1. Changing the World from the Inside Out: Engaging employees via Corporate Citizenship Interbrand | Pg. a
I’ll Be
Your Mirror
Reflecting and connecting
with your audience

3. Interbrand | Pg. 1
I’ll Be Your Mirror
Reflecting and connecting with your audience
by Nora Geiss
People like to see themselves reflected in the “I use this channel to...”
world around them.
It’s why we choose friends who share our
sense of fun. It’s why we seek careers that
feed our interests, and align ourselves with
causes that represent our values. We want Keep up with friends See, try & buy
to feel connected to the world. and family
This desire for connection is no less
powerful when it comes to brands. The
brands we choose – especially those we Engage special
keep coming back to, that we talk about in interests Give expert advice
professional circles, and that we recommend
to our friends and family – resonate in an
important way with who we are and what
we hold dear. Scope out Get on-the-spot tips
Brand personality ... is arguably
becoming the most important Navigate the
brand element Build a public shopping experience
persona
From “I want” to “I am”
Of course this need to make an internal
Linked in
Connect to opportunities
association with the values of your audience
is a fundamental tenet of branding. But Search local businesses
in recent years, in large part due to the
expansion of the internet, the explosion of Catalogue creativity
mobile apps, and the broad impact social
media has had on the relationship between
brands and their audiences, the value of
developing internal association with the
audience has grown. As opportunities for
dynamic dialogue between business and
consumer have multiplied exponentially,

4. I’ll Be Your Mirror: Reflecting and connecting with your audience Interbrand | Pg. 2
The organizations that are reaching people
are responding to a subtle but powerful shift
in people’s decision making: from “I want”
to “I am.”
organizations are pushing to find ways individual channels, but about in what way And yet, while the creation of a successful
to engage and elevate their associative they intersect, and the relative value each brand personality is a huge challenge for
value. Brands that get it right go beyond channel adds to the overarching experience any brand, it is arguably becoming the
appealing to material needs; they transcend we want to craft for our audience. most important brand element. It is what
the superficial back-and-forth to engage unifies expression, enables cross-channel
with audiences not just around what To understand the greater engagement, and ultimately sparks the
people seek in a material sense, but on a narrative of your target association of “I am.”
deeper and more personal level. Simply audience, context is the key So how do you ensure you are making
put, individuals are now more empowered
Building a connection to the “I am” mentality the most of your investment, and seizing
in the marketplace. And the organizations
is necessary to keep brands relevant, the opportunities?
that are reaching people are responding to a
subtle but powerful shift in people’s decision valuable, and alive in an age of dynamic Finding the right narrative thread in
making: from “I want” to “I am.” The “I am” media. It opens up significant opportunities the noise of the net
mentality means that decision making isn’t to align closely with passionate people who “To be successful,” Alex Bogusky and
just about purchase anymore. It’s also about will engage, co-create for greater value, John Winsor write in their book Baked In,
the choices individuals make to incorporate and spread your brand message with the “a brand’s story must connect with a larger
a brand into their online profiles, as a way to influence of peer-to-peer authenticity. conversation that’s happening in the
bring more personal depth and dimension But building that connection also culture.” They rightly point out that people
to their public personas. It’s about the fact demands – more than ever – that branding connect best with brands that communicate
that which brands you follow on Twitter professionals know “who” their brand is, so through storytelling – people relate to a
says as much about you as who follows you. they can more credibly flex its personality story that specifically resonates with the
It’s about the decision individuals make to across multiple touchpoints. This represents human experience, and is relevant to the
include certain brands in happy-hour small a significant investment and requires a way people touch the brand. The trick is
talk – to drive home a point, or to show off a willingness to embrace complexity. tapping into the cultural narrative of the
particular sense of personal style. It’s about Developing and expressing brand audience you want to reach in order to tell
the choice individuals make to drive the personality is undeniably an art form, and the right story. The complexity of the media
extra three miles from one store to another, can be the most difficult part of brand landscape can make this difficult for brand
because the first “doesn’t have my brand.” development, for a variety of reasons. First, managers and communicators. It raises
it can be challenging to demonstrate its questions like “What behaviors should I look
Clearly, the rise of the “I am” mentality
value to corporate leadership, yet it can’t be at?” “What conversations should I listen to?”
complicates the media landscape that
executed without understanding, buy-in, “What metrics should I measure?”
brands navigate today. It requires branding
professionals to know a lot more about how and allocation of resources. Second, the In truth, it takes a holistic view to connect
their audience makes associations, where development of a brand personality requires the dots between a back-and-forth
they are making these associations, and strong internal engagement, but internal Twitter conversation, a spike in traffic to
why. It requires that we think not just about culture is the hardest thing to change.

