The Empty Whitecoat

Dead Branded Society

KEATING: Gentlemen, open your text to page twenty-one of the introduction. Mr. Perry, will you read the opening paragraph of the preface, entitled "Understanding Brands"?

PERRY: Understanding Brands, by Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. To fully understand brands, we must first be fluent with their trust, respect and love. Then ask two questions: One, how artfully has the love of the brand been rendered, and two, how respectful is that objective. Question one rates the brands emotional connection, question two rates its respect. And once these questions have been answered, determining a brand’s greatness becomes a relatively simple matter.

Keating gets up from his desk and prepares to draw on the chalk board.

PERRY: If the brand's score for respect is plotted along the horizontal of a graph, and its love is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the brand yields the measure of its greatness.

Keating draws a corresponding graph on the board and the students dutifully copy it down.

PERRY: Dell computers may score high on the vertical, but only average on the horizontal. Tide Detergent, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the brand to be truly great. As you proceed through the brands in this book, practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate brands in this matter grows, so will - so will your enjoyment and understanding of branding.

Neil sets the book down and takes off his glasses. The student sitting across from him is discretely trying to eat. Keating turns away from the chalkboard with a smile.

KEATING: Excrement. That's what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. We're not laying pipe, we're talking about fulfilling deep connections, conversations and experiences between organisations and their customers.

Now, I want you to rip out the first page, in fact I want you to rip out the entire first chapter. Rip, rip, rip it up. I want nothing left of it….

(Later)

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

To quote from Whitman,

"O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse."

That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

(With the utmost love and respect to one of my favourite movies)

For more on "Beyond Lovemarks", see Johnnie Moore's excellent recent postings, Beyond Lovemarks: It's not yours to own and Modesty.

Lovemarks contrasted

Kevin Roberts writes about his dream for the global influence of Lovemarks:

Lovemarks are, as ever, extending boundaries. Our (Saatchi and Saatchi's) breakthrough in measuring emotional resonance is one example...... The Lovemarks book is going strong. I wrote it to inspire and challenge the human horizon, which means it has to speak to emotion in many languages. Versions coming include Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish.

But Rick Paynor writes in Eye Magazine on the book and concept:

No matter how much rhetoric Roberts piles on about helping the people and making the world a better place, the fundamental aim remains the same – in his own words, ‘huge commercial benefits’ and ‘premium profits’...

It’s not enough that business enjoys unwarranted levels of power and influence and bestows vast rewards on the lucky few, while deluging us with idiotic propaganda. It now seeks to present itself as some kind of well meaning global saviour, even as it tries to annex just about every worthwhile aspect of life – mystery, sensuality, intimacy, love – for commercial purposes.

Oh, what a lovely contrast..

New Perspectives in Customer Knowledge Co-Creation

First CRMToday article, "New Perspectives in Customer Knowledge Co-Creation" is posted here today