BrandDigital | BrandSimple: The Blog

Most of us have heard about Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs - you know, the need to gratify hunger, thirst, shelter before moving up to less elemental things. But a hierarchy of human needs relative to our digital life? Absolutely. People divide online pursuits into several tiers, the bottom, or most elemental, being the utilitarian stuff like checking emails, looking up addresses, chatting with friends, and the higher tiers being the more diversionary, like watching favorite shows on Hulu. It’s become apparent to me and many other branding professionals that when trying to engage people online, it’s critical to understand where they are on this hierarchy of digital behavior. In my most recent article in Forbes Online, I explain in greater detail why timing in marketing messages is everything and what some of the best brands are doing - with very gratifying results.

(Image courtesy of Shannonpatrick17 via Flickr)

(image courtesy of M. Keefe via Flickr)

Tweeting, texting, posting , poking - we all know that social networking helps us keep in touch with what’s going on out there. It’s been my observation that many companies are using the same digital tactics and techniques to help its employees keep in touch with what’s going on in there - inside the organization, that is. As brands become increasingly “humanized” by digital technology that both connects everyone and makes everything transparent, smart companies are helping their employees better understand “who” their brand is, and what it represents to consumers by setting up internal social networking programs. To see how this works, and what leadership teams at Best Buy, Schwab, and Wells Fargo are doing, take a look at my
recent article in Forbes online.

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Dan Schwabel, the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y, and founder of the popular site, PersonalBrandingBlog.com. During our conversation, he asked me questions about both the basics of building strong brands, and the changing dynamics of branding in a digital world. It’s a quick read that nonetheless covers lots of interesting ground. It was a fun interview. Here’s the link.

Interview with Dan Schwabel

Will Twitter soon replace Facebook as the online social connector of choice? As the number of news stories about who’s tweeting whom seems to increase with the number of Twitter users, it’s a question being asked by marketers who use social networks as part of their branding initiatives. But this isn’t the question they should be asking. Instead, the question, or rather, questions, that smart companies are asking are: What’s the difference in how consumers are using these social sites and how should branding strategies be built, as a result? I address these questions in my recent column on Forbes online, which includes input from Ford’s head of social media, Scott Monty. As far as smart marketers are concerned, when it comes to Twitter versus Facebook, it’s no contest.

(image courtesy of luc legay via flickr)

Photo courtesy of Gavin Gilmour via Flickr

What do you do if your company’s brand goes from highly desired to highly disdained as a result of current events? Over the past several months, this has become the case for brand names that represent the height of luxury and the height of environmental incorrectness in the minds of consumers. But marketers shouldn’t consider the treatment of brands like these to be one and the same. In a column in Forbes online, I explain why - and how to approach each of these mutually exclusive situations. Worth a read for any company whose brand name is in either category.

Does goodness pay? If a company makes a “goodness” dimension central to its business strategy it certainly does. In a recent article in Forbes, I wrote about the fact that doing good will be increasingly important to companies as they try to differentiate their brands going forward. With consumers weighing not simply value, but corporate values into their purchase decisions, companies will be required to set themselves apart on factors that go beyond taste, or speed, or comfort. In fact, at Landor we’ve recently set up a practice dedicated to helping our clients align what we call “Brand Citizenship” with their business objectives. In other words, getting a return on their goodness investments. Charity used to begin at home. Today, it also begins with smart companies who understand that consumers are looking to them to help solve some of the economic, social, and environmental issues of the world. Companies who also understand that the return on their good efforts will do a good job of differentiating them from their competition and a good job of helping the bottom line.

(image found on Google)

There’s an old saying, or perhaps it’s a toast, which goes, “May you live in interesting times.” I think I speak for all of us when I say I’d prefer to live in less interesting times. We could all use a dose of business as usual, which is the subject of my latest article for Forbes magazine; business as usual as it refers to brands, and what brands under seige must aim for as they work to rebrand their tarnished images in the hope of rebuilding consumer confidence. These are not usual times, which is exactly why business as usual would be a very comforting change.

photo courtesy of teotwawki (flickr)

Is going back to branding campaigns from the good old days going to quell consumer angst? I think not. Consumers want to see initiatives from brands that demonstrate an understanding of what’s here and now. In this article in Forbes, I write about how serving up retro branding may be fun to look at, but it’s not what consumers are looking for.

(image found on Google)