Brand Trustiness

It’s hard to know who to trust, especially for breaking news. Certainly, everyone has their favorite, trustworthy sources for credible news but sometimes that’s upended like it was on Thursday, the day the King of Pop passed away.

As an article in today’s New York Times describes, TMZ, the 4 year old celebrity news/gossip site owned by Time Warner, was a step ahead of the “major” news outlets by an hour on every aspect of the story. It was quite surreal to read on TMZ (via Twitter) that Michael Jackson had died at the same time CNN, The New York Times, LA Times and others had him in various stages of cardiac arrest and coma for an additional hour. TMZ seems to have out-scooped them all (scary as it may be to contemplate to whom they had access in order to do so…so much for patient confidentiality).

In these days of viral content and citizen journalism it’s even easier to get swept away in a maelstrom of rumors. While credit is certainly due to the news outlets fearful of reporting a death before its time, in this case, by the time they did report, it seemed a bit like old news. Does that make them seem dated? Or even more trustworthy because they were quadruple checking their sources?

Which news outlets will people turn to the next time? And for what types of events?

We’ve always been warned to “not believe everything you read” and caveat emptor so how does this dynamic apply to your brand in other categories beyond news reporting? Granted, in most cases it’s fair to say that the proof is in the pudding; if the brand does not deliver against expectations consumers have their answer about what to do the next time.

However, it’s also worth considering how your brand can build maximum trustiness, especially when it is among many that do not.

Otherwise, who will believe your brand when it really has the OTC diet product that actually results in safe, rapid weight loss and maintenance, or the cure for baldness, or the wireless service that never drops a call, or the moisturizer that reverses the aging process?

 Who will consumers trust…your brand or an upstart competitor?

Social Media Brand Chatter

Remember the good old days of brand management, that is, as recently as 3-4 years ago? The brand team and its agency worked diligently to position the brand, develop the message and create compelling advertising to communicate it in a range of media. Campaigns went up the ranks of management through rounds of review, refinement and final approvals before being aired, printed, recorded or billboarded. 

At each step, the creators and brand champions were subjected to increasingly pointed questions about whether the advertising was on strategy, adhered to the previously agreed creative brief, consistently communicated the desired message, provided opportunity for pool-outs, and would be placed in target-relevant media.

How quaint. 

Do strong brands still craft and adhere to positioning strategy, key messages and advertising briefs? Sure. But, a lot has changed in the wild, wild west, interactive world of Web 2.0. 

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs and many similar social media routes are now taken by a number of brands to address consumer experience issues, promote new products and engage consumers in conversations. Like anything else, some brands are doing this really well (e.g., Zappos, Comcast, Jet Blue, Bigelow Tea), others less so. 

It’s still too early to adequately judge effectiveness and determine how much all this on-line activity really builds a brand. Nor is it clear how much message control is possible or even desirable…after all, the point is authentic interaction with potentially millions of consumers which can naturally go any number of ways. However, the controllables do start with the brand’s core. 

Keys to success so far seem to include:

• Clear, relevant brand strategy – who is the brand and what benefits does it offer?
• Consistent message communication – does the brand stand for the same core values regardless of media platform?
• Authenticity- is the brand Twitterer, Facebook poster or blogger clearly identified, with the knowledge and passion to communicate brand values and authority to resolve consumer issues? Note: this is usually a senior level marketer, dedicated consumer experience manager or CEO, not a junior level techie or outside agency staffer…consumers can, and have, swiftly sniffed out and widely commented on the difference
• Engagement – are the brand communications interesting enough to encourage interactivity and longer term consumer involvement?

Yes, times and media are rapidly changing but it’s funny how these “basics” look a lot like what built strong brands in the old days.