You Brand

Corporate-identity programs are the expression of a corporation’s culture, personality and the products and services it has to offer – the very symbol and signature of the values that should inspire trust with consumers, employees, clients, suppliers and the financial community. Names, logos, colors, fonts, slogans and architecture have been an essential part of major branding strategies since the middle of the last century (Marc Gobé: emotional branding).

Corporate identities were developed to enable brands to make a more or less permanent visual statement about themselves. It was hoped that those statements would in turn define consumer perceptions. Many, especially premium brands, developed a rigidity bearing a resemblance to the Ten Commandments. Their headquarters and showrooms felt like modern interpretations of Cathedrals. The objective in both cases was to communicate in a convincing and at times dazzling manner that the brand and only the brand was in control. Individual interpretations by the believers, i.e. consumers, were not an option. Aspiration was cultivated, automatically including a portion of ‘hard to get’.

The social Web has fundamentally changed the relationship between brands and consumers. Consumers have been empowered by the Web and turned into ‘prosumers’, i.e. they are both producers and consumers. Brands are loosing control, as ‘prosumers’ shape them, influence their value more than ever before and effectively acquire co-ownership.

Brands need more flexiblity, because ‘prosumer’ tastes are changing more often. Not only that, tastes are often different from one ‘prosumer’ to the next. Identities have to be emotionally connected, rather than written in stone. Brands need to incorporate values like social, fresh, immersive, transformative, democratic and trustworthy. Otherwise they will fall into oblivion.

The first consequence for corporate identity is apparent: Brands must include the ‘prosumer’ globally in defining the identity, rather than leaving it to an agency. Crowdsourcing would be a good way to start. What do you think?

The other day I was finishing up an important presentation and realized that in some charts the artwork wasn’t optimal and I needed better photos. I got in touch with a company I had used in the past, realized that my account was empty and transferred some money via PayPal. Usually this takes a couple of minutes, but not this time. After a couple of hours, I sent the company an Email, expecting a quick response – no such luck. The matter is still not sorted out. Once it is, I will post about it.

Since I wasn’t getting anywhere, I started looking and listening around and found Shutterstock. I checked their royalty-free stock photography and saw that they had what I was looking for. I then looked at their subscription models – they have some very interesting ones – and chose one that met my requirements. The money transfer only took a couple of minutes, I downloaded some great stock photography and could at last finalize my presentation.

Then I found out that Shutterstock are also on Twitter and decided to ‘follow’. An auto responder thanked me for following (I usually don’t like auto responders) and gave me a coupon code for a 10% off at my next purchase (that I liked). Having just bought a subscription, I couldn’t use the coupon immediately. So I asked them via Email for how long the coupon was valid. An auto responder (again) thanked me for contacting them and informed me that someone would get in touch within one business day. As I mentioned before, I usually don’t like auto responders, but in this case it made sense to me.

Believe it or not, but within one business day they did get in touch. Stephanie, their account executive, sent me an Email in perfect German (she must have checked my IP-address) and asked for the coupon code number. I sent her the number and in less than one hour, she informed me that the coupon was valid till 2012.

I was and am impressed – this is customer service at its best. Shutterstock have obviously realized that happy customers are their most important asset in today’s Social Web. So if you’re ever looking for great photos, why not check them out.

No, this is not going to be a review of an old (or not so old) movie about Robin Hood.

The Sheriff of Nottingham (as many other castle owners at that time) was, amongst other things, a control freak. The town of Nottingham was surrounded by a huge wall and the entry was a drawbridge, which could only be operated from the inside. This way the Sheriff thought that he could control what and/or who left or entered town.

Many companies love the ‘drawbridge-principle’ to try to control their brand and the conversation about it.

The problem is – it didn’t work back then and it doesn’t work today.

Robin Hood and his followers didn’t trust the Sheriff and they had good reason to. They didn’t need the market of Nottingham, as they had found other sources. Actually they didn’t need any of the so-called ‘services’ provided by the Sheriff. For them the Sheriff was redundant.

The walls and the drawbridge didn’t prevent Robin Hood from entering and leaving Nottingham as he pleased. And they did not keep the residents of Nottingham from providing Robin Hood with ‘insider’-information.

At one point Robin Hood even used the drawbridge against the Sheriff. You might recall the scene, where he was about to be hanged. His followers had found their way into town (despite the wall and the drawbridge) and liberated him. During the escape, Robin Hood took his sword and cut the ropes that were holding the drawbridge. The drawbridge pulled up and the soldiers chasing Robin Hood were caught in their own trap.

If we were to replace ‘Robin Hood’ by ‘consumer’, ‘Sheriff of Nottingham’ by ‘brand’ and ‘drawbridge’ by ‘information control’, we would have a pretty good description of what is happening today. Companies should stop acting like the Sheriff of Nottingham, because at the end they will lose and Robin Hood, i.e. the consumer, will win.

….is not necessarily the Internet. Great article in the Atlantic written by B.C. Greenwald, J.A. Knee and A. Seave. In ‘The Moguls’ New Clothes’ they explain the real problems entrenched in 4 provocative myths:

1. Growth is good
2. The gospel of going global
3. Content is king
4. Cult of convergence

Here’s the link to the article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200910/moguls

Questioning the ROI in social media effectively boils down to saying that it doesn’t pay to be a nice guy

In my opinion the definition of the CEO as the Chief Executive Officer is outdated. CEO should really stand for Consumer Engagement Optimizer

100 Years Of Social Media | InventorSpot

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The other day I was watching an old Western film. At some stage there was a close-up of a horse and I noticed the brand. Back then it was common to mark a horse and other livestock with a branding iron. The resulting brand identified the owner.

Nowadays our individual mobility mode has changed. We don’t ride horses anymore, we drive cars, at least for the time being.

Have you taken a close look at your car recently? Have you noticed how many logos there are – logos being the modern interpretation of the ‘brand’? They can be found everywhere: on each wheel, on the engine hood, on the trunk hood, on many parts in the engine compartment and of course in the passenger compartment – the most prominent location being the steering wheel. In many cases you will also find it on the car key.

Whilst we are grateful that they discovered an alternative to the branding iron, one burning question remains: Are we comfortable with the inflationary use of logos? Does it add value for us? Does it add value to the brand in question?

I personally don’t think so. Especially in today’s world where less and less consumers are relying on brands to beef up their own public image. How do you feel when being excessively branded?

Managers aim to please………..their CEO! Rightfully so, unless the CEO becomes their main and only target audience. Chances of this happening in an old-fashioned command and control corporate organization are bigger than you think. Not everybody has direct access to the CEO, creating positive awareness through other channels can therefore be a good career strategy. Placing advertisements in newspapers that the CEO reads are one way of doing that. It indirectly suggests that his marketing department is doing its job in promoting the brand. In a world where the main target groups were reading the same newspaper(s) as the CEO, this was an effective media plan. In a world where they don’t, it obviously is not.

Is your CEO still reading a newspaper?

LEAKED: New iPhone Commercial