From Control to Influence – Brand Leadership in a Networked Era

It is no longer a matter of debate that we are moving towards the third era of marketing – the era of networked brand building. This marks a big shift away from the previous two eras: the golden age of advertising and one-way communication, and the age of the Internet and mainly two way communications. The new networked era based on social media is highly dynamic and characterised by a complex ecosystem of stakeholders. It is about participation and not just transactions.

Marketers are faced with a host of new vehicles to include in their marketing mix and a fundamental behavioural change in how customers communicate and consume. Marketers can no longer think of social media as something to ‘buy or touch’, but something uncontrollable, in which trust must be earned. 

To earn trust marketers need a new capability which enables them to participate in a global dialogue 24/7, 365 days of the year. Consumers exist in a web of touchpoints and the marketer must no longer focus on a single target customer and control, in favour of influencing multiple stakeholders in a broader ecosystem.

The meaning of a brand is constantly negotiated in a dynamic, ever-changing, landscape and customers can now only be influenced towards a desired outcome – rather than controlled. In the networked era, multiple stakeholders will shape the meaning of a brand.

After its recent oil spill in The Gulf of Mexico, BP agreed to set aside $20bn to pay claims for damages. However, when Greenpeace claimed to have closed down all 50 of BP’s petrol stations in London on 27 July, stock markets reacted instantly with a 50% drop in share prices. BP responded with a $100m ad spend, both on network TV but also in an area they had not traditionally invested heavily in – buying ads in Google search results. Though President Obama criticised the company for spending so much on advertising during the crisis, BP still went from spending $57,000 a month to becoming one of Google’s top advertisers at $3.6m in an effort to influence consumers online.

On the other side of the spectrum, Swiss brand Freitag used online word-of-mouth and a good story to grow from selling 10 customised messenger bags to friends to now selling 150,000 bags a year, employing 80 people and retailing globally in over 300 shops worldwide.

The moral of the story?

Marketers in the third era must shift their thinking from control to influence, from push communications to a ‘pull approach’ through adding value and content to consumers’ experience. We must shift from communication to engagement and participation and from a closed one-way model, to an open, transparent and authentic portrayal of our brands because all information – both good and bad – will always find its way online eventually.

Roland Bernhard, partner at Prophet who will be speaking at the CMO conference in Zurich on the 30 September 2010.