In today’s society brands are an integral part of society – they affect great chunks of what we do and they themselves influence and are effected by the environment in which they exist. This pivital role of brands can either be seen as a blessing or a curse for the brand owner. In Citizen Brands, Michael Willmott sets out a brand strategy that places this corporate asset firmly in the role of a blessing. Every marketing manager is looking for a way to make their brand stand out against the rest, to have a bigger bite of the market share, and to have a longer shelf life. Reseach has shown that what he calls “citizen brands” will be more commercially successful than those that do not take on board societal trends. What that means for the brand owner is that the brand has to take on corporate responsibility (with the environment, ethical issues, community issues etc.) Why should a “citizen brand” be more successful? A “non-citizen brand” is a sterile one that neither reflects nor represents society or different parts of it. As such, it is hard to add value or provide long term stability. Good corporate citizenship is an important component in generating trust in a company. The Future Foundation has research to show that higher trust equates with loyalty: a. because if a customer trusts you they are less likely to look elsewhere; b. if you make a mistake they are more likely to forgive you … you can draw on the “goodwill bank”. Being a citizen brand allows you to understand the world in which you operate and your role within it. The benefits are: better market research, faster anticipation of potential problems and quicker reactions to them. All this suggests that brands are going to be more important than ever in the future. Their value and equity are likely to involve more that is social or societal. This will happen because companies will increasingly realise that it makes commercial sense to invest in such “social capital”. The impact of this development would be nothing less than a revolution – an era where being a good corporate citizen, a citizen brand, is the most crucial facet of a company, its products, its brand value and its worth. Michael Willmott unravels the vast amount of research that has gone on behind this idea, to prove that citizen brands are the future. Previous books and papers advocating concepts similar to “ethical business” have suffered from the lack of a hard-edged financial model to back them up. The Boardroom listens, but views the ideas as fuzzy, wooly, ‘nice-to-have’ concept, rather than a pragmatic, sensible, ‘must-have’ strategy for success – Michael Willmott redresses this by providing the models and processes that can be implemented to create a citizen brand. He answers the questions of how and in what ways does a citizen brand enhance brand equity throughout the value chain, the role of stakeholders, shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers etc. He considers the implications for business of embracing, or not, the citizen brand concept. He discusses what companies need to do to become a citizen brand and how to exploit the potential benefits with a template for success. The whole book is based on and backed-up by extensive indepth research and is illustrated with cases and examples of companies that have taken this route and analyses their success e.g.: Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Ben & Jerry’s, Levi’s, Starbucks, Eli Lilley, Disney and McDonalds.
Book Details:
- Author: Michael Willmott
- ISBN: 9780470667644
- Year Published: 2001
- Pages: 272
- BISAC: BUS043000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Marketing / General
About the Book and Topic:
In today’s society brands are an integral part of society – they affect great chunks of what we do and they themselves influence and are effected by the environment in which they exist. This pivital role of brands can either be seen as a blessing or a curse for the brand owner. In Citizen Brands, Michael Willmott sets out a brand strategy that places this corporate asset firmly in the role of a blessing. Every marketing manager is looking for a way to make their brand stand out against the rest, to have a bigger bite of the market share, and to have a longer shelf life. Reseach has shown that what he calls “citizen brands” will be more commercially successful than those that do not take on board societal trends. What that means for the brand owner is that the brand has to take on corporate responsibility (with the environment, ethical issues, community issues etc.) Why should a “citizen brand” be more successful? A “non-citizen brand” is a sterile one that neither reflects nor represents society or different parts of it. As such, it is hard to add value or provide long term stability. Good corporate citizenship is an important component in generating trust in a company. The Future Foundation has research to show that higher trust equates with loyalty: a. because if a customer trusts you they are less likely to look elsewhere; b. if you make a mistake they are more likely to forgive you … you can draw on the “goodwill bank”. Being a citizen brand allows you to understand the world in which you operate and your role within it. The benefits are: better market research, faster anticipation of potential problems and quicker reactions to them. All this suggests that brands are going to be more important than ever in the future. Their value and equity are likely to involve more that is social or societal. This will happen because companies will increasingly realise that it makes commercial sense to invest in such “social capital”. The impact of this development would be nothing less than a revolution – an era where being a good corporate citizen, a citizen brand, is the most crucial facet of a company, its products, its brand value and its worth. Michael Willmott unravels the vast amount of research that has gone on behind this idea, to prove that citizen brands are the future. Previous books and papers advocating concepts similar to “ethical business” have suffered from the lack of a hard-edged financial model to back them up. The Boardroom listens, but views the ideas as fuzzy, wooly, ‘nice-to-have’ concept, rather than a pragmatic, sensible, ‘must-have’ strategy for success – Michael Willmott redresses this by providing the models and processes that can be implemented to create a citizen brand. He answers the questions of how and in what ways does a citizen brand enhance brand equity throughout the value chain, the role of stakeholders, shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers etc. He considers the implications for business of embracing, or not, the citizen brand concept. He discusses what companies need to do to become a citizen brand and how to exploit the potential benefits with a template for success. The whole book is based on and backed-up by extensive indepth research and is illustrated with cases and examples of companies that have taken this route and analyses their success e.g.: Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Ben & Jerry’s, Levi’s, Starbucks, Eli Lilley, Disney and McDonalds.
First book to specifically link corporate citizenship with branding, providing a model of the relationship and the impact on companies financial performance. Michael Willmott is ideally placed to write this book given his research links. He has the ideal forum from which to discuss these issues.
Previous books and papers advocating concepts similar to “ethical business” have suffered from the lack of a hard-edged financial model to back them up. Citizen Brands redresses this by providing the models and processes that can be implemented to create a citizen brand. He answers the questions of how and in what ways does a citizen brand enhance brand equity throughout the value chain, the role of stakeholders, shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers etc. He considers the implications for business of embracing, or not, the citizen brand concept. He discusses what companies need to do to become a citizen brand and how to exploit the potential benefits with a template for success. * Provides the models to convince the boardroom that this is not just a fuzzy, wooly, ‘nice-to-have’ concept, but that it is a pragmatic, sensible, ‘must-have’ strategy for success. * Considers the implications for business of embracing, or not, the “citizen brand” concept–how will your company be affected? * Illustrated with cases and examples of companies that have taken this route and analyses their success such as: Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Ben & Jerry’s, Levi’s, Starbucks, Eli Lilley, Disney and McDonalds.
About the Author
MICHAEL WILMOTT is co-founder, with Melanie Howard, of the Future Foundation, a commercial think-tank that specializes in monitoring and forecasting consumer trends. After an initial career in social and consumer research, Michael has spent the last 10 years providing market analysis and advice on futures strategy to clients in both the public and private sectors. He is one of the most respected forecasters working in the UK today and his views on social and economic change are often sought by the media and conference organizers. He has lectured at universities on both sides of the Atlantic. Published work while at the Future Foundation includes: The 24 Hour Society; the New Information Trade (on privacy, trust and database marketing); Inside Information (on information and knowledge management in companies); and The Millennial Family (on the future of the family in Britain).