Sometimes opportunities can land on your laps when you least expect them. When the much-touted English Premier League (EPL) star match of last Sunday between Manchester United and Liverpool began, the least anyone expected was a close, tactical encounter between two former EPL champions.
Even when the first half ended, it was still a tight game with Liverpool leading by a lone goal. No one could have predicted what would happen in the second half. Pronto! It became 4-0, then five, then six, before Liverpool was seven goals up.
For any agile communication team, identifying a sudden opportunity for the brand association is a vital trademark. The communication team at Seven-up Bottling Company (SBC) rose up as if they were created for this kind of exciting “emergency”.
It was such a colourful utilization of a sudden opportunity to ride on this score into the minds of millions of sports lovers as the thing became global.
All of a sudden 7-Up was trending on social media. Excited Sports fans linked up to reinforce it as they wondered what could have led to Liverpool’s thrashing of Manchester United at Anfield 7-0 that Sunday night.
Fans of rival clubs, especially those previously hammered by Man U, took to social media to mock Manchester United with a 7 Up Can to represent the goals scored.
To brand owners of 7up, nothing can be more exciting. Indeed one post on Instagram captured it very succinctly with an excited face under the caption, “the face of 7up when Liverpool scored the 7th goal. A similar one said, “7UP Company after the 7th goal Realizing it’s free PR”. It was a smart opportunity for a good brand association.
A brand association is a mental connection a customer makes between a brand and a concept, image, emotion, experience, person, interest, or activity. This association can be immediately positive or negative and it can heavily influence purchase decisions.
The stronger an association, the more likely it will be recalled from memory via the spreading activation process that underpins mental maps
At the crux of it, a positive brand association can help a brand drive sales and get an edge over its competitors. By assisting customers to remember your brand and recall its characteristics, the brand association makes the buying process much easier.
The brand association also helps people remember your brand and its unique qualities, including those that differentiate you from your competitors. By fostering familiarity and reinforcing recognizable attributes, the brand association provides customers with concepts, visuals, and attitudes that can help facilitate brand recall.
A strong brand association can also give your brand meaningful and memorable attributes, it can also provide consumers with reasons to purchase your products and services.
Much of a brand’s identity lives in the minds of consumers so building brand association keeps a brand alive and even enables it to engage in activities, and brand partnerships, that go entirely beyond the product category.
Seven Up might not have any contract with the EPL or any of the premiership clubs but fans designed Liverpool shirts and many other items with the 7 up logo. This will definitely create positive feelings and attitudes about the brand at little or no cost. Check out what it costs Standard Chartered bank to appear on Liverpool’s shirts.
Brand associations are important because they help customers recall your brand right away. They combine to make up your overall brand identity and you want to create them in as many meaningful ways as you can. Usually, the words associated with your brand help people make connections to your product or category without needing to explicitly tell your audience what it is you do or sell.
At their best, brand associations differentiate you from your competitors and create a positive image for your brand that makes people want to buy your products. Getting your team focused on creating associations starts with understanding the different types of associations that can be made.
Even from the Nigerian angle came a lot of entertainment with AY Comedian tweeting “Man United fans, abeg na how much them dey sell 7UP now? On the other hand, Liverpool should explain to us what Mahmood was doing at Anfield Road last night, I also learned he arrived and left in Liverpool’s private jet.
“Them rig the result joor, them carry utd result give Liverpool”
Another tweet responded:” He came to supervise the distribution of the materials. But are you aware that this is what is on the IREV portal now – Liverpool 7 -Man U 7? In fact, we won against Liverpool. It later ended 7: 10. The Result will be uploaded on the scoreboard later.
One tweet responded: Liverpool ATIKULATED her victory emphatically’
Very interesting and funny. It can only be in a place like this where people with diverse views can share a platform with ease. Everything with pure entertainment.
However, in all these, there are underlying lessons. The need to take ownership of the Boys Scout motto- Be prepared. Imagine if the 7-Up team was not vigilant enough to key in and ride on this result. Imagine if they do not notice it for 12 hours. It would have been a great opportunity missed. Was 7-Up lucky? Probably to some extent. But it should be noted that success will only come when opportunity and readiness collide.
Kudos to the 7-Up team!