“In the digital age, connectivity and community bring immediate transparency to most products, begging the question what function brands serve now?”
Kicking off the Friday sessions of 2015’s SXSW Interactive, the Crowdy team attended OMMA’s presentation of, “What is a Brand Now Anyway?” The three panelists, Laura Gordon (7-Eleven), Vinoo Vijay (TD Bank), Russell Wager (Mazda USA) answered questions from moderator James Ward (Doner). Three main points stood-out as they tie into brand advocacy and driving word of mouth. Here’s what we learned.
“Make your every day better for your customers” – Laura Gordon, 7-Eleven
The small conveniences brands consider when building an experience for its customers played a key role in the strategy for all three brands during this morning’s discussion. These shifts of a customer-centric brands can be as small as pens that can leave the building and aren’t chained to the desk (TD Bank), to mobile apps that allow you to pay your bills using cash if you’re one of the 30% of Americans without a bank account (7-Eleven). In making these small changes of convenience, the opportunities for customer passion to build are endless, simply because their lives have been made easier. These considerations are a great way to grow an advocate base that is is willing to make your brand a part of their everyday life, like the heavy 7-eleven users hitting their stores up to 20 times a month.
“Having a very clear beacon of what your brand is about, and have every decision you make be about that.” – Vinoo Vijay
TD Bank has focused its strategy on being Relationship Driven, Customer Centric, and Store Centric. In an effort to, “bank human again,” Vijay said their goal is to combine digital efficiency with human connection. The brand is carrying out this effort with longer store hours, 24/7 live customer service members that always answer within 60-seconds, and content focused on financial education and advice. In another example, Mazda looks to align with the passion points of its buyers, like technology, which serves as the reasoning behind sponsorships like SXSW. This balance of “high-tech and high-touch” allows consumers to make personal connections with the brand in the places that are convenient and relatable to them. It’s up to brands to make that the goal at every touchpoint if they want to build an authentic, long-term relationship with their customers.
Your brand belongs to you, but is owned by your customers
Mazda’s Russell Wager kicked off his part of the panel by stating that, “brands like the MX-5 belong to Mazda, but aren’t owned by Mazda.” Understanding that the consumer is the very reason the brand exists is something all three panelists not only agreed on, but use as a rudder to steer their digital marketing efforts. For Mazda, it means reputation scores for every one of its 600+ dealers that is based on the online reviews and chatter across their owned and earned digital properties. That kind of transparency is distributed with the goal of winning over customer trust and consideration, and is the very core of brand advocacy for consumers.
So, what is a brand nowadays? A brand is defined by its customers, built for convenience, and grown by word of mouth. It’s the job or marketers to bottle that lightning, and anticipate future needs and technologies that align with the passion of its advocates.