As advertising becomes more insidious, seeping into taxis and bathroom stalls across the country, it's increasingly difficult for companies and products to stand out from the crowd and avoid being ignored by ad-weary consumers. In Gobé's follow-up to Emotional Branding, he outlines successful marketing strategies to help brands grow from conventional to innovative, assuring survival in a crowded marketplace. "The shift in thinking is from asking how we can motivate consumers to buy our product to asking instead how we can touch our consumers' lives." At the heart of Gobé's model of branding is the involvement of the brand in the community. Citing such famous examples as the Body Shop, Ben and Jerry's and Tom's of Maine, Gobé argues that given the choice, consumers will pick a brand that demonstrates concern for the environment, human rights and social equality over one that does not. Gobé's prescriptions include creating an environment where consumers can "experience the brand," which helps demonstrate trustworthiness, and uniting form and function through unique and practical designs. Strikingly absent from this guide, however, is sufficient hard data to back up the author's assertions that social responsibility will boost sales and insure the longevity of a brand. There are also relatively few comparative scenarios to highlight how poor community relations, bad design or political gaffes could devastate even the most well-established companies. Gobé's ideas, however, are well conceived, and the book does offer scores of articulate examples of brands that are using citizen branding.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Internationally Acclaimed Branding Guru Challenges Corporations: "It’s Time to Act as Good Citizens"
What have today’s brands in common with politicians? - They need to take an active, positive role in people’s lives in order to be elected —locally and globally, says Marc Gobé, the founder of the widely successful Emotional Branding concept. Today’s all-powerful, post-hedonistic consumers expect a deepening level of emotional commitment and social responsibility from the brands that they choose. In CITIZEN BRAND, an evolvement of his revolutionary EMOTIONAL BRANDING concept, the internationally acclaimed branding guru tells corporations how to become the socially relevant, caring community members that are elected in today’s consumer democracy.
Three quarters of consumers would vote for corporate community involvement and ethical business practices, say recent polls. Yet while "cause marketing" programs abound, few corporations truly understand the emotional power of the "Citizen Brand" approach, argues Marc Gobé. Using brands like Starbucks and The Bodyshop and Home Depot as examples, CITIZEN BRAND reveals how companies can create strong and deep partnerships with people in America and across the globe by enriching their lives in creative and truly relevant ways.
The bursting dot.com bubble, anti-globalization protests in Seattle and Genoa, an economic slowdown, and the September 11 tragedy. . .the events of the past three years have changed dramatically what consumers expect from today’s brands: they seek emotional support and orientation an increasingly complex, strenuous reality. Getting this right requires an intimate understanding of one’s customers and their deepest values, says Marc Gobé. CITIZEN BRAND reveals how smart companies have responded to this reality check by treating their customers–-and employees—with a new humanistic, emotional sensitivity. Nucor has made it a point to not lay off any of its people in the face of recession; other companies have followed the example of The Bodyshop by establishing community programs for customers and employees; Coca-Cola is using its trucks in Africa to bring medication and education to local customers.
As Gobé underlines, CITIZEN BRAND is not a comprehensive form of philantrophy or a new business strategy, but an inevitable consequence of global change: ". . .in a global world influenced more and more by local politics, religious upheaval, and social awareness, the role of businesses will change in a dramatic way. The need to reassess one’s corporate responsibility is critical in a changed world."
From the Publisher
Leading brand designer Marc Gobé builds on his highly successful Emotional Branding strategy with Citizen Brand, a powerful new concept designed to help companies develop strong positive bonds with today’s consumers. Gobè argues that corporations need a new vision to survive in the present "emotional economy," challenging them to develop more passionate, human, and socially responsible brand strategies if they want to earn buyers’ loyalty. He shows how to transform Consumers to People, Products to Experiences, Honesty to Trust, Quality to Preference, Identity to Personality, and Service to Relationship. Filled with timely demographics on evolving trends, powerful images from advertising and retail, and practical examples from the author’s own experience, Citizen Brand is a powerful tool for CEOs, advertising managers, and graphic designers seeking to inspire a fiery sense of allegiance among today’s consumers.
About the Author
His breakthrough, emotion-driven brand design strategies have been successful with clients such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Victoria’s Secret, Ann Taylor, Sears, Godiva, Saks, Reebok, Versace, Starbucks, and Gillette among others. He serves on the board of the Brand Design Association, has taught at the prestigious Ecole Superieure de Dessin Industriel, in Paris, and regularly speaks at Columbia University, the AIGA Branddesign Conference, the Strategic Research Institute and at conferences worldwide on marketing and design. He lives in New York City.
