Module 4: Earned Media

Module 4: Earned Media > Earned Media > Understanding participation branding

• SONIA: To learn more about consumer empowerment and related issues regarding loss of marketer control and participation branding, I spoke with Catherine Williams from Mindshare Asia-Pacific.
• Consumers are way more empowered in the digital environment than they used to be.
• The one thing that’s true of all of them, the Egypt Crisis, is that consumers had a phone, they had internet access, and they could talk about things.
• Organisations are only in control of the brand strategy and the brand voice.
• Quite frankly, they need to be brave enough to let it go and allow consumers to love it, nurture it, and play with them.
• Participation marketing or participation branding is in my opinion all about asking consumers to think, feel, or to do something so that they can change behaviour.
• Behaviour marketing is now the most important thing, because whether or not you’re trying to create a new habit, bring consumers in, it’s a totally different way to just shouting at them and using a traditional funnel of please, please, please, buy me.
• One example in the US is where they wanted to do talking about the Huggies brand and potty training.
• Over the years, they’ve asked mums to participate by doing potty dances with their kids and more recently potty parties.
• So the question really is ‘What’s the role and do you need the influence?’ and what your overall brand objective is.
• It’s not about just driving Facebook likes and getting lots people together on a website.
• The importance of participation branding f