The Experts Weigh In

Many experts agree that the process of brand building has changed. Their thoughts support the concept of CMR.

Scott Bradbury, CEO—Brandstream “We often underestimate how long brands can hold on to a negative association, even if it’s just water cooler talk about a car that continuously breaks down. The Web has increased the consuming public’s ability to rant and rave about a company or a service. Smart companies now recognize the necessity of being responsive in real time. Lots of consumers are looking for information and brand cues. Companies that fail to deliver these will lose the sale to someone else who does. Price is not everything.”^[7]

Richard Rosen, president and CEO—AlloyRed, Rosen/Brown “Prospect interaction with an ad or marketing campaign is the key to satisfying the information needs of prospects while meeting the marketing objectives of the company. Interaction serves as a bridge between brand awareness and involvement, increasing a prospect’s awareness and favorable consideration of the brand. It also increases involvement by motivating the prospect to make a purchase or take the next step in the sales dialog.”^[8]

Regis McKenna, chairman—McKenna Group “If you look at the top 50 companies of the Fortune 500 in 1989, you’ll see that ten years later, 39 had dropped from the Fortune 500. These are the companies that spend the most money advertising and promoting their brands.” McKenna sights Starbucks taking over traditional coffee brand positions not by advertising, but by building service centers (customer relationships) in our communities. He makes the point that, “The Internet has certainly changed the way in which you brand products, but not in the way most marketers think. The Internet is not a broadcast medium like television. It is much more of a service medium in which you allow people to interact and exchange information with you.”^[9]

Al Ries, chairman—Ries & Ries “The Web has caused problems for many brands because most companies think of the Web as just another advertising medium like radio, television, newspapers and magazines. I am strongly opposed to that view. True the Web is a mass communications medium. The difference between the Web and any other mass medium is that the Web is interactive. The user of the message is in charge, not the sender.”^[10]

John Hagel, chief strategy officer—Twelve Entrepreneuring “Historically a brand has been a promise that says, ‘If you buy this product or buy from my company, you can rely on me because of the attributes attached to the brand.’ We’re going to see a new kind of branding emerge, a much more customer-centric branding where the promise is, ‘I know you as an individual customer better than anyone else, and you can trust me to assemble the right products or services to meet your individual needs.’” Hagel says it’s not a matter of one vendor dealing with one customer at a time, “What customers really want are many vendors to one customer. They want to leverage the full capability of the network to access whatever resources they need from wherever they are.”^[11]

^[7] “Marketing Trends,” www.darwinmag.com, July 2001, p. 63.

^[8]Richard Rosen, “Interaction: The Bridge Between Awareness and Prospect Involvement in Brand-Building Advertising,” DMA, in Case You Missed It, Volume 2, Issue 3, p. 3.

^[9]Ibid., p. 66.

^[10]Ibid., pp. 67, 68.

^[11]Ibid., pp. 66, 67.