Does advertising build brands?
One of the claims often made by ad agencies is that they will build the brand and we often hear about agencies claiming to operate as brand custodians. Your brand is not just a collection of images and design – it is a collection of experiences.
What advertising actually does is to manage expectations. It puts a thought into the mind of the customer as to what he or she should expect from the experience.
The Brand is created by the ACTUAL experience.
“Business success lies not only with the perceived incremental value of a business’s products and services, but also with the perceived value of the experience the business gives its customers.”
Advertising doesn’t control this perceived value either – it is controlled by the customer and the customer is networked and becoming more and more powerfully linked. Linked by social networks such as facebook, by email and by mobile phone.
As these links become more and more powerful so does the power of the customer, and the way business is forced to behave.
Most don’t know how.
