EMERGING COMMUNICATION STRUCTURES AND THE EVOLVING … · 2010-05-14 · the Cluetrain Manifesto...

EMERGING COMMUNICATION STRUCTURES AND THE EVOLVING BRAND

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ROBERT LONGUET-HIGGINS 06207499


WORKING PAPER 14 MAy 2010222.453 VCD REsEARCh & DEVElOPMENt

RObERT lONGUET-hIGGINS


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INTRODUCTION / CENTRAl PROPOSITION / PROJECT OVERVIEW

the Cluetrain Manifesto proclaims that the Net is a real place where real people interact in real time around

real issues and conversations (locke et al, 2001). this is the emerging paradigm shift in the communication

industry; the impact of changing social structures and new communication technologies has altered the very

essence of how advertising narratives are received in networked society. In this environment consumers are

no longer manipulated by what we say but rather tacitly choose what messages to participate with(B. Cova,

Kozinets, & shankar, 2007) - this is the transition from consumer to brand user. this project aims to explore

how a brand can find its place in today’s networked society, through facilitating conversations and enhancing

brand consumption experiences to satisfy the individual’s need for belonging. It will investigate how long-term

designed initiatives can unite communities and develop self-perpetuating relationships between the brand and

brand user in addition to connections between participants. the exploration of emerging technology can be

harnessed to make these offerings transverse the user’s physical and digital selves in order to foster stronger

relationships. According to Benkler, networked individuals now live in a more transparent and malleable culture

production system where culture is more democratic, self-reflexive and participatory (2006). through the

studying the impact of this emerging communication structure, culture formation and contemporary views on

belonging, the project will evaluate the potential role a brand may play in people’s lives. It will investigate how

long-term designed initiatives, such as the community hub and transformational brand offerings, are integral to

developing self-perpetuating relationships between the brand and brand user, as well as from user to user. It

will also explore the social structures of communities that can transverse digital and physical barriers.

CONTEXT

the production and exchange of information, knowledge, and culture has always had a defining role in human

and social development (Benkler, 2006, p. 1). In the networked society new Information and social tech-

nologies have created an open network where individuals can construct and exchange their own relative or

democratically ordered information, knowledge and culture. the integration of social media into dominant com-

munication structures has detonated an explosion of conversations, connections and communities. Individuals

now find themselves needing to navigate their way through the “minefields of online social networking” (himpe,

2008, p. 232). In this environment the vast and almost instant connectivity means the individual now has the

EMERGING COMMUNICATION STRUCTURES; AND ThE EVOlVING bRAND OFFERINGS

RESEARCh QUESTION

What is the brands place in the networked society?


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ability to find relevant information, inform others and self-organize into a vast array of communities of practice.

Benkler terms this ‘non-market production’ where the networked economy is structured by the economics of

information and the formation of communities (2006, p. 4).

the important shift within the communication industry is a change from the attention economy to a conversa-

tion or participative culture. since the advent of social media, the communication structure has changed from

receiving messages to predominantly spending time having conversations, sharing positive or negative brand

content and experiences (hurman, 2009; Moffit, 2007). Consumers are turning away from sweeping broadcast

media, described by seth Godin as interruption and clutter in an individual’s life (2009b), towards a two-way

opt-in communication structure. Individuals now make compromises towards which messages they receive,

seeking “lean-forward (participatory) media” rather than “lean-back media” (Battelle, 2006). Under this new

model the consumer may be deemed instead as a brand user – an individual who consumes or engages with

the brand in the spirit of participation.

ThE COMMUNICATION INVESTIGATION

this project proposes that the structure of a brand will change due to the affects of the networked society. the

communication investigation is therefore into how brands can utilize the emerging communication structures to

foster self-perpetuating connections with its brand users. the project will explore how this may be achieved by

unearthing new potential in the brand and its’ product / service to facilitate transformational personal engage-

ments, conversations and communities that surround it. It will investigate how the consumption process of

a brand can be a participatory experience that transverses the user’s digital and physical world. therefore

through enhancing or extending that consumption, can the brand develop a communication and social value

within the individual’s social sphere by helping them in navigating particular moments in their lives?

SIGNIFICANCE AND AFFECT OF SOCIAl ChANGES

Relevant to the investigation is the suggestion of Amarno in his It’s the Conversation Economy, stupid, that

communicators need to ditch traditional models and become “conversation architects” (2007). this idea

acknowledges that the networked society has enabled endless real (person to person) conversations and that

traditional one-way brand narratives should therefore be replaced with two-way conversations. this has been

caused by a what the Cluetrain Manifesto considers a return from marketing to markets, where like a traditional

marketplace, the trend is towards providing a setting where consumers can met face-to-face with producers and

“engage in conversations based on shared interests”(locke et al., 2001).

the internet has enabled and empowered people to act as individuals and they are now more inclined to drive

against the accepted ways of thinking to seek our own truths (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). According to Reinhold

these new ways of organizing our interactions and exchanges have enabled individuals to “gain new forms

of social power” (2002, p. xii). As a result individuals develop their identities or “mosaic lives” through a

construction of multiple, simultaneous relationships, lifestyles and involvements within different communities

(Aarts & Marzano, 2003).

