What's the point of a brand platform in the digital age?
In today's digital age, everyone is on Facebook: teenagers, senior citizens, Parisians, provincials, politicians... and brands, of course! On Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. All it takes is one social network to go from strength to strength, and the rush is on.
The logic is unstoppable: no advertiser wants to take the risk of appearing behind its competitors; in 2007 - an eternity ago! -everyone was creating their own island on... Second Life so as not to be seen as old-fashioned - yes, you remember, that 3D virtual world...
Digital technology is now enabling brands to re-engage with their customers, who are increasingly demanding: they will not wait even an hour for a response to their after-sales problems.
And on social media, an unhappy customer is a customer who alerts his friends immediately - and that can sometimes create a buzz... very negative for the brand concerned.
So brands are doing everything they can to win them over, those dear customers who wander from Facebook to Twitter to Snapchat: offering them funny videos, creating competitions just for them, providing them with small services. All in the hope of doing better than the competition.
Social media isn't like the press or television: it's constantly changing, and we don't always know exactly how to go about it. So we try things, it either works or it doesn't, we test, we try something else: in fact, brands are inspired by the growth hacking techniques used by start-ups, who can afford to try everything because they have nothing to lose.
Another unstoppable logic: if it works well for one, it must work well for others; so operations that copy operations, that copy, etc., flourish.
As if xth edition of a genius idea always retained the same seductive power.
It's as if all brands could afford to play the same games, the same impertinence.
Social media demand speed; but what we often gain in speed, we lose in reflection. And doing everything in your power to beat your competitors in a sprint doesn't build a relevant and robust brand platform.
Brand platform: what a has-been term for some!
And yet, if the ultimate aim of a brand's communication is to get people to buy it in preference to its competitors, it might be worth asking WHY a consumer would rather buy its product than another, available for example on the same shelf in a hypermarket or at the counter in a bistro.
Does the message we develop stand out from other brands?
Are the values we promote relevant to the image we want to project?
These are all questions that we used to ask ourselves not so long ago before taking action, and which we are now a little too inclined to forget; just as we are also a little too often neglectful of knowing what customers think of brands and why they buy them.
