Let go of your brand

In this world of user generated content, how do I control my brand? You don't and you never did!!!

Brand owners are grappling with this subject in a world where consumers have the tools to make any brand their own and publish what they think and feel for the world to see (positive or negative). Some brand owners try and control (e.g. MGM suing James Bond fan sites) and others look to embrace (e.g. Xbox and their fan site programme). My bet is those that embrace win.

The point that many don't get is that they never controlled their brands anyway. People always talked, critiqued and often recommended. Now they do it in a more public (and measurable) way... that's all.

The basic principles therefore should be the same... listen, embrace, respond to your consumers, don't try to police them... you can't and if you try it will back-fire. Someone called this "brand sheperding" recently which I think is a really nice phrase. The more you do this the more the postives have "share of noise", the more consumers are making decisions on full information than rumours.

Measurement is also an interesting plus... comments are public but you can observe through tools such as Blogpulse or Google Trends. This means you can be a by-stander in pub conversations where previously you couldn't hear. You can respond if you care enough. Caring about your brand... now that's an interesting one. Who genuinely does? You should.

Problem is that many great marketing folks in larger corporations have become seperated from their audience, some out of choice (more comfortable sitting in an nice office than getting down and dirty), many pushed away by big agencies saying "leave it to us... don't worry". It's normal to be scared and not know what to do, even if you know you need to respond.

Anyway... would be interested in peoples comments on this area.