Media, Brand Exposure and Pre-Requisite Sustainability

According to Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi S (for sustainability), we are living "in the most extraordinary moment in world business in business history ... [in which] every company is reestablishing its business plan and changing its communication strategy." This is due to how dramatically exposed global brands are in the internet era. So what does it mean for brands to be so exposed?

There are a few related phenomena happening right now.

Brands have never been more outside of the control of their companies than ever before. In the 20th century communication paradigm, brand was cultivated through carefully constructed messages, broadcast from a central entity out to the masses. In the 21st century, brand is those messages, yes, but it's more about how consumers and clients interact with, challenge, reshape and retell those messages to their friends and peers via the densely connected web of social media platforms.

This consumer to consumer connectivity is the key element of the new brand era. What it means is that brands that are and do good can spread virally and with almost no cost, as people tell the stories of the companies and organizations they identify with and care about.

The flip side is that everyone who's angry can find one another. And they can vent their anger. And then they can tell everyone else. This can destroy company's abilities both to sell and to recruit, particularly younger people.

Where does this leave brands? If we fully seize the moment, literally their only choice is to be good. Because if they're not, we'll find out, and using the internet - the greatest tool for amplifying small voices in history - we'll tell. That's powerful.

Werbach likens it to a bowl of jello. The disruption is happened, the moment is here, but the new world hasn't settled. We have an incredible opportunity right now to make the new future one in which sustainability isn't a luxury, but a prerequisite.

(Photo: Brand & Business Blog)