Ethical Consumers,Simplux brands and Social Communication

October 2008

“ My heart’s desire is to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.

And then see if I can get them mass-produced in plastic. ”

Woody Allen

Transparency

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Remember The Good Old Days?

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What is it?Who made it?What’s it made from?What does it taste like?Where does it come from?How can I get one more cheaply?Who would drink a beer like this?

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1950s-70s. The Opacity System…Focused on features and benefits. A great model for an industrial economy.

• Opaque customers – marketing is based on inspired guesswork

• Opaque products – any colour you like, as long as it’s what we have in stock

• Opaque organisations – a golden age for conglomerates and aspiring monopolists

• Opaque markets – persuasion ethos. Consumers trapped by choice, location, transportation and social class

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Brand value = Opacity Premium(n) Branding: the art of making money by concealing knowledge from targeted customers

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Opacity heroes…

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The 80s and 90s. The Translucency Translucency system. Focused on experiences. A great model for the service-economy.

• TranslucentTranslucent customers – guesswork replaced by data-driven speculation. The rise, demise and reprise of CRM…

• TranslucentTranslucent products – previously hidden ingredients and processes move ‘front of brand ‘(wholegrain, small batch, gluten-free, low fat, freshly-baked, in store…) …

• TranslucentTranslucent organisations – TBL/ESG reporting, philanthropy, and community appeasement programmes…

• TranslucentTranslucent markets – challenges to supplier-fixed pricing, price comparison sites, widespread re-intermediation…

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Brand value = TranslucencTranslucencyy Premium(n) Branding: the art of making money by selectively sharing knowledge with self-nominating customers

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TranslucencyTranslucency heroes…the master storytellers…

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The Marketisation of everything

The Socialisation of everyone

The New “Social Market”

Osmotic Individuals

Porous Organisations

The age of The age of transparenctransparencyy

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(n) Branding: the art of making money by improving decision quality for any stakeholder

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TransparencyTransparency heroes…the social marketers…

Ethics

Oh…my…god

It’s all just too depressing…

And much too big for me to tackle…

So let me start somewhere…

Source: AccountAbility/NCC

Consumer Accountability could change the world…

Source: AccountAbility/NCC

Consumers are actively seeking engagement…

Source: AccountAbility/NCC

They want to trust you…

Source: AccountAbility/NCC

And are prepared to reward you…

Transparency meets EthicsRethinking brands?

Historically, fashion has successfully navigated two countervailing trends…

Simplicity

Universal Seasonal Low cost Easycare Flexible Replaceable Disposable

Extreme quality Aesthetic appeal Expensiveness Scarcity Superfluousness Time incorporation

Dubois and Paternault via: http://www.janusthinking.com/2006/12/what-is-luxury-the-no-need-need/

Convergence?

Simplicity?

Route 1. Make simplicity feel more luxurious…

Universal => Restricted runs Seasonality => Micro-seasonality Low cost => High Value Easycare => Action-wear Flexibility => Continuity Replaceability => Durability vs Fragility

What happens when we make the Simple more Luxurious?

MasstigeSimplicity

Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske “Luxury for the masses”

Masstige brands

BUT… generally, the “Masstige” solution involves… Remote manufacture Low cost materials Built-in obsolescence Unsustainable processes ‘Over-marketing’ Gratuitous consumption…

… it’s hardly “ethical”…

Is there another way?

Simplicity?

Is there another way?

Simplicity

Simplux?

Simplux. The Examined brand. Sharing what’s inside…

Address Ethics. Embrace Transparency. And Socialise…

Aesthetic appeal => Craftsmanship Quality => Integrity Scarcity => Originality Expensiveness => Equity Time incorporation => Authenticity Superfluousness => Altruism

Craftsmanship

Integrity

Originality

Equity

Authenticity

Altruism

Bringing it all together:Social Communication

Social CommunicationLimitless extension

Validation

Sharing

Show me

Rich detail

Remove barriers

Assurance

Real time!

A parting thought…

Transparency changes everything.Are you ready?

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Speaker biographyTim Kitchin, PartnerBrand StrategistTim Kitchin is a broad-based branding expert with extensive

experience of CSR, environmental and policy-making arenas. His passion is to help brands build social capital.

Tim is a founding partner of Glasshouse Partnership and an associate senior adviser to the ethical thinktank AccountAbility,

He is also a member of brand think-tank, the ‘Medinge Group’, responsible for the annual ‘Brands with a Conscience’ awards.

He was a member of the international advisory panel for the UN Environment Programme’s ‘Talk the Walk’ initiative; and was special editor of the journal of brand management for its first issue on CSR.

He was a co-author of ‘Managing Corporate Reputations’ and ‘Beyond Branding’ (both Kogan Page).

Contact: timk@glasshousepartnership.com