Branding Lessons:Branding and Gen Y: Can this Group Improve your School Brand?

An interesting post for Saturday's MADMAN thinking from KIT YARROW. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/kyarrow/index

How does this information impact your building a brand that can promote a 21st century school identity?

Kit asks...

"What are young consumers getting out of their social media relationships with brands and retailers? Here are three themes that surfaced repeatedly in interviews.


Status: Shoppers feel like smart "insiders" when they learn about special deals, new product arrivals and promotions through tweets, emails, Facebook fan pages, and by visiting shopping sites like Retailmenot. The medium has the potential to create intimacy at scale. Says, Ricardo, 23, "If I have a problem I use Twitter to complain to the company. I get much better service than I'd get if I called or sent an email, which is very impersonal and they don't really care."

When marketers reward fans and followers with exclusive freebies, promotions and information they create loyalty by elevating the status of their followers.

Connection: In our increasingly fragmented and visually oriented world, people often connect with others using brands as the vehicle. It's like wearing the school colors - a way to bond and identify like-minded others. Sites that facilitate connection between consumers are beloved for more than the merchandise - it's because of their ability to create a community. Kaboodle's popular shopping site does just that, as do Facebook fan pages like Converse's where members can share photos and ideas with other fans - united by their common interest in the brand.

Connecting consumers to each other also connects them to the brand.


When I read Kit's words...I think customer satisfaction....this is a generation that is going to have a lot to do with education...as teachers...as customers...and getting thinking aligned to customer satisfaction...To create a positive INTIMACY with this community is vital. Thinking about new hires...make sure they can develop customer satisfaction, just the way they demand it it in their own lives...



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/kyarrow/index#ixzz0XVc5abVQ