This week, Copenhagen saw its first "Customer Experience" conference. The Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende has interviewed some of the speakers and one of them is Martin Lindstrøm, a leading "brand guru", at least in a Scandinavian context (I have recommended his books on branding online to my students several times). In his interview: Giv brugeren magten (All Power to the Users, in Danish alas), he discusses how companies have to give up control if they want to have a credible and successful online presence, branding is now longer about controlling the communication of the brand in meticulous detail, but giving up control. He mentions customer-made products (Nike..etc) and the blog of GM as examples of companies that's gotten it "right". In relation to for instance blogs he emphasises that the more power you give your employees (to blog etc), the more power the brand will get, because it is perceived as "human", with flaws, and not trying to appear flawless.

He also says that being online requires a lot of attention; quote "you can't be half online, just as well as you can't be half pregnant"; and that increasingly, companies have to be aware that creating a cool, customer-experience oriented website is only half the work. Being visible and getting "in" there on the top of the Google search list is equally important. Or thinking in terms of "contextual branding", giving the right user the right information at the right point in time (for instance, relevant google adds based on your search pattern); as an example he also mentions a pretty interesting example from Tokyo, where he was called up on his mobile and told that a business connection was in the area, and if he'd like to meet with the guy at the nearby Starbucks, SB would pay the coffee for them. Granted, that's smart..

(longish summary, but since interview in Danish, thought I'd share with the English-reading readers)
# posted by Lisbeth at: 10:09