If you look at the top global brands of 2010, you will find traditional brands at the top of the list.  With so many emerging brands across the globe, what does a brand have to do to become a top global brand?

1.  Brand Messaging continues to be a strong driver for marketers.  Where a Brand is the personality that identifies a product, service or company (name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them) and how it relates to key constituencies: Customers, Staff, Partners, Investors etc.  The messaging is what I refer to as the communications that is distributed around the aspects of branding like:

• Corporate slogan
• Products and services
• Product names
• Product features
• Positionings
• Marketing mixes (including pricing, distribution, media and advertising execution)

All of this messaging culminates in developing the Brand Promise.  Effectively what the brand stands for or has stood for in the past.

2.  Brand Experience is the what the brand actually delivers.  It’s the culmination of all the touchpoints a customer, partner or employee may have with your brand including your website, social media touchpoints, point-of-sale, post sales service, mobile, and actual use.

The point of this post is to point out the impact that social can and has had that impacts a brand and it’s conversion.  I point out conversion as the driver here because, in my experience, a great product that does not sell simply does not last long.  The same goes for brands.  Where a brand has always been defined by it’s product, social media allows you to redefine what your brand can actually stand for.  It allows you to be entertainers, educators, and more for your followers.

A recent BusinessWeek article discusses GM’s old guard and their approach to building cars in the modeling room without any customer feedback.  The article goes on to praise Dan Ackerson’s (new CEO of GM) customer centric approach to building cars.  The difference of Brand Promise in the past (pre-bailout) and the recent move towards Brand Experience (post-IPO) in the future.  Interesting.

Digital’s impact on brand expression and experience is significant.  Leading companies are still trying to figure out what this new world looks like now that a Brand can expand it’s breadth of what it stands for and now that customers are armed with a whole new set of expectations and capabilities.  To help us sort this out is Michelle Tripp, a Creative Director / VP of Account Strategy at Idea Worldwide.  She will lead our conversation this week around the rise of the brand experience.  The topic and questions follow:

Topic:  The Rise of the Brand Experience

1. Who should be front and center in conversation: The brand name or the brand’s communicator?

2. Are consumers more likely to