Marketing pains #1: Transparency — the magic killer

Brands have forever traded in magic, some more than others, but the very evolution of brand building has been to create a perception of differentiation that is greater than the reality. Before Google, claims were hard to verify and audiences’ default position was to believe.

Andre Redelinghuys
Nov 6 · 4 min read

[Part of the series: Marketing Pains ]

Image source: Unsplash.

Products in categories like soaps are mostly very similar, almost identical, but top manufacturers have traditionally invested heavily in their brands to stand apart. This has allowed the leaders to charge a premium, to drive loyalty and growth their market share.

If you peel their brands away, Nike and Adidas products are so similar that they begin to look like commodities too, but the idea halos that differentiate brands are losing their shine.

Just about anything can be verified at any time now. If one person knows it, the world can know it instantly. It’s hard to pull magic tricks in the bright light of scrutiny.

Coca-Cola magic. Image source: YouTube.

Coca-Cola used to loudly project a magical world of happiness and wonder, they would lay claim to progressing civil liberties and bringing the world together, now you often hear them being scoffed at as the “brown sugar water”. The magic world they built has been dismantled in the transparency of the internet era.

We constantly get reminded about the perils of sugar, so much so that they couldn’t possibly try to convince us of some magical role they play in society that outweighs their contribution to Type Two Diabetes.

They are now in a long term defensive scramble, trying to convince the market that there are all kinds of responsible sugar options in their range, while they look to rebalance their product portfolio with more waters and healthy options.

Coca-Cola on the defensive. Image source: YouTube

The magic is gone.

Coca-Cola is trying to hang on to the magic it built over decades, imagine growing a sweet beverage brand now and trying to convince audiences of some kind of altruistic higher purpose, not based on any factual element. The theater in which brands perform has its lights switched on and the curtains pinned open.

Nike encouraged people to “dream crazier”, using Serena Williams as a poster for strong women. Then one of their contracted athletes used this very campaign to expose that they drop female athletes when they want to have kids (which is surely the kind of crazy dream a strong woman might want to pursue).

They haven’t quite been Coke-d but there is less room to hide now. Brand managers’ ambitions constantly get checked when they get a dose of transparency. Nike has changed its maternity policy since — to keep up with its brand. In the past, such discrepancies were much more common but generally remained comfortably out of sight.

Ambitious brand positioning is one victim of transparency. Information asymmetry is another. Brands rely on doubt and filling information gaps with favourable perceptions.

In a supermarket, Duracell enjoys a significant advantage over most other battery options. They have a globally recognizable brand, built around their superior quality — a perception they’ve drummed into us over decades with a pink bunny. The generic battery options seem questionable. Where do they come from? How long do they last?

If I order online though, I can read reviews. The generic brand rechargeable batteries get great reviews from thousands of people and don’t seem so generic anymore. It turns out the capacity of batteries is measured in milliamp-hours (mAH). Both options are 700 mAh. The no-name brand is substantially cheaper too (partly from passing on the marketing savings they enjoy over Duracell).

Brands thrive in uncertainty — at their core, they remedy doubt. When people wrestle with ideas on their own, uncertainty leaves room for brands and their magic. The overlapping knowledge of a collective understanding leaves little room for doubt. When something is scrutinized by the crowd, the subject is sterilized and measured on more objective grounds. It’s harder to bend the truth.

The sharp rise in religious unaffilation and atheism over the last two decades lines up perfectly with internet use. Being able to know means you don’t have to believe as much.

The ubiquitous transparency of the internet has reduced the size of our perceptual playing field. The influence and potential impact marketers can have, has shrunk. The power of brands is diminished.

Attention Lab

Stroytelling for a digitally distracted world. Observations on media, marketing, technology and the war for attention.

Andre Redelinghuys

Written by

Founder @ Attention Lab - helping ventures grow with storytelling for a digitally distracted world. Observations on marketing, media and tech

Attention Lab

Stroytelling for a digitally distracted world. Observations on media, marketing, technology and the war for attention.

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