How Brands Become Icons, Holt (2004)

Résumé du document

As mentioned in the title, this excerpt deals with brands' myths, that is to say a strong image of brand that would talk to the consumers and attract them, while being in phase with the actual society tensions. The extract focuses on the case of Budweiser and their struggle to always just read and find the myth that would make consumers "adherer" to. As we talk about myths and brands that become icons: very strong image, not only in their consumers' eyes, but also in the public place.

This rose some issues. If we get focused on one of the ad campaigns launched by Budweiser while seeking to create a new myth for the brand, the "Whassup" campaign, starring a group of Afro-American men whose main interest in life seems to be hanging out within their friends very closed group, we can't help thinking of the effect this campaign had on the consumers of Budweiser. As a matter of fact, this "series" created a whole brand community around the values of the characters, the "Whassuuup!" code, the rules; for men exclusively, and a whole philosophy behind it: the myth, in fact, which is "Today men find brotherhood and intimacy hanging out together, creating their own hermetic culture. So identity must grow out of the camaraderie of close friends."

Extraits

[...] For example, the brand logo would appear next to the TV-show's one at the beginning and the end of the program, and brands would have the exclusivity as regards their category of products or services. By transitivity, if the show becomes, luckily, an icon, the brand would benefit from the success of the show in a much stronger way than an average ad campaign would. Indeed, if people love Barney Stinson from I met your mother”, Rachel from they will love everything about them, and especially the brands their favorite character like and use in the show. And this can be a very efficient way of creating brand loyalty among consumers. [...]

[...] For brands, such a placement in a movie/TV-Show can reveal much more efficient than an advertising. Indeed, when launching an ad, the brand has to create a myth, has to recruit people and make them stick to the concept and the characters, like Budweiser and their Lizards, and this takes time and money: several episodes and seasons. While in placing the product in an iconic TV-show, the TV-show and its characters have already made the work of recruitment of customers for the brand. [...]

[...] When a brand achieves to reach to the status of an icon, it should take benefit from it, and the producers have understood that. Therefore, you will easily find derivate products of the series such as Tee-Shirts, mugs and so on. This is the first way of elaborating the brand. But the TV- show from CBO, I Met Your Mother”, made things even better. In the series, there is a character, Barney Stinson, who seems to enjoy creating new theories about a variety of themes, like the Hotness/Craziness chart, the “Lemon and the “slapping to take just some of them. [...]

[...] This rises some issues. If we get focused on one of the ad campaigns Budweiser launched while seeking to create a new myth for the brand, the “Whassup” campaign, starring a group of Afro-American men whose main interest in life seems to be hanging out within their friends very closed group, we can't help thinking of the effect this campaign had on the consumers of Budweiser. As a matter of fact, this created a whole brand community around the values of the characters, the “Whassuuup!” code, the rules, for men exclusively, and a whole philosophy behind it: the myth, in fact, which is “Today men find brotherhood and intimacy hanging out together, creating their own hermetic culture. [...]

[...] They have their own codes that an outsider wouldn't understand, their own private jokes and references to specific moments and episodes of the series. They tend to talk about the characters as they would talk about friends they know. And, most of all, they like to recreate or imitate the characters' mimic, gestures, speeches and behaviors. Issue: TV-Shows that go iconic. First, let us define which brand we are talking about. There is, the TV-show in itself, which can be considered as a brand, having a brand image, generating profit, supported by a marketing campaign. Then, there are also the other brands. [...]