The Sound of Brands in the time of Consumer’s Intensity & Fury. ©Warc.

      “The Sound and the Fury” was one of the most original and innovative books written by the Literature Nobel Prize laureate, William Faulkner. Even if the story focus on a family that live in Jefferson Mississippi, there is a strong relationship -in a metaphoric way- between the storyline and the context we are living today with brands in the Digital Era.
     At the beginning of the book we can read the perspective of Benji Compson, a 33 years old cognitive disabled man. We feel the difficulty to understand what Benji is saying. It is accurate to say that in the world of brands we have been a little disabled to understand the scope, limitations, and also the real opportunities that Social networks, blogs, apps, web pages, videos and so on have, related to Brand Building processes.
     Other situations included in the book, as showing a nonlinear narrative, presenting duality by two contrast characters, and applying the narrative resource called “stream of consciousness” are also conceptually linked to what is happening between digital era and brands.
     The voice of the consumer in social networks -and internet in general- is intense, full of richness but also full of nonlinear kind of thoughts; and many times, it shows the duality and contradictory nature of consumers, as Zygmunt Bauman described when he talks about “Liguid Modernity”. Brand health, equity, resonance or brand value in a time where the main topics are content, viral, “now”, social and engagement?   It has been clear since late 2013 and the beginning of 2014 that the great enthusiasm that marketers and advertising people have had with the usage of Social Networks, and the predominance of sexy terms as engagement, likes, fans, links, and clicks have been exaggerated when we talk about long term Brand building and Real Marketing. 

     As we have seen in 2 of the most important Ways of measuring Brand Value Performance globally -Interbrand and BrandZ from Millward Brown- we have here many situations that confirm what I’m talking about; following I only mention two of them:

1. Higher Brand Value not necessarily come from breakthrough digital marketing. Many brands that belong to The Top Valued have no traditional advertising or no advertising at all, and even if they have implemented digital strategies, these are not part of the best case histories in digital marketing. We are not talking about brands that have shined because of their out of the box brand digital solutions. i.e. Technology brands that have grown a lot. In 2013, the Top 3 brands were Apple, Google & IBM (BrandZ) or Coca-Cola (Interbrand).
2. Many times Scandals do not impact Brand Equity during time. Brands that have had viral or social network scandals as McDonalds, KFC, Benetton or Walmart have not being sensitive to Brand value decrease because of these viral phenomena.

     So, what is happening?, are Brand managers over-reacting to conversations that consumers are having with brands in the digital board? I believe not, because digital has become a strategic resource, a very relevant media alternative and a way to connect and engage with consumers; but this does not mean that all the speed & fast content that brands are launching in internet have a consequence in consumer’s mindset in time nor in the long term of Brand building processes.
     From my point of view there have been 7 misconceptions that marketers have not interpreted correctly about building Brand value and Brand equity in the era of Second by Second Brand Content Management:

1. That Generating Brand Content for today mean generating Brand Value for tomorrow. 
2. That high Visibility and fast response in Internet means that the Brand has been successful.
3. That Consumers enter Internet & Social Networks to connect with brands and inform about them as their main purpose. The voice of the consumer provides us an opportunity to connect, engage, chat, relate to him with a Brand, but, until now we have not understood that consumer’s main worries in their lives are not brands. They take care about themselves, their relationships, their goals, couples, having fun, family, sports, etc where brands are only a part of it. 
4. That using the “fury” of the acid & cynical consumers – sometimes anti-marketing groups or brand detractors- about brands is the best way to decode how consumers think. Also, using this information to conclude that this is part of the big picture of the Brand situation and future. 
5.  STV instead of LTV. In reality it seems that many brands are working for STV (Short Time Value) instead of LTV (Life Time Value). It’s not the best to act right now with Brand content and answers to consumers but inappropriately with the Brand essence or DNA. 
6. Trying to convert ALL consumers to Brand Fans. There is a segment that is searching any opportunity to see a Brand to bump into or Fall. The misconception is that with this segment you have the chance to transform them as fans or convince them to begin twetting positive comments about a Brand. 
7. “Likes” and “Follows” mean New Long Term Friends. Managing unlikes, and trying to sell a product or a brand to those who give likes or follows, instead of reviewing the whole relationship.

     Taking in account the 7 misconceptions that I mentioned before, we should think about digital branding and advertising as a great resource for brand building, but at the same time, understanding that first we need a clear & sharp Brand Essence and a Brand Building Long Term plan before. In addition, today our world is a multi-channel and multi-screen world, there is no return, multi-channel branding is something that will continue to be the standard for our times.
     From the consumer’s point of view it doesn’t matter if they contact a Brand or watch an ad in their Tablet, in a bar, their TV, or on the Street as long as it fits with the need that they have in that exact moment.

