify the key objectives of the CPG brand's marketing efforts. For example, goals may include increasing brand awareness, driving product sales, expanding customer reach, or improving customer engagement.

‍

• Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Based on the marketing goals, determine the KPIs that will directly measure progress towards those goals. Each KPI should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

‍

• Consider primary and secondary metrics: Primary metrics directly reflect the achievement of marketing goals, while secondary metrics provide additional insights and support the primary metrics. Both types of metrics should be monitored and analyzed to gain a comprehensive understanding of campaign performance.

Wrapping up

‍

In the ever-evolving landscape of CPG marketing, having a creative marketing strategy is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

‍

It provides CPG brands with the framework and guidance needed to stand apart from the competition and win in a privacy-first world. 

‍

CPG brands face common challenges such as low brand awareness, difficulty connecting with younger consumers, lack of differentiation, and scaling creatives as the brand grows. Creative marketing offers solutions to these problems by utilizing memorable storytelling, visually striking content, interactive experiences, and leveraging digital platforms and technologies.

‍

In addition, a great creative marketing strategy combined with creative intelligence tools like Artwork Flow helps brands by providing a systematic approach to developing and executing innovative marketing campaigns. 

‍

Artwork Flow captures insights, successful strategies, and consumer preferences, enabling brands to replicate and adapt creative assets for maximum impact, optimize their campaigns based on data-driven analysis, and streamline the creative process, ultimately leading to increased brand visibility, engagement, and business growth.

‍

Want to learn how Artwork Flow can help your brand? Book a free trial or demo today. 

‍