Within the new communication structure diversely motivated individuals can find tribes or communities of

practice that share particular values and beliefs. these communities tend to be developed through a mutual


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engagements, interests, shared worldviews / beliefs or even brand consumption (Wenger, 1999). the result is

the formation of ‘silos of interests’ within the networked society (Godin, 2009a). this is of great significance

to brands as it demonstrates the new structure of knowledge and culture creation and suggests potential oppor-

tunities for brands within this structure.

the individual’s ability to find the most pertinent and relevant information has never been stronger or easier

resulting in ‘peers’ playing a greater role in knowledge formation (Moffit, 2007). People are no longer naïve

about broadcast communications, “they know its strategy” and they have developed tactics and strategy to

avoid it (Cova et al., 2007). Brand users now spend more time with user-generated content rather than com-

pany-generated content, the result of this is the bypassing of brochure-like (corporate homepage) information

and advertising in search of real conversations (Moffit, 2007). Amoarno declares that the new brand currency

will be “fuelled by conversation and founded in meaningful relationships” (2007). therefore a brand’s future

could be ruled by its ability to earn this currency from brand users?

Individuals have so many options for communication; they now tend to select the appropriate communication

system relevant to the message or knowledge they are trying to convey or find. this is because people hold

networked capital through different networks and communication platforms that they can switch between

fluidly depending on their communication value for each moment (Rheingold, 2002). Brands should react to

this notion because individuals are now more inclined to actively engage with products or services that facilitate

a particular communication or use value; seeking tools that enable different and specific parts their everyday

lives (Aarts & Marzano, 2003).

WhO ARE bRAND USERS

the exact target audience of this project will be defined by the brand that is used as a vessel to explore

the implementation of this research, however it should be noted that there are two social groups that could

addressed; the “Net Generation” and “Net Adopters”. the Net Generation (N-Geners) have helped the new

paradigm take shape as their motivations, attitudes and behaviors depart from previous generations. they are

statistically considered to be demographically 14-29 years old, however they are better characterised as those

who adopt new medias such as online and, increasingly, mobile media. Most importantly, analysis from New

Paradigm 2007 shows over 68% of N-Geners are “happy to collaborate or even to evangelise about compa-

nies that make the effort to establish a meaningful two-way relationship”(Moffit, 2007). their expectation

of products and services is that they will offer freedom, customisation and entertainment and the something

special beyond the first three (horowitz, 2006). Net Adopters are those people who have not grown up with

the deep connection to the Internet that N-Geners have. this project will give some consideration to these as

they too may share the same belief structure as the chosen brand and therefore their level of social media use

may need to be addressed.

FUTURE OF ThE bRAND

It could be suggested that a brand should no longer just trade tangible products or services; they are living

entities that can offer brand users personally and socially transformative consumption experiences. A brand

is now more than “a collection of perceptions in the minds of consumers” (Ries & trout, 2001), but is a par-

ticipatory entity or culture. this is the “new ethos of brand participation emerging, where consumers now


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increasingly see brands as shared cultural property” (B. Cova & Pace, 2006, p. 1089). Brands are no longer

inanimate ‘things’ that rely on top down brand narratives, but thriving conversations, communities and belief

systems (Roll, 2002).

EXPlORATION OF ThEORY / hOW / PRECEDENT WORK

the emerging social trend is a need to form and enhance new or existing relationship and connections. In the

Philosophy of Friendship (2005), Vernon states that the networked society has renewed our interest in friend-

ship. this is supported by social capital theory that; ‘relationships matter’ and social networks are an asset

for building a sense of belonging by “knitting their social fabric” (smith, 2010). the future of marketing is

therefore in offering and supporting a renewed sense of community, as “social and proximate communities are

more affective and influential on people’s behavior than either marketing institutions or other formal cultural

authorities”(B. Cova & V. Cova, 2002, p. 595). Individuals are not celebrating the freedom from social con-

straints, but rather re-establishing communal embeddedness (B. Cova & V. Cova, 2002) as they can now seek

alternative forms of belonging and support (Aarts & Marzano, 2003).

this project speaks to how a brand can realise its’ potential within the communities it serves. heuer advocates

that “marketing has for too long been focused on manipulation, not value creation” (2009). through design

precedent and discourse, analysis of leading literary texts and industry leaders’ discussions the project sheds

light, through design and strategy experimentation, on three key strategies that could combine to authentically

harness the brand’s place in the networked society.

