New ways of relating to brands
Editor-in-chief of La Revue des Marques, Jean Watin-Augouard is presented as "brand historian A meeting on the theme of trust, or rather distrust, in brands.
Adwise : Recent studies have highlighted the growing mistrust of brands, particularly in the financial sector. As a brand historian, how do you analyse this phenomenon?
Jean Watin-Augouard : As a result, the brand is losing its superb reputation. Having become an institution, it suffers, like traditional institutions, from a lack of consumer confidence. The result is disaffection, detachment and disenchantment. Even if brand preference remains: we no longer like the brand as such, but we continue to like it. "his brands. In a world of immediacy and instability, consumers want to be reassured by the brands that accompany them.
So, in general, mistrust in the financial sector is due to the crisis of the magisterium. More specifically, however, it is due to the fact that banking brands, like those in the insurance sector, are "coldWe are obliged to take out insurance, just as we are obliged to have a bank account. We talk less about "Consumers than"users". Loyalty is loyalty by default
This is unfortunate because they have a long history, some of them having been created at the beginning of the 19th century.th The banks of the 20th century are just as much mirrors of French society as they are actors in it. With the possible exception of the Caisse d'Epargne (the saga of the Ecureuil and its museum), they have not been able to create a relationship (from relatio = narrative, story).
How can we overcome mistrust? With more loyalty? Let's be careful with that word. The words fidelity-faith-faithfulness-faithfulness-confidence-confidence have the same Latin etymology: fides-fideretrust. Who, the consumer or the brand, should be the first to be loyal to the other? And what if loyalty were first and foremost loyalty to oneself? There can be no loyalty without loyalty, honesty, accuracy, authenticity, dedication, constancy and perseverance, all values that underpin the durability of brands that have managed to ward off the threat of alteration (otherness = other). Consumer loyalty or attachment to a brand is therefore only the consequence of the brand's loyalty to itself.
Adwise : Climate "economic/political/societal is gloomy, which isn't exactly boosting the French public's desire to consume. Can brands help us get out of this gloomy weather and re-enchant us?
Jean Watin-Augouard : Beware of deification and totemisation. If citizens expect the brand to re-enchant them, it's because they have significantly reduced their emotional universe. Let's remember General de Gaulle's 1964 interview with Michel Droit on Europe: "Europe, Europe, Europe, what's the point of jumping up and down like a goat?... and the same goes for the brand, which, let's never forget, only exists through the work of man.
A brand is nothing more than the know-how of a man. So the first step is to re-enchant the work of man, without which there can be no justifiable and relevant brand. Yes, we need to re-enchant the brand by promoting innovation and the creativity of the people who leave their mark on it. Re-enchant by giving emotion and motivation (the two words have the same etymology: movere = to move) through invention, which opens up the field of possibilities and new horizons...
Adwise : Sociionauts prefer brands... with no history : Google, Airbnb, Uber Doesn't the past just become a ball and chain?
This is due to a misperception of history, which is analysed as something from the past, whereas history is... eternity. No school (management, business, communications, advertising), large, medium or small, teaches the history of brands, companies or entrepreneurs.
Every brand has a history, the history of the men and women who created it and keep it alive and developing. A history that sets it apart through a certain number of skills (knowing how to be, knowing how to live, knowing how to do, knowing how to influence, knowing how to innovate, knowing how to say, knowing how to dialogue, converse, know how to contribute, etc.) that are specific to it and without respect for which it risks losing its way.
It is in its history, albeit a recent one, that the roots of its longevity and some of the keys to its modernity lie. LU or Uber. The multi-faceted expertise of our people is written into a history that is no longer synonymous with the past, but with eternity, thanks to the chain of union formed by the employees of yesterday and tomorrow who write the history of the company.
What does the brand stand for? What does it tell me about the society in which I live and what does it tell me about myself? Let's reread Mythologies from Roland Barthes...
To stand the test of time is to bear witness to the fruitfulness and vitality of the brand, the fruit of human creativity. It's by denying your history that you create a millstone around your neck...
Adwise : Social media allow consumers to challenge brands: is this the end of the dominant brand? And what kind of relationship should brands have with their customers?
Jean Watin-Augouard : A brand remains "dominant (dominus = the master) when it cannot be substituted, when it provides expertise, creates experience and bears witness to its excellence.
However, it is true that the days of consumers believing in the perfection imposed by the brand are over. The time has come for convincing evidence based on ethical and relational values. There can be no salvation without transparency and commitment. While the brand's competence is part of the basic contract, its contribution to improving people's well-being is becoming an issue that legitimises trust and underpins its durability.
Rather than "benevolencea bit of a concept "cream pie - André Citroën, Louis Lefevre Utile, Jeanne Lanvin... were benevolent without saying so! - It's better to talk about the brand's benevolence or its unique way of doing things. This benevolence concerns the brand's ability to surprise, to converse and to contribute to people's well-being.
But the brand must avoid fifteen pitfalls: the brand "parvenuethe brand "liethe brand "authoritarianthe brand "rentierthe brand "sectthe brand "skittishthe brand "intrusivethe brand "narcissisticthe brand "panurgethe brand "overexposedthe brand "personifiedthe brand "chattythe 'vagabond' brand, the 'in the wind' brand, the 'modern' brand, the "haughty and the brand "pretentious. Adwise knows this.
And what is a great brand? One that can confidently answer the question: "If I disappear, will my customers miss me?. The one that can reach excellence, the summit (two words with the same etymology) by avoiding the... cemetery.
Jean Watin-Augouard, Editor-in-chief of La Revue des Marques
