Just read a fascinating article about how Procter & Gamble and Unilever are among the few at the forefront of embracing new roles in the social media age. “Managing” a brand in itself has always been a slightly odd concept to me. After all, your brand is actually what OTHERS think of you (customers, prospects, the industry, haters, etc.), not what you continuously try to espouse yourself… it’s kinda like spitting in the wind.
Given that consumers are the real brand proponents, and that trying to manage this area is increasingly impossible in today’s Web 2.0 world, a new Forrester Research report, Adaptive Brand Marketing: Rethinking Your Approach to Branding in the Digital Age, was just published recommending change the name “brand manager” to “brand advocate” which will fundamentally change marketing organizations in response to the digital age.
Media owners and agencies have been hearing how they should change their structures (not marketing departments), and now they have justification to say to their corporate clients, “no, it really IS you.” Agencies will now have documented research to back their claims that companies need to shift their organizations to cope with an increasingly complex world of media fragmentation and rising retailer and consumer power. The goal is creating marketing organizations that are more powerful, more consumer-centric, and much nimbler with real-time response.
About Wendi McGowan