The Internet is killing the idea that brand managers control their brands. The masses are not a big helpless sheep herd waiting to be fleeced. Instead of people sitting in their homes connected to the TV being brandwashed, they are free to spread the good news, or dirt, about a brand to virtual communities of people actively involved with the brand. The old-fashioned practice of word-of-mouth advertising is springing to new life in more far-reaching and influential ways. Now people aren’t just telling their friends what they think about a brand, they’re creating their own brand messages to dramatically impact the brand in both positive and negative ways.
Brandalizm™, our new term for this phenomenon, defines the concept as passionate street ownership. It is demonstrated in a most obvious way by loyal Harley-Davidson riders who love the brand so much they tattoo the logo either on their own skin or on the skin of a loved one. This voluntary and aggressive promotion of the brand can reach the point where people spend valuable time and their own money to show their love, or their hate.
The now famous 60-second homemade movie for Apple iPod is a perfect example. George Masters, a California teacher, was inspired while listening to a tune on his iPod and decided to express what he imagined. In his spare time, he researched how to create and edit images using Apple software. It took him five months to finish, and even though he had never done anything like it before, it has the look and feel of a professional TV spot. After it hit cyberspace, it was picked up and shared by millions of people all over the world. All for the love of iPod.
That same kind of Brandalizm™ passion can turn ugly, as it did for Apple. Frustrated by the fact that iPod batteries were a real problem when the iPod first came out, two brothers combined their talents to create their own movie and posted it as a brand protest. They called it “iPods dirty little secret.” The Neistat brothers prove Brandalizm™ is a double-edged sword. Those who are enraged by your product can deface your brand faster than you can fix it. Over 2 million people saw this movie, not including the number of people who circulated it to their e-mail links.
So face the facts, you don’t own your brand, the public does. They want to love you, but they carry a can of spray paint with them at all times. Brandalizm™ is here to stay.
That’s it, from the edge of the world.
Bob
In the industrial age, companies did their best to figure out what customers wanted. Firms organized to build supplies of products and push them to customers through mass market advertising.
In the information age, closer contacts between buyers and sellers changed the business model. Customers demand products build to their needs and pull businesses into producing customized products.
The “shooting back target market” is a reflection of this shift from supply-push to demand-pull in the business environment. Today, companies need to reverse their business process to be customer facing. Apple did well in originality. But its interpretation of its selling proposition, individuality, requires further examination.
Posted by: plai | September 25, 2005 at 11:22 AM
Brandalizm - love the concept. All companies sould be looking at their spatial awareness. What's happening around them? Do they respond to the marketplace...or are they victims of it?
Posted by: Brandalizer | December 24, 2005 at 12:04 PM