The long-term health of brands is in decline. Over the past decade, fewer consumers recognize meaningful differences between brands. Both the rise in generics from recession-squeezed budgets and the easy access of social media have contributed to a reduction in perceived brand differentiation that will accelerate dramatically in the coming years.
With brands becoming more active in social media and expanding their real-time marketing conversations with consumers, the focus on what’s distinct and memorable about a particular brand will get lost. Brands are increasingly hiring based on desire to be nimble and execute quick, pithy responses to events and consumer conversation. This will lead to a diminished sense of how a particular brand is different and the unique space it occupies.
Here are some tweets that don’t necessarily reinforce the brand position:
- Glade air fresheners: ‘Nothing but time, your best friends beside you and a field of opportunity inspires true #joy #bestfeelings’
- Urban Outfitters: ‘OMG. It’s National Cat Day. #Catober forever’.
These tweets are not consistent with the brand’s truths and likely do little to influence consumers’ purchase intentions.
Another opportunity is for brands to use live broadcasts to attempt real-time marketing, To their detriment, some brands allow the topic of the broadcast to overshadow their message.
For example:
- New York Life: ‘From the Potters to the Skywalkers, who’s your favorite movie family? #Oscars’
- Special K: ‘Did you dream a dream about the Best Picture winner? RT if you think this film will triumph tonight! #RedCarpetReady’
- Bing: ‘#Oscar noms get $45,000 swag bags. People preferred Bing over Google for the web’s top searches. #BelieveItbinged.it/Yq3ZU9’.
These tweets succeed in capturing the buzzwords of the broadcast but have little to do with the brand itself. This is one trend that is contributing significantly to ill-advised, wasted efforts at brand building.
It’s great to be nimble and responsive, but without strong and disciplined leadership by a brand steward empowered to control all the brand messages, we will continue to see an erosion of brand differentiation. The ultimate result: Once-meaningful brands will realize – after they have abandoned cohesive campaigns that foster brand differentiation and value – that their sales are only boosted by profit-eroding promotions.
