On an island off the coast of Japan, anthropologists arrived to observe the habits of monkeys who were the sole inhabitants of this island. The monkeys were living in harmony, the exclusive inhabitants of the island, on a diet of roots, berries, nuts and seeds. One day, one of the monkeys, called Susan by the anthropologists was scurrying deep in the earth and happened on a sweet potato. Normally the practice would be to eat it unwashed. However this time, Susan watched as one of the anthropologists demonstrated how to wash the sweet potato. Before long, her family had included the practice of washing the sweet potato as part of their daily routine. After a few months, the whole island were scurrying beneath the earth, searching for sweet potatoes. This is where it gets interesting.
A sister island quite some kilometers away was also inhabited solely by monkeys. They too started incorporating sweet potatoes in their diet. Now how did this happen? Monkeys didn’t swim to the first island and see what their neighbours were up to. Nor did birds land and inform the monkeys of this sensational new addition to their diet. So what’s the answer?
The anthropologists seem to think, backed up by numerous scientists, that it was caused by magnetic resonance. In other words, when enough members of a population incorporate a pattern of thinking or behaviour into their lives, then suddenly there is a quantum leap in consciousness and those habits are inbred into the system, so to speak.
If you equate this observation to the human population, there is cause to believe that society is moving to a higher level of consciousness, awareness and sophistication. Consumers are saying “no” to being constantly sold to by advertising agencies. Consumers are saying “no” to being lied to – witness the demonstrations against the Iraq War in the UK and to the collapse of Enron and the subsequent enactment of the Sarbannes Oxley Act which forces companies to tell the truth on their balance sheet.
The rise of blogs, podcasts, email, videocasts, digital diaries, personal video recorders, text messages and the imminent convergence of telecoms and media and the like are providing a powerful voice for consumers to say this is what we want, or not. and companies and their agencies have to move with it, or be superceded by more self-actualised brands.
Furthermore, communication of the brand, given the fragmentation of media has to reside at the customer touch points, which means your staff have to be the brand ambassadors -not just by paying lip service, but truly by enrolling in the Vision, Mission and Values and expressing it through their everyday contact with the customer.
No comments:
Post a Comment