Remember the days when all we knew about an organisation was what they told us. Through their advertising and PR. We had no idea how they treated employees, sourced raw materials or contributed to the betterment of the world.
Of course back then they didn’t need to. They made stuff and we bought it. If there was a problem we wrote to the complaints department. If we didn’t get satisfaction we maybe told a dozen friends but that’s usually as far as it went.
Fast-forward to today’s internet driven world and a new breed of empowered customer. Today people are the media. Through blogs, product review sites even Facebook a disgruntled customer can broadcast their experiences – good, bad and ugly - to an audience of millions at the click of a mouse.
The imperative now for businesses is to manage the credibility of their organisation and their brands by, developing relationships based on openness and trust and by being authentic. And that’s about what you do, not just what you say.
Take the latest Qantas campaign – ‘Welcome Home’ for example, designed to rekindle an emotional connection with the airline. A nice advertising idea, but if the customer experience doesn’t match up, it’s not going to sell seats or build loyalty. And then the TVC begins to look like a sad old cliché, from the days when we believed what people said in their advertising.
As Seth Godin blogged, “Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not ‘being who you are”.
Whilst Qantas may well be investing in its infrastructure, when the news cycle says job cuts and political squabbles, the message just doesn’t sound right.
Communicating your brand promise is one thing but delivering on it is another matter. That’s because it starts on the inside with all that that implies – internal communication, training, reward and recognition, systems and processes, customer feedback loops etc. etc.
Gerry Breislin, our communication director here at Imagination recalls how British Airways, facing a similar predicament to Qantas, adopted a different strategy. It started by putting the whole organization through a ‘customer first’ workshop, so everyone understood their role and why it mattered.
Over the following year it conducted extensive customer surveys to monitor performance. Then, when it had evidence customers were seeing and feeling the difference, it ran a campaign to spread the news – using real staff, real customers and real experiences.
The best brands today are 'Experience Brands', those that understand that when it comes to being authentic it’s not just about what you say but what you do.
By Antony Gowthorp, MD Imagination Australia
For more news:
Sound Alliance and Qantas partner for branded youth travel title
Travelling Qantas feels just like home
Foxtel ousts Nine as Qantas content provider, MCN to sell ads
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop me a line at pippachambers@yaffa.com.au
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