Five minutes with Mario Natarelli
Mario Natarelli, managing partner at NYC-based branding agency MBLM, speaks to Transform magazine about how he helped launch the agency and cultivate the concept of 'brand intimacy.' He expands on MBLM’s 'Brand Intimacy COVID Study,' a research of brands based on emotional connections during the pandemic.
Why did you decide to help launch MBLM and what makes the agency unique?
MBLM was founded 11 years ago by a group of leading branding and professionals who have spent decades shaping iconic brands like UPS, Intel, Mexico's Tourism brand, The Palm and United Way.
What makes us unique is our focus on building the brand through emotional science and focused on the idea of brand intimacy—the emotional bonds between the brand and its stakeholders.
What is 'brand intimacy' and why is it important?
Brand intimacy measures emotional bonds we form with the brands we use and love. Behavioral scientists have proven that we make decisions based on emotion, yet most of the ways we measure, build and manage brands don't reflect this. Brand intimacy creates a new and more elevated form of loyalty – built for our modern times and underpinned by the connections formed between brands and all their stakeholders.
The benefits of Brand Intimacy are numerous. Our decades of research have proven the more intimate the customer, the more engaged, and the more they are willing to pay for a product or service. Top performing brands from our annual study also significantly outperform the Fortune 500 and S&P 500 indices in annual revenue, profit and stock price.
How has MBLM grown during the pandemic?
We have been very fortunate overall though some of our offices have fared better than others. I think the key to our growth has been mostly due to the resiliency of our teams. Firstly, we virtualized the agency across the globe and then worked hard to maintain and nurture our client's brands through the effects of the pandemic.
In May of this year, we opened a new office in Seoul, Korea, which marks our first Asian location. With this opening, we have further expanded our global footprint and now have offices in five countries located in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, the UAE and South Korea.
We have also continued to work with noteworthy B2B and B2C brands across the globe.
What were the most interesting points of MBLM's Brand Intimacy COVID Study? How are the results different from the previous study's results?
Our Brand Intimacy COVID Study revealed some surprising results and confirmed some others. Consumers demonstrated a 23% increase in the number of brands they have an emotional connection with, a significant increase since the last study. Respondents also indicated higher scores across all Brand intimacy stages an indication that as we become more isolated, the role brands played in our lives increased.
Apple ranks as the #1 most intimate brand during COVID, followed by Amazon and Google. The Covid-19 rankings show many of the top brand intimacy performers from our previous studies continuing to lead but there were three new top 10 entrants: Google, YouTube and Toyota. Additionally, more media & entertainment brands are in the top 10 and fewer automotive brands. This indicates that consumers turned to enjoyment, likely also needing to escape reality, and became less dependent on their cars.
We also found that Zoom the #1 brand that people were using more during the pandemic, followed by Purell and Netflix. Purell is also the top brand for consumers willing to pay 20% more for its services or products.
We are now beginning to conduct a Brand Intimacy Post-COVID Study and will be revealing the findings in September. It will be interesting to see the results of the study as we now return to the new normal.
