You Brand

Spiders have existed for much longer than brands. For over 140 Million years many species have been around building webs. Not all use webs to catch their prey, but for those that do, the web has the great advantage that the spider can catch the prey without having to hunt it down. The spider just needs to be patient and wait. When the prey gets trapped, the spider senses the impact by vibrations transmitted through the web. This behavior reminds me of many brands in the 'other' web – they build websites and wait for the consumer. If the typical prey of a spider would behave like today's consumer, the spider would starve to death while waiting. And brands?

Posted via email from achimmuellers’s posterous

Trust, as defined by Wikipedia, is a relationship of reliance. Trusting others means that we believe they will keep a previous given promise. It is an investment, because we give it before we get something in return. Trust is social capital and as far as I am concerned, it is not the only investment that is becoming riskier every day.

According to a recent survey carried through in Europe and North America by the German institute GfK (Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung) only 18% trusted politicians, 28% trusted advertising managers, 33% trusted bosses and 41% journalists. Devastating results in my opinion. Is behavior – because that is what it is all about – changing fundamentally as a consequence? At present I don’t have the impression that it is, at least not on a large scale. This is unfortunate, because we have the tools, i.e. the social web, to make ourselves heard and to initiate change. The social web aggregates and distributes dissatisfaction and mistrust just like any other information.

What is holding us back? I hear all the time that one individual experience and/or opinion doesn’t make a difference? It is true when everybody believes it, because many individual opinions will remain solitary. Using the multiplier effect of the social web has the potential to change that, but won’t do the job for us. We have to stand up and take an active part. We have to push the process and initiate the change we want to happen. Joining social networks but remaining passive and waiting for a personal miracle doesn’t work and will only increase our personal level of frustration. We need determination and stamina. One negative post on an unsatisfactory product and/or service won’t instantaneously and automatically lead to millions of followers.

Our would-be ‘true’ followers in the social web have to ‘know’ us before they trust us. There is no app for it. Authenticity, transparency, honesty, expertise, reliability and value similarity drive trust in the social web like everywhere else. Word-of-mouth and the fact that they are fellow consumers without a primary commercial interest accelerates the trust-building process. Still trust remains an investment, can’t be bought and must be earned – whether you are online or offline.

So, who do you trust?

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.