5. I’ll Be Your Mirror: Reflecting and connecting with your audience Interbrand | Pg. 3
Reflecting the needs and desires of the
audience does not mean falsely inhabiting
their lingo and shrugging into their trendy
dress code.
your website, and someone cashing in a Unlike just another analytics tool, Brand The focus is on quality, not just quantity,
Foursquare deal on-site. To understand the Playback is a holistic solution – a way of here. While it’s important to know how
greater narrative of your target audience, looking at and understanding the profound much volume of functional conversation
context is the key: grasping not only what conversations and behaviors of a brand’s you might have to balance with emotional
people are talking about, but why; knowing audience, and using a consultative analysis messaging, don’t assume that you can only
not only where people are coming from, but to shape how the brand can respond to tap into the functional to be successful – a
where they’re going; seeing the contrast deliver greater value. mistake many brands make. Conversation
between what people like, and what around the Quaker brand may be relatively
Brand Playback helps you to...
they dislike. low in comparison to competitors, but the
Listen conversation almost always circles around
In other words, seeing the forest and
Conversation tells us what topics have quality-driven attributes such as “delicious,”
the trees.
momentum – what captures attention, “healthy,” and “life-saving convenience.” That’s
Interbrand’s approach to this conundrum is what captures the imagination; what powerful stuff. Quantity can be addressed,
called Brand Playback. Brand Playback offers we want to share and what we want our but quality is much harder to achieve and
a way to find out what interests and engages community to react to. To find the true deserves more attention.
your audience, and enables brands to craft thread of conversation, you have to look
Look
messages and platforms that “play it back” to at what people are saying across channels,
Behavior shows us how key themes of
them, putting your audience at the center of wherever genuine, candid conversation
conversations take root to motivate
the experience you create. More specifically, can be had: social networks like Facebook,
engagement, and how the narrative plays
it allows brands to: social microblogs like Twitter, across the
out in our everyday actions. This is where
blogosphere, in forums, and chat rooms.
• Listen to the high-level themes of the spark of association can be seen,
conversation to find out what an When it comes to these channels, context indicating potential for building a long-term-
audience connects to emotionally is the key to finding the right themes. value relationship.
and functionally. For example, listening for conversation
For brands, this means it is important to
about “breakfast” reveals a strong theme
• Look at the behaviors that show what reward associative behaviors to show that
around the emotional value of “quality
motivates people to engage and you are paying attention and willing to
time.” A search for “General Mills” and
build association. engage. One brand that does this well is
“breakfast” reveals lots of talk among moms
VitaminWater, which makes a tremendous
• Take action to seize the right sharing cereal coupons and money-saving
effort to engage its audience in the creation
opportunities – and consistently strategies. By listening for how people talk
of every part of its products, as evidenced by
measure your actions against audience about your brand in the context of how your
its co-creation of the Connect flavor with its
reactions, so you can optimize your product actually fits within their lives, you
Facebook fans. The flavor, the name, and the
connection to them over time. can learn what people really care about,
design were all up for grabs – and the design
and find the right balance of emotional and
functional messages to deliver at which key
points along the customer journey.

