So what is BRAND BUTLERS… With pragmatic, convenience-loving consumers enjoying instant access to an ever-growing number of supporting services and tools (both offline and online), brands urgently need to hone their 'butlering skills'*,that is, focusing on assisting consumers to make the most of their daily lives, versus the old model of selling them a lifestyle if not identity.
Here's why consumers are embracing these BRAND BUTLER-style services:
- For consumers, time, convenience, control and independence are the new currencies: this need requires Business to Consumer (B2C) brands to turn many of their 'campaigns' if not all interactions with their customers into broader services. In short: a shift from 'broadcasting' to assisting.
- Relationships with brands are now more down to earth and less reverential. From individualism to eco-concerns to decreased spending power in developed economies: for consumers, the practical and pragmatic rule.
- Yet, in uncertain times, there's also a consumer longing for institutions that truly 'care', which is more about showing empathy and providing customers with a status fix than being purely practical. This too requires brands to master more service-oriented personae.
- On top of all of the above, the current mobile online revolution (hey, it took more than a decade of breathless predictions, but mobile internet usage is now finally exploding around the globe) is shifting these consumer expectations even further into the always-on, instant gratification online arena. For brands, this means that there are now endless creative and cost-effective ways to deliver on this need for assistance, for 'butlers'.
That means a major opportunity to be amongst the first to roll out a cohesive suite of services, embodying the essence of your brand. And with brand essence we mean:
The resulting, ideal ‘BRAND BUTLER OMNIPRESENCE' would be a mix of (discreetly) being there when customers want you to be there, and pleasantly surprising them with your presence when they least expect it. For simplicity's sake, this omnipresence can be divided in online and offline activities.