Erik Saelens, marketing guru and CEO/Founder of BRANDHOME, and a good friend of mine, has written a marvelous little book called TripleA. I thought it was worth writing about it, building on many articles in this blog that talk about brand coolness, brand authenticity and how brand activation should be done. This book galvanizes all of that, in just 100 pages.
The premise of the book is as follows: “The world is a mess, trust is out the window, spending is low, money is scarce, markets are driven by low budget sales, and people and business alike are holding their breath about the future. Could it be any worse? Actually, it couldn’t be better! This is the very best time for a brand to make the transition from being “just a brand” to becoming a real Triple-A brand, and to start a completely new era of brand marketing!”
AAA (Triple-A) has always been an indication of value, from real estate locations, to school grades, to financial products, and so on. Following the same logic or analogy, a Triple-A brand is a brand that ensures its value for all its stakeholders. A Triple-A brand is a balanced brand, combining the values of three elements that reflect today’s global trends towards brands: authenticity, accountability and activation. These elements are essential in forming the main driver of brands that must deal with a rising demand for transparent, sincere and trusting brand behaviour.
AUTHENTICITY: ARE YOU FOR REAL?
As social media have become fully-fledged communication channels, and new communication innovations appear on the horizon (e.g. interactive TV), brands and their actions will have to become more identity driven. In other words, brands will have to be themselves, in a straightforward and transparent way.
ACCOUNTABILITY: TRUE COMMITMENT PAYS OFF
With fewer tools and more challenges, demonstrating sustainable results is more important than ever. Brands must remain accountable to internal and external stakeholders. This requires more thinking before acting and less “we do things because we have always done them this way”.
ACTIVATION: DON’T WAIT FOR APPLES, SHAKE THE TREE
Brands will have to be and act more sales driven due to the pressures of the brand owner’s financial situation. Internal and external brand activation will become more pragmatic, and provide tangible KPIs (key performance indicators), for the brand owner as well as for the client.
Brandhome has developed a quick questionnaire that will rank your brand on the TripleA index: it’s worth taking the test: http://www.triple-a-index.com
* From growth at any cost to growth with a focus on sustainability
* From competitiveness to willingness to cooperate
* From conquering markets to embracing communities
* From pure profit to providing meaningful value
If that wasn’t enough to convince you to read TripleA, then look at this endorsement of mine:
Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! Let me know what you think – here, on twitter (@kurtfrenier), on facebook, or on LinkedIn. Kurt.
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This post is great. I realy love it!