He Thinks He's People

Noah said some good stuff on stage at PSFK that we've been talking about for a while [that he kindly, falsely attributes to me]: that brands need to act like people, especially in a digital context.

We naturally anthropomorphize everything. We can't help it - we're incredibly solipsistic. But it's also because most of our big ol' brains evolved to help us understand other people. It's really very complex. I have to model how you might respond to what I might say, and how it might influence them and so on.

So we see faces in everything and think computers are out to get us when they crash with that deck unsaved.

Stephen King picked up on this. Hence the idea of brand personality was born and agencies began to attempt to link specific personality attributes to products.

But they didn't act like people.

Now, if brands want to play in our social media spaces, if they want to come to our party, they have to act like people. By being nice. And charming. And polite. By asking our names, or getting us a drink. By being interesting. Or useful. Or flirtatious.

Not just shouting about how great they are the whole time.

Comments

[Jinal Shah]

If I wasn't a planner - I wouldn't know the meaning of anthropomorphize and solipsistic :D

great point, btw.

[stuart parkinson]

I'm not sure this is just with the internet.
Let's talk about this, this is exactly what I think about brands full stop.

I talk to people about my job being that of humanising large bodies of people who have otherwise lost their personalities because of structure and hierarchy.

At a Q&A with Jerermy Bullmore recently, some of his examples of amazing experiences with brands were actually amazing experiences with people. I asked him how this worked in contexts where you couldn't let staff be autonomous...and well, he agreed with what I was hinting at - not very well.

I think it all means that you have to start setting out guidelines and directives not rules for how people in a company behaves outwardly, but be open to organic change and a degree of autonomy.

It also means you probably have to hire people who in some way share your vision. But for that to happen, you always end up going back to people like Steve Jobs, personalities at the centre of their organisation who still maintain some sort of influence over the grassroots of the organisation.

Anyway, I'm ranting and I'm tired. So I'm going to bed, but I'll send you the link when I post about this. It's coming.

Peace.

[Faris]

STU!

nice. check out Nordstrom - they apparently rock at excellent customer service brand via autonomy.

Their hiring policy fits your model - but I can't remember where I read this - possibly the Experience Economy book.

FX

[Karl Turley]

I think this is exactly how a brand shout act in any space, if a brand can build relationships with authenticity and sensitivity and a shared passion, rather than just communicating its benefits and shouting about how great it is. Consumers will be much more willing to forgive mistakes or a momentary laps in service. Lets face it, which brand hasn’t made mistakes it is those that can not accept them and communicate its apologies sincerely that are in trouble, again like a human relationship people are much more willing to forgive if they can see you care and share a common ground with you.

[RMC]

But there's a big difference between reflecting the more decent attributes of human life and actually 'acting like a person'. Brands are not 'a person'. They are a collection of individuals. And they are a commercial entity. To act like a person is to belie the structure of what you represent and hence to pull the wool over the eyes of the consumer, to hoodwink. Consumers don't like this. Which is why they sniff out brand phoneyness in a milisecond, the kind of phoneyness born of a need to somehow act like your best bud. So I say, brand people, don't act like a person, act like a fucking good brand with a dash of humanity, that knows its place in consumers lives.

[Faris]

Hello RMC!

Indeed - brands are not people. This is a metaphor.

What I think brands are:http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2007/01/brands_socially.html

Brands are definitely not commercial entities, although they are commercial assets, and they are not collections of individual, if you want to get specific.

However, in the context above, brand behaviour was taken to be understood as the totality of marketing initatives, all connections created with people by companies in the hope of ultimately influencing their behaviour, which is really everything the company ever does, but we come to think of as the stuff they do beyond the stuff they sell.

Anyway, I actually agree with you, if not your vitriol: being true to 'yourself' is important. Some brands shouldn't act like your best friend.

However, most people I meet don't act like my best friend - but most of them are nice and polite and that.

Or the ones I chose to see again, anyway.

No hoodwinking! Telling lies is very bad. I'm very against that.

Although I do enjoy fiction.