Jeremiah Owyang just tweeted from SXSW, “Can a brand have a face? *Who* do you think of when it comes to comcast?” If you hang out on Twitter and follow the happenings in the Social Media space, you’ll likely think that Frank Eliason is the face of Comcast. Frank tweets at comcastcares and he is generally given credit for resurrecting Comcast’s rotten customer service reputation. Indeed, he didn’t just rescue it, he elevated it to an enviously high level.
Now, if you don’t hang out on Twitter or follow the Social Media space, would you have a face to put to the Comcast brand? If you were a victim, er customer, of some of that reportedly poor service, you might picture old Beelzebub or some such, but likely as not, you see them as a faceless corporation. Someone you send your payment to each month and that’s about it. And if you aren’t a customer, and don’t know about Frank, chances are pretty good that you might not even know the corporate name much less have a face to put to it.
On the surface of it, that anonymity seems like it might not be such a good thing. Especially if you think about it in light of brand story and storytelling. Every story has a face or two or three associated with it doesn’t it? It would seem then that it might be a good thing then if every brand had a face or two associated with it as well, wouldn’t it?
Now, you may be one of those who know your stories, and you’re thinking about the headless horsemen or stories about faceless apparitions and such. I don’t know about you, but those aren’t the kind of stories I spend a lot of time thinking about. As a brand, I’d like for you to be thinking about my story, a lot, every chance that you had. I’d like for you to be thinking about things that might make you want to buy as opposed to headless things and apparitions. What better way than to have a face or two come to mind as you’re thinking about a particular brand?
In the early days of branding and mass media, brands established around products could get by without a face. In those days, the product was the story, told in 15, 30 or 60 second spots or captured as a moment in time in a glossy print ad. Features ruled the day. Better, bigger, faster. Cheaper, smaller, more economical. In the early life of a brand product or service, focusing on features, as long as you’re one up on everyone else, usually works out okay. What happens as time goes by and other brands and products catch up with or surpass yours? What’s to differentiate yours from theirs once that happens?
A story of course. One that we can get involved in, get emotionally attached to. A story that tells us how the brand can solve our needs. A story that places us, the customer, in the center of it.
I can understand the reluctance of brands to associate a “face” with the brand or product. If I said “Buick” you would likely say “Tiger Woods.” That’s not exactly the face you want people to picture with your brand at the moment. There has also been a reluctance on the part of brands to associate the face of employees with the brand. After all, what happens if that employee leaves the company? Apple will find that out when Steve Jobs finally retires. It will also be interesting to see how brands handle the ever increasing “personal branding” that is taking place in the social spaces. Will they feel comfortable letting the faces of those “personal brands” also reflect that of the company brand?
Associating a customer’s face with the brand, through narrative and storytelling, presents an altogether different opportunity though. What could be better for your brand or your company than if I saw my face, and those of my family and friends, in the middle of your story? No matter what the category of product or service, when it comes time to buy, if the customers sees themselves as the face of your brand and its story, how likely will it be that your product is the one that gets sold?
Can a brand have a face? It can have a number of them. Put your customers faces there, using storytelling and narrative as your marketing vehicle, and watch your sales soar.
