32 AMERICANWAY
OCTOBER 1 2008
B U S I N E S S
they get into eachmarket tofind the things
customers are grappling with to apply a
product or technology they have. They cre-
ated the Vocalpoint site, an online social
network that currently has about 600,000
women,mothers of children 19 or younger,
participating. It provides a platform for re-
ally actively engaging with a large portion
of P&G’s customer base to hear the things
that are frustrating them about existing
products or about their lives so P&G can
respond to them.”
Doing that effectively can require some
uncommon corporate restraint. P&G stays
largely behind the scenes at Vocalpoint. It
doesn’t flood the site with products, logos,
and promos, and it lets the community do
the talking.
But the commercial objective is ever
present. The website enlists its volunteer
market force in the company’s marketing
campaigns, arming them with coupons to
spread the word on products in viral fash-
ion: among friends, coworkers, and family.
“The fact is that there is a shift in the
power dynamic in the way that companies
operate in the marketplace,” says Megalli.
“It used to be that brand managers had a
command-and-control approach to their
brands, deciding on a media spend, spon-
sorships, aPR strategy; in themiddleof the
year, they would sit around planning the
next year. That still happens. You still have
peoplewhose job it is topromoteabrand in
themarketplace. But theway that dynamic
works ismuch different. Customers have a
more important voice in the way a brand
lives anddies in themarketplace.”
ThERE’s oNlY soMuCh
a new branding
effort cando.
“The brand is the business strategy com-
municated,” says JimGregory, CEO of the
image-maker CoreBrand. “And if the busi-
ness strategy isn’t good, branding can’t re-
ally be effective. Companies have to tread
carefully, make sure it’s a long-term plan
andnot just propaganda.”
The sameholds true for the current push
to add a green tint to corporate portfolios.
Justbuyingagreenproductoragreencom-
pany isn’t enough.
“Too many companies are trying to be
green at the same time,” saysGregory, “You
have to be sure that your program is very
clear and trueandpure.”
at the table,” sayMichaelMegalli, apartner
at Group 1066, a branding firm. “But it’s
not just their tableanymore.”
That’s what Procter & Gamble under-
stoodwhen it setout tobuild itsown social-
networking site.
“P&G has been a very smart, Internet-
focused example,” says Megalli. “Everyone
knows how research-focused they are, how
support calls to improve communications
with them. Youopen your ears to every sin-
glepoint of customer contact,” he says.
The new model, though, comes with
somenew rules.
“The Facebook promise is that you can
have people become friends with your
brand and then they become promoters.
Companiesandbrandmanagershavea seat
