Do A Vocal Few Consumers Exert Too Much Influence?

[Update: I've changed the title of this post to more accurately reflect the subject matter]

Heresy, I know, to even ask that question in 2009. 

I'm not sure where I'm going here, but let's see where I land ...

Before I go on, a question: Do you do your own taxes?  More on that later. 

Legendary marketers of yore [both fake and real] – the Don Drapers and Berry Gordys of the world – must be shocked at the power shift in the consumer-brand dynamic. 

Draper eschewed market research for his own instinct – that’s what he was paid for.  And do you think Gordy – the genius behind Motown – would have considered even for a second consulting Twitter as he was developing The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson or The Supremes?  What Gordy might ask, do everyday people know about picking a single?  Next thing you know they'll want to name the album and decide what Diana wears on stage.

But something’s changed on Madison Avenue.  A prolonged recession combined with the rise of social media seems to have put the destiny and direction of brands in the hands of a vocal few.

Let me make one thing clear:  I have embraced social media – both personally and professionally – as much as anyone .  Suffice it to say, I agree with those who see it as one of the biggest sea changes of our time.  What’s more, I think it is absolutely incredible how social media has facilitated a dialog between brands/fans, and between fans/fans. 

At the same time, I love brands – big, sexy, authoritative brands that command my attention.  Nike, Apple, Levi's, U2 to name just a few.  And what’s more, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many talented, smart and dedicated brand gatekeepers (i.e. brand managers) – a good brand manager is a true asset to any organization.  And the brand manager of the future - folks like Dave Knox - will drive marketing innovation for years to come.

So we’re all clear … Ian loves social media and brands, and certainly their intersection.  This is not an indictment on either.  But I am somewhat conflicted about the direction in which things are moving.

Here’s the rub … brands [and actually, not the ones listed above] seem, well, scared of their customers these days.  And the resulting action of that fear is not always positive.  Some examples that immediately come to mind:

• A few idiots puts a booger on a pizza and the CEO of Dominos has to respond with a video begging for forgiveness [and then he gets criticized for being slow to react; and not coming off as authentic enough in his video].
• A few people take umbrage with a Motrin ad and the company is forced to take it down immediately and issue an apology.  Turns out there was a big group of moms who totally agreed with Motrin's message.
• A few dozen loud detractors don't like how Best Buy writes a help-wanted listing - requiring a new recruit for a digital position to have more than 250 Twitter followers - and the company is forced to change it.  What's more, Best Buy decides to "crowdsource" a revised job listing [and apparently, that effort falls pretty flat].
• A guy with a grudge, Flipcam and the ability to write a jingle can bring a corporation to its social media knees - United Airlines knows what I'm talking about.  Turns out there's more to the story than first reported, and that UA wasn't the big bad airline everyone made them out to be [at least not in this case].
• YouTube is littered with consumer-generated-content solicited by brands.  But here's the thing - the everyday consumer isn't skilled at making TV commercials [in fact, there are professionals who are really good at doing so].  Nor are they good at naming products or designing packaging.  And I'm pretty certain they don't know the first thing about the logistics of customer service.

So here’s my conflict:  I love the new dialog.  I love the new accountability.  I love the new consumer empowerment.  But what I don’t love:

• Bad products based on the demands of a few
• Bad advertising based on consumer-generated-content
• Knee-jerk reactions based on fear [too precedent setting]
• Companies who are active participants in social media getting too much credit for engaging in social media, while their products/services remain well below par

So what's the solution?  Heck, I'm not even sure I've articulated the problem.  But I go back to my question: Do you do your own taxes?  I don’t.  I understand the theory, and I’m sure I could power my way through a 1040.  Yet I choose to pay an accountant to do them for me.  Why?  Because an accountant has developed muscles that make them more adept than the average person at effectively preparing a tax return. 

Brands posses a unique skill in bringing a product to market – I would love to see them start flexing that muscle again.  Maybe I'm a romantic - maybe the era of great brands is coming to an end.  Or maybe, as Noah Brier might say [and I don't want to put words in his mouth] a brand is no longer what it says it is, but rather what we perceive it to be.  If that's the case, maybe brands are right to bow to every complaint, every outcry, every Twitter storm ... if that's what it takes to manage perceptions.

