Your Brand as Customer Conduit

By Scott Davis, February 25, 2008 — It’s time to rethink the “customer is king” thing.

With the rapid advance of new media, customers have growing control over when, how and where they interact with brands, media and information. Increasingly, they’re also willing to partner with you as you build your brand, design your products and create your ads.

Successful marketers are listening to what customers want. They’re creating personalized and customized brand experiences that pass the authenticity test, trusting the brand to serve as a guide through media clutter. In short, they see the brand as a network of its own and recognize its inherent connectivity factor.

Cashing in on that connectivity is key. You must identify and understand the various touchpoints your customers have with your brand, and where and how they reach out directly to you. At the same time, you need to know how customers are connecting with each other in ways that sidestep you, so you can develop a strategy allowing you to be invited into their dialogue.

This doesn’t mean ignoring traditional mass media. In fact, some credible studies suggest the role of so-called “influencers” is overrated. Maybe. But we see the value of coming in at the middle, mixing traditional tactics, where you speak to customers, with more collaborative new media ventures, where you essentially speak with your customers and other influencers.

Instead of top-down, outgoing communications, Adidas builds relationships by letting customers choose them. adidas established a MySpace community with a World Cup Soccer theme featuring green and red teams. Visitors were asked to pick a team based on their preference for one of two adidas shoes, giving them the chance to align with the brand while offering an opportunity to comment on why they like adidas shoes. The research firm

Marketing Evolution reported the campaign directly influenced 1.2 million people, who went on to influence another 4.2 million.

The world’s No. 2 sneaker manufacturer is going even farther with its retail outlets. In March, it will open its redesigned Originals store in New York City, where customers can design their own sneakers from a variety of colors, prints, materials, embroidery and jewels. Customers can post a photo of themselves on a picture wall in the shape of the adidas logo, where it will remain for 24 hours.

It’s not about ceding complete control to customers, but recognizing that in the Web 2.0 world, it’s vital you collaborate with them.