Building authentic connections by tapping into passions

Through passion marketing, we are not only able to entertain our audiences through specialised content, but also build real brand connections through storytelling.

The question then becomes, how do you build a connection through storytelling with relevant audiences? Simply put, by understanding their passions and responding with value. At a strategic phase, we need to deep-dive into what our target audiences are interested in and how they engage, which will determine what they are willing to converse with brands on. Not understanding these fundamentals means you’ll immediately lose them by pushing content at them and not for them. Creating content that links to their passions allows them to find their voice within the brand and it grabs their attention to forge a trusted connection.

Looking at 'Tasting Notes: A Story of Sound and Wine', we wanted to take the conventional wine pairings that were available to consumers a step further by tapping into a collective love of music to create a literal wine-and-music pairing. This allowed us to effectively showcase Nedbank’s investment in the development of the wine industry, while tapping into a new audience that made wine more accessible.

It is undeniable that in a world with so much happening simultaneously, it has become harder than ever for brands, tournaments, corporates, and even influencers to stand out. Gone are the days of brand announcement releases or glamourous product launches, which aren’t as effective as they once were. Creative campaign executions and storytelling are now at the forefront of how you craft content – ensuring the media outlet, reader and brand all find value in the narrative you are trying to communicate.

Taking a page out of the handbook on the work done for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup campaign, we shifted the narrative from ‘female empowerment’ to ‘pure power’ by making this tournament heard through the #TurnItUp campaign – a clear rallying cry to South Africa to take this tournament to another level.

Through the passion of national pride, we were able to secure the buy-in from the media, players and public around the purpose of #TurnItUp and positively shift the perception of women’s cricket by positioning this tournament as a global sporting showpiece of the highest standard.

Passion marketing has become one of the most powerful tools to connect meaningfully with audiences and curate successful campaigns. Brands need to create meaningful conversations with their audiences, what better way to do that than to converse with them over something that are genuinely interested in.