cults or communities
Vinay Kamat
In the age of interactivity, will brand cults dissolve into communities? Will fanaticism morph into romance? Will consumers be swayed less by brand myth and more by brand awareness? As brands become transparent in the online world, will cult be shorn of mystique?
After all, brands are learning to live with online communities. They are not averse to being criticised by bloggers; they even pick marketing and user insights from them. Here’s what Microsoft's own blogger Robert Scoble posted on March 14. “Microsoft is a consensus culture and consensus (which means everyone has to sign off on things) does avoid trouble, but it also makes for uninspired products and marketing. That is our internal challenge to figure out, that's for sure!”
Why are brands willing to go the extra mile to reveal themselves to their communities? It makes them transparent; it provides an opportunity for users to interact with the brand and offer useful feedback; it develops tons of trust; and it makes the brand highly accessible. In the interactive world, brands cannot afford to be inaccessible.
Openness creates communities; mystique creates cults. Importantly, brand cults are driven by symbolism and ideology. Brand communities are driven by interactivity and transparency.
Here's why brands become cults. "Brands are symbols. We live in a world dominated by commercial icons, total design initiatives, and completely integrated marketing efforts, where products are consumed less for what they are (materially) and more for what they represent (spiritually, or at least socially)," writes Douglas Atkin, in The Culting of Brands, a solid account of customer loyalty.
As customers group themselves into communities, they seek solutions, not symbols. They seek convenience, not sophistication. They desire performance, not promise. Communities don’t just create a feeling of belonging. They ensure that the brand belongs to them.
“Customers ultimately determine what your brand means,” says marketing expert Guy Kawasaki in his blog: "For decades Apple has tried to make the Macintosh brand stand for power. For decades consumers believe the Macintosh brand stands for easy to use. Ultimately, you flow with what's going, and you’ll be thankful that it's flowing at all."
So, have Google and eBay formed cults or communities? By constantly interacting with users, they have created tribes which are not swayed by myth, mystery and mystique, but by the brand attribute of convenience. It is a lifestyle of cutting-edge simplicity. It is a community of critics, not a cult of worshippers.
In the age of interactivity, will brand cults dissolve into communities? Will fanaticism morph into romance? Will consumers be swayed less by brand myth and more by brand awareness? As brands become transparent in the online world, will cult be shorn of mystique?
After all, brands are learning to live with online communities. They are not averse to being criticised by bloggers; they even pick marketing and user insights from them. Here’s what Microsoft's own blogger Robert Scoble posted on March 14. “Microsoft is a consensus culture and consensus (which means everyone has to sign off on things) does avoid trouble, but it also makes for uninspired products and marketing. That is our internal challenge to figure out, that's for sure!”
Why are brands willing to go the extra mile to reveal themselves to their communities? It makes them transparent; it provides an opportunity for users to interact with the brand and offer useful feedback; it develops tons of trust; and it makes the brand highly accessible. In the interactive world, brands cannot afford to be inaccessible.
Openness creates communities; mystique creates cults. Importantly, brand cults are driven by symbolism and ideology. Brand communities are driven by interactivity and transparency.
Here's why brands become cults. "Brands are symbols. We live in a world dominated by commercial icons, total design initiatives, and completely integrated marketing efforts, where products are consumed less for what they are (materially) and more for what they represent (spiritually, or at least socially)," writes Douglas Atkin, in The Culting of Brands, a solid account of customer loyalty.
As customers group themselves into communities, they seek solutions, not symbols. They seek convenience, not sophistication. They desire performance, not promise. Communities don’t just create a feeling of belonging. They ensure that the brand belongs to them.
“Customers ultimately determine what your brand means,” says marketing expert Guy Kawasaki in his blog: "For decades Apple has tried to make the Macintosh brand stand for power. For decades consumers believe the Macintosh brand stands for easy to use. Ultimately, you flow with what's going, and you’ll be thankful that it's flowing at all."
So, have Google and eBay formed cults or communities? By constantly interacting with users, they have created tribes which are not swayed by myth, mystery and mystique, but by the brand attribute of convenience. It is a lifestyle of cutting-edge simplicity. It is a community of critics, not a cult of worshippers.
posted by vinay kamat at 6:13 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home