Richard Morris – Head of Enterprise Consulting
With Apple facing wide criticism for failing to address a fault with the antennae on the newly released iPhone 4, their brand reputation is at risk as some industry experts call for a recall of the product.
In today’s connected world, failing to respond quickly to controversy or criticism can have disastrous implications. Conflicting reports and rumours can spread like wildfire leading to confusion amongst potential customers and direct loss of revenue.
Anybody can now review a product a post their assessment on a public facing blog, anyone can start a discussion in Facebook or Twitter. Many negative postings accumulate all too quickly in what we call viral marketing.
The connected world is the New Norm and every organisation with a product or service to sell must be aware of the implications of the fundamental shift in behaviour. Marketers are no longer in control of brand - it is the populous that now holds that key.
If organisations do not get to grip with managing their brand in today’s connected world they risk even harsher punishment in the future. As search engines increase their capability and the Semantic Web gains strength, the viral marketing will be automatically generated by the Semantic tools we will come to rely on.
Organisations today do not only need to get to grip with managing their brand in today’s connected world, they need to understand and take advantage of the new Web based service models that will become ubiquitous, and the new business models that a connected society enables.
Just take a look at Apple’s iPod. It was massively successful because Apple took advantage of the Web by innovatively tying their music player with an online juke box - iTunes. Where would the iPod be today without the Web?
Tomorrow’s winners will be those organisations that are getting to grips with the implications of a connected society today – and keeping their eye on how this is evolving.
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