The radical rethink of the brand
Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned from the ride-sharing company he helped found in 2009 following a “shareholder revolt”. I’m convinced we are reaching a tipping-point where a company’s brand is its integrity rather than its product.
Uber, the recent poster child for product design and development, has been involved in scandal after scandal, including sexual harassment claims, drivers protesting working conditions, the slow company response to surge pricing during emergencies like the recent London terror attacks and Uber’s AI ‘gaming’ the price users are expected to pay. The list goes on, but then so does the search for viable, ethical alternatives, something not popular with Uber’s shareholders, evidently.
Uber is now viewed by many as a tarnished, inauthentic brand that does not deliver on the promise of its purpose. Ouch.
In these turbulent ‘post-truth’ times of competing information sources, speed-of-light online accountability and UGC-driven stories, ‘realness’ is social capital. Authenticity increasingly informs choice.
Consider the recent damage done to UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s brand by her much-maligned election soundbite, ‘Strong and Stable’. As an inspirational message, it backfired from the first mid-campaign U-turn on ‘Dementia Tax’. In the new political landscape of a hung parliament, maybe ‘String and Staples’ is nearer the mark. The generic and evasive robo-platitudes from May were in stark contrast to the policy-focused, personable approach of seasoned campaigner, Jeremy Corbyn. In spite of the mud-slinging from all sides, the Labour leader refused to make personal attacks and stuck to promoting the party manifesto. Steadfast principles cut clean through, decimating a predicted Tory landslide and energising the youth vote. Principles count for something in politics after all. Who knew?
Principles matter more these days in the boardroom too — every company is only ever a few swipes away from an ethical deep dive or potentially scarring viral burn. The Uber news today is a case in point. Brands trying to fake it with marketing messages will be found out. Seller Beware — the bigger you are, the easier it is to get this ‘social conscience’ stuff wrong. McDonald’s has had skin in the re-branding game since 2011’s ‘Farm to Fork’ ethical foodie makeover. The campaigns featured pastoral settings overlaid with a buzzword blanket, knitted from all the feel-good favourites, including ‘organic’ ‘free-range’ and ‘provenance’. So far, so right on…
But with the key product’s pedigree rationalised pretty much nose-to-tail, what else can McDonald’s do to keep itself relevant? Today’s consumers, the surveys keep on saying, value ‘Experience’ over ‘Things’. The fast-food multinational’s latest ad campaign embraces low-key, plausible relatability and everyday human bonding with office lunch-breaks, first dates and Big Macs. The strategy landed them in hot water recently though, after they received a flood of complaints about an ad featuring a recently bereaved young boy and his mum. This story far overshadows McDonald’s socially conscious initiatives, such as last year’s ‘Follow our Foodsteps’ VR and community outreach campaign, which championed farming as a career in the UK and Ireland. Exploiting a family tragedy to sell breaded fish in a bun — however well-intentioned — neatly illustrates how the Road to Authenticity is paved with monkey traps…
An appeal to the recognisable human experience has been used effectively by a number of ‘real women’ branding campaigns from companies including Marks & Spencers, Dove Beauty, Boots No 7 cosmetics and Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign. The Sport England initiative promoted the simple-but-effective inclusivity message that sport and fitness were for everyone — and their efforts were rewarded with a 1.6m increase in female sports take up.
Today’s Uber news has me thinking, perhaps the sharing economy has the most to learn here. Disruptive Tech has been getting a bloody nose recently — from complaints about AirBnB’s ubiquity in tourist hot spots pushing out locals to everything Uber. There is nowhere to hide in the digital age. If a company is Talking the Ethical Talk, it had better be Walking the Walk. Transparency, immediacy and accountability now means hyperbole about ‘Brand Values’ alone won’t cut it. There are tangible rewards from taking the higher road. According to IRI and BCG’s 2015 European study, responsible consumption (RC) brands have now overtaken “conventional” brands in terms of growth rate. It also finds RC products are able to command a higher price point, on average 58% (and as much as 113%) more. And the Meaningful Brands survey found that “meaningful brands,” which contribute to consumer well-being and quality of life, outperform the stock market by 206%.
It seems likely that ‘strong and stable’ brands in the future will increasingly belong to the companies that see — and act — on the bigger, sustainable picture in the wider world — for the many, not the few.
