A strategic provocation around BRANDALISM / SOCIAL HACTIVISM and THE FUTURE OF BRAND TRANSPARENCY, SUSTAINABILITY & THE NOW MANDATORY CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. #wolfSIGHTS @wolfzhowl

1. What brands really need to watch out for is Consumer Hacktivism,
which has virality embedded to it!
Or Socially responsible BRANDALISM (Brand-Vandalism)!!
Look at this for example:
http://www.citylab.com/design/2015/11/cop21-paris-climate-
billboard-artist-volkswagen-brandalism/417897/?utm_source=atlfb
It's time for brands to start cleaning-up their inside stories and turn a
new leaf before getting copped-out on social media.

2. On the other hand, there is possibly a huge hacktivism based business
model in doing a brand transparency - a BOP (back Of Pack)
babelfish.
Subscribe and pay for us to scan your brand basket that you purchase
and tell you what is truly good for you and what is it that you are truly
consuming...believe me the way brand cynicism is growing in this
socio-digital age, this can be a hugely profitable business.
This revolution will not start with eco-impacting categories in India
(most consumers in India would have already forgotten the VW
debacle - as eco-hurting is not yet a mass story in an India which is
afflicted with rabid consumerism.
Indians are so busy with showcasing brands as status badges that
anything which does not affect them personally will not be in memory
for long and shall not affect purchase decision.
Only when a "Me-Me-Me" India starts turning again to an "Us-Us
&We" India, shall transparency be demanded of eco-impacting
categories).
This brand transparency audit will affect India in the F&B category,
personal care category etc; FIRST & that too in a limited fashion.
(Look at the Maggi Story, I personally think Maggi could have
actually raised its prices and made a whopper of money when they
came back.

3. The fatalistic nature of India combined with the love for habits makes
them accept certain brands back. (Brands like Maggi, which have
become a default habit & have enjoyed consumer love for over a
generation). But brands, which enjoy weaker consumer love and are
newer (Example: Yippee noodles, or Chings etc;) would possibly have
shut shop and gone bankrupt by now. I highly doubt whether
consumers would have forgiven them so easily or infact brushed
aside rumours like they did with Maggi.
So the impact of social hacktivism on brands which are in the health
care business, F&B business and personal care business is going to be
very high and unforgiving.
Brands which directly & immediately affect the "Me-Me-Me" attitude
will get impacted by social hactivism / brandalism first in India. If
you look at western social hacktivists, they are extremely persistent
and very strategic. Having realized that there is a large chunk of
people who might remain unaffected by plain social hacktivism which
impacts only the “Us-Us & We” conscious people, they do a post-
campaign in which they instigate public-shaming of those who
choose to ignore these truths about the brands they consume. This
impacts the "Me-Me_Me" attitude and forces these guys also to
conform to brand shunning. Indian hacktivists are not laggards in
learning from their western counterparts.
Financial category brands again are most susceptible to socially
responsible hacktivism.

4. Any-which ways, we are definitely entering an era of "Brand
Transparency".
The corporate-strategic reaction to this in play: Corporate Brands
which have made huge load of money by selling non-transparent
product categories, will be deploying those monies into investing in
more transparent businesses with urgency.
Once they invest in organic, eco-friendly, healthy etc; - they will
create a counter culture against their own past brands/businesses
and make money by a charging a premium on the good new
businesses.
Diversification is anyways the name of the future game and socially
responsible diversification will even help them wash away their old
sins in flow of the new good deeds.
So here are a few of my predictions for the future:
(1) Large corporate giants will diversify into businesses, which are
completely opposite to their current businesses. Aerated water
manufacturers getting into Milk, tobacco companies getting into
personal care, F&B and health etc; using the money they earned from
their non-transparent businesses as capital for the transparent do-
good categories.
(2) Large corporates which suck-up natural resources irresponsibly
and with a huge amount of wastage will get into new businesses
which have co-created and inter-dependable models at the core.
Plants of their erstwhile businesses which either suck-up or pollute
ground water will launch new ventures which will be about rain

