January 8th, 2009 by Malia Supe and Garrick Schmitt
‘Tis the season for forecasts and predictions, but one thing we can certain about in 2009 and beyond is that our thinking about brands must change.
We know that the consumer landscape has been radically altered by search, social media, online video and the like. But most significantly we are witnessing the emergence of a participatory culture — one that’s impact is just starting to be felt.
But many companies, while aware of the shift, are still struggling to participate in meaningful ways themselves. Some have definitely done well (Nike, Dell, for sure) but it becomes a nightmare (e.g. Motrin Moms et al, from Jeremiah Owyang) for others.
If anything, this shift should serve as a wake-up call for marketers and advertisers. They need to find meaningful ways for their brands to participate, as well –- but not in the traditional manner of pushing tired old messages at consumers. No, today, brands need to build strength through action.
Actions Speak Louder Than Advertising
What we as consumers really want is for brands to stop marketing and start doing. My colleagues and I at Razorfish believe that for brands to be successful in this environment they need to stand for something and “do” something.
What a brand says will always be important, but in this day and age what a brand does – how it acts and how it brings its beliefs to life in ways that add value to consumers — will be the most important, and ultimately the most engaging.
Our goal then, as a digital agency, is to help create real, tangible expressions of our clients’ brands and make them meaningful to consumers.
Rethinking Our Relationships With Brands
When we think back on the relationships we have with brands, it seems that the ones that run deep are the ones where we are emotionally or rationally invested in the brand. Whether it is a running shoe, a favorite beer or even a hotel chain, there are some brands that matter to us and that we choose time and time again. The reasons for our loyalty differ and in some cases the relationship is built over time through experience while in others it is love at first sight. But for today’s marketers creating loyalty or even preference with consumers is a difficult task – one that is increasingly challenging .
Finding The White Space
The sheer number of brands vying for attention is overwhelming. Old brands, new brands, celebrity brands, corporate brands and even country brands are all hawking products that in many ways are very similar to products we have already seen and may already have. Marketers keep trying to drive differentiation for products (that are often at parity) with messages we have all heard before.
Digital has also made marketing more complex. For one, it has splintered broad, traditional and easy to navigate channels into micro channels or micro interactions that are built for people not advertisers and their ads. Digital has also fundamentally changed how we view media. It is no longer a channel but rather an entity in itself - something we don’t just watch or read but create, participate in, or share with others.
And lastly, influencers are everywhere – disrupting the most holy of conversations – the one between consumers and the brand. These influencers are impossible to control (much less influence) because they are everywhere and everything and they aren’t necessarily consumers – they are media, other brands, products, design, culture — all the fluid forces that surround the world in which the brand lives.
Becoming a Brand of Action, Not Words
So what’s a brand to do? Start taking action, now. Here are a few examples:
Zappos.com
The company has built itself on customer service and non-traditional marketing tactics. For example, reportedly half of the company is active on Twitter, CEO Tony Hsieh blogs consistently, and the company earns raves for making its culture its brand. But it’s the service that really kills: free overnight shipping and a very generous return policy make Zappos a brand of actions, not just words.
Nike
There have been no shortage of hosannas heaped upon Nike for its Nike+ and Running work — and deservedly so. This past year’s Human Race, where Nike hosted a worldwide running race for its best and future customers, was pure genius. Nike is showing how a truly modern brand can and should behave: part party planner, part community organizer and ultimately a provider of indispensable products.
Camper
Camper is a quirky brand. While most of us in the U.S. think of it as a shoe brand, the Spanish company is much more and pursues a belief system focused on a slower, healthier lifestyle. Proof: Casa Camper, a stylish (though laid back) hotel in Barcelona that is tangible manifestation of the brand — one that is well beyond a product or retail experience.
Virgin
Richard Branson’s Virgin is the classic branding case study. And for good reason, the company is amazingly scalable allowing the company to bring its maverick brand to industries like travel, finance and mobile phones. Virgin America is the latest example — a complete rethink of the air travel experience. What a novel concept to actually order food and beverages on a plane!
Starbucks
Starbucks is the classic experience brand, but until recently, suffered as it pursued expansion over customer service and loyalty. That all changed with MyStarbucksIdea.com, an online suggestion box and virtual community rolled into one. The company wasn’t the first to roll out a service like this (and did so haltingly at first) but it clearly resonated as a new “third place” with customers who voiced their feedback en masse. The result, Starbucks listened and acted. Free Wifi, frequent purchaser drink cards, better food, coffee lid swizzle stick thingamajigs and more.
Here’s How To Act Now
1. Define. Define what your brand really stands for. What are the core beliefs that will drive how your brand interacts with the world? Unless you understand that and your brand’s core DNA, it’s nearly impossible to take meaningful action.
2. Identify. Start to identify the behaviors or actions that match these beliefs. What’s truly authentic to the brand? For example, if your company sells software do you really want to open a wine bar?
3. Audit. Audit all of your current marketing efforts, both online and off. Is there a disconnect between how you want the brand to behave and how it is currently behaving? You can’t build a brand around customer service when customers can’t reach support staff, for example. Or, does that ad in “O” magazine really express the dynamic quality of your brand?
4. Listen. This is truly the key. Great brands are built on what people say about you, not what you say about yourself. Go beyond the obvious and start talking with customers. At minimum monitor their actions across the social sphere on gathering places like Twitter, Facebook, et al. Then react.
5. Make Your Brand Tangible. The final step is to create a tangible expression of your brand. What should your brand do? Where should it go? What should it say, what are the products and services that a brand with this belief system would create? Five or 10 years ago this would have exclusively meant a physical product, but today digital experiences provide real value for consumers. For a financial institution, it may mean offering a service like Mint. For a consumer packaged goods brand, it may mean creating a means for a specific community (say Moms) to interact.
For us, ‘09 will be about actions speaking louder than advertising. What about you?
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Special thanks for help/inspiration and conversation: Brandon Geary, Joe Crump, Marisa Gallagher, Tim Richards, Shiv Singh, Jeff Lanctot, Colin Kinsella, Clark Kokich and David Deal.
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We can continue the conversation on Twitter and in the comments below. You can follow me here:
http://www.twitter.com/gschmitt
Tags: belief, brand, branding, camper, dell, digital brands, dna, forrester, ideastorm, mint.com, moms, motrin, nike, razorfish, salesforce, starbucks, twitter, virign, zappos
Posted in Advertising, Analytics, Design Tactics, Digital Branding, Digital Consumer Behavior, Media + Entertainment, Social Media, Web 2.0, eCommerce | 28 Comments »
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