Friday, February 11, 2011

Live the game - Key to overcome provenance paradox


Last afternoon I heard something. Something that went like "Rave in Customers". Yeah, now I'm getting it back. I was in my class listening to my faculty and he was talking about the present concept that is being used to retain customers. Interesting one right? Retaining them by letting them be a fan of your brand. This is probably the concept available to the world and this is what is used by many to retain their catch.
I've always felt that it wasn't enough. Fan, Big Fan.... true, all these work as long as your products are good. What if there is a shift in expectations. What about the next generation? What would we do about the other people who are yet to like our product. Employ another strategy? No...
This is good, but not enough. Remember reading my post...

"k-NO-w Marketing. "Let the world market your product" ;)"

Seeding with customer evangelism is the way forward.
The world is fast evolving and people expect brands to be exiting. Even a small slip on top could peel once reputation down at a pace faster than one could ever imagine. Peoples perception about brands and the fan culture is like a paper cup filled will water boiling by its brim. They are exiting, bubbling, they make a lot of noise, but by the end of the day if the water is not special, they get wet, soaked and let go the brand. Of course there are a few brand loyalists who stick on to the brand for ever. No denial of that fact. But, that isn't enough.
Seeding with customer evangelism lets the brand loyalist to get connected to the brand, the organizations work, culture, dynamics and helps them to not just to believe but also to relate and have a strong faith in the brand. They are the assets of the organization, in future corporate brands will no longer go on valuing companies by their tangible assets or work force. It would be on the basis of the customer evangelists who will love to brand and grand with them.
Love is unconditional, Like the love for the game, so is the love for a product. It so happens that, despite the loss of one favorite team, one enjoys the game throughly "If" the GAME was interesting. Here the love for the game gift wraps the love for the team. This is an essential attribute of a brand. As the Customer evangelists are in line with the makers of the product and the brand, this characteristic of the brand would leave no void in the minds of all who could relate to it. The number of people who would relate to it and be a part of branding it will increase with time. This will help brands overcome the provenance paradox. This is not just a solution to the champagne effect, but the way to ensure that ones product becomes the worlds favorite brand. Keep thinking, until next time :)