Global Brands from a ‘Martian’ perspective

19Jul08

I have just read a really interesting article  by Chris Macrae (2003, Journal of Brand Management) co-written by a bunch of other brand specialists world-wide.

An important fact to consider in branding is not necessarily the one of a graphic image in the minds of stakeholders but the image subliminally created by succession of stories and passed on underlining the trajectory of the brand throughout its existence and transmitted through time.

In this Editorial title called “Can brand leadership recover local trust and global responsibility ” Chris presents his beliefs saying that “we have all forgotten many of the most humanly valuable connections of brand leadership, from the core purpose  of story telling to the ways communities exchange valuable relationships and self-identities”.

Global brands such as Coca-cola have at times, according to Chris, used great stories to help build national cultures and transnational transfers of human ideals.

However, one-way story telling is not sufficient, global brands have to be ready, in the age we live in more than ever, to incarnate the values of the communities it proposes to cater for, thus engaging in continual dialogue. Another salient crucial element is community empowering through organisational  transparency, people can see changes they hope for, can participate and make new connections, invite new people in. Is this a branding model that can be channelled and communicated by using social media?

Chris mentioned that leaders at the World Economic Forum of 2003 were ruing how far global corporations (including Governments) had lost this human touch.

Calling people to challenge global brands that budgets billions annually in what he calls by ‘advertising imagery as a sham on humanity’.

Talking about imagery, Chris invites to imagine, for one moment,  – “If a Martian came down to earth and spotted that the world’s most powerful organisations communicate their impact through superficial  30 seconds image sound bites called television spots – spending up to up to US$1 billion a year on such image narcissism – I believe that Martian would conclude that this was a diseased planet whose civilisations were not going to pass what the systems theorist Buckminster Fuller foresaw 20 years as mankind’s coming final examination, posed by the new technology’s connectivity, which puts all of our relationships and behaviours in each other’s laps.

But with the explosion of social media, how much has changed from 2003 to 2008? Are global brand now honestly interested in weaving transnational communities by allowing them to shape, participate and engage in the global dialogue. I am sure much has changed yet there is still much to change in order level up conversations, empowering local people to tell their stories as we all engage in a two-way branding process.

Filed under: Business, CSR, Marketing, social media   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Branding, global brands, social media