Guardians of Citizenship

Intro
The year is 1999 and despite the imminent millennium celebrations the world is
also bracing itself for a potential digital dystopia, Y2K fever is upon us. But as
people everywhere grow increasingly fearful of a computational conspiracy and
the spread of the great millennial cold, a burgeoning network of interconnected
computers are busying together, fortifying the foundations for a more utopian
peoples’ revolution.

“We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us”

Marshall McLuhan observed and it’s hard to find a more fitting example of his
supposition than the unprecedented growth of the internet. A self-perpetuating,
organically charged phenomena that within the relative blink of an eye has
rewired the very fabric of our collective and individual consciousness. This paper
examines the new state of consciousness, looking at the new paradigm of
consumerism, the implications for brands and a vision of the future. Ultimately
identifying a clear road map for brands and agencies to survive in the brave new
world.

All hail the consumer

At the turn of the 21st century the modern economy’s traditional systems of
exchange, consumption and communication shifted irrevocably. And, as we ease
our way out of its first decade it can be argued that this shift has fallen markedly
in favour of ‘the people.’ The democratisation of technology and the widespread
penetration of broadband internet have combined to create a connected and
empowered consumer, the like never seen before…the consumer has indeed
“never had it so good.”

Consumers everywhere are flexing their muscles and taking advantage of their
newly empowered status. We’re seeing individuals coalesce around shared
passions and causes online to create communities that can more effectively
achieve their desired ambitions. Digital publishing tools such as blogs and vlogs
are turning everyday consumers into global actors overnight, helping to elevate
and channel personal opinion or creative expression into the public domain.
Masses of knowledge and information, once the preserve of the few, is being
speedily placed into consumers’ hands as quickly as it is created. And finally,
consumers are tearing down the walls between what it means to be a producer
and consumer, it’s never been easier for consumers to create, vend and trade
with each other around the world.

A Brand in Limbo
The ‘white heat of technology’ has indeed brought with it a brighter dawn for the
individual, but it has also managed to unsettle a long-running balance of power
between the consumer and the brand producer. Today, while the landscape
remains unchanged the consumer engagement rulebook has been thrown out
and replaced by a new more pluralistic set of conventions. Even a commodity as
precious as the brand finds its place somewhat in the balance, uncertain of its
role within this new paradigm.
For many years big brands have opted to repeatedly brandish a banner
emblazoned with a single-minded message in an effort to sway consumer
behaviour. However, questions are increasingly being raised about the tried and
tested method. Umair Haque of the Harvard Business School believes this kind of
branding only made sense for the economics of an industrial era when
“interaction was expensive – so information about the expected benefits of
consumption had to be squeezed into slogans, characters, and logos, which were
then compressed into thirty-second TV ads and radio spots.”

The vast majority of brands and marketers still believe the traditional model is
the most efficient means to engage, grow loyalty and revenue. However, the
traditional model may well be broken and in fact attempts to apply this formula
may actually do more to harm than propel the brand of today. While I concede
brands have not quite lost their place as the dominant symbols of production and
consumption, evidence is emerging to suggest a brand’s equity, value and
leverage in the world is slowly being eroded.

James Surowiecki in his article ‘the decline of brands’ notes: “a study by retail-
industry tracking firm NPD Group found that nearly half of those who described
themselves as highly loyal to a brand were no longer loyal a year later…another
remarkable study found that just 4 percent of consumers would be willing to stick
with a brand if its competitors offered better value for the same price.”

Symbols and the Self

If this is true then it’s quite a reversal of fortunes for traditional brands and their
traditional methods. Not long ago a brand’s indefatigable pressence in peoples’
lives helped forge a enduring place in the consumer’s psyche as a symbol of trust
and assurance. The successful brand had become, and still is, a valuable
heuristic for consumers in an array of complex purchase cycles; its presence
helping to construct a ‘justifying narrative’ for the consumer’s continued
purchase. The brand had also become a tool for the consumer’s need to create a
positive identity, both internally: “this brand reassures myself I care for my
children”, and externally: “this brand tells my peers I’m serious about
skateboarding.”

Brands will no doubt continue to act as important symbols of assurance and

identity but an individual’s reliance on brands for these purposes looks almost
certain to fade as consumers transfer their focus to activities and behaviours that
better fulfil these need states. Connected consumers today still seek out
‘justifying narratives’ but they construct them very differently. To begin with
people’s access to vast seas of information (which includes information on a
product’s performance and reliability) are taking the place of the trusted emblem,
mnemonic or end-line. While the communities that assemble and spread the word
about a great new product are taking the place of words on a press ad or spoken
words in a TV spot.

