For all the discussions about how digital space is going to change the landscape of brand communications, there is precious little tangible evidence of that, at least in India.
One of the fundamental issues when it comes to meaningful use of digital space is the discomfort with a new way of engaging with people. Typically we have a bias against dialogue, used as we are to playing out our monologues about our brands. And that doesn’t work any more. People aren’t very interested in knowing more about how our enriched products help their health / skin / career whatever. They see through the spiel.
One of the necessities for rich dialogue is transparency. How much of ourselves are we willing to show to people; how honest are we with them; how much we do we seek to cede and how much do we want to control. Conversations are not about control. In such an environment, even when we want to sell, we need to do so with honesty, empathy and the right sensibilities. As brand controllers, most of us are not prepared to handle this role. We aren’t used to individuals creating havoc for our brands (Google “Dell Hell” to see a more celebrated example of the power of the individual)
The challenge before us is to embrace the landscape (not that we have much of a choice, anyway); to use these new opportunities to talk and form relationships with more people; to be authentic without being banal.
Some new, younger and smaller brands and individuals are already showing the way. There are scores of small musicians and soloists who conduct business primarily online. They have strong online presence, they create a fan base using communities and blogs, they perform to smallish audiences in off-beat places and even record and sell their music on iTunes. And people pay what they believe is fair. For the skeptics among you, consider the case of Jane Siberry, a Canadian folk-pop singer who has a very interesting payment system for people who download her songs. She has a “pay what you can” policy, so fans can download the songs for free. But her site also shows the average price other people have paid for a track. This creates a “generally accepted” standard of what the song is worth. As a result, the average price her customers paid is $1.30 a track, much more than what iTunes charges. Chew on that.
One of the fundamental issues when it comes to meaningful use of digital space is the discomfort with a new way of engaging with people. Typically we have a bias against dialogue, used as we are to playing out our monologues about our brands. And that doesn’t work any more. People aren’t very interested in knowing more about how our enriched products help their health / skin / career whatever. They see through the spiel.
One of the necessities for rich dialogue is transparency. How much of ourselves are we willing to show to people; how honest are we with them; how much we do we seek to cede and how much do we want to control. Conversations are not about control. In such an environment, even when we want to sell, we need to do so with honesty, empathy and the right sensibilities. As brand controllers, most of us are not prepared to handle this role. We aren’t used to individuals creating havoc for our brands (Google “Dell Hell” to see a more celebrated example of the power of the individual)
The challenge before us is to embrace the landscape (not that we have much of a choice, anyway); to use these new opportunities to talk and form relationships with more people; to be authentic without being banal.
Some new, younger and smaller brands and individuals are already showing the way. There are scores of small musicians and soloists who conduct business primarily online. They have strong online presence, they create a fan base using communities and blogs, they perform to smallish audiences in off-beat places and even record and sell their music on iTunes. And people pay what they believe is fair. For the skeptics among you, consider the case of Jane Siberry, a Canadian folk-pop singer who has a very interesting payment system for people who download her songs. She has a “pay what you can” policy, so fans can download the songs for free. But her site also shows the average price other people have paid for a track. This creates a “generally accepted” standard of what the song is worth. As a result, the average price her customers paid is $1.30 a track, much more than what iTunes charges. Chew on that.
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