Australian brands need to be brave to stand out in today’s market, says McCann chief strategy officer Fran Clayton.
The advice from Clayton comes following the release of McCann Worldgroup’s seven-year study Truth Central which revealed cultural tensions both globally and locally.
According to the study, 60% of Australians believe it’s more important to be pragmatic and create security than to be creative and take risks.
“[There is] this cultural aversion to taking risks, this fear of failure. What that means is that brands are all a little bit the same,” Clayton told AdNews.
“That's really dangerous. It's not effective marketing. There's all sorts of different ways of being brave.
“It's just creating an impact and a response and behaving in a way that's different from the others.”
Despite most of Australia’s conforming nature, Clayton says the younger generations are more inclined to take action and stand up for what they believe in.
Generation Z expect brands to play a more meaningful role in society beyond trying to sell a product or service.
Clayton says the brands that do this are those who will gain trust from customers at a time where it remains low.
Australians lacked trust in politicians, media and service providers more than the global average.
However, honesty is valued more with 79% of respondents agreeing it is important to put the truth before other factors in all situations.
This was up from 52% in 2015.
“More people feel that they don't know the difference between the lies and the truth and that they don't know who to trust,” she says.
“What was interesting as well is that the thing that Australians want most from brands and fellow Australians is honesty.
“It's slightly different if we look at the rest of the world - what people want most is trustworthiness. The other options were things like innovation and creativity.”
The study also revealed that more than half the population, 56%, feel lonely despite being surrounded by family and friends - and this figure was even higher for Generation Z.
The younger generation stated their preferred method of communication with friends is text but when it came to being contacted, they would rather have someone call them.
Clayton says this dichotomy presents an opportunity and tension point for brands to forge true connections with consumers.
“What we see in that is being together doesn't mean feeling connected. The feeling of loneliness is a lack of true connection and being understood,” she says.
“When we look at storytelling, think of all the brands that stand for connection and togetherness. What that really means is something much deeper than just hanging out with your mates.”
Part of forming that deeper connection is moving beyond stereotypes.
Clayton says those brands who are still using them are “lazy” and will lose trust from consumers.
“It's just a sign that you're disconnected from real people and culture because as soon as you get to know anybody you get beyond that stereotype,” she says.
“Beyond the moral argument about ‘we should use less stereotypes’, we should not increase the pressure on people around social expectations. It's just bad marketing.
“It reinforces the distance between brands and real people. Real people go. ‘That's out of touch, you don't get us’.”
The study revealed that some of the expectations and stereotypes surrounding men are changing.
While 47% of Australian men agree that suppressing emotions and feelings is a good thing compared to 31% of women, it also revealed 50% of men believe gender is a fluid concept showing they are open to new identities and norms.
Clayton says the roles or “codes” of masculinity don’t have to be black and white.
“I think that what's closer to the truth is take a bit of the past and move into the future,” she says.
“It's not all wrong. Some of those codes of blokeyness and masculinity are okay. They're part of what it has meant to be a man for a long time.
“I think that recognizing that process of change is kind of awkward and you can have a foot in both camps is a really nice space for brands to be.”
Truth Central was conducted over seven years across 30 countries with between 1000 and 2000 people in each location.
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