The ‘Hijacked Brands’ Are Winning!

Marketing rules are being rewritten. Massive budgets and flashy campaigns are no longer a guarantee of success. Brands such as eBay, Starbucks and Red Bull which challenge classic marketing techniques are generating volumes of billions of dollars. This is the subject which Alex Wipperfürth tackles in his new book “Brand Hijack”. He says that the rising stars are those brands and products which succeed in establishing a special relationship with the customer. Those who are able to create a passionate, active customer base are enjoying huge success.

In 1991 GSM companies met in Finland to sign an agreement to create GSM technology. There was a very brief section in this agreement dealing with SMS text messaging. SMS was not designed as a news channel. The operators thought that it would just serve as a sales channel which they would use for their own campaigns. According to a survey conducted by Nokia, businessmen said that they were not interested in the medium.

This is why the technology is not advanced. Messages contain a maximum of 160 characters and writing is tiresome, with a little keyboard and a tiny screen. Anyone in their ‘right mind’ would prefer to call rather than write an SMS…But SMS developed in a completely unexpected manner. GSM companies witnessed a rapid rise in the number of messages that were being sent. It was the same all over Europe. In 2001 the number of messages reached 100 billion. Today more than 300 billion messages are sent each year. Revenue from SMS messaging now accounts for nearly 15 percent of GSM companies’ total income. So what is the secret of this success? The secret is that young people discovered this service for themselves. After them an older generation followed suit and SMS messaging became one of the basic modes of communication. There was no advertising or marketing activity for SMS. Young people noticed SMS and began to use it as a secret means of communication.

At the beginning adults did not have a clue what was happening. For the young people, the limitations of SMS turned into a means of expressing their creativity. In this way SMS became an unexpected success story.

Things are changing in marketing

The story of the rise of SMS demonstrates one of the most important trends of recent years. Marketing rules are being rewritten. Massive advertising budgets, campaigns which are planned for years and which take every tiny detail into account, are now no longer a guarantee of success. On the other hand, brands which can create a passionate active customer base from the outset are able to achieve great success. There is a rapid rise in the number of products and brands to which customers are contributing. The marketing business that was once run by professionals is increasingly shifting to the customer. The success of brands such as eBay and Red Bull are proof of this trend.

This is the subject which Alex Wipperfürth tackles in his new book “Brand Hijack”. He says that the success of a brand is dependent on creating a following among specific groups of consumers at the time when it is being created. He says that these groups, whom he calls ‘brand hijackers’ just like aircraft hijackers, take the brand from one place to somewhere unexpected. It is they who decide on the identity of the brand. To a certain extent they create the brand.

How do they ‘hijack’ the brand?

Of course, certain conditions are required in order for ‘brand hijackers’ to appear and hijack a brand. This something which is clearly not for everyone. You must not panic and must retain faith in yourself when you no longer feel that you are in control and not be afraid of going with the flow. In addition, this method is more applicable to new ideas and new initiatives than long-established brands. Alex Wipperfürth has the following recommendations for those who want their brands to be ‘hijacked’:

“First of all, abandon the idea that the brand belongs to you. It belongs to the market. For this reason, do not try to keep control of it. Leave yourself free to take advantage of any sudden opportunities that may present themselves. Be prepared to rewrite the script from scratch even while the process is in motion. Avoid being possessive. Understand the value of being surprising.”

The ‘hijack’ can be planned

Alex Wipperfürth divided ‘brand hijacks’ into two categories. The first category is what happened with SMS when the hijacking took place completely beyond the control of the companies. The second category is a controlled hijacking, when marketing staff and customers cooperate to shape the brand together. One of the best examples of this second category is Red Bull.

Red Bull was something which was established with its own resources and did not have sufficient capital to run an intensive advertising campaign. Even so, it achieved great success within a short space of time. Even though the giants of the soft drinks sector have also entered the energy drinks field, they have not matched Red Bull’s success. So how was Red Bull successful?

First of all, the company identified a few target groups among sub-cultural segments of society. They allowed each of them to shape the identity of the brand. It succeeded in making these groups effectively voluntary participants. They included sports fanatics, office staff who worked long hours, and taxi and truck drivers. Red Bull used special methods to attract these groups. For example, they conducted scientific research to study truck drivers. They published news stories saying that energy drinks prevented sleepiness and thus helped reduce the number of accidents. At the same time, the company placed advertising billboards in petrol stations.

Marketing without marketing

Alex Wipperfürth describes the strategy of brand such as Red Bull as “marketing without marketing”. He has the following advice for companies which want to follow such a strategy:

“Shape the brand together with the customer. Make sure that they feel that the brand is special. In order to achieve this, think of the brand as a very good birthday present. A good birthday present does not need to be expensive or very luxurious. What is important is that it is personalized and has been thought out.”

THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF ‘HIJACKED’ BRANDS

* Cannot be controlled, only guided

* Achieving satisfactory results requires patience

* Success lies, not in detailed placement, but a major social idea

* Requires a serious orchestration from the outset

* The definition of quality is different, based not on engineering but customer experience

* Considers the customer to be a partner, not a target

* A ‘big image’ cannot be imposed, it can only be protected

* Allow the customer to ‘discover’ the product

* Specific sub-culture targets

NİHAL KÖZ
nkoz@capital.com.tr