To be brand free
In the last month the red, white and blue recruited another Aussie. "Get Shouty" Blogger Katie Chatfield has relocated from down under to the windy city. And we get a front-row seat: through her many travels Katie illuminates how the different landscapes deliver vastly different brandscapes.
Katie compares last year's experience in China..."In China I’m illiterate, innumerate, I can’t read a map, and I can’t even match word shapes. While your options become very limited, there’s a sort of freedom involved in the experience too--your attention is not pulled by the millions of hungry words contained in the urban streetscape. You are free to attribute meaning as you go."
To this year's experience in the U.S..."I’m finding that I have a similar reaction to brands in the States. I can’t read them. I don’t know what they mean. I can’t put them in a hierarchy. I don’t know the difference between Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, and Macy’s intuitively. In a supermarket aisle I don’t know how to make a decision between the hundreds of types of cereal."
And remarks on how freeing these experiences are..."I will make decisions as a consumer, and again it’s a freeing experience. I’m not bound by the heritage of the brand, or by what my friends say about it--only the signs that the brand uses to communicate with me will make the difference."
In this global economy--whether brands are shipped there or new brand buyers shipped here--histories and well-entrenched hierarchies matter less, brand experiences more. With more touch points, channels and media than ever for making a meaningful impact with audiences both familiar and fresh to our products each brand needs to build its case each time, rather than resting on past merits. Along with the round world going flat, everything old is new again.
Marketers of well-entrenched brands may find this daunting, I advise taking a page from Shouty's book and view it as freeing. Check out the full post here.
P.S.: Welcome stateside, Shouty. Should you ever find yourself in NYC, take a stroll down 5th Avenue and you'll experience a bit of brand euphoria. In the meantime, you Chi-town bloggers take good care of her!
P.P.S.: Flooring the Consumer did a tour-de-force post on this subject...swear it should be a full-fledged article in the NYT (or maybe the New Yorker). Read it, really. You'll thank me, yeah really.
Welcome to the states, Shouty!
The idea of not knowing any brands is a little intimidating. I'm sure there's a a pretty good amount of crossover from here to Australia, but even so, without those brands, a lot of decisions become more tedious, that's for sure.
Posted by: Paul McEnany | Sunday, January 21, 2007 at 06:09 PM
Thanks for the love CK! And the Chi-towners were more than welcoming to both the serious and the silly side of Shoutyness.
I'd have to say that not knowing the brands is a lot less intimidating than driving on the wrong side of the road in a snowstorm. Brand decisions are kinda easy after that!
Can't wait to get to NYC....
Posted by: Katie Chatfield | Sunday, January 21, 2007 at 10:34 PM
Paul: could you imagine trying to decipher brands in China? That blows my branding brain :-). That girl has guts.
Shouty: Thanks for writing such a great (freeing) post and for giving us insight into your experience over here. I'm really looking forward to hearing all about your journey. Now get your shouty self to NYC and I'll take you out!
Posted by: CK | Sunday, January 21, 2007 at 10:56 PM
Plenty of great bloggers in Chi-Town; Chris Thilk, David Armano, and of course Ben and Jackie. Welcome to the states Katie!
Posted by: Mack Collier | Monday, January 22, 2007 at 12:09 PM
To me, a "brand" is the mark that is branded on you brain as you use the product to solve a problem.
It does not matter how Macy's differentiates itself from Lord & Taylor or Bergdorf. What matters is the experience a customer has in that store, the quality and fashion of the merchandise, the clerks, etc.
McDonald's is "branded" in my mind by my experience there as a child, then adult. The good standard, fun junk food place, with great fries.
Brand cannot be invented and imposed. The best way to "brand" is to find out what users want and need, comply with that on an ongoing basis, and build your slogans and logo from there.
Posted by: vaspers the grate | Monday, January 22, 2007 at 03:59 PM
I guess Chicago finally got shouty. It's about time. Katie! Welcome to the U.S.!
Posted by: Cam Beck | Monday, January 22, 2007 at 05:29 PM
I hope you know what you are in for!
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 01:48 AM
Welcome to Chicago. The line for rooting for the Super Bowl-bound Bears forms to the right, alongside the line into the beer garden.
Posted by: Ben McConnell | Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 06:14 PM
Vaspers- I agree with what you're saying, but what I'm experiencing is what what happens when you/a consumer doesn't have any experience of products or the instore experience. It's sure making me think a lot more about first impressions.
Chaotic Gavin- no warning the Chi-towners! It takes all the fun out of disruption.
Posted by: Katie Chatfield | Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 12:18 AM
I think I'll say experience again just one more time!
Posted by: Katie Chatfield | Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 12:19 AM
Vaspers: True dat.
All: Thanks for welcoming Shouty to the States.
Gav: I trust you implicitly...NYC is ready for her when she's ready for us.
Posted by: CK | Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 04:09 AM
CK, I love this post and have just referred to it on http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com in a post about choice, culture and the retail experience.
Posted by: C. B. Whittemore | Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 10:02 PM
Wow- I've just read C.B's post (thanks for telling me CK!) and it's just amazing. So much food for thought.
Posted by: Katie Chatfield | Sunday, February 04, 2007 at 12:34 AM