CENTRAlISED COMMUNITY hUb

Future potential for brands is to become centers for communities to form around. Wiki-Brand theory suggests

this may be achieved by rather than ‘controlling the brand’, authentically presenting shared ownership between

the brand, employees and customers (Moffit, 2007, p. 3). Consequently the goal should be to develop a media

hub where real “content, conversation, entertainment and information can be actively sought by users in a

clutter free environment” (2007, p. 19). Brand hubs exist either as brand specific websites or can live within

existing social media platforms. the commonality between these two models is that they engage the user in

the sprit of participation. they also adhere to what Moffit calls “marketing without fingerprints” (2007, p. 19),

where you don’t invade people’s air space until the brand is invited to. Many precedents exist to ground this

model; Volvo and hP have Facebook hubs with over 70,000 members, MakersMark.com and Ford, lincoln and

Mercury’s FlMOwner.com have over 250,000 members in their communities.

Community hives should be built around a brand’s core values, where content, information, belonging and

conversations can be sought and exchanged by consumers in a “clutter free environment” (Moffit, 2007). As

brands are now a collection of participations, the hubs should facilitate the different conversation and develop

the narratives that surround it. the Volvo ‘Drive Around the World’ application’s purpose was to spark con-

versation about their new range of diesel cars. It was only one of a number of conversations that Volvo was

engaging in and is evidence of how brands can tackle different messages / narratives through the community

hive model.


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Drive Around the World

IMAGE 2 & 3: Evidence of brand or

community hubs that have thier own

platform.

IMAGE 1: Volvo's online community

hub from which it facilitaes many

conversations and campaigns.

IMAGE 1: A socially intertwining

conversation that challenged

Facebook members to navigate the

world by passing the car on to a

friend, thus building a network of

friends and their friends and so on.


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CREATING A SENSE OF bElONGING

Many scholars describe three key aspects of a brand community essential in creating belonging and community;

(1) the existence of a shared repertoire or rituals and beliefs to define the communities culture, character and

conduct (smith, 2003), these usually spur from the usage, consumption or associations drawn from the brand;

(2) there must be an intrinsic connection, a consciousness of kind that members feel between each other (B.

Cova & Pace, 2006, p. 1087). this refers to a sense of belonging in an imagined community where “community

members feel that they sort of know each other” (Roll, 2002); and (3) a commitment or sense of duty towards

the community and its individual members (Roll, 2002). In developing a brand offering these must be consid-

ered in order to activate communities of practice and individuals who engage the brand.

A brand has the ability to provide the means to connect brand users who see potential in the belief structure it

shares with its users. A sense of belonging can then be constructed from a manifestation of shared collection

of rituals, beliefs and commitments to the community; this becomes the accumulated knowledge of the com-

munity (Wenger, 1999). the Declaration of Beer Independence was a campaign designed to activate and build

a community. through expressing a commitment or duty towards a group of like minded people the campaign

developed an intrinsic connection and a collection of shared beliefs between the thousands of people who

signed it both online and off.

Mapit facilitates the user to user

interaction and enhances use

of the product by transversing

physical and digital communities.


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TRANSFORMATIONAl OFFERINGS; TRANSVERSING OUR PhYSICAl / DIGITAl AND PERSONAl / SOCIAl lIVES

through transformational brand experiences (guiding, structuring or enhancing the individual to an improved

state) a brand can become a more sought-after and a permanent part of an individual’s day-to-day life (Pine

& Gilmore, 1999). transformational offerings work because, as Pine and Gilmore state, humans have always

sought out new ways “to learn and grow, develop and improve” (1999, p. 163). the emerging participation

culture’s effect on the amount of engagement people have with brands is, as Aarts & Marzano state, that this

is the birth of ‘deep customisation’ where people have customised tool to facilitate different moments (2003).

the strength of transformational offerings for brands is their ability to develop self-perpetuating relationships

with users by enhancing the consumption experience to a state where the user would miss it if it was gone.

IMAGE 4: The Nike+ community

facillitates users interaction with

a common activity and the brands

products. In the hub there are

many parts that stimulate social

interaction. Forums, challenges,

goal setting and organised events

(physical and digital).

Mapit facilitates the user to user

interaction and enhances use of the

product by transversing physical

and digital communities.


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Nike+ represents a new generation of guided transformational offerings, as it exists within a socially transforma-

tive structure. this offering transverses the user’s physical and digital life as well as their personal and social

consumption and participation with the of the brand. this is a deeper layer of transformation that explores

how individuals share and communicate with others in communities of practice by changing the individual’s

social landscape (Aarts & Marzano, 2003). Individuals are seeking brand consumptions / experiences that can

stimulate, permit and support social interaction (B. Cova & V. Cova, 2002; himpe, 2008). Nike+ recognised

the importance of connectivity therefore the website features many tools created to develop a sense of belong-

ing, conversation and community around the product (himpe, 2008). Within the network, members can create

and share their running routes and goals, create competitions between ‘friends’ or communicate between each

other directly. this model has also proved a success for the British Army in its ‘Be the Best’ campaign, which

launched a customisable and community spirited fourteen-week fitness program.

