Brand Fatale

In the future, the Danish company plans to explore “mood-based” advertising

Bad news for brands enamored with the possibility of connecting one on one with each and every consumer through the magic of social media: Young people don’t want to be friends with you.

just 6 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds who use the Web desire to be friends with a brand on Facebook—despite the fact that half of this demographic uses the site.

Among Web-connected 18- to 24-year-olds that figure does double—meaning that 12 percent of that demo is OK with befriending brands—though the vast majority of young adults are not

Several speakers suggested introducing new types of control measures such as social media guidelines and new positions to monitor and manage rogue messages. Interestingly, companies such as noted rule-breaker Southwest Airlines and B2B icon SAP are moving in the opposite direction with a less is more approach. Rather than try to rein in communications, they have given their employees more freedom to express themselves and quickly experienced small wins that have helped build stronger reputations for their companies. For example, rumors were self-corrected by employees, stronger connections with customers were created, and employees felt more engaged in shaping their company.

This less is more approach is only effective when you have a strong culture focused on a deep and all-encompassing employee understanding of the company's vision. For this strategy to work effectively, employees need to be aligned with the messages you want to share and need to be invested in the success of the company.

brands considering where to focus their efforts and limited resources would do better to put less emphasis on putting more controls in place, and more effort toward helping employees better understand the CEO’s vision and what makes a company a special place to work. In the end, giving your employees the tools and freedom to spread that message and build your reputation makes more sense than reigning them in and holding them back.

According to Anholt, a country has a good and strong brand image if people in other countries feel happy that it exists. If people know that Bulgaria exists but are not grateful that it exists, then something needs to be done.

“There are at least 25 things that excite people all over the world such as poverty, climate change, education, women’s rights, children, crime, terrorism,” said Anholt, adding that the country can choose one of these things, focus on it, to try to change it, thus making itself important for the rest of the world. As an example, he mentioned South Korea’s nation branding efforts, which include improving its image by spending more money on international financial assistance for poor countries.

“This is real politics, real innovation, not something dreamed up by PR agencies,” said Anholt. He warned that inventing a logo or slogan in order to advertise Bulgaria will not be enough and that it will not change people’s perceptions across the world about Bulgaria.

The films are a great example of how advertising has evolved for the age of perpetual beta. Had Ikea played the ads straight -- had they run nothing but porny shots of whisks and wooden spoons -- the whole campaign would've died as soon as it hit the intertubes; no one wants to look at that stuff (and the beauty of the Internet is that no one has to). But by blurring the line between advertising and content, Ikea creates incentive for people to click and, the thinking goes, to buy more stuff.

Why, for example, does adding one highly expensive purchasing option increase average order value? Because people base decisions on relative, rather than absolute, information – context is everything. Behavioural economics can help brands understand these decisions and inform their approach to product development, marketing and communications.  There’s a range of principles that are worth knowing about. Many of these aren’t necessarily new but it is only now that they are coming to bare on the way we do marketing.

Possibly one of the easiest principles to consider is that of chunking.  The term originates from a paper published in 1956 by a famous American psychologist George A. Miller.  Parts are easier than "wholes". The way a task is presented affects people's willingness to take it on and complete it. Something presented as one long task to be conducted in a single act will be less likely to attract people than something "chunked up" into bite-sized stages.  A long survey will probably produce higher conversion rate if broken up into more digestible chunks with clear information that shows where people are in the process. 

Another interesting example is that of social herding. This works on the premise that people are more likely to do things if they think others are doing the same.  They are more likely still if they believe they are being observed or monitored. Herding is not a new phenomenon and can even be traced back to philosophical studies of the early twentieth century.  Modern identification of this has lead to activity such as governments’ approach to curbing energy consumption.  What they found to be the most effective way to get people to reduce energy consumption is not by showing them how much money they can save but rather show them how much more energy above average they use.

“If too many people can buy it, the brand loses its exclusivity.”

Despite the ubiquity of digital and social media, the in-store experience is still integral to producing individualized experiences for high-wealth customers. “Even though the products are available to view online, it is not the same as the experience of seeing them in person,”

Digital and social media can amplify in-store experience for high-wealth customers, but shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a substitute.   

the decade of constructing the social layer is complete. The frameworks that we'll use to share socially are built, defined and controlled.

What's taking its place? The decade of games.

in this decade of games, these game dynamics will move far beyond your computer screen and into decidedly non-game like environments, like the way we court customers, engage with others at work, discover where to hang out on Saturday nights and what, when and how we choose to purchase.

Launch? Here’s an age-old concept that is being re-shaped in the era of the proto-brand.  As social media and technology open up development, co-creation will become the normative process for many brands.

As the speed and quantity of new offers being thrown at us increases, our attention spans become shorter and we’re more easily distracted.   In this 21st century business environment, brands cannot rely on the one-liner.

In the world of open, brand is more valuable than ever.  More than what you can offer is the outcome of the way you act: trust, equity, and loyalty. Open up to people, and you gain empathy, support, and forgiveness.  Close the door to them, tell the same jokes over and over, and soon you’ll be looking at a theater of empty seats.

Check out this demo of Wikitude, an augmented-reality travel guide, if you want to see what the future of mobile search looks like. By combining the camera on the phone with the built-in GPS and some fancy-schmancy programming, the Wikitude folks have come up with an application that gives you information about whatever you're pointing your phone at. In effect, your phone can become a virtual "window" on the world that merges the information about your location with the actual image of your location.

The applications for travel and tourism are obvious. You no longer have to blindly wander around a strange city wondering what you're looking at. Just point your phone at the monuments and buildings you see, and poof! There's all the historical information (and possibly even dates, times, and ticket prices) that you'd need. Analog and digital reality combined. Of course, the marketing applications for this are just as big. Systems like these (and I'm betting that they're going to be ubiquitous in new phones within a year or two) would allow marketers to place virtual "billboards" or information displays anywhere they want. Point your phone at a restaurant to get the times when it's open, a menu, and (with the touch of your finger on the display) make a reservation. Point your phone at a movie theater to get show times and buy your tickets with a tap of your finger. Look at a retail store and get a list of items on sale and even special "augmented-reality user only" coupons.