Filed under: Customer Experience | Tags: brand management, customer engagement
By now, you may have heard about Skittles handing over brand power to their customers via their website. I promised myself I wouldn’t blog about that, or the recent situation in which Tropicana reverted back to their old brand design when the new cartons bothered their loyal customers. Like I said, I promised myself I wouldn’t write about it, so I’ll keep my opinions to myself. However, I think it’s important to reflect upon whether or not these bold acts of confidence are good for the company.
These businesses are putting a lot of trust in their customer-base by letting them make such important decisions about their brand image. Many people believed that what Skittles had done was brilliant, while others remain undecided about the new homepage. Let’s look at the bigger picture of these circumstances: what do you think about putting customers in the driver seat?
Paying attention to customer feedback is paramount for a business. But my thought and question is this – is it a good idea to lose complete control of your brand by handing it over to the general public?
-Liz Giel
Photo credit: The Adventures of Kristin and Adam
2 Comments so far
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Well, I bet Skittles has had a lot more people looking at their website since they did this than before.
Remember the “disaster” of New Coke? How much more shelf space did Coke end up with as a result? How much media coverage?
Comment by Lori Laflin March 19, 2009 @ 8:08 amI am certain the visits to their homepage have skyrocketed from this initiative. I’m sure they’ve created many new “fans” on their Facebook page as well, and I can only assume that sales have gone up to some degree. My question, though, was whether or not it is beneficial in the long term to give brand control to the consumers.
Thanks for reading and posting, Lori!
Comment by Liz March 19, 2009 @ 8:30 am