Does Your Brand Chat?

Listening to Alex Bogusky speak a week or two ago (can't get my days straight), brought about quite a few thoughts to my head. I encourage everyone to get out of the office whenever possible, it can do wonders. Anywahoo he showed off all the ads that Burger King fanatics did. 100% of them included mock-ups of the King doing other things. BK began to place things in culture with the king to make him culturally relevant and to get people talking. (Brooke Burke and the king on a beach, the king courtside at an NBA game) Bogusky was very proud of his free advertising. Heck, I would be too. This got me to thinking about the culting of brands. Great book by Douglas Atkin on this btw. Apple is another example of a brand that has its fanatics constantly creating their own spots (see MS spot below) and concepting products. While they may not acknowledge it, Steve Jobs is listening, trust me. It seems great brands who have cultural significance really work hard to not only get a dialogue going with consumers, but also speak back. Think of it as free consumer research into the future. Consumers are telling you how they want to speak to them, when and where. Brand with conversation problems include GM (see today's influx post on this). So if you are building a brand out there, get em talking!!

brand conversations