The forces of wikification continue to gather steam. In addition to the case histories discussed in an earlier entry, two more examples have crossed my desk.
The first is similar to Fedex, which bowed to the reality of customers defining its brand when it changed its name from Federal Express.
From the August 11, 2005 issue of the New York Times (subscription required):
In 1997, the New School for Social Research became New School University to reflect its growth into a collection of eight colleges, offering a list of majors that includes psychology, music, urban studies and management. But New Yorkers continued to call it the New School.
Now, after spending an undisclosed sum on an online survey and a marketing consultant's creation of "naming structures," "brand architecture" and "identity systems," the university has come up with a new name: the New School. Beginning Monday, it will phase in new logos, stationery, banners, business cards and even new names for the individual colleges, all to include the words "the New School."
"My view is that you never argue with the customer about your name," said Bob Kerrey, the university's president.
The second example involves a new Public Radio International program called "Open Source from PRI." Open Source uses its blog to generate ideas for its programming. Suggestions come from listeners as well as the show's producers.
An interesting brand metric is emerging. According to the article, "because of the program's interactive component, [the producer] said its benchmark of success might be less the number of stations that ultimately carry the program and more the online presence Open Source establishes."
And this line from the article may be an indicator light for how customers interact with brands in the near future: "[An employee] is working on technology that will collect listener voice mail, convert it to an MP3 and load it to the blog's comment threat as the messages are left. The sound bites will also be played on the air."
Notice that no 80s-style "master-of-the-universe" decreed how the brands would be "positioned."
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