Branding: The Three-dimensional Point

When I decided to get involved with the AMA for this year’s forward ‘09 Brandologie conference, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time pontificating about branding. I’m one of those people that think it’s easy to be confused between branding, marketing and advertising. Unless you have a reason to stop and ask what differentiates the three, it’s easy to think they’re all the same.

However, I’m not here to bore you with evolving definitions. Having the opportunity to work on this project and talk with some of the stellar branding experts speaking at the Forward '09 conference June 3rd, one theme that repeatedly sticks out, I think is worth sharing:

More than ever branding is three-dimensional thanks to technology. But you’re only as good as your weakest link, no matter how you differentiate or define branding, advertising and marketing. It’s all connected. Each channel depends on the other to be successful.

Illustrating how interconnected branding has become, Ken Smith, Account Director with Wieden + Kennedy, spoke to us about new media and how it offers a way to monitor valuable feed back, which wasn’t available until now. “You have to think of all the new media as an opportunity, not as a threat. Ask yourself, given all the new ways to talk to consumers and to have them talk back to us, how do we fit in given our brand personality? If we really think of our brand as a person, would we have a facebook page? Would we twitter? How would we interact with consumers and what are we open to hearing about ourselves? How much control are we willing to give up?”

Smith continues, “I recently read a great post called Top Ten Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn't Tweet. Number two was, ‘Every tweet has to be approved by legal.’ Our Oregon Tourism client decided that is was a better overall consumer experience if they allowed posts from consumers about their visits to Oregon on their site, even if some didn't have a great experience. If you are really smart, you're monitoring that feedback and looking at negative posts as an opportunity to improve and possibly win a consumer back.”

The example used earlier in our Forward ’09 March 24th Brandologie blog supports Smith’s point. Don’t judge too quickly. We won’t, shows how Americaquest Mortgage missed the mark when it didn’t incorporate the You Tube factor during its Super Bowl advertising. I think it’s safe to say the ads hit the money for being cynical and funny targeting Gen Xers who want to position their investments to bounce back from beleaguered financial markets. But as the blog post argues, Americaquest lost the opportunity for interactive feedback when it didn’t use new media as a branding tool.

Jared Reitzin, CEO and Founder, mobileStorm is helping companies build their brands via mobile marketing. He talked about how advertisers can embrace mobility to sync with their client’s brand strategies. With digital marketing Reitzin says advertisers have the opportunity to create an interactive experience and easily track results. “Instead of just throwing up a billboard with an image and copy, throw up a billboard and ask your audience to access a digital coupon or respond to a poll. You can text reply with your email address and we’ll send detail information about a product or service,” says Reitzin. “I can track how many people have been to my website, how many people have downloaded a [digital] coupon, how many have responded to an email or text message.”

I think Reitzin said it best when put simply, “Text is key to the short word now.”

If you’re interested to learn more from our speakers and sharpen your branding chops, stay tuned to our Brandologie blog. We’ll continue to post full interviews from the speakers who will showcase their expertise at the Forward ’09 event June 3rd. But these are just a tease. If you want the full deal, attend the conference and register.