Brands
Can anybody name a major brand […] that in the last decade has been created primarily through advertising? Nobody. I’ve never met a crowd that could. If you think of companies like Yahoo and Google and Starbucks and Amazon, these companies have been built by experience and by word of mouth. Marketing doesn’t work the way it used to.
Source: Customer Experience Crossroads: Eisenberg on the future of marketing (via Colin Henderson)
August 9th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Looking at the switch to general entertainment products that Apple recently did I believe it could be considered as a new Brand of the last decade. - But then it would fall in what he calls a brand extension in th e full excerpt anyway ;) - A brand that made most of it’s communication thru advertising.
I’m thinking Easy Jet and Monster which are using the Internet but as a contact environment rather than a promotional tool leaving budget for “classical” advertising. But I’m not sure they would fall in the “major brand” group.
Marketing still works as it used to but it’s evolving. New tools have appeared to complement the existing ones. What Starbuck does by selling mugs or promoting ethical work is also marketing and isn’t new.
Yahoo, Google and Amazon have their HQ on the web which makes them less inclined to use expensive advertising when they can rely on blogs, viral campaigns, word of mouth,…
They had/ve an automatic buz from bringing innovation on a medium that is struggling to find the next new trendy piece of software. See 2nd life, Twitter, Facebook,… Armed with a cheering crowd of fans no one needs advertising ;)
Advertising remains a needed tool of marketing and it’s still broadly used. I believe it’s a must if you don’t bring a concrete innovation to the table and still want to compete.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:30 am
John RE “Yahoo, Google and Amazon have their HQ on the web which makes them less inclined to use expensive advertising”
…. I think you are making Laurent’s point. They can afford old style expensive advertising but its no longer a viable brand building approach, when compared to the tools you mention.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Btw I am just now thinking of a counter example: 118 118. It’s a brand everybody heard of, and that was purely built by TV, not by word to mouth. So it still works when done intelligently. But marketing has changed in a sense that the importance of the different mediums are being redefined, and TV is surely losing ground after all the abuses we endured during all these years.
Who is not reaching for his/her remote when the ads show up during a program?
August 13th, 2007 at 10:01 am
I am. I love advertising…
I thought of adding Red Bull to the list, but then we have to define “experience” and “major brand”.