5. harvested water, responsible usage of water - showcase the process as
a brand USP. This story will enable them to demand consumer love
and charge a premium.
(3) The natural fears that get fanned by hacktivism against current
product categories will be leveraged upon, to build interest towards
"transparent" categories. These categories will have the promise of
“good from the scratch to the shelf and to you" process goodness.
This process & business operational responsibility will also be turned
into a USP and a part of an alluring brand story. In the end they will
be able to charge a premium for these new product categories too.
While this makes for a great conspiracy theory...
The fantastic part of this transparency movement will be the birth of
brands like Kimaya Enterprises ( https://sites.google.com/a/kimaya-
enterprises.com/www/fruits ), which have goodness truly embedded at
their heart. All these brands need, is a little marketing savviness.
Hacktivists /Brand-vandals will soon start not only dissing mega
brands, but will also lend their support to these kind of brands. They
will leverage the social-discovery era of the web and help turn these
into cult brands.
One thing is spectacularly clear, the next master-trend for the world
will be consumption of "Transparent/Honest/Socially Responsible
Brands" which taps into the consumer-need for "sustainable/eco &
socially - conscious consumption".
Thats why CEO's & Founders need to make their companies shun
mere positioning and get involved in organizational & brand purpose

6. creation. They can no longer afford to ignore the socio-cultural &
consumer truths in favour of micro & macro economic truths.
What brands meanwhile are advised to do is to not deploy
the 2% mandatory CSR in some distant to their core
business areas. But to actually look at their CSR in two
major ways:
(1) Core to business CSR: Amul way of CSR - which directly impacts
their core business and the way they conduct it. Another masked
example: A non-local milk brand in South East Asia which is actually
supplying cows and buffaloes to citizens and creating employment for
them - while strengthening their own supply source. The byproduct
of this is a huge local loyalty. This counters the ill-effects of the
swadeshi brands sentiment growing in South East Asia. A great way
to leverage the aura of international stature, yet earn local loyalty and
apnapan.
Indian brands looking to enter or already operating in Africa, for
example, should possibly take a leaf out of this CSR approach;
especially, after the recent India-Africa summit.
Sadly Indian companies & brands still think the mandatory
goodwill/social responsibility spends should go into mere
communication only.
(2) Human/Social CSR: The TATA/Mahindra way, which picks a
cause/causes close to their founder personality's heart and hence
personalizes CSR. This is deliberately not advertised, campaigned

7. about or PR'd about. Over a period of time, organically the knowledge
of this spreads amongst citizens and though a slow-burner, it has a
major long term and long lasting impact.
Though in no way am I suggesting that the TATA/Mahindra CSR
initiatives have marketing intent at their core.
A man’s growth to founder / CEO usually gets him in touch with his
genuine altruistic side. So they could actually look within themselves,
pick a cause they are genuinely passionate about, and deploy their
power to make the corporate brand champion this cause.
One example of an immediate implication for financial category: Do
not do insipid communication of tips to be safe and savvy with their
financial dealings etc;. Dude that’s such a banal way of wasting your
money and creating a blind spot.
For example why does the mutual fund category not create a crowd
sourced, simplified dictionary of complicated financial terms
(complicated terminology as explained by one aam admi to another -
with muhavras and colloquial examples - in layman’s terms) and e-
publish it. Do an animated - story telling version of it, deploy
educators of this to go to colleges (especially post-graduate colleges)
and educate them.
Why not form a fund for a charitable cause, get concerned people to
invest in it and make sure the fund matures fruitfully and yields good
returns (using their knowledge and expertise - vital to brand
differentiation) and then deploy it for a social cause. Build a school

8. which teaches rural women exclusively about better financial
management or just a school.
This piece of goodwill based infrastructure then automatically
becomes the most visible monument to their capabilities and
goodwill and is also proof of Mutual funds being a palpable option for
profitable investment.
As a vital by product it also creates an aura of goodwill for the entire
category. HDFC an apt brand for this, with their infrastructure
credentials, long standing trust credentials etc;.
Howl back at this strategic instigation!! Would love to correct, value-
add to my thought process.
#wolfSIGHTS
@wolfzhowl