branded_utility_psfk_13nov06

The Brand As Utility

Piers Fawkes

PSFK

Organization &

Management Seminar

Columbia University

Monday Nov 13 2006

The rationale for my investigation into Branded Utility is to look at notwhat the future of branding is , but to understand the future of brands.For so long, a brand has been a badge that represents a company orproduct - represents in an accurate or even inaccurate manner. For along time, such branding was forced. Forced by television, retail

distribution monopoly on a population with few media outlet.

Today that has changed - our access to channels has multiplied andeven more importantly maybe, our ability to share information andopinion about brands has never been greater.

I’m going to spend part of this presentation talking about the modernlandscape for brands and a new opportunity available which has beencalled Branded Utility. Branded Utility is a theory that has only started tobe considered. I am no expert on the subject, but it excites me so muchthat when Howard invited me to speak today, I set myself to find outmore and present the results to you today.

Over the last few weeks I’ve spoken to several thought marketing

leaders and you’ll see them quoted throughout the presentation.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mleak/

The Modern Landscape For Brands

• Multiple Channels

• Questions Over Relationship With Brands

• New Brands Emerging

• Emerging Consumer Trends Out Of Sync With Brands

• Advertising Industry Slow To React

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mleak/

Multiple Channels

Digital Is More Than Just Another Channel

55 Million Blogs: Everyone Has A Personal Magazine

YouTube Gives Everyone A TV Channel

The Rise Of 3rd Screen

Growing capabilitiesGrowing multi-use

Multiple Channels

• Nichecasting

• Fragmentation

• Difficulties to target en-masse

• Costs to reach large groups increasing

Questions Over Relationships With Brands

•Brands overstep the mark

•Brands become more powerful than governments

Brand Values Don’t Sync With Consumer Trends

• CREATE

– Blogs, Video, Customized Products

• CONNECT

– MySpace, Facebook. Dodgeball

• SHARE

– Flickr, YouTube

Ref: Josh Rubin, Coolhunting.com at Future Trends 06

New Brands Emerging Ignoring The Old Model

• Brands being built on their usefulness to the consumer– “… many new companies have built great brands not by interrupting people

and telling them how they should feel or think, but rather by spending time andeffort to be useful in people's lives. Starbuck's provide a place for me to getonline and hear new music, Yahoo gives me answers.”

• Johnny Vulkan, Anomaly

• Peer to Peer recommendation becoming more important than brandadvice

– E.g. Amazon reviews

• Digital technology driving change– Does a shopper in GAP ask the staff what they think about an item - or does

she take a photo with her phone and ask her friends

Consumers Having Their Own Fun Without Brands

• Once we needed advertising!

• It paid for a lot of our entertainment : TV, Radio, Print

• Advertising, was useful!

• But now we can use digital tools to have our own fun

Flash Mob Clubbing

A group of

people assemble

suddenly in a

public place, do

somethingunusual for a brief

period of time,

and then quickly

disperse.

Online Gaming

A subscription-based online

gaming service that allows

players to play games with or

against other players around

the world or over the internet.

Digg - We Media

Advertising Industry Slow To React

• Taking offline principles and applying online

• Faddish

• Urban Spam

Ad Industry: Replicating Offline To Online

Ad Industry: Faddish

Ad Industry: Urban Spam

YouTube Ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHlob1lSUo

The Modern Landscape For Brands

• Multiple Channels

• Questions Over Relationship With Brands

• New Brands Emerging

• Emerging Consumer Trends Out Of Sync With Brands

• Advertising Industry Slow To React

Missed Opportunities

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanphotographer/

Opportunity: Flickr Uploader

The Unbranded Flickr Uploader

- missed opportunity for Kodak?

Opportunity: Teabuddy

• Regular bursts of popularity, no maintenance

– “That’s one of the things I love about online. Things can just live on forever,getting discovered by new audiences up to years after they originally

launched. It’s something that clients are often uncomfortable with, they’re

used to campaigns having a launch date and a finite lifespan. Those rules just

don’t apply any more. I guess that’s the long tail of advertising.”

• Iain Tate, Partner at Poke

• Why didn’t Lipton or PG Tips make this?

Opportunity : Branded Utility

• If small teams can create applications that people love - imagine whatcould be done by a big brand with budget?

– “I think that the most interesting branded utility opportunities are actually

among big companies that have a massive reach. Why? Well, for a lot ofapplications, you don't need the backing of a big brand because a couple

guys in a garage can go ahead and build it on their own. However, there are

certain apps that can't happen unless you're Nike or Apple because it requires

integration on so many different levels. Sometimes it takes giants to move

mountains.”

• Jack Cheng,Freelance Creative Director

Brand Utility

• In order for brands to remain relevant, they must become useful:

– “It’s where the brand creates a commitment to a relationship. It’s where the

brand creates something useful to you, something that’s a utility in your life. The

consumer will feel more confident with the relationship if the brand willcontinue to be part of your life.

Branding has been about cultural relevance – what we’re saying is that it’s not

so much about relevance as usefulness. Brand messages need to be in a useful

format.”

• Benjamin Palmer, Barbarian Group

– “Brands being genuinely useful to their customers, employees, suppliers and the

people they touch.”

• Johnny Vulkan, Anomaly

Examples?

ViaMichelin

Widgets Are The Big Buzz On The Web

• Immediate opportunities of brands.

• More reading:http://www.typepadhacks.org/2006/11/why_the_whole_w.html

King Of Widgets: Flickr Badge

Walmart Entertainment Station

Run London : Utility Online & Offline

Nike+ : Moving Branded Utility Offline

New Companies Are Building Branded Utilities

• Teknision

Where Next?

What Drives Branded Utility?

• Online reach, online costs

• Vast amounts of money are being spent on 3 month campaigns that areswitched off

• Maybe we could channel some of that budget for useful projects…

• Long term relationship building

Remember

• You still have to get the Utility out there

• Yes, there will be advertising…

– “At the end of the day you have to let people know about your Branded Utility

and one of those ways will probably be through advertising.”

Russell Davies, Planner OIA

• But more partnerships and content share.

Branded Utility

• At the end of the day, it’s about making great products

PSFK

• PSFK is a team of future thinkers. This presentation has been given by Piers Fawkes to

provide debate on an idea.

• For more information - or if you would like Piers Fawkes to come and present these

ideas to you and your team, email Piers at [email protected] or call him on +1 917 5952227.

• All content © their appropriate owners.