Seth Godin, call him one of the modern marketing gurus if you like, is always preaching that good brands are built on good stories; stories that have the ability to live, inspire, and appeal to people. I guess I will take this a step further and say that even poor brands are surrounded with stories.
The good brands might generate those good stories, they have a hand in distributing them, they might tell them in ads, in media, etc. Bad stories about bad brands are usually distributed by customers; word of mouth, blogs, social media outlets.
Even if you have never tried a certain brand, the stories you heard about it will keep playing in your head whenever it comes cross your road. You will always want to try the good ones, you will always want to run away from the bad ones!
Let me give you an example; I’ve never been to the States so I never been on the Southwest Airlines but I’ve always come across plenty of stories about their exemplary, pleasantly surprising, and creative customer service; so what do you guess my first choice would be if I ever been to the States?! Note that all what I have are stories about the brand, so I do not know how real and accurate they are. but I want to try the brand. That’s the power of good brand’s stories. And as long as we are at it, check this video out of one of the Southwest stories!
On the other hand, guess what stories would come to your mind when I say Saudia, the local carrier! I can confidently bet that even if you have never tried it, you will never want to just because of its stories; you know, messed up schedules, flights delays, below average ground and air services, not so cooperative staff, and so on. I dare you if you ever lived in Saudi and never heard a punch of bad stories about Saudia?!!! That’s the power of the bad stories on a brand!
My free-spirit-statement before you leave; all the opinions mentioned in this post are mine and never been influenced by anybody else!
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Athoug
November 27, 2010 at 10:29 am
I loved the video!
I think it’s because we don’t all speak the “marketing” language that stories become most important to consumers. We get influenced by what consumers say about certain products\brands. For example, Apple products. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t always have a good thing to say about it.
Saad Al Dosari
November 27, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Hello Athoug …
Thanks goodness we did not meet a year ago; you could’ve met the first person who denounce Apple. But I am a convert now and Apple is among my favorite brands
I agree with you that we do not all speak ‘marketing,’ but in a lot of times we are actually marketing a lot of things without even noticing. Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool!
Qusay
November 27, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Southwest airlines is like a bus, you get on the plane, you find a seat and sit down, which might be better if Saudi Airlines (I think they stopped calling it Saudia a while ago) started doing that, it would create a lot less confusion and planes might leave on time.
But here is one acronym that I remember from Americans about their airlines
DELTA (Don’t Ever Leave The Airport)
Saad Al Dosari
November 27, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Hey Qusay …
I guess Saudi Airlines would learn a thing or two from good public transportation systems from anywhere in the world. They’re just soooooo lazy to try!!!!
basmah
November 29, 2010 at 10:22 am
once the consumer is given multi brands, companies will consider the prosperity – I think it’s a big word let it be the comfort as a start – of their client.
and they will be considering stories, bad and good ones.
Also, raising the consumer awareness is a need. this will push companies to work hard to please clients, to make good stories.
Nice video ^_^
Saad Al Dosari
November 29, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Hello Basmah …
Thanks for stopping by …
You are right; connecting consumers to brands needs good stories; stories stick in minds, relate to people, and make it easier for consumers to remember them in their conversations, in other words, stories make word-of-mouth marketing much easier!