Why branding matters?

A few weeks back my company arranged to get a professional photo shoot for the members of staff and a client as part of their re-branding process. The photos were stunning. I posted my photos on Facebook, and it instantly attracted a lot of wonderful comments. I felt great to be admired for my ‘poster like’ looks and never before, apart from birthday wishes, have I received so many responses for posting something on Facebook.

This is a small example of how professional help can make you look better, and the responses it can entail. The same rule applies to brands. One reason it is essential for companies to have a great image both in terms of its brand and conduct is because people are increasingly passionate and hawkish (depending how they perceive each brand) about how they look and what they say.

Brands play a psychological role in influencing our selection of products.In many fast growing economies owning branded items is seen as a symbol of social status.  For some, brand represents a sense of association for something that he or she is passionate about. In many ways, brands though inanimate, share a space in our lives and interact in various ways through a medium of messages.

And it is precisely for this reason, the notion that companies have the same rights as ordinary people and therefore should be treated in the same manner as human beings has never been more powerful than it is now. For the last two centuries, this concept of corporate personhood has never gone beyond the boundaries of legal arbitration or caught the interest of common people. It was generally invoked where companies got caught up in legal entanglements that invariably brought into question what companies can or cannot do as virtual entities, but with the same right to free speech as flesh and blood people.

The emergence of social media changed all that. Brands are increasingly coming under public scrutiny, and as the BP experience showed last year, there can be serious fallout if they don’t handle their public relations well.

The premise of the debate is clear: corporates can no longer behave as an elitist citizen and remain aloof from the interests of their consumers.  If the companies can take up residence in dozens of countries at once (which most real people can’t) and have other privileges, they should also be held accountable for their actions.

Clearly, brands need to be more creative not in the way they look but also the way they speak across the range of media platforms. Touching the heart and minds of people is a great way of engaging with the consumers.  A good specialist PR strategy can not only help a brand to become a corporate citizen but a corporate statesman.