Thoughts?  Comments? 

Comments

[Virginia]

I don't do my own taxes, mow my own grass or clean my own house. Not because I can't or because I am rich. I know enough to know those investments pay dividends because the people I pay do it FAR better than I will, which makes everyone happy.

When a brand is large enough, they should go buy expertise to assist them. Period.

I would argue though, a brand has always been what they are perceived to be not what they say they are. If I am poor I perceive Levi's to be a high end Jean. If I am rich or a fashionista I may perceive it to be a low end jean, and in fact they are both.

We should listen to customers thoughtfully and carefully regardless of the medium. We should respond to them with the right action and the action the business can sustain, and yes, sometimes that action is not good enough. We should have the guts to admit when we made a mistake and more importantly the guts to stand for the brand we built.

If you have answered customer calls at some point in your life (which I have) for a service desk, you know what is going on in SM is not new. It is a new medium which makes people nervous and eventually we will settle in and learn how to deal with it. I remember when email became prevalent, people freaked out when someone would forward it to their friends or worse to the CEO....heaven forbid!

My office used to sit just outside the service desk and the agents would come in with a complaint on the web. No matter the level of the customer, the urgency in the tone or the frustration on the agents face I always told them to come back when they got 100 calls. Some of my most successfully web deployments reeked havoc on that poor service desk.

My last thought is the role of media in social media. Media today is like a fire hose with little to no controls available. It is a vicious cycle, if my mainstream media always tells me there is more to the story, I will grow to learn to seek out what else there may be. Sometimes there is more and we should educate ourselves appropriately. Sometimes, much like some people, there is just nothing else there---just walk away.

[Ian]

Virginia: Thanks for your very thoughtful comment.

You say, "We should listen to customers thoughtfully and carefully regardless of the medium. We should respond to them with the right action and the action the business can sustain ..."

I agree 100%, and I think therein lies the problem. Brands seem so spooked over what could go wrong (b/c of what they read about United, Dominos, Motrin, etc) that they are over-responding, and in an unsustainable way.

[Alan Wolk]

Some of this goes back to my whole "Don't Suck" theory: if people like your brand, they will forgive you a world of sins and they will rally to your side when you are attacked.

If they don't like your brand (United) they will regard these incidents as proof of why they are right to dislike your brand.

So in that sense, Noah is right. "Magic advertising words" don't work anymore. Brands are what people think they are.

And circling back to United, what was the full story? I had not been aware of anything more coming out of that video- what did the singer do that mitigated United's response.

[T Bone]

I don't think you can have this discussion without a broader take on the dynamics of media culture. We live in an age wherein facts mean little, and misinformation becomes true simply by virtue of how many people say so--perception, as you put it. Brands have reason to be afraid, and must figure out when it is necessary to act on this fear. That's no easy task and there will be missteps.

[Steven Overman]

I love the "don't suck" theory. It's so basic, and more true than ever.

I don't know quite how to feel about what's happening now. I agree with you, Ian, that a few voices can outweigh the collective -- it's a kind of reverse-autocracy. The power of the few. I also think and have always felt that social media is over-rated as a trend. We need experts. Period. I'm not having any surgical procedures crowdsourced, thank you very much.

But I think we're in a learning period, a transitional time. A new way of being/working/interacting is gestating, and a lot of funny things are happening along the way. All we can do, really, is notice them. When things settle -- and they will -- we'll miss this moment of utter oddness.

[tohnery]

Ian, correct me if I'm wrong, but for some reason it seems that one of the most relevant point of your post is going unnoticed: "Brands posses a unique skill in bringing a product to market – I would love to see them start flexing that muscle again. Maybe I'm a romantic - maybe the era of great brands is coming to an end."

I think I sense where you're coming from, and if so, I agree 100%: there's gotta be a way to establish a solid brand personality using the tools we have today. Like this (social media) being the starting point - not just a complement to all other "branding" efforts. I guess I'm a romantic too 'cus I think the era of great brands is just going through a process of "thinking", and hopefully we're all able to figure out ways to keep it alive.