Per fi algú ho explica

Per fi algú explica el canvi que està experimentant la gestió de les marques.
A CorporatePR Elizabeth Albrycht explica com els responsables de marca se'ls hi està escapant de les mans el poder sobre la marca, estan perdent el control . Ara són els milers i milers de consumidors qui expliquen coses sobre la marca. La marca ja no pot, amb un missatge unidireccional, imposar una sola manera de ser vista. Els consumidors també expliquen com veuen la marca.

Més que mai, les diferents imatges sobre la marca estan vigents i latents:

El que és
El que diu el propietari que és
Així com la veuen els consumidors
Així com creu el propietari que la veuen els consumidors

Si el canvi de paradigma de comunicació i l'atomització de mitjans està fent trontollar el mercat publicitari basat en suculentes comissions, també és hora de plantejar-se si està fent trontollar la forma de gestionar les marques, la cultura i la identitat corporativa des de les organitzacions. Sens dubte hi ha molt de camir per recórrer per a que les empreses i les institucions estiguin al mateix nivell de joc que ho estan actualment els milers d'usuaris que cooperen i participen a través de la xarxa. Per què no parlen les corporacions? O si que parlen?


http://ringblog.typepad.com/corporatepr/2003/12/gridbrand_brand.html

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Marketers are losing control over their company's brand as consumers are gaining influence through the interactive channels of web-based communications (newsgroups, blogs, etc.)

A good example is what is happening now with the iPod. First, hip ads, glowing reviews. Then, an upswell of consumer discontent over the captive battery problem, starting in the blogsphere, and then gaining broad media play. When you visit the iPod website there is no response [yet] from Apple. Resolution? Who knows, but the brand has taken a hit and Dell is there, ready to capitalize on it.

Today, the focus of brand surveillance is shifting, with the brand manager/marketing director sitting dead center of a panopticon with thousands or millions of watchers. And each of these watchers has the power to bring in more. The new communications channels -- especially blogging -- has wrested control over the brand from the owner. Postmodern branding, with its implications of distributed power, has emerged.

Now, in most cases [in these early days of many-to-one surveillance], the corporate brand police will fight a rear-guard action through advertising, more "glowing reviews", strategic (read: movie/tv) product placements and lawsuits. But this is, ultimately, a losing battle. The numbers alone work against winning: thousands and millions of people now have easy access to ways to share their opinions and band together to let you know what they think. No marketing department budget is big enough to address this using traditional strategies.

Smart companies will realize that their brand is actually CREATED by their audience, not by their resident "Branding expert". The true "brand" of an organization or product will emerge from interactive market conversations among consumers of the brand. This is the world that the Cluetrain Manifesto describes so well. Smart companies will EMBRACE this new reality, and become partners with their customers in creating their brand.

Note: This post is part of the first grid blogging experiment proposed by Ashley Benigo. All of these posts are being aggregated here. Feel free to participate by creating your own post on the subject of brand.