برند ناخواسته

Brands rushed into social media, viewing social networks, video sharing, online communities, and microblogging sites as the panacea to diminishing returns for traditional brand building routes. But as more branding activity moves to the Web, marketers are confronted with the stark realization that social media was made for people, not for brands. In this article, we explore the emergent cultural landscape of open source branding, and identify marketing strategies directed at the hunt for consumer engagement on the People's Web. These strategies present a paradox, for to gain coveted resonance, the brand must relinquish control. We discuss how Web-based power struggles between marketers and consumer brand authors challenge accepted branding truths and paradigms: where short-term brands can trump long-term icons; where marketing looks more like public relations; where brand building gives way to brand protection; and brand value is driven by risk, not returns.

Technology breakthroughs always affect foundational changes in brand management. Transportation focused marketing on distribution. Television established targeting and segmentation. Computers enabled addressable relationships, one-to-one. The Social Web is similarly reconstituting branding, and dramatic change is afoot. We’ve moved from a world where the brand set the agenda, to a world where consumers decide if—and when—brands are invited in. Our mindsets are shifting from long-term asset cultivation to fueling short-term cultural phenomena; brand building as a focal priority has given way to risk management as a defense. Our brand assets are mercurial; they are slipping from our grasp. When so much is changing, can we still claim we are practicing brand management? Or, is it time for a new paradigm to take hold?