THOUGHT (aka Centric's Blog)

So it seems that Ken Brady’s comments on "sustainable branding" caused some brain meltdowns at the State of Play V conference in Singapore. From the Terra Nova blog:

"My mind reeled at the collision of memes from greenspeak and marketing that "sustainable branding" contains, and down that road probably lies an illuminating deconstruction on its own . . ."

Cool. We like to make minds reel. Because that’s where new thinking starts, and we’re heading into an age that demands a whole lot of new thinking. Beginning with the concept of "sustainable branding," which Ken and I both believe is the only logical approach to branding in the emerging virtual worlds space.

And in the social media and networking space.

And in the maturing online marketing space.

And in the established conventional advertising space.

Because all of these spaces are interlinked. Conventional advertising prompts thousands of forum posts, both positive and negative. Memes that ping-pong through the social networking space get picked up by conventional media. Virtual worlds generate terabytes of photo and video content that feed social media. Suddenly, everyone who has an opinion about your brand can express it in dozens of different ways. A scathing blogpost. A "wow, did you see what XXX company did!" forum post. A photo of your friends having a get-together in a recognizable restaurant. Scans of old product packaging lovingly posted on Flickr. A spoof commercial on YouTube.

And in the future, the voice of your customer becomes even louder. Everything you say will be commented, analyzed, deconstructed, and judged.

Remember that: and judged.

Now, the people doing the judging may not be thinking, "Gee, let’s take a deep and analytical look at my feelings about this brand, and decide whether or not their current communications are congruent with them."

But if you proudly bring in a cup of your favorite coffee to work, and three of your friends curl their lips and say, "Wow, did you see what they just did with the rainforest/ocean/carbon footprint/CEO bonus/crappy ad/offshoring," then maybe, just maybe, you’ll look at that cup a little differently.

So yes, we’re dead serious about the concept of sustainable branding. "Sustainable" means just that. Something that can carry you indefinitely. Something that takes the long view. Something that doesn’t have any far-reaching side effects.

Sustainable brands aren’t pumped full of the synthetic hormones of hype and puffery. Sustainable brands aren’t created in the passionless factory of the bottom line. Sustainable brands aren’t woven from the thread of cheap half-truths and fabrications, regardless of the reality beneath. Sustainable brands aren’t there only for themselves, only for the quarter, only for the endless game of pushing the maximum quantity of Substance X down the mouths of as many people as possible.

A sustainable brand honestly reflects what you are, and offers solid value. It’s that simple.

And in an age where every bit of hype is laid bare, every avaricious beancounting exercise is deconstructed, and every fabrication uncovered, sustainable brands are the winners.

How sustainable is your brand?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 11:12 am and is filed under Ruminations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.