Brands Create Customers

The Financial Times reports that Burberry will soon launch its own social networking site, to be called Art of the Trench. This is a major step that all brands will be watching, because the future of brands will be written with personal platforms and social media. A Burberry social network could be a pioneering and potent force in advancing the Burberry brand, and its customers.

Brand strategy and social media

In this post I’ll take a quick look at the brand strategy and social media options available to Burberry in its new initiative. In large part, at least as I see it, the challenge for Burberry goes far beyond social media proper. It’s a challenge of brand innovation. Does Burberry intend to pour old marketing wine into this new social media bottle, or will it use social media to reinvent its brand to create new customer value? That’s the big question.

Pre-launch site and Burberry context

Here is Burberry’s pre-launch site, to give you a flavor. From reports, the new network is intended to make Burberry more attractive to customers by providing a Burberry-themed platform for social communication and interaction. Burberry already has 660,000 “friends” on Facebook to draw from.

For some Burberry context, watch the 9/16/09 “Customer of the future” Financial Times video interview with Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts here. (Actually, watch the entire set; it’s illuminating.)

Burberry customers and the site

Burberry intends the site to be a form of online brand experience for customers.

“These might not even be customers yet. Or they may be a customer for a bottle of fragrance or for eyewear. But these are the customers who need the brand experience, who need to feel the brand. That word-of-mouth spreads through their social networks and continues to be a positive conversation [about Burberry] . . . that is so powerful.”

Source:  the FT article above.

Post pictures of yourself in your Burberry trench

At this point we don’t know the full extent of Burberry’s “social networking site.” Will it operate like a slimmed-down, brand-focused Facebook, or will it be more of a (conventional) fan site. Initial reports say the Burberry network will enable Burberry customers to post photographs of themselves in their Burberry trench coats. That seems more like fan site territory, the low end of social media. (The high end is collaboration and value co-creation.)

Potential downsides of a fan site approach

To the extent that Art of the Trench becomes a fan site, (not that it would) what are the brand downsides? The biggest downside is the opportunity cost for missing the possible brand advances through a real social network, especially one focused on value creation. Beyond that, fan sites can be brand limiting unless customers themselves are allowed to show their creative modifications to brands, or brand uses. Is Burberry open to customer mods?

The brand is more than the clothing

If Art of the Trench focuses on pictures of customers in Burberry coats, one might then ask, “What’s the sustaining attraction?” The clothes are the same. And how will all those blurry amateur pics represent Burberry’s chic fashion sense, not to mention its exacting quality? Loopy pics might damage the brand. Finally, how deep is the customer “brand experience” in seeing photos of others in Burberry outfits? Might this undercut the Burberry identity so ably set forth in exquisite photos and videos of Burberry-adorned models?

Brand strategy first, social media second

Many brands (like Burberry) are moving beyond traditional mass-market advertising toward networks powered by social media. That stands to be a positive shift, but only if it’s anchored in a customer-focused brand strategy. It’s brand strategy first, social media second. There is no social media magic that can make a brand “come alive” from below. A brand cannot flip a social media switch and expect a stronger brand to bubble forth, like Champagne from water.

This raises another question for Burberry’s new networking site: What are the terms of Burberry’s intended brand engagement?

Social networks are not old marketing in new bottles

For brands, the value of social networks is that they have game-changing potential to create new customers and new markets, beyond old marketing structures. Thus the promise of Burberry’s initiative. As many companies also realize, social networks entail a culture change in brand approach. Pouring old marketing wine into new (social media) bottles won’t work. An “old” marketing approach will view social media as nothing more than a new sales and PR channel. In effect, social media becomes “social media advertising and PR,” a platform for using customers to advertise to themselves. In this “advertising from below” approach, the only connection desired from customers is the sale.

Unfortunately, when companies reduce social media to this level, brand trust often dissolves as customers perceive themselves as being (cynically) used to sell things to their friends.

In social media, the customer is an ally, not an “audience”

Companies are beginning to understand that the brand transition to social media ultimately involves a re-casting of the customer relationship. In social media, the customer is an ally, not an “audience.” The audience model is a carryover from obsolescent marketing thinking, as if the brand were an “act” in front of a crowd. A brand that considers customers an “audience” often finds itself resorting to theatrics to make an impression. Do these work? They can, for a time, but at the cost of a stagnating brand on a shrinking stage.

As allies, customers can add value back to the brand—many times over. It will be interesting to see how Burberry handles the “customer audience vs. customer ally” question.

A potential pitfall: Burberry outlets

One concern for Burberry is that members of its new network may be bargain hunters that flock to Burberry’s factory outlets. This outlet mentality can turn the brand conversation into a downward spiral of discount and price, where the hot topic is, “What’s the best deal?”  The network can then become a force for commoditizing the brand. As soon as someone saves big bucks on a particular item, the entire network will know it, and may shop on price accordingly.

Setting the Burberry brand agenda

One question the official launch will answer is, “What’s Burberry’s brand agenda?” Burberry’s brand agenda will guide its customer approach, and will help answer most of the questions above. For more on setting the brand agenda, see here.

The Burberry brand journey

Perhaps the easiest approach for Burberry is to incorporate social media into a Burberry brand journey. In this strategy the brand becomes a force for joint cultural innovation with customers. Burberry leads this (shared) brand journey as a creative, social, moral and cultural driver in defining new horizons for its customers. In this role Burberry is “out of the closet” and into the veins. Burberry becomes “innerware” instead of “outerware.”

In this option, social media plays a key role as part of personal brand applications.

A Burberry smartphone app?

Burberry might also develop a smartphone app to give its customers unique cultural advantages beyond the merchandise. What might these be? A leading brand of style and fashion would surely know.

Note: I’ve covered related issues in Twitter and brand strategy.

Photo:  nino63004 — Flickr

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Brand Experience, Brand Networks, Brand Strategy, Luxury Brands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.