Again, Umair Haque agrees: “In fact, when interaction is cheap, the very
economic rationale for orthodox brands actually begins to implode: information
about expected costs and benefits doesn’t have to be compressed into logos,
slogans, ad-spots or column-inches – instead, consumers can debate and discuss
expected costs and benefits in incredibly rich detail.” What’s more the
individual’s new found freedom to create and express a personal identity online,
to join communities where their interests are not only shared and appreciated but
actively revered, will usurp any brand as a badge or decree of attitude.

So the picture looks rather bleak, consumers are increasingly becoming less
reliant on, and open to, traditional brands on all fronts; could this be the
beginning of the end for brands. Or could it be a rebirth?

A Brand Renaissance
This period of enlightenment is just that, a period of light in which both
consumers and producers can flourish. The days of brands disrupting, shouting
and repeating their messages off the back of a fixed single-minded proposition
may well be coming to an end, but brands still have a huge potential role to play
in people’s lives.

The modern brand must behave and feel very different to succeed; to begin with
it will lead a far more collaborative life as it becomes defined as much by what
consumers contribute and how they participate as they consume; it will be much
less centrifugal as the brand starts to disperse disparate activities and
components out towards the edge of its brand sphere - where a more fragmented
approach can create more personal micro-relationships e.g. Twitter. One Mr. A
Lafley, CEO and Chairman of P&G agrees about this future “consumers are
beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate in their
creation…we need to begin to learn to let go.”

So the balance of power may well have has shifted but the power rapidly
streaming into the consumer space is not being taken from the hands of big
brands; it’s in fact nascent power (the big brands are just doing a damn good job
at losing their power at the same time) and it’s here brands will need to focus
their attentions, driving innovation and creativity to ensure their continued
survival.

William Gibson the science fiction author said “the future’s here, it’s just not
evenly distributed yet,” and a closer look at the distribution of this ‘nascent
power’ reveals just that - not all individuals are created equal. The reality of the
situation is that power remains unrealised by the majority. Some individuals are
more conscious and able than others to take full advantage of the growing power
potential, while others remain unaware of the potential to enrich their own lives.
It’s this insight that provides a promising platform for brand’s future – as a kind of
liberator and enabler for the individual. Brands will find success by ‘showing the
way’, harnessing their elevated position at the vanguard of research,
development, and technology to help people realise their power potential. As Bill
Gates says “as we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who
empower others”

Brand Utility
Some brands have already started to build their success this way. Google, the
world’s biggest brand, is quite unique in that it invests no money into traditional
advertising. It’s a brand by another name with no end-line, no identity or single-
minded proposition. It has an ethos, a point of view and ambition but its identity
has not been crafted and moulded at the nucleus of the brand, instead it’s been
created through a daily value exchange with its users at the multiple points of
interaction. It offers services that people need and it continues, almost
relentlessly, to develop these services; finding new ways to improve and add
value to people’s lives. Google helps millions of individuals every day to realise
their power potential. Nike and Apple are also fast becoming known for their
unorthodox and utility based approach to branding, Nike Plus being one of their
most famous and innovative brand assets.

Obviously not all brands are equipped to construct such grand experiences and
services but that should not preclude all brands from adapting to a similar
philosophy. Even traditional advertising can fit the ambitions of utility based
marketing; the Gorilla ad for example is achingly valuable to individuals who
passed it on as a form of social currency or acted upon it by creating their own
parodies. Above all else, the ad provided a priceless piece of entertainment and
enriched lives at the point of interaction. Value has many guises and
entertainment can be at its heart.

At the 2007 Venice Media conference Esther Lee (ex Chief Creative Officer at
Coke) gave one of the talks of the conference in which she referred to marketers
having two businesses to run “the revenue business and the citizenship
business.” By citizenship she refers to the business of encouraging participation,
engagement and action, the brand as a provocation for action that will effect all
those around it. For some of the big brands this dual approach must fast become
a part of their business model otherwise their role in the individual’s life will
diminish along with their revenue.

A few brands understand the importance of their ‘citizenship business’, we’ve

already mentioned Nike and Apple, but P&G have also shifted their approach. The
Dove ‘Evolution’ and ‘Real Women’ campaign was a great example of a value
based and consumer centric campaign - a provocation that triggered a wider,
some might say necessary, debate on the damaging effects of women’s portrayal
in the mass media.