6. I’ll Be Your Mirror: Reflecting and connecting with your audience Interbrand | Pg. 4
was rewarded with a US $5,000 prize. This your audience spends time? Are you there
indicates a significant amount of trust and to help them when it comes to making
commitment between brand and audience, decisions related to your product category?
and builds a quality experience that goes
Keep in mind that it’s not always all about
beyond just a product.
you. IBM made a smart move by taking
Think about the associative behaviors you “Smarter Planet” to Tumblr and using
want to encourage when it comes to your the community blog platform to curate
brand – is it a Facebook “Like” that grants conversations about the people, technology,
your brand badge status on an individual’s processes, and policies that make for a
page? Is it a Foursquare check-in that Smarter Planet. It recognized that its
broadcasts an individual’s association with current audience, such as engineers, already
your brand to their personal network? Is it had a strong reason to spend time with IBM
a comment on your blog that builds value in its forums, but reaching new thought-
for your community through collective leaders on the subject required it to branch
thought leadership? How do these behaviors out beyond its own website.
resonate with the core idea of your brand?
Mom said it best
By creating meaningful ways to reward
“Always be yourself.” Go ahead: Indulge in
these behaviors, you begin to participate in a
that eye-roll. But it can’t be said enough
natural dialogue with shared value.
that knowing what it means to “be yourself ”
Take Action as a brand is critical to success in the age of
Opportunities become clear when we see dynamic dialogue. Going through a robust
alignment between genuine conversations process like this can be an uncomfortable
and behaviors happening among the people process of self-discovery – it’s extremely
we want to reach and the core values and revealing of a brand’s strengths and
attributes we want to stand for. When you weaknesses; it shows us where we meet
know what your audience cares about, expectations, but it also calls out where we
where they spend their time, and how they fail. It can inspire a very real temptation to
demonstrate association, you can step back try to address the most immediate noise, or
and examine what defines your brand at its to conform to the demands of our loudest
core. You can also figure out how to bridge audience. However, reflecting the needs
the gap between what your audience talks and desires of the audience does not mean
about and where you naturally intersect falsely inhabiting their lingo and shrugging
with that conversation. into their trendy dress code. It means
that we hear and understand what people
Look at your brand messages. Do they
want – and find the most authentic way to
speak to the interests your audience voices
connect with them through our own way
in their online conversation? Listen to your
of being.
brand voice. Does it use the language that
fits with how your audience speaks? Do you So listen, observe, and find the
sound like one of them? Review your brand opportunities to build a deeper connection
touchpoints. Do you have a presence where with your audience – in the ways that truly
reflect the essence of your brand. ■

7. Starbucks: Reconnecting with its
core audience to regain its footing
Starbucks, despite the difficult self
rediscovery work it has undertaken over the
past couple of years, is a shining example
of getting it right. The very fact that it
recognized the need to do this shows that
it was listening; and the actions it took
to correct for what it heard has paid off
in a customer base even more fiercely
loyal, more engaged, and more personally
connected to the brand than ever before.
Its success hits on every point of the
key steps outlined above. Listening to
conversation around Starbucks today shows
that its increased focus on customization
and personalization is paying off in genuine
positive traction for the brand.
And by listening, observing, and taking
action to transform the brand around the
needs and desires of its audience, Starbucks
has rebounded from a disconnect with its
core audience —compounded by a difficult
recession — to regain its footing and
maintain its premium price point.
Most importantly, individual association to
The platforms Starbucks created engage Starbucks is among the highest a brand can
people where they want to be heard achieve, holding strong as the brand with
and deliver on that engagement with a the most Facebook fans in the world.
meaningful response. Overall, by listening,
That goes to show what you can achieve –
observing, and taking action to transform
and overcome – when you focus on building
the brand around the needs and desires of
your brand with the people you serve at the
its audience, Starbucks has rebounded...it
center of the experience.
created engage people where they want to
be heard and deliver on that engagement
with a meaningful response.

8. Nora Geiss
Nora Geiss is a creative strategist, digital
specialist, innovator, and super nerd. She
was born with a passion for logic and
language, and leverages a background in
public relations, marketing and creative
writing to develop distinct verbal assets
for brands across a variety of categories.
She is a certified ideation facilitator, and
develops creative techniques that make
the most of both client and internal
brainstorming sessions.
As an associate director for Interbrand's
Verbal Identity department, she has created
brand strategies, names, messaging, brand
voice, and engagement strategies for great
brands across a broad range of industries,
including AT&T, Feeding America, NCR,
Frito-Lay, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
She is the co-founder and head of the Brand
Playback practice, helping brands close the
gap between what their audience wants
and what they deliver.
Creating and managing
interbrand.com brand value
TM