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Huh? You mean you're not invited? Someone's obviously playing a joke on you right? Or perhaps the invite got lost in the mail? Something's not adding up, cause consumers love your brand don't they? Everyone loves the way that you continuously interrupt their days and nights telling them how much they need you. They just adore the way you bombard them with on-the-hour reminders of how great you are. Who wouldn't want to hang out with you? You sound like a great friend. And the way you look, damn, you've got style. The bigger your logo gets, the better you look, except when it's illuminated and flashing, can't forget the flashing, then it's better than ever. Well, then it's...it's like super special.
As you and your co-workers finally come to grips with the fact that you're no longer wearing the pants in the relationship with your consumer, you'll first want to understand how this constantly evolving world of consumer-generated content operates. Come on, we've all been there. Plastering our whiteboards with what we believe to be groundbreaking thinking on how to involve our brands in the lives of our consumers. We spit out a few big ideas, put them through our various brand filters, and then light the fuse and bring the concept to life outside our office walls. Except lately, our old pick up lines aren't connecting with our new-school consumer.
Listen up folks, the consumer-controlled revolution is already in mid-stride. Time to change your ways, cause it's their world now. The consumer's the new boss on the block. Brands are like the kid at the park with potential, but they're rarely picked to play in the big game. They can only hope consumers will ask them to be on their team. And if they're oh so lucky and play it cool, they'll get the opportunity to actually suit up and play (by the consumer's rules of course). So brands can either recognize this and accept their new role (some may need to audition) in today's hyper-competitive economy or they can continue to throw out yesterday's tactics and become ineffective, irrelevant, and virtually unrecognizable.
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Contributor: David Brody and Alex Bernstein
David and Alex are Managing Partners at North Venture Partners, a Los Angeles and San Francisco based strategic consulting and investment firm that works with early-stage lifestyle, entertainment, and technology ventures. The North team includes a diverse collection of venture development, financial advisory, and brand marketing change agents: who work with early stage ventures to deliver the planning and execution needed to connect with consumers and ultimately with investors. You can read more colorful commentary about branding gone wrong on their blog http://www.dontgosouth.com.
Email:
info@northvp.com
Website: www.northvp.com
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