Telling Brand Stories
Blogging is new to many of us who never imagined that something akin to gossip and story telling would impact deeply entrenched professions such as advertising, PR and journalism. But it has, giving rise to a journalism effect that fills the gaps of credibility in branding, politics, journalism, and mass marketing. My topic is marketing communications. As I noted in my backgrounder the people at the periphery have a voice –and the reach— that those at the center once enjoyed.
Our modern variants of gossip –marketing communications (which is all about telling our commercial stories) and public relations (which is used to narrate particular angles of a story) – have quietly eclipsed the corporate video, the press conference, the product launch, and the celebrity-studded TV commercial. The most interesting seem to be the unofficial storytellers--the ‘unauthorized’ corporate bloggers, the ‘self embedded’ journalists-blogger posting stories from the war zone, the ‘citizen journalists’ reporting for OhMyNews in South Korea, and the ‘un-ad agencies’ such as Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Even a group of consumers who release viral content for benign reasons or some form of activism have an audience.
These communicators at the periphery have realized that people and institutions at the center --the corporate icons and the traditional gatekeepers— have lost their credibility. Notice how it’s not just the Ken Lays and Martha Stewarts of this world who are being put away. Also being sidelined are information and image brokers from Tom Brokaw (whom, we learn, is losing audiences), McCann-Erickson (a powerful global advertising network/conglomerate which is losing accounts to hot shops.) And yes, even newspapers have lost their credibility, as a recent Pew Research study shows.
Whose brand stories will people listen to? It depends on who provides more relevant content, rather than who crafts the best press release. Consider the GlaxoSmithkline 'story.' No matter how you spin it, when New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against their product, Paxil, the patients took to the message boards.
Or take BBC journalist, Stuart Hughes, who’s Iraq 'audio blog' on the Web, is riveting journalism, more so, because it is not an official news report filed through Hughes’ employer. These are seemingly isolated examples of how spin, brand management (managed by one-time ‘brand guardians,’) damage control, and intermediation are not always what the audience wants.
This is not necessarily a pessimistic view of communications. We don’t have to look to Blogs per se for the answer. The concept of blogging, of transparency, and allowing multiple contributions is being embraced by the advertising and marketing world, even as we speak.
Larry Light, the chief marketing officer of McDonald’s proposed a curious marketing idea last month. He called it ‘brand journalism’ which is not a very accurate label for what he was proposing, since it is neither journalism, nor branding. “As a mass brand…we marketed a mass message through the mass media appealing to masses of undifferentiated consumers,” he said. But “customers will not accept monotonous, repetition of the same simplistic message. They want a dynamic, creative chronicle.” Mr. Light was not overtly referring to online ‘chronicles’ but he did have in mind the rich tapestry of multiple opinions, and daily inputs to this chronicle: “It means telling the many facets of our brand story every day in 119 countries.”
And in the face of those he warned as the ‘positionistas’ (those brand advocates who defend the ‘positioning’ theory of the one-voice, one-look, and one-brand image) he said that McDonald’s would redefine its brand communication in a “non advertising-centric world” where like the tapestries of old, this thing called ‘brand journalism’ would be an “endless story” when unfurled over time.
Welcome to the non advertising-centric world of marketing communications!
Author: Angelo Fernando | Jul 14, 04 | Permalink
| 6 comments
Category: @ Angelo Fernando | Topic 3 Making PR Work
Interesting look at new ways to communicate the brand.
Posted by: Mary Jo Larson at July 14, 2004 02:39 PM
Excellent article. I find myself more and more intrigued by blogging. I think it demands a new layer of corporate communicator. That of brand police. Left unchecked, who's to say some blogs will spew innacuracies, and worse yet, lies that seem credible. I think it would be wise for communicators to understand how blogging affects their businesses.
But I suppose corporate communicators asked for it. With all of our effective media training, more and more talking heads are sticking to key messages no matter what question is asked. This leads to less than genuine appearance by the talking heads. It's rare (and better covered) when people get off message and say something stupid or profound.
I look forward to seeing more of Fernando's work!
Posted by: Lorenzo Sierra at July 14, 2004 03:43 PM
"Left unchecked, who's to say some blogs will spew inaccuracies..."
Lorenzo, this statement and the idea of "brand police" is the old command/control PR speaking. It will not work in this new world.
Blogs will "spew inaccuracies." You cannot stop this. You cannot control it. It is always going to happen, and it can happen on a level never before possible, with thousands upon thousands of people joining in.
Are you scared yet? I am.
The new role of the corporate communicator is to be actively engaged with those people who are blogging about your company. To comment on their blogs. To link to them from their own corporate blogs. To provide the correct information when mistakes happen and try to anticipate major blow ups before they hit critical mass. Once a problem starts to brew it is already too late. These things can explode in days, hours, minutes.
You might not always be successful in heading off a major crisis, but if you are already looped into the conversation in trustworthy way, then it will be more likely you will get a fair shake.
Posted by: Elizabeth Albrycht at July 15, 2004 04:10 AM
Certainly, a new way of looking at brand communications. As a PR practitioner this scares the 'shit' out of me, purely for one reason - the task of monitoring. We all know that clients want coverage in every possible nook and corner. While posting may be easy, knowing what takes place after that calls for effective mining cum monitoring tools.
Further, the new challenge for us in the industry will be the identification of good bloggers, 'cos like in all innovations quality will be the order of the day.
Posted by: Akhry Ameer at July 16, 2004 01:39 AM
From an agency point of view, a problem arises. How much will the client be willing to pay for the time it takes to monitor? Because, even with RSS feeds and news agents, it still a time-intensive process. And, it doesn't clearly add to the bottom line value unless you find a problem.
So, those hours add up and it is easy for the client to start questioning why they are paying so much for something that has had little impact.
Now clearly, if the role moves from passive monitoring to active participation in the conversations, which I argue it should, then you are "producing" something measureable. But, often times, the client doesn't want the PR agency speaking in their own voice on behalf of the client. In the old practice, the PR agency was as invisible as possible to the target audiences. However, to comply with the mores of the blogosphere, hiding your identity, or pretending you are your client, is deems highly unethical.
It is a challenge that agency types will really need to address in the coming months/years.
Posted by: Elizabeth Albrycht at July 16, 2004 05:13 AM
Very insightful and thought provoking. Perhaps the 'invisible' PR agency may soon be supplemented by someone --even a small team-- on the company side. Companies already have a 'compliance' officer, and that role can easily evolve into someone who 'participates' as you say, rather than watches over.
Posted by: Angelo Fernando at July 16, 2004 01:01 PM
- About
- The Global PR Blog Week 1.0 is an online event that will engage PR, marketing and business bloggers from around the globe in a discussion about blogging and communications. The event is scheduled for July 12 - 16, 2004.
- Links
- The New PR Wiki
- Recent Entries
- Looking forward to 2.0
- Site Statistics and Trends
- A participant’s final thoughts
- Traditional PR is dead - Long Live DIY PR
- Quiet is the new loud
- Recent Comments
- Rick Barry on A Very Brief Look at Blogging for the Uninitiated Executive
- George Mc Quade on The Battle Over PR
- Duncan Adams on Robert Scoble interviewed on Corporate Blogging
- Kevin O'Keefe on How to launch a corporate blog for a professional services organization
- William Luu on Site Statistics and Trends
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