The past, present and future of transparency.

“Infodemocracy, and what it means for your brand”

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Remember The Good Old Days?

$5

What is it?

Who made it?

What’s it made from?

What does it taste like?

Where does it come from?

How can I get one more cheaply?

Who would drink a beer like this?

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1950s-70s. The Opacity System…Focused on features and benefits. A great model for an industrial economy.

• Opaque customers – marketing is based on inspired guesswork

• Opaque products – any colour you like, as long as it’s what we have in stock

• Opaque organisations – a golden age for conglomerates and aspiring monopolists

• Opaque markets – persuasion ethos. Consumers trapped by choice, location, transportation and social class

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Brand value = Opacity Premium(n) Branding: the art of making money by concealing knowledge from targeted customers

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Opacity heroes…

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So why on earth would you change all that…?

Opacity:

• Enhances economic premiums

• Protects competitive advantage

• Develops deep emotional bonds and repeat purchase

• Obscures dubious sourcing, pricing and employment practices

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So why change…?

Because Opacity:

• is anti-customer

• locks you into a single static proposition

• blindsides you to alternative value models

STOP PRESS…

Retailers start to destroy opaque brands by copying SUPERFICIAL FEATURES…

Opaque Brands concentrate and multiply risk

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The 80s and 90s. The Translucency Translucency system. Focused on experiences. A great model for the service-economy.

• TranslucentTranslucent customers – guesswork replaced by data-driven speculation. The rise, demise and reprise of CRM…

• TranslucentTranslucent products – previously hidden ingredients and processes move ‘front of brand ‘(wholegrain, small batch, gluten-free, low fat, freshly-baked, in store…) …

• TranslucentTranslucent organisations – TBL/ESG reporting, philanthropy, and community appeasement programmes…

• TranslucentTranslucent markets – challenges to supplier-fixed pricing, price comparison sites, widespread re-intermediation…

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Brand value = TranslucencTranslucencyy Premium(n) Branding: the art of making money by selectively sharing knowledge with self-selecting customers

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TranslucencyTranslucency heroes…the master storytellers…

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So why on earth would you change all that…?

TranslucencyTranslucency:

• envalues corporate purpose

• showcases deep-seated organisational assets

• enables multiple disruptive entry-points into new segments

• offers much more resilient competitive advantage (more authentic and difficult to copy)

• creates a broad, values-based ‘platform’ for customer intimacy, enabling cross-selling and upselling

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So why change…?

Because TranslucencyTranslucency:

• is grounded in stories - not stakeholder needs or organisational purpose

• is still anti-customer – just selling bigger dreams

• still locks you into static propositions – only with higher cost of change

• still blinds you to alternative models – only reinforcing self-delusion….

STOP PRESS…

Consumer advocates destroy translucent brand advantage by telling MORE TRANSPARENT STORIES…

Translucent brands defuse and diffuse short-term risk at the expense of long-term risk

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“What does the future hold ?”

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Jetbluehostage.com

Flickr.com/photos/filthywalmart

Greenpeace.org/apple

Exposeexxon.com

Complane.typepad.com

Ikeasuckz.blogspot.com

But isn’t transparency a really bad thing…?

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Only if you fight it…

You can always engage, answer criticism, respond, adapt, collaborate…

Open your doors, invite stakeholders in and start to learn…

Even

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SOCIAL NETWORKS

PUBLIC PASSIONS

THE BROADCAST SELF

MARTINI DIALOGUE

Social Identity

Individual Identity

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REAL-TIME COMPARABILITY

INDEPENDENT ENDORSEMENTINFORMATION GLUTTONY

MARKETS-OF-ONE

Trust Trustworthiness

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CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

ACCOUNTABLE PROCESS-CHAINS

COMPETING VALUE-WEBS

INSTITUTIONAL LISTENING

Internalise externalitie

s

Externalise internalitie

s

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PERFECT INFORMATION

LEAN PRODUCTION CONSUMER INFOSTREAMS

CROWD CLOUT

Individual efficiency

Collective effectiveness

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Potential for Intention EconomicsIntention Aggregation

Social Marketing Potential for Social Marketisation

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The Marketisation of everything

The Socialisation of everyone

The New “Social Market”

In summary: the twin forces of transparency…

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(n) Branding: the art of making money by improving decision quality for any stakeholder

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The rules of the new social market: “Information Symmetry”

1. Products: Whatever must be known can be known

2. Markets: Whatever can be known, must be made known…

Infodemocracy

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The rules of the new social market: “Social Symmetry”

1. People: Whoever must be known, can be made known

2. Organisations: How you know matters more than who you know

Sociodemocracy

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Prediction: This Social Market will play host to two long wars:

Power: Who will be in charge of brands?

The war for primacy between demand-side intentions and supply-side resources

Control: Who will get most value from individuals’ assets?

The war for control of social information

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The Brand War

2020 ‘superbrands’ will be the best interpreters of demand-side signals, not the best spinners of supply messages…

The Identity war

2020 ‘superpeople’ will be empowered to actively manage personal and social ROI from their actions and intentions.

Who will win the wars? 2 predictions:

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The Marketisation of

everything

The Socialisation of

everyone

The New “Social Market”

The Liberation of the

individual

The Democratisation

of brands

The age of The age of transparentransparencycy

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Wider

Assurance

History

Learn

Scepticism

Integrity

Deeper

Listen

Future

StopStop fighting. Give in Give in to transparency. Enjoy Enjoy it.

Collaboration

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10 Don’ts for your Corporate Marketing

1.Organisational Scepticism: Don’t drink the koolaid. Be sceptical of your own organisation. The rest of the world will be.

2. Keep listening: Don’t assume that what you say is what get’s heard. Understand the implications of your brand. 3. Keep learning: Don’t assume that your brand standards are good enough. Align expectations, promises and performance – constantly.

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4. Brand Integrity: Don’t imagine you can actually manage reputation. Focus on managing your conduct.

5. Go deeper: Don’t stop with brand audits and

stakeholder endorsements. Strive for continual learning.

6. Go wider: Don’t stop at pleasing customers. Understand all your stakeholders’ needs and understand your value propositions to them.

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7. Brand Assurance: Don’t promise. Deliver, and prove you’ve delivered.

8. Think future: Don’t just protect license to operate. Build your ‘license to innovate’ by engaging with critical permission-brokers.

9. Think history: Don’t copy. Use your own history. Empower your hidden assets: product backstory, human expertise, supply-chain processes and corporate purpose.

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10. Stakeholder Collaboration: Don’t compete on the resources you own; compete on the resources you can connect.