Brand as a Service // Brand Butlers

Submitted by Tom Crawford on Thu, 13/05/2010 - 09:46
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Trendwatching.com have identified an imminent new trend that is based around brands working hard at assisting consumers in making the most of their daily lives, rather than the old model of selling them a lifestyle or an identity.

At Clownfish we labelled this concept as 'Brand as a Service'. But Clownfish did not coin the phrase. Nigel Morris, CEO of Aegis Media North America and our Chairman did years ago. In 'People, Planet, Profit' Peter Fisk and Diana defined 'Brand as a service' as a facet of brand innovation and as developing a culture or an identity that reflects the purpose and sustainable practices of businesses. This can be from a strategic and/or tactical level and it can be disruptive or evolutionary. For example:

  • Product innovation – New products and services that embrace new technical and sustainable dimensions as sources of differentiation
  • Market innovation – Addressing new needs and wants, finding new markets as either new places for existing sectors or new sectors in existing places
  • Business innovation – Rethinking the purpose of business, the business model by which it works, its stakeholders and measures of success

So Brand Butlers, or Brand as a Service, is the result of the innovation process whether disruptive or evolutionary. It is essentially about bringing innovation to life.

So why are consumers embracing this trend? For consumers, time, convenience, control and independence are the new currencies: this trend requires B2C brands to turn many of their 'campaigns' and all points of communication with their customers into broader services. In short: a shift from 'broadcasting' to 'servicing'.

Relationships with brands are now more down to earth and less reverential. With uncertain times, consumers are longing for institutions that truly 'care'. This is about showing empathy and providing customers with a status fix. This too requires brands to master a more service-oriented persona.

In addition to this, the current online mobile revolution is shifting consumer expectations even further into the 'always-on', instant gratification online arena. For brands, this means that there are now endless creative and cost-effective ways to deliver on this need for brands to provide a service.

In short, for a brand to become a butler or be a service – it needs relevancy - not gimmicks or entertainment for entertainment's sake. In the end, finding the right mix of online and offline services is something that requires thinking and cross functional capabilities. The new adidas 'Runbase' in Tokyo is an excellent example of this: http://weekenderjapan.com/?p=15968 ;

Thanks again to the Trendwatching team for the inspiration and content.