Post graduate students are taught to avoid absolute statements.  Instead, we are encouraged to use words like ‘probably’, ‘could’ and ‘might’.  As with everything, there is always an exception.

The combination of web and video has changed the world of the brand irrevocably.

Absolute?  Arrogant?  Hardly.  It’s a truth as plain as day.  A truth certain companies have recently found out to be as absolute as the consumer backlash that met their unacceptable corporate principles.

Nestle was one such company.  When they bought milk from Grace Mugabe’s illegally possessed farms, the public made sure it will never happen again by putting up a website to ensure that the world saw such disgraceful behaviour for what it was.

When the production of a documentary on the Campbell farm in Zimbabwe started a few years ago, no one ever expected it to be nominated for an Oscar this year.  The world will, for the first time, see what really happened, and continues to happen, in Zimbabwe.  They will cringe and cry.  And hopefully, they will act.

To dictators, both political and corporate: welcome to a world where your actions will be broadcast in full colour to millions of viewers across the globe.  However uncomfortable that might sit with you.

By now everyone has heard or seen the remake of the 1985 Jackson/Richie song We Are the World, for the benefit of the people of Haiti. With everyone I also include, as of this morning, the12,410,972 hits the music video and message has received on You Tube alone. I am willing to bet that those who viewed this video are dispersed across the globe and don’t necessarily share English as a common first language.

So what has a video post on You Tube accomplished? It has created enormous awareness, probably raised a small fortune for a desparate cause, and did so across the globe.

When last has any marketing activity you engaged in, come close to being this effective in relation to its target audience? The future of brand communication is tied up in one word: video.

When it comes to pouring honey from a plastic bottle on a cold winter’s day, I believe most people follow more or less the same tactics. First you tip the bottle upside down, and then wait patiently as the honey slowly oozes its way to the spout. The patience lasts for about 2 seconds before you shake the bottle to make it run down faster. That usually doesn’t help. Then you squeeze the bottle. It makes some difference, but essentially you could have saved yourself the effort. The honey will get there when it gets there, based on external factors and the consistency of the product.

So here we are in a recession. In honey terms, it’s a cold day. And like honey, businesses are running much slower. Of course you can shake and squeeze the bottle and your business as much as everybody else, but it’s debatable if the advantage gained is significant when matched to the effort and frustration.

If you are willing to invest more effort to change the way you think and do, then honey and business alike can move faster.  When you don’t just grab the honey from the shelf and the business solutions from the current paradigm you’ve always been used to, you can indeed change the speed.

Einstein said that you cannot create the solution at the same level at which the problem was created. Elevate your thinking. Change your environment.  Dunk the honey in a bowl of warm water. Change the consistency of the honey. Reconsider your product and service offering. Plan ahead. Turn the honey bottle upside down the night before. 

Accept that to get your business flowing in a recession will require more effort and planning, as well as something beyond the industry obvious. If you get that, you’re headed for the sweet spot regardless of the chill outside.

There are two brand worlds out there: The world of the brand company. And the world of the brand consumer. 

In the brand company world, there’s a lot of gloss and candy coating happening. Too often key brand decisions are informed by:

• personal agendas (I want to make the brand more classy because I am a classy CEO),
• politics (the MD asked that we advertise during a particular TV slot because his wife watches the programme),
• and the odd dash of arrogance (you can have any colour as long as its black) often informs key brand decisions.

In the brand consumer world, things are a lot more simple. It’s a world where brands are as good as their last performance and where a friend’s negative comment on a brand’s performance carries more weight than an entire ad campaign. In the consumer’s world, real conversations about real brand failures happen all the time (“and guess what, there were lice on the lettuce”). There is no sugar coating whatsoever. Especially not when there are 13 other brands out there competing for the same attention. 

The brand that understands that its success is directly linked to its ability to live in the consumer’s world is the one that’s going to rock their world. Just ask Twitter.

No one knows what happened to Woolworths Food a while ago. How long was long enough before consumer loyalty hit an all time low in the face of empty shelves, raw bread and soggy salad leaves? One only needed to visit Hello Peter or spend 20 minutes in the company of girlfriends to get a feel for the brand’s street value. Through it all the one question that emerged was this – why aren’t they doing something about it?

There were those who believed that the brand could never recover. During this time, other supermarket chains appeared to move fast to fill the void where once the quality of a Woolworths convenience meal reigned supreme.

The market for luxury foods was undoubtedly in flux. 

And then, just like that, we see a brand that’s revisiting the way of doing which made them great to start off with. Here’s why I believe we’ll soon be forgiving Woollies for their period of gloom:

They understand the concept of innovation

After an innovation drought, shelves are once more filled with new and tempting dishes and deserts. We don’t go to Woolworths for dishwashing liquid – we go there for ‘something special’ – when a girlfriend is coming over for tea or, when we have to wow the mother-in-law with a fabulous desert. Finally, we can do that again with expectation.

They have an uncanny knack for knowing what the consumer wants before the consumer even figured it out

How was I to know that a dedicated lunch stand with cappuccinos at hand would touch the wannabe New Yorker in me? Yet when I was recently faced with just such a thing, presenting sandwiches and baguettes filled to the brim with exotic selections, individual chocolate brownie portions in cellophane and freshly squeezed apple juice, I knew I was going to buy a bag full of items.

They pay attention to detail like no other

The in-house bakery presents pastries – which is different from selling pastries. The croissants weren’t tumbled into a basket amidst a mountain of crumbs. Instead, 15 or so perfectly baked croissants lay in waiting under golden lights for the discerning customer. The doughnuts were a perfect shade of golden brown and dusted with castor sugar and cinnamon instead of the average garden variety sugar. You can’t beat that approach.

I have no idea who informed Woollies Food of customer opinion. But snacking on my crispy baguette filled with brie cheese and onion marmalade, I am certainly thankful that a national brand has remembered that it has a responsibility of performance excellence in the same way as say, another national brand called the Proteas. That’s what the privilege of belonging to the nation is all about, first and foremost.