Yesterday, Tim Wilson and I gave a presentation on the Brand Impact of Transparency, at the launch of Organic Exchange Europe in Amsterdam.
Download the presentation (PowerPoint)
The presentation describes a move from brand opacity (obscuring knowledge, to build brand premiums) through translucency (offering sneak peeks to support brand story telling), to fully-fledged transparency (a free and open information exchange with stakeholders).
The end-point is both inevitable, and very scary to many brand owners. In an age of transparency, deeply-held marketing notions like trust, reputation and even relationships will be increasingly outdated. Control and persuasion are replaced by influence and conversation, working on behalf of the individual – social communication, in other words.
For brands that wish to survive in the era of transparency:
The drive to secure Trust will be replaced by an instinct to be Trustworthy.
The drive to manage Reputation will be replaced by an instinct to manage Brand Integrity.
The drive to own Relationships will be replaced by an instinct to enable stakeholders to make better Decisions.
And finally, the use of stakeholder engagement as a prop for CSR reporting will be replaced by genuine Stakeholder Collaboration around issues of both material and mutual concern…
Managing the transition from opacity through translucency to eventual transparency requires careful navigation, with high levels of engagement. Transparency age brands needs Brand Assurance Programmes that go beyond celebrity endorsement and CSR reports.
Brand assurance requires an almost geological approach to brand analysis, understanding the tectonic shifts displacing your brand positioning and the stakeholder geopolitics that will shape your room for manoeuvre. In the age of transparency brand management increasingly resembles ’stakecraft’.
PS. I’ve blogged a little more on the evolution of Brand Assurance and BAPs over at timkitchin.com, for those with deeper interest in protecting their brand integrity. For anyone who wants to understand the connections to technology and social media, see my brief explanation at Right Side Up.
1. Michael | 6th March 2008 at 12:56 pm
This was really interesting to look through… thanks for sharing.
Not sure how much I can add, but one thing that stuck in my mind was the question “What happens if businesses get too far ahead on the transparency curve? Is that possible? Are there steps to take toward transparency and do certain business models/industries favour less or more transparency?†Also, I liked the slide which captured “social markets†as the “commodification of everything†converging with the “socialisation of everyoneâ€â€¦