Brand in the news: Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle is a person, not a brand. Nonetheless, she did something that many brands should learn from: she under-promised and over-delivered.
Boyle has magnificently demonstrated that substance is more important
than style, or, indeed, that sometimes it is more substantial to be
unstyled. It is ironic that a host of companies are now clamouring for
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It's easy to see where it's heading: makeover campaigns such as 'our
haircare product transformed Susan Boyle', which will ultimately destroy
the true beauty she represents.
What these publicity-hungry brands should be doing is asking how they,
like her, can make their product exceed expectation. Alas, many
marketing people's idea of marketing is the inverse of this.
Susan Boyle would be justified in taking brands' money and running.
However, if she does, sponsors should beware. Her element of surprise is
gone. We now expect her to sing well, and with each new song the delight
of surprise will diminish, and so will the ROI of the sponsorship.
Unless, of course, Boyle has more surprises yet to come.
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Comments
James Amoroso - 01/06/2009
As a brand, she faces the same challenges as Snapple, Innocent and Ben & Jerry's. How do you develop that fresh, quirky personality in a way that enhances the original proposition? Yes, she'll need more surprises... and she'll need to deal with public scrutiny calmly and professionally.