December 4, 2004

branding is dead (cont.)

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I’ve been thin­king more about the “Why Bran­ding Is Dead” con­ver­sa­tion.
John­nie Moore tal­king about brands:

Where there is a lot of mischief is when peo­ple slip art­fully from one defi­ni­tion to another. Thus they start with the broad defi­ni­tion and pay tri­bute to how con­su­mers now con­trol brands. Then pro­ceed to talk about the branding-as-ideal work they do as if it con­trols the whole thing. 

I left the follo­wing in the com­ments:

Why is bran­ding “dead”? Because it’s no lon­ger a human endea­vor where there’s any real, human “fer­ment” going on. Where there used to be insight, there is now only can­ni­ba­li­sa­tion of older, big­ger ideas.

When I think of “can­ni­ba­li­sa­tion”, I think of “Love­marks” as a clas­sic exam­ple.
[UPDATE:] Jeff Jar­vis has a nice post on how the com­mer­cial model for what he calls “Citizen’s Media” is evol­ving:

There’s a mes­me­ri­zing exchange going on among lots of smart peo­ple loo­king for where the money will be in this explo­sion of citi­zens’ media (which, in this case, I broadly define as media con­tro­lled by citi­zens).
My quick ans­wer: I don’t know. Wish I did. But I don’t. 

I know the fee­ling. Heh. Then he gives a list of new pos­si­bi­li­ties, inc­lu­ding:

: Con­tro­lled, Trans­pa­rent Tar­ge­ting: Smith says beha­vio­rial tar­ge­ting will be big. Yes, abso­lu­tely, but I think even that’s a bit too narrow or short-term. The pro­blem is that as long as you serve me ads that don’t inte­rest me, it’s a waste. Period. Mar­ke­ters must get clo­ser and clo­ser to giving me only the ads I want.
And that will hap­pen when the mar­ket con­trols the mar­ke­ters, when con­su­mers con­trol their adver­ti­sing, when tar­ge­ting beco­mes trans­pa­rent and I get to tell you what I want you to sell me. In adver­ti­sing as in con­tent: Give the citi­zens con­trol and you will win; don’t and you will lose.
Let us con­trol our adver­ti­sing. Come up with the means of doing that and you will sell lots of pro­ducts and the folks who ena­ble that to hap­pen will make money, too. I’m not sure what hap­pens to ad agen­cies, but that’s not my problem.

I can mostly go along with this, even if I do think saying “Let us con­trol our adver­ti­sing” is a bit like saying “Let us con­trol our govern­ment”.
i.e. Good luck.

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