Glasshouse Partnership - Transparency And Branding

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The past, present and future of transparency.

“Infodemocracy, and what it means for your brand”

Remember The Good Old Days?

What is it?

Who made it?

What’s it made from?

What does it taste like?
$5
Where does it come from?

How can I get one more cheaply?

Who would drink a beer like this?

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© Copyright Glasshouse Partnership

1950s-70s. The Opacity System…Focused on features and beneﬁts. A great
model for an industrial economy.

• Opaque customers – marketing is based on inspired guesswork

• Opaque products – any colour you like, as long as it’s what we have in stock

• Opaque organisations – a golden age for conglomerates and aspiring monopolists

• Opaque markets – persuasion ethos. Consumers trapped by choice, location,
transportation and social class

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Brand value =
Opacity
Premium
(n) Branding: the art of making money by concealing knowledge
from targeted customers

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Opacity heroes…

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So why on earth would you change all that…?

Opacity:

• Enhances economic premiums

• Protects competitive advantage

• Develops deep emotional bonds and repeat purchase

• Obscures dubious sourcing, pricing and employment practices

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So why change…?
STOP PRESS…

Retailers
Because Opacity:
start to
• is anti-customer
destroy opaque
• locks you into a single static proposition
brands by
copying
• blindsides you to alternative value models
SUPERFICIAL
FEATURES…
Opaque Brands concentrate and multiply
risk

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8


(n) Branding: the art of making money by selectively
sharing knowledge with self-selecting customers

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So why on earth would you change all that…?

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So why change…?
STOP PRESS…

• is grounded in stories - not stakeholder Consumer
needs or organisational purpose
advocates destroy
• is still anti-customer – just selling translucent brand
bigger dreams
advantage by
• still locks you into static propositions – telling MORE
only with higher cost of change
TRANSPARENT
• still blinds you to alternative models –
STORIES…
only reinforcing self-delusion….

Translucent brands defuse and diffuse short-term
risk at the expense of long-term risk

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“What does the future hold ?”!

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But isn’t transparency a really bad thing…?

Jetbluehostage.com

Flickr.com/photos/ﬁlthywalmart

Greenpeace.org/apple

Exposeexxon.com

Complane.typepad.com

Ikeasuckz.blogspot.com

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Only if you ﬁght it…

You can always engage, answer
criticism, respond, adapt,
collaborate…

Open your doors, invite
stakeholders in and start to
learn…

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MARTINI DIALOGUE
PUBLIC PASSIONS

Individual Social
Identity

Identity

THE BROADCAST SELF
SOCIAL NETWORKS

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INFORMATION GLUTTONY
INDEPENDENT ENDORSEMENT

Trust

Trustworthiness

REAL-TIME COMPARABILITY
MARKETS-OF-ONE

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COMPETING VALUE-WEBS
CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

Internalise Externalise
externalities
internalities

ACCOUNTABLE PROCESS-CHAINS
INSTITUTIONAL LISTENING

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LEAN PRODUCTION
CONSUMER INFOSTREAMS

Individual Collective
efﬁciency

effectiveness

PERFECT INFORMATION
CROWD CLOUT

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Intention Aggregation
Potential for Intention Economics

Social Marketing
Potential for Social Marketisation

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In summary: the twin forces of transparency…

The Marketisation of
everything

The New
“Social
Market”
The Socialisation of
everyone

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(n) Branding: the art of making money by improving
decisionﬂow for any stakeholder

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The rules of the new social market: “Information Symmetry”

1. Products: Whatever must be known can be known

2. Markets: Whatever can be known, must be made
known…

Infodemocracy

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The rules of the new social market: “Social Symmetry”

1. People: Whoever must be known, can be made known

2. Organisations: How you know matters more than who
you know

Sociodemocracy

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Prediction: This Social Market will play host to two long wars:

Power:
Who will be in charge of brands?

The war for primacy between demand-side

intentions and supply-side resources

Control:
Who will get most value from

individuals’ assets?

The war for control of social information

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Who will win the wars? 2 predictions:

The Brand War

2020 ‘superbrands’ will be the best interpreters

of demand-side signals, not the best spinners

of supply messages…

The Identity war

2020 ‘superpeople’ will be empowered to

actively manage personal and social ROI from

their actions and intentions.

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The Democratisation
of brands

The New
The Marketisation “Social The Socialisation
of everything

Market”
of everyone

The Liberation
of the individual

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Scepticism

Listen
Learn

Integrity

Wider
Deeper

Assurance

History
Future

Collaboration

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10 Don’ts for your Corporate Marketing

1. rganisational Scepticism: Don’t drink the koolaid. Be
O
sceptical of your own organisation. The rest of the world will be.

2. Keep listening: Don’t assume that what you say is what
get’s heard. Understand the implications of your brand.

3. Keep learning: Don’t assume that your brand standards are
good enough. Align expectations, promises and performance –
constantly.

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4. Brand Integrity: Don’t imagine you can actually manage
reputation. Focus on managing your conduct.

5. Go deeper: Don’t stop with brand audits and
endorsements. Strive for brand assurance.

6. Go wider: Don’t stop at pleasing customers. Understand
all your stakeholders’ needs and understand your value
propositions to them.

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7. Brand Assurance: Don’t promise. Deliver, and
prove you’ve delivered.

8. Think future: Don’t just protect license to operate.
Build your ‘license to innovate’ by engaging with critical
permission-brokers.

9. Think history: Don’t copy. Use your own history.
Empower your hidden assets: product backstory, human
expertise, supply-chain processes and corporate purpose.

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10. Stakeholder Collaboration: Don’t compete on
the resources you own; compete on the resources you
can connect.

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Speaker biography
Tim Kitchin, Partner
Stakeholder Strategist
Tim Kitchin is a broad-based brand communications expert with extensive
experience of CSR, environmental and policy-making arenas. His passion is to
help organisations develop deeper, wider and more proﬁtable stakeholder
relationships.

Tim is a founding partner of Glasshouse Partnership and an associate senior
adviser to ethical thinktank AccountAbility,
He is also member of brand think-tank, the ‘Medinge Group’, responsible for
the annual ‘Brands with a Conscience’ awards, was a member of the
international advisory panel for the UN Environment Programme’s ‘Talk
the Walk’ initiative and special editor of the journal of brand management
for its ﬁrst issue on CSR.
He was a co-author of ‘managing corporate reputations’ and ‘Beyond
Branding’ (both Kogan Page).
Tim leads Glasshouse’s brand integrity practice.

Contact: timk@glasshousepartnership.com

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