The Humanization of Brands

Jeffrey Stier June 8, 2011

Every brand. Every industry.

Change is scary, but…

Don’t Hide from Change: Understand and Embrace it

Fundamentally social media is about expressing choice:

“What I believe” “What are others thinking” “Give voice to my preferences”

Since influencing choice and creating preferences is the fundamental business of marketing, social media is important to brands---even if they haven’t really figured it out yet

It isn’t about media.

It’s about communications and connecting.

It’s not about social media.

It’s about social connecting

Don’t Hide from Change: Understand and Embrace it, cont.

To Social Connect must understand:

1.  How social platforms are changing the relationships between customers and brands

2.  What customers and targets are doing now

3.  What they’ll be doing in the future

1. How Social Platforms Are Changing the relationship

People Are Talking

Are You Listening?

A plucky Millennial said:

“…it’s not B2B or B2C, I think it’s going to be C2B.”

From her perspective, it’s customer to business; a consumer demand driven economy.

For those born in the Golden Age of marketing, who had no choice but to be “marketed to”, it’s still a profound paradigm shift. To her, it’s natural and obvious. Something brands must take to heart.

What does this mean for the future?

  No going back to controlled streams of carefully crafted communication

  Listen to customers, respond to their input, improve their experience, make it easy for them to promote your brand

  Brands that heed their customer’s voice and take immediate action will exponentially gain share from those who don’t. Those that don’t…

This begins when a

brand respects

each customer

as a human

being

What does heeding the voice mean?

The Humanization of Brands

Two things consistently in my reading over the last week are:

1.  Digital info/content overload

2. Consumers are craving realness. They’re suffering from a lack of human touch in the digital world. 

Marian Salzman "futurist and PR maven,” Dec 2011

Saya Weissman Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 New York Times

New online social service Grubwithus isn’t about collecting online connections and contacts; it’s about getting strangers together around a dinner table so they can enjoy food

and good conversation. The service’s aim is to help people use a social media site to actually be social in real life---who would have thought.?

The More Things Change…

The More They Stay the Same

•  Technology is an enabler, not an end state

•  Can’t take humanity out of people.

•  Can’t take the ME out of SoMe

What Does It All Mean? Take Aways:

•  People socially connect peer-2-peer

•  Peoples relationships with brands is peer-to-peer

•  Brands MUST connect peer-2-peer: emotions, empathy, authenticity, AND…

•  Storytelling. It’s fundamental to human DNA---been that was for past 10,000 years and will be that way for next 10,000

Jeffrey Stier jeff@blurts.com

917.561.6403

Contact Contact

A micro-voice publishing utility for infusing the passion, nuance and

authenticity of the spoken word into the social conversation

Image and content credits: Marian Salzman, Euro RSCG, Ann Mack, JWT, Jeffrey Pulver, Francois Gossieaux, Human 1, Kellye Crane, Crane Communications