Guest Post by Ahuvah

This blog post was inspired by an article I just read in Business Week titled “The Great Trust Offensive”.

As I personally delve deeper into the world of corporate branding, I find it very interesting to come across various insights and tactics to building a brand and maintaining the correct corporate image. Well established corporate brands like McDonalds, Ford and AmEx are all in the process of re-branding themselves and many are turning to social media to help them spread their message.

According to the tone in the article, gone are the days when corporations could depend solely on their history to invoke brand loyalty and credibility. The economy has been hit hard and customers are worried about the financial stability for brands that have been around for 40 or 50 years. Take Ford as an example. Ford no longer depends on its 150 year old image but is now “targeting consumers’ rational left brain, relentlessly pushing themes that inspire street cred : new technology, fuel economy, quality scores.” Customers are seeking out brands that are economically and socially responsible.

The days of standing behind the corporate image shouting at the consumer to “trust us” is long gone. According to the article, “consumers are telling companies in a thousand ways: “If you aren’t open with me, then I won’t trust you.” Consumers and corporations engaging online via social media tools open up direct lines for communication fostering a deeper level of trust from the consumer. If a consumer can talk to the “big bad corporation” directly and be heard, the consumer feels valued as an individual and will convey that feeling within their own communities.

The idea of combining celebrities, social media and corporate branding is even more fascinating to me. Corporations have always turned to so-called “trusted” celebrities to be their spokespeople but only expected them to be the face and voice of the brand in print, radio or on television and not in their personal lives. Now corporations are hiring celebrities to utilize their personal social media accounts to spread their messages and we must assume that some sort of engagement between the celebrity and their community will take place. Recently Ellen DeGeneres was hired by AmEx to promote their new brand image by utilizing her popular Twitter account.

It is interesting to see how now in order to create trusted brands, corporations are turning to social media now to spread the message, and more importantly hiring celebrities to promote brands via their personal online profiles. Obviously social media has the potential to reinforce brand awareness and corporate trust but it all depends on the consumer. Will the consumer trust the message being conveyed by a celebrity on a social media platform?

I think only time will tell.

(Flickr image courtesy of  insect54 )