I absolutely love the conversation that Umair has started over at his new HBS blog on the Economics of Brands. Umair and I have had numerous discussions on this topic as we are both pretty passionate about the subject and working on the challenges and issues from related spaces. He even mentions P&G in the discussion - [perhaps a veiled allusion to the Social Media Lab I am developing with P&G...;) ]
What I love about this discussion is that it puts the topic in logical economic terms. At the core of why brands do not control the message is the fact that they no longer control the medium - as the world flattens and the cost of communication disintegrates it is indeed the customer who can increasingly compare notes and attitudes and create the value.
As Umair points out:
In fact, when interaction is cheap, the very economic rationale for orthodox brands actually begins to implode: information about expected costs and benefits doesn’t have to be compressed into logos, slogans, ad-spots or column-inches – instead, consumers can debate and discuss expected costs and benefits in incredibly rich detail.
I love to quote Scott Cook on this one:
“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is - it is what consumers tell each other it is.”
I would even argue that was to a certain degree - always the case - it is just that today we are all connected - you can't snow me anymore. This is SO much bigger than mere branding - it lies at the core of your business model.
So what are the new brand building models? I think many of them have yet to be worked out but I know it is NOT traditional advertising. I also know that what it DOES involve is empowering your customers, listening to them and putting the aggregated feedback into action.
The larger questions of scale and financial models that work are the tough nuts to crack,the large advertising industry with its vested interests and deeply entrenched silos is gonna need some prying apart.
What is the culture of your company? [copy paste wrong window]
