New Technologies and Branding

Philippe Sachetti is the founder, consultant and manager of the branding company pH6. He specializes in building strong brands and effective marketing.Thibaud Zuppinger is a strategic planner at pH6. His areas of interest are philosophy and ethics.

• Prologue xiIntroduction xvChapter 1 What is a Brand? 11.1 The brand: a concept built from relationships 11.2 The brand is anthropomimetic 31.3 The brand as merchant 41.3.1 Exaggeration 41.3.2 Celebrity 61.3.3 A matrix for modeling celebrity? 71.3.4 Fallibility 91.3.5 Exaggeration, fame and fallibility: the trio from hell 111.4 The Brand exposed 121.5 All Brands are controversial 131.6 Leader? Tough luck! 161.7 The Brand is not set up for conflict 181.8 The Brand is not always agile (and that is an understatement) 191.9 The irrational reactions of the Brand 21Chapter 2 Conflict 252.1 Etymology of conflict 252.2 What is a conflict? 262.3 When is there a conflict? 272.4 Conflict is complex 272.5 Experts of a small piece of the whole 282.6 Conflict can be an asset 292.7 The words of attackers are traps 292.8 The words you use are also traps 312.9 (Here) conflict is not 322.9.1 Conflict is not latent hostility 322.9.2 Conflict is not an accident 332.9.3 Conflict is not a judicial procedure 342.9.4 Conflict is not a game 342.9.5 Conflict is not a crisis 352.10 The characteristics of conflict 362.11 What do you think of when someone says conflict? 372.12 When someone says conflict, what should you think about? 382.13 What Sun Tzu has to say 382.14 What Simmel thinks 39Chapter 3 The Players in Conflicts 413.1 The five agents of conflict 413.2 The “attacked” is the Brand 423.3 The attacker 433.3.1 Deciphering it in 12 points 443.3.2 Who are they? Are they isolated individuals, connected individuals or aggregate groups? 453.3.3 What is their level of cohesion, unity? 463.3.4 What are the official reasons presented? 463.3.5 What is their expected benefit? 463.3.6 What is their strategy: destroying confidence, preventing activity? 473.3.7 What are their beliefs, and how deep do they go? 483.3.8 How intense is their commitment? Are they ready to “go all the way” with it? 483.3.9 What is their history with the Brand? Among the critics, are there any who have been employees, customers or competitors of the Brand? 493.3.10 What is their level of interconnection or differentiation with the Brand? 503.3.11 What are their supports, their backers, their alliances? 503.3.12 What are their strengths and their means (financial, intellectual, media, etc.)? 513.4 The expected benefits 513.4.1 Weakening (winning is a failure) 523.4.2 Obtaining the recognition of harm 533.4.3 Obtaining reparations 543.4.4 Revenge 543.4.5 Correcting 553.4.6 Prevention 553.4.7 Destruction 553.4.8 What the attacker wants to damage 563.5 Allies 573.6 The audience 583.6.1 Immature humor, more than ever 593.6.2 Do not touch the nice ones 613.7 The arbitrators 62Chapter 4 Hostility, from Yesterday to Today 654.1 The places, times and forms of conflict 654.2 The competition 654.3 The public square 664.4 The court 674.5 The borders of conflict: between separation and the contact zone 674.6 The temporality of conflict 684.7 What do the conflicts that engage the brand look like? 684.8 Guerrilla warfare and terrorism, excellent value for money 694.8.1 The fly’s strategy 704.9 Scandal 714.10 Alert launchers 744.11 The social dynamics of conflict 764.12 Skepticism and modernity 774.13 Conspiracy theorizing 784.14 The scapegoat 794.15 The mystery of herd behaviors 834.16 Rumors 844.17 The crowd 854.18 Lynching 874.19 Trust, the first victim of conflict 88Chapter 5 The Techniques of Conflict 955.1 Old methods “botoxed” for the digital age 955.1.1 The trap hoax 955.1.2 Denigration 1005.1.3 Petitions 1015.1.4 Boycott and buycott 1025.2 New digital techniques 1055.2.1 Astroturfing 1055.2.2 Persona management 1105.2.3 Google bombing 1105.2.4 Trolling 1115.2.5 Denial of service attacks 1145.3 Databases as a tool for scandal-mongering 115Chapter 6 Preparing for Conflict 1176.1 Building a strong brand 1176.1.1 Brand ladder 1206.1.2 Identity prism 1206.1.3 The pyramid of qualities 1206.2 The narrative scheme 1216.3 Stabilizing opinions 1256.4 The art of the reply 1276.4.1 Managing conflict from the start 1296.4.2 Knowing the forces in play: the absolute obligation 1296.4.3 Organize yourself 1306.4.4 You have a point of view Say it, loud and clear 1316.4.5 Train your teams 1316.4.6 Take charge on social networks 132Chapter 7 Acting in Conflict 1357.1 Five possible reactions to attack 1357.1.1 The silent expectation 1367.1.2 Indifference 1367.1.3 Negotiation 1367.1.4 Commitment 1377.1.5 Capitulation 1377.2 Can we refuse to acknowledge that we are wrong? 1377.3 Apologizing costs less than it pays 1397.4 Apologies and low points 1417.5 The Streisand effect 1427.6 Are you going there? Keep zen and in control 1437.7 Keep a conflict journal 1457.8 Orchestrate engagement techniques 1477.8.1 Public debate 1477.8.2 One-upmanship – the fatal embrace 1487.8.3 Exhaustion 1497.8.4 Make jokes, not war 1497.9 Tell a story that is stronger and more appealing than the attacker 1527.10 Tweak and revise your actantial model 1537.11 Imagine the actantial model of the attacker 1547.12 Adopt your assertiveness, even by forcing yourself a little 1557.13 Conflict is a theater of improvisation 1577.14 Prepare to be spontaneous 1587.15 Attention to detail 1607.16 Seven tips and tricks to improvise without fear 1627.17 The semiotic square: judo instead of boxing 1637.18 Moving conflict onto new terrain 1657.19 The merchants of doubt 168Conclusion 171Epilogue 177Appendix 179Bibliography 183Index 185Index of Brands 187