Social Branding

I've gotten some awesome comments and emails about the Hee Haw "branding is dead" article I commented on the other day.

And then this morning I came across Mack's writeup over at The Viral Garden. I think he hits the nail square on the head.  Craphammer style.

It's not about branding dying, per se.  It's about one-way traditional branding going the way of the DoDo bird.  So, one might argue this is just the one-way vs. two-way discussion in a new guise.  And it is, but it isn't.

Mack coins the term "Social Branding" as a model of building a brand together with ones consumers.  With the idea of giving up ownership of your brand being a key element.  He paints a compelling story and one that moves into this idea of control and co-creation.

"We started this company with the philosophy that the world does not need another soda," said Peter van Stolk, the founder and chief executive of Jones Soda. "That forced us to look at things differently: How could we create a new kind of connection with customers, let them play with the brand, let them take ownership of it? Everything at this company is about sharing ownership of the brand with our customers. This is not my brand. This is not our soda. It belongs to our customers."

Read his full post.

[image source: Alexôme - case in point, from the shufflesome project.]