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Brand leadership in the digital era
Technology has made it much easier to enable interactions among people, especially with social media becoming a favorite hangout place online.
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Technology has made it much easier to enable interactions among people, especially with social media becoming a favorite hangout place online.
(Shutterstock/File)
C
lassical literature on branding explains that in order to build a strong brand, it is necessary to determine the right direction, purpose and meaning of the brand. This is called brand identity (David Aaker, 1996).
Brand identity will help establish a relationship between the brand and its customers by generating a value proposition involving functional and emotional benefits.
Furthermore, Aaker explains that brand identity can be shaped around four perspectives: the brand-as-product, which includes product attributes, quality, value, user, use and country of origin; the brand-as-symbol, as in visual imagery and heritage; brand-as-institution, or organizational attributes; and brandas-person, including brand personality and the brand-customer relationship.
Meanwhile, research conducted by Hill Holliday and Lippincot (2013) asserted that trust in institutions has eroded drastically in the past few years.
This is hailed as the end of the institutional era and the beginning of what they call the human era. They believe that this trend has been spurring companies’ desire to behave more like people.
In view of the declining customer confidence in institutions, the company would need to emphasize more on the identity of a brand as a person. This approach would position brands like human beings, not as an organization or institution “amid” its customers.
With this kind of a philosophy, companies can build brand leadership in this new era.