     Finally, to manage the sound and the fury of the consumer in our modern times and at the same time continuing the process of building brands, we should take care about the 7 following issues: As we know, building brands take time: time to understand consumer insights, time to understand the market, the context, the trends and your wide competition scope, time to articulate an original Brand Value Proposition and a Positioning, time to transform that Brand Essence into Brand contact points that connect with the consumer. 

1. First Brand Foundations, then content. A Brand cannot begin communicating diverse content and messages in the digital era if it has not worked in its Brand Essence and Brand foundations. In order to have congruence and synergy between all the efforts that brands make. Brands as Axe, Absolut, Mini, Old Spice, VW, Coca-Cola, Apple & Amazon and so on know about this. 
2. Seducing is in vain if not building a relationship. “Seducing” the consumer instead of direct selling him is ok, because we are living times where most consumers don’t like to be sold. But seducing should be a part of a Brand building landing process, a mean to constructing loyalty and LTV (life time value). As we said before, a great social network management for the moment could mean a shorter time value of the consumer in the future. 
3. Digital does not have to mean ephemeral. To have fast community managers does not have to mean working only on the ephemeral side of brands. Content also could be strategic, relationship builder, loyalty “reinforce”, beyond trying to close a sale or communicating an instant promotion. 
4. After consumer, Brand is First. First we have to talk about the Brand & it’s strategy and only then about media, touchpoints and digital strategy. Brand Strategy does not begin with digital. 
5. Experience as a way to translate Essence. Brand experience, channels, advocacy, ambassadors strategy are Brand resources, not Brand Strategic & Essence content. 
6. Advertising is not a must, Communication is. Advertising is not a rule, is not a safe way to success, communicating with consumers yes. Advertising is just one way to communicate and connect with consumers, there are and will be brands that communicate with consumers by its packagings, its social networks tonality, the retail experience of purchase they offer, or the digital experience they provide (as Expedia, Despegar and many other brands in the Travel market).
7. It’s not the resource, it’s how you use it. As always there are good and bad stories related to the usage of PR, Videos, Social Networks, traditional TV ads, outdoor material, etc. But the main conclusion of all should not be to use it or not taking in account some successful or failure case histories. It’s not the resource, its how we use it. There are still new ways to use radio, outdoor media, short films, etc. as many brands have shown as. 

     Remember that one of the main learnings that we have from the digital era about marketing is that we do not need to break with the past and begin from scratch again, we also cannot adapt the old rules to the new world. We could take the best of both worlds, the objective is to grow brands and have satisfied consumers. To use it as a comparison, and relating it to the Art world, we are not talking about postmodernism as a way to break with modernism, neither go back to old times.

     New times provide us the opportunity to take advantage of old things that could be adapted to present times, as capitalizing the new resources and technologies that we have now. We are talking about potentializing the resources that we have on the table and mix them, reinvent them in new ways.    

     Taking in account consumer shifts and trends. In the new world we could have luck and be successful captivating new fans, gaining followers, having tons of retweets, and redirecting our brand videos, and this is OK, but great Brands are created in Time, brands want to be everlasting.

     Thus, taking in account the concepts that I presented before, as marketers, advertisers and market researchers the questions that we should answer always are: 
1) Are we really clear about what our brand stands for? What are the main components of Brand Essence and Value Proposition. Almost every brand has a Positioning, but only a few have a sharp and inspiring Brand DNA. 
2) What do the brand activities that you are planning to launch in the web and Social Networks & the consumer responses that you have received mean for the Brand?
3) Does the Community Managers and the Digital Team that work for your brand are well briefed about what the Brand Essence and Foundations are before they begin publishing content on the net?
4) Which new & emerging consumer trends, technologies, habits, social network platforms and ways of using multi - screens will have a relevant impact on how consumers interact with brands today and in the near future?
5) Which is really your Target Market that must be tracked during time and that represent really an opportunity to connect and make business with? Remember to give the real dimension that the “fury” has, and understand that these are the new rules, having fans and detractors. It seems to be easier to convince a fan to recommend your brand to another consumer, than trying to convince a detractor to be positive to your brand by now and become a follower or a fan.  

     Since now, remember to analyse what sound and resonance has your brand in the consumers mind, and what is the impact of the new kind of consumer that we have: one that sometimes gets enthusiastic about what your brand said, advertised or published, but one that other times get mad and critical, and communicates his content with intensity and fury.
Javier Otaduy.  ©Warc.