This idea is essentially a bastardisation of Alphonse Karr’s epigram “Every man has three characters – that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.” Karr is of course better known for that turn of phrase ”the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing”.
Those working in the industry are basically in the business of manufacturing, monitoring, measuring and managing Thoughts, Actions and Responses – i.e. Brands, Performances and Reputations.
Get all three in balance and you are rewarded with a Lovemark.
The biggest profits are made in the “Zones of Conflict” that exist where the three characters of the Brand overlap. Each of these three “zones of conflict” require specialist skill sets and to service this need three distinct industries have emerged. Advertising, management consulting and the call centre customer support industry.
Today, largely thanks to the emergence of social media, we are seeing something of a convergence across these three specialisations. For Example, The management consultants are busy acquiring expertise in Brand and Reputation Management. While Ad Agencies are PR Companies are repositioning themselves as Social Engagement Engineers and Conversation Architects. All three talk about the need to gather social metrics, discover your social intelligence and improve your social reputation.
For all this talk of a brave new world the game will remain what it always was… Every Brand will continue to be three characters – The Brand it thinks it is, the Brand it really is and the Brand the market thinks it is – and the trick will continue to be aligning all three so you become the Lovemark rather than just another Brand.
Further Reading
Posted on November 23, 2010
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