Grant McCracken closed out August with two great meta-posts on brands: Brands Behaving Well and Brands Behaving Badly. Don't miss them. But don't simply consume them, savor them. Examine and evaluate his arguments.
I've been noodling his premise that marketing, and more specifically advertising, builds brands through the assembly of cultural meanings for quite a while now. And I certainly agree that brand meaning must be carefully orchestrated by the organization. I'm just not convinced that advertising is the best way to go about it. Are you?
A few years back, I was invited by The Coca-Cola Company to discuss the concepts in my book, A Clear Eye for Branding. During the meeting, the head of North American marketing handed me a can of one of their new, breakthrough products and asked my opinion. I wasn't impressed. Needless to say, I've never been invited back.
What was I, at the time, consciously and subconsciously evaluating? The brand's meaning, created by me while experiencing the product; the size and shape of the can, the design, labeling, co-branding, taste, et al. I've subsequently experienced the product's advertising, which has had absolutely no affect on my initial brand meaning-making.
My experience (and other's experiences) with that product, and with Google, Starbucks, my MacBook and iPod Touch, and Sony's technical support people shaped the meaning I made for myself about those brands. At least that's what my mind tells me. Advertising may have helped deepen those initial "feelings," but did it create them? And does it create meaning, and thus influence my purchase decision, for other brands. And if so, which ones? And if so, was that the best investment of the organization's resources? Those are but a few of the questions that I continue to noodle about brands and meaning.
Posted September 1, 2008
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Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas.
Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
When Tom Asacker writes, I read. Opportunity Screams is the right message for the right time.
Tom Peters
Hi Tom
Like you I read and enjoyed Grant's posts. And like you I wasn't so taken in by his ad-driven arguments.
With your Coke tasting experience in mind, it is interesting to note how your own early sensory experiences (and the associated unconscious emotions and conscious feelings they evoked) were more influential than and apparently overode Coke's subsequent advertising.
It would be interesting to see if you came out of the taste trial with a differet perception if you had tasted togeether with a group of people. Especially if they actually liked the new product.
I can't help but think that the subtle effects others unconsciously have on us is much overlooked in the one to solitary many world of advertising.
Keep up the great posts.
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager
Posted by: Graham Hill | September 01, 2008 at 03:56 PM