Brands are becoming more like people every day. I am not talking about Jack and Ronald and I did not 'Talk to Chuck' about any of this. Brand personification has moved beyond those cardboard cutouts controlled by the companies that create them. The internet with its search engines and social networking has changed that forever. Brands, like us, have no meaningful existence outside of the constantly changing perceptions, interactions and relationships that they share with others. They must learn to see themselves this way. Through the eyes of their virtual community.
Brands are going to have good and bad days. Plug the name of your favorite company into any search engine and see how it is doing right now. You will likely find yourself perusing the shared perspective of multiple individuals and entities, including that of the company itself if it's smart, on wikipedia.com or some such site. This fluidity of what constitues the brand has given it a living quality that is more akin to our own existence and this should give us some insight into what to do about it.
Brands are going to get sick, get better, get hangovers and get punished or rewarded according to their behavior, as percieved by everyone and anyone. There will be times when they get away with it, and times that they get blamed unfairly. Every day will be different, so brands need to learn how to roll with the punches and then stand up and defend themselves. They must grow and adapt, learn and engage, relate and respond. All the things that we do to navigate through our own lives.
Translating this into a coherent strategy is more complicated but the foundation of that strategy is simple. If your brand was a person, what kind of person would you want it to be?
