Brands Are People

Slide 1: P.E.O.P.L.E. Introducing a basic framework for thinking about brands by Ross Popoff-Walker www.annoyingdesign.org/blog

Slide 2: Brands are like living things.

Slide 3: Brands have value and meaning to people.

Slide 4: Companies create their brand’s equity and value from the ground up.

Slide 5: And keep tight control of their brand.

Slide 6: But online… people don’t trust websites from big brands.

Slide 7: 81% percent of consumers say they do not trust branded websites. Source: Forrester Research’s NACTAS Q2 2006 Survey

Slide 8: But we do trust each other.

Slide 9: 71% of people say they trust the opinion of family, friends and colleagues as a source of information on products and services. Source: Forrester Research

Slide 10: Companies need to listen to what individual voices are saying.

Slide 11: And tap into the conversations that are already happening about their brands.

Slide 12: Brands like Scion get this.

Slide 13: They embrace it by connecting their web properties to user communities.

Slide 14: But many big brands still need to let go. (please, let go)

Slide 15: Because people all over are creating substitutions for what these brands are not providing. Here’s a real example…

Slide 16: Meet Melvin “Melz” Howard Melz is 17 born and raised in NYC. He’s a senior in high school, has a girlfriend, lives with his mom, works at Quiznos for $6,000 /yr...

Slide 17: Melz love’s his Nikes • Every week Melz and his friends do “New Sneaker Wednesday” • They hang out and show off their new Nikes • But there’s no conversation between Melz and the Nike brand

Slide 18: What if Nike helped Melz organize their “New Sneaker Wednesdays”… … and for just a day, instead of promoting Kobe or LeBron…

Slide 20: … what if Nike enabled Melz to spread his love of the Nike brand to the world…

Slide 21: NEW SNEAKER WEDNESDAY - Melz, 17, NYC

Slide 22: People are social beings.

Slide 23: It is our nature to congregate around things we believe in. Things we value. Things like brands.

Slide 24: Successful brands of tomorrow will act as a platform for our social nature.

Slide 25: As a sounding board for our voices.

Slide 26: P.E.O.P.L.E. By structuring brands to interact with consumers like real human beings, like people, brands can enable consumers to share and communicate.

Slide 27: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate in conversations, rather than just being a subject of them

Slide 29: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate • Embrace and accept how other people interact with your brand – never try to censor consumers.

Slide 30: COURIC: And, Mr. Manager, you know, these--these ID shoes are advertised as being about quote, \"Freedom to choose and freedom to express who you are.\" By censoring what can be written on the shoes, aren't you res- restricting someone's individual freedom? Mr. MANAGER: Well, not at all. Again, I think that there are always limitations, to certain degree, of speech. Obviously, again, here's a copy of the shoe itself, and this is where the ID would go. We have no obligation to put on a shoe information that we would consider to be derogatory or defamatory to our company and our product. COURIC: Mm-hmm.

Slide 31: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate • Embrace • Open-Up your company’s processes and become a transparent organization

Slide 32: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate • Embrace • Open-Up your company’s processes and become a transparent organization

Slide 33: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate • Embrace • Open-Up • Become a platform for consumers to communicate with each other, and to express themselves

Slide 35: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate • Embrace • Open-Up • Platform • Listen closely to what consumers are saying about your brand

Slide 37: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate • Embrace • Open-Up • Platform • Listen • Empower consumers to become advocates, rather than just fans

Slide 39: P.E.O.P.L.E. • Participate • Embrace • Open-Up • Platform • Listen • Empower

Slide 40: Thank You Want to learn more? Drop me a line… blog: annoyingdesign.org/blog/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosspw Twitter: twitter.com/rosspw email: ross.spw@gmail.com Ross Popoff-Walker Ross Popoff-Walker Interactive UX + Youth Design Analyst