It’s the ability of brands to create assets that optimise the brand’s value
proposition and convert the relevant individual’s power potential that will
ultimately decide each brand’s fate.

A New Breed of Agency

If big agencies, like big brands, hope to ensure their continued livelihood they too
need to transform. They must make one marked shift and that’s from being
‘Guardians of the Brand’ to ‘Guardians of Citizenship’, becoming more flexible
and agile around, not the brand’s needs, but the consumers’ needs. Instead of
just showing people how the product can improve their lives, they should go out
their and identify new tools to improve a consumer’s life.

But this does not mean agencies now have ‘carte blanche’ to take their brands
into any territory they see fit to meet the needs of the consumer. To deviate from
a brand’s credible territory, market or valuable fan base would be to lose
authenticity. These new brand components or tools must be born directly from
the brand’s essence, turning it into something tangible that people can touch and
feel; the resulting value exchange will help create a lasting and loyal relationship
between the brand and the consumer.
But this transformation isn’t going to happen over night. To get there we must
first replace the old world architecture that sits at the heart of agencies with a
revolutionary new model. Out with the ‘3 guys in a room’ approach to brand
building, out with the Onions, Keys and Bulls-eyes, out with the rigid columns and
blocks of empty words and promises about a brand’s proposition, meaning, and
personality. We need to replace this with a living, evolving and open ‘Brand
Ecosystem’ An ecosystem that is firmly born of and inspired by a brand’s heart
and soul, its essence and purpose for the future.

Constructing a Brand Ecosystem

A great analogy for this brand ecosystem is a patch-work quilt, while it may not
sound like a compelling analogy it accurately depicts the necessary fabric of the
modern brand we’ve just articulated. A patch-work quilt is made up of many
different panels, different materials, different designs and of course different
contributors. As fragmented as it sounds the finished quilt, while conveying many
different messages, ultimately conveys one single and powerful essence. If
agencies are to survive and help brands serve the citizenship business they must
first help clients to shape their brand in this vision.

It may well be possible today to bring this Brand Ecosystem to life, creating a
valuable tool or API for our clients. The Brand Ecosystem may well look like the
NewsMap application in fig 1.

http://marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm

According to its creators “Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the

constantly changing landscape of the ‘Google News’ aggregator. A treemap
visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information
gathered by the aggregator. Newsmap's provides a tool to divide information into
quickly recognizable bands which, demonstrate visually the relationships
between data and the unseen patterns in news media.”

fig 1
Each panel on NewsMap represents a story, the size of which directly correlating
to importance of the story, the colour to the subject matter and the position to
the thematic relationship between the different stories e.g. ‘Crunch EU
referendum vote looms’ sits next to ‘Man Utd 1-0 Lyon.’ All panels are constantly
updated as the news changes and interest shifts.

Now imagine if the same model was used to express the assets and tools within
Nike’s brand ecosystem. Panels would represent products (latest line of trainer),
initiatives (Nike Plus), experiences (Run London) and entertainment (Nike films)
along with, for the first time, brand assets created by workers (blogs), affiliates
(sports stars) and consumers (mash-ups). A panel’s size would be directly related
to the real time buzz surrounding that asset or component (measured by real-
time participation, activity and chatter). All the panels would be grouped together
around themes and coloured to represent the positive or negative feeling they
convey and the subsequent value they are providing to individuals. Together the
panels would express brand as a fluid and organic ecosystem, one that is
continually morphing as the various assets shift in popularity and significance.

The Brand Ecosystem has several important implications and clear advantages
over the traditional brand architecture. Agencies will now be able to monitor the
health of the brand at any point in time and at any part in the ecosystem,
measuring the effectiveness of its constitute parts (old or new assets). Agencies
will be able to help clients react faster than ever before to assets if they begin to
have a negative impact in the ecosystem (by creating new assets to offset the
negative impact or by working with the negative assets to understand and
improve the situation) or bolster and amplify certain assets if they become
popular. By uniting very separate traditional tasks into one place - planning,
measurement, development and creation, brands can spot opportunities among
all parts of the Ecosystem (from individuals to communities, through to workers
and brand assets) and help manage the brand’s future.

Above all else the Brand Ecosystem does one important thing and that is remove
the traditional shackles of invention, allowing the agency, client and brand to live
and act more freely, to adapt faster, to be more inventive and to create assets
and content that ultimately serve the people in this brave new world – to become
true Guardians of Citizenship.