From these precedents we can deduce that although consumers are content to develop deep relationships with

brands, facilitating consumer-consumer communication is essential to developing a complete brand experi-

ence. this is because creating communities and connection around brands means the brand users “have an

opportunity to experience consumption not only with the brand but also with other users of the brand” (Roll,

2002). this is of great significance to the outcome of this project, as it suggests that adding social dynamics

to a brand is a way of locating it within the networked society.

EXPERIMENTS

Major Project tWentyten

Major Project twentyten is an investigation into Rheingold’s statement that networked individuals use different

communication tools for their perceived and potential communication value. the Facebook group was devel-

oped as an online extension of the student community and designed as a platform for conversation, and inspira-

IMAGE 5: Screen shot from

Majorproject TwentyTen on 10 May

2010. This hub is a collection of

students involved in 222.453.


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tion and for help to be sought. the hub was initially targeted at a small selection (12 individuals) of the group;

these were those identified as the “special breed of word of mouth influencers”(Moffit, 2007, p. 8) who where

likely to kick-start and spread the community. Within one day the hub had been joined by 55 students; the

community now has 95 members. the use of the hub has grounded the Rheingold’s statement in my project.

craftBeernZ

In addressing the potential of community hubs the CraftBeerNZ website explores how a combination of personal

offering could integrate within the users “online social fabric is by adopting the role of social facilitator” (himpe,

2008, p. 323). It is currently not an exercise in creating belonging, but an investigation into the potential of

a brand hub model as a facilitator to a community of practice. It is designed to connect drinkers and industry

members to enhance the experience of consuming craft beers through an extended participation in an online



IMAGE 6: CraftBeerNZ is a designed

initiative and stratergy based

on creating conversation and

extending the user participation

with the craft beer market.

It acts as a socil facitator as well

as a personal tool to help navigate

you through the diiferent beers,

by learning what you and your

friends like.

It is a source for real information

and conversation on each beer and

brwwery.


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realm. It allows users play an active role in creating and sharing their own value by commenting, rating, joining

or starting conversations among their friends or the entire community.

Beer Shout

the Beer shout investigates how consumption can be enhanced / extended by facilitating the consumption and

conversation around a brand and transverses the digital and physical. Designed as one conversation stream

for the CraftBeerNZ website the application explores the notion of a ‘beer with mates’ as a conversation. By

applying a social innovation lead by websites such as Friendster, Meet-Up and Facebook and adding a online

social dynamic to event planning it creates an extended engagement period, spanning before, during and

after the physical consumption. this develops potential for conversation to return back into the CraftBeerNZ

website, as comments, ratings and any further conversation continues in the online hub.

DESIGN INTENTION

By considering the social context and current trends in today’s communication structures, the brand should find

ways to develop meaningful, self-perpetuating relationships to locate itself in an important part of the brand

user’s life. Consideration will be given to the need for an initial communication or dialogue that will activate

new or existing brand users. this project will be brand focused and therefore, in part, act as an investigation

into the belief structure shared between the brand and its users.

through the synthesis of three elements; the brand hub, activating an intrinsic belonging and offering trans-

formational offerings, the intended outcome will locate and develop a brand‘s potential positioning within the

IMAGE 7: The beer shout would

link into the CraftBeerNZ Hub so

that the conversation could then

continue and expand online.


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networked society. the intended outcome of this project will reflect that this designed process has become the

most powerful tool in an advertising saturated era (springer, 2007).

Emphasis will be given to offering more than a personal transformation; but developing a socially transformative

structure that offers a relevant communication value to the brand user. Exploration will involve creating a brand

offering that extends the user experience by facilitating specific moments of users’ lives. the most crucial

component is acknowledging that brand users should “have an opportunity to experience consumption not only

with the brand but also with other users of the brand” (Roll, 2002).

this may manifest in a community hub that will encompass the brand’s full essence. this means it will address

the potential conversation and communication value that the brand may develop or already holds. It will

encapsulate both personal and social brand consumption, participation and involvement in the brand. the end

product should be a transformational brand offering that locates the brand both socially and personally in the

brand users’ digital and physical lives.

REFERENCES

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Armano, D. (2007, April 9). It’s the Conversation Economy, stupid. BusinessWeek - Insight. Retrieved March

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Battelle, J. (2006). Conversational Marketing: PGM v. CM, Part 3. John Battelle’s searchblog. Retrieved

February 15, 2010, from http://battellemedia.com/archives/2007/03/conversational_marketing_pgm_v_cm_

part_3

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