Beth Dunn: 'A brand isn't a person'

Beth Dunn, says she's reading Naked Conversations right now, something I haven't done for a couple of years.  She makes reference to Claire, the fictitious character who blogged for Vichy, a L'Oreal Cosmetics brand. I had forgotten about old Claire, who we covered in a Chapter Called Doing it Wrong.

Beth used Claire to illustrate her views on what brands are and are not, a conversation that keeps popping coming up over here. I loved not only the clarity of her thinking, but the way she articulates.  For example:

"A brand isn’t my friend (or fan) on FaceBook. A brand isn’t someone I will follow on Twitter. A brand isn’t, in short, a person. It’s an abstract idea. Same goes for a product. A car is a car. A pipe is a pipe. A cigar is, in fact, just a cigar.'

I wish I had been so articulate when I was debating with a couple of weeks back when I was debating with Jeremiah Owyang. I objected to his even asking if brands should have Twitter accounts. My simple answer is: "Of course not. The entire concept is entirely lame.

Beth does an excellent job of telling you why.

Comments

[Andrew C.]

Is a brand different than a product or a company?

I could see the benefit of following a company on twitter or perhaps being a product fan on facebook if they periodically provide discounts or advance information on say an upcoming movie or software release.

So while I agree that brands should not be my facebook friends, I do think a brand or company should have a presence if it provides me with some sort of value: be it monetary or informational.

[Louis Gray]

While it's true, a brand is not an individual, there's no question that an individual can be a brand. I believe that today, we should see that our blogs are our brand.

Sometimes, a major blogger (like your former co-author) can have more brand value than their company. I expect this to continue going forward...

New Reality: Your Blog Is Your Brand

[Jeremiah Owyang]

I see 'brands' having twitter accounts and updating people about news about their company, or the content that they create.

One useful example is my web host, Dreamhost who updates status about it's servers. I find that very useful.

Sure, I'm not engaged with a conversation with them but the updates have a utility for my life, and other customers.

[Beth Dunn]

Thanks for the mention. In response to Jeremiah, I think it's great for brands to release news and updates via twitter. I just think it's disingenuous when they pretend to be actual people, or characters. I like to know who I'm hearing from. Is it marketing? R&D? an unpaid intern?

[/pd]

"A fly on the wall look at what goes on at"

Say welcome to freshbooks

http://twitter.com/freshbooks

[Joseph Jaffe]

Shel, I disagree with your assertion, however before I expand....I would agree with Beth's caveat above.

Would you agree with Beth?

Either way, would be happy to chat with you on an episode of Jaffe Juice, my podcast.

you interested?

[John Cass]

What about the issue of personal branding? Can a person be a brand?

Martha comes to mind here...

[shel israel]

To Joseph, Would be happy to discuss on your program. Please contact me at shelisrael1@gmail.com.

To John Cass, I absolutely believe it's appropriate for a person to establish personal brand. That's what we are all doing. A personal brand can be integrated with a corporate brand as Scoble did with Microsoft, or I am doing to a lesser degree with SAP. What I object to is a "company name" or a corporate icon talking on Twitter or in a blog as if it were a person. It is the representation of a brand as a human that I feel is deceptive, misleading and, well... "lame."

[/pd]

"Can a person be a brand?"

Answer : YES = TOMPETERS.COM :)-

[John Cass]

How about political campaigns. I think it is slightly odd that a number of political campaigns have started following my twitter account.

I wonder if a person should be a brand though?

[shel israel]

John,

Great question. It opens other areas. Politicians use social media to push message and collect money--not to have conversations. My Twitter followers including Hillary, Obama & Huckabee are not really them and increase my suspicin that they would have me deceived in their interests. I have a two word suggestion for them "Get Real."

[John Cass]

Shel,

I wrote a recent post about politics on media bullseye, and in the research I did for that post, all of the pols are using social media, yet few appeared to be engaging people. I don't know whether I am accurate in stating this. It was just my impression. Mitt Romney appeared to be the only one who wrote a blog post...maybe Edwards.

If in the previous election cycle companies looked at the Dean campaign's use of social media and started blogging and using social media, what will the effect of the current election cycle on businesses? I suspect many will see the money raised and want some too. I am starting to wonder if the pols will actually have a chilling effect on social media engagement, and merely see it as a way to advertise by signing up more friends. There is a difference between democracy and business. So maybe many of these companies will fall flat on their face. But the worrying thing is that maybe it will work, it seems to be working for the pols, in which case will election 2008 be remembered as the event that disproved the cluetrain manifesto?

Shel, do you think I am right to be concerned?

[Jim Storer]

Hi Shel - I'm just wondering if your view of brands on Twitter has changed in the last few months?

We (the Mzinga twitterers) created an account for Mzinga news, updates and info earlier this month and have recently begun promoting it as a way to get updates from inside Mzinga (@mzinga). We've had a very positive response thus far and look for this to be a good way to join a conversation about the market and our brand in particular. We don't intend to "hide" behind the brand, creating a fictitious character, instead showing that we're real people, trying out new stuff and sharing it with the community.

We're all testing the bounds of what's real and what's lame and we hope this endeavor lands a lot closer to the former than the latter. I'd appreciate your current take.

Best - Jim

[shel israel]

Jim,
Considering current circumstances I wish I could tell you that my view has changed, but it has not. I think knowing people like you and Aaron at Mzinga make me think more highly f Mzinga. I can talk with either of you. You can talk back. I have no desire to speak to a brand, whether it's a Coke bottle or something called a Mzinga. On the other hand Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff have published a book arguing that you are doing the right thing.

[Jim Storer]

Shel - Thanks for the quick response. Aaron and I are always up for a conversation ( especially with you!) and will remain on Twitter ready to answer questions about Mzinga and carry on as we have to this point. Maybe the point of @mzinga is to share information vs. have a conversation... I'll have to think about that one.

In any event, we're not going to play the "follow game" (follow a whole bunch of people with the @mzinga account, hoping they follow back). That would be completely lame. Instead we'll try to give access and value to those that do follow us so they spread the word that we're worthy of the follow.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

ps... I'm looking forward to reading Charlene and Josh's book.

[shel israel]

Groundswell is a great book. It's a good candidate to unseat Naked Conversations as the best-selling SM book. I look forward to debating them at some conference in the near future. If I lose the debate, I hope the Mzinga case study turns out to be the clincher.