What's a brand all about?
Well,...employer brands, they are a representation and reflection of an existing, living, breathing organisation and its' culture, no? its actual values, it's reality...it's aspirations to an extent.
I was in San Francisco on holiday recently and the Yahoo -'It's 'Y!ou' campaign was literally everywhere you went. I thought it was maybe a west coast of America, Silicon Valley-type campaign, but sure enough, when I got back to London and climbed into my cab and had a look around - it was eveywhere to be seen too. I thought...big media budget....hmnn...wonder who has that account...:o)
Seemingly the media budget was in the region of a huge $100 million - certainly it got my attention (on two different continents) but what impact did it make?
It was interesting to be shown this chart below when I got back to work:
It would appear that for all the investment in the campaign, it's just not having a postive impact on the brand, quite the opposite in fact.
I guess the issue with the message is, it's not telling me anything about Yahoo! and who and what it is - what it stands for. Yes, personalisation is the future, and I like that you tailor your product/company to me...but that's if its relevant to me as an individual person - telling everyone its all about them...well, it just doesn't resonate. Perhaps our tribal instinct gives us a desire to pin our badge to something we identify with - and this goes for both consumer and employer brands.
p.s. nice article and debate about campaign here.
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