Mission

About BrandBase

BrandBase is an Amsterdam based agency, specialized in what we call Advertising New Style.

We don’t follow those trodden tracks of old fashioned advertising (one tv-commercial and some print ads, please!), we activate consumers to choose for brands. We have been doing this successfully since 1996.

What is Brand Activation?

Definition: Brand Activation is the smooth integration of all available means of communication in a creative platform to activate consumers. Activate means the stimulation of:

1. interest
2. trial
3. loyalty

New means of communication appear annually. This list of means of communication clearly shows that marketing communication is a field for well-trained specialists: PR, DM, Website, E-mail, Telephone, Print, Radio, TV, Outdoor Advertising, Events, Retail, Brochure, Mobile, SP, Incentives, PS, Trade Fairs, Spectaculars, Sponsoring, JP, Design, IC, TM, etc.

Opportunity: Most Marketers are rigid and not commercially-oriented

McKinsey published a report about the marketing field that drew the following conclusions:

The reputation of marketers is at a record low.
CEOs describe marketers as undisciplined, not commercially-oriented and rigid.

80% of marketing plans are unsuccessful.

This is wonderful news for marketers who are commercial, flexible and willing to innovate. This creates opportunities. McKinsey’s advice: shift the focus from the sales process to the purchasing process!

From Advertising Brands to Brand Activation

Power to the People. That is the best way to describe the turn-around in marketing communication of the past 30 years. People have more choice than ever before. Products can be purchased everywhere and products and services can be compared down to the smallest detail. This requires companies to communicate more intelligently. In many cases, a market position can still be defended simply by advertising, but it is no longer possible to achieve growth. And that, after all, is the objective.

The successful marketer abandons the safe haven of advertising and starts with activation. The resources are there, the cases are there, the possibilities are there, and the opportunities are there. And the good news is: more than 80% of marketers are rigid and unwilling to change. Therefore, there are lots of opportunities to beat the competitor.

Why Brand Activation

Activation places the focus on the core of marketing: stimulating the purchasing process. Various developments have made this focus so important and explain why advertisers choose Brand Activation instead of traditional campaigns. Brand Activation addresses the most important issues in marketing:

Information selection

People filter the communications with which they are confronted. Most communications are simply ignored.

Relevance

Informing is Communication when the message is relevant for the recipient. Due to the complete irrelevance of many communications, the Dutch say that they are more annoyed by advertising than by senseless violence.....

Experiences

Experiences are convincing. So are others’ experiences. Active reference is the most powerful instrument in activating people thanks to a positive experience with a brand.

Brand Activation Programme: Smart Diamond

The foundation of a BA programme is the creative platform, i.e. the ´big idea´. That idea is linked to an activity or activities that prove the message. Media are used to make these activities known. Interaction with the target group is stimulated through e-media such as e-mail and the Internet. Without exception, the objective is stimulation of: interest, trial, loyalty. Every programme will be based primarily on one of these objectives.

Brand Activation: provide the proof

The claims ’washes whiter than white’ ’always close at hand’, etc. are very well known, but they are still advertising. People believe that advertising is unreliable; therefore these claims remain unreliable. Until they are proven. A Brand Activation programme provides the proof of the claim. Brand Activation substantiates what has been asserted. Think about Red Bull and Extreme Sports, Amstel and the BallenBar, Unox and the New Year’s plunge. It is increasingly difficult to attract attention for a brand message. The new method is to prove this message. This not only makes message credible, but distinctive as well.

Brand Activation = Interaction

New media have revolutionised communication: the simplicity of interaction. The Internet is accessible to just about everyone. Stimulate people to interact. A Brand Activation platform usually has a site as the basis. The consumer enters the site of his own free will and therefore desires contact. A wonderful opportunity to offer an experience that influences the purchasing process.