Social media is radically changing the brand landscape, says Paul Worthington, head of strategy for Wolff Olins in New York. This means strategies will have to shift from posturing to purpose, from control to influence, and from over-protection to generosity, he contends. “In the Wild West of social media, over-protection would seem to be a natural response when faced with loss of control over the conversation, and indeed of the firm’s intellectual property, and yet this is almost certainly the wrong response,” says Worthington. “Those brands that take the counter-intuitive path of celebrating their customers (even when they are infringing IP) and of sharing more of themselves (even if that means giving away more of their IP) will be the ones who will win.” Though the context of Worthington’s comments apply more to consumer brands than universities, the shift in strategy is nonetheless worth noting for IP marketing professionals of all stripes. Here is his formula for generosity:

1. Celebrate your customers

People talk a lot about how social media humanizes brands for their customers, but another reality is that it needs to humanize customers for the brand, says Worthington. “When customers, through their advocacy, choose to re-interpret a brand, you need to carefully consider your response,” he says. “Recently we’ve seen two differing approaches to exactly this — Snickers, [which] shut down the unofficial choose-your-slogan Snickers website, versus Burger King, who invited their unofficial Tweeter to come blog from the opening of the BK Lounge.” It is this difference in approach, he says, that shows generosity in action. “Increasingly it is exactly this network of influence that matters — where you encourage, and to a certain degree shape the reinterpretation of your brand, in return for greater influence than you’d have by taking a more overprotective view of your brand as a fixed ‘asset,’” he explains.

2. Share more of yourself

With social media, the cost of media has in effect been eliminated. This elimination of cost means that brands can now share much more of themselves, of their story, than ever before. Now brands have the opportunity to create rich stories backed up by sharable assets, which they can celebrate in ways large and small. “For those consumers who are the most interested in you, and the most influential with others, the continual release of new stories, snippets and content are hugely interesting and highly valuable,” says Worthington. “Trent Reznor [of the popular rock band Nine Inch Nails] provides a great example of this in action. He chooses to give away his ambient noodlings — bits and pieces of tracks and songs that will never become part of a commercial release. The cost to him is zero; the value to a fan of his music is huge.

“This kind of generosity holds little risk and plenty of upside, says Worthington. “The things a brand is being generous with — a simple endorsement, insider information, invites to events — add little or no additional cost. The benefits — a more engaged consumer base, positive influencers and improved goodwill — are all value additive.”

Go to: Mashable

Posted June 23rd, 2009 under Intellectual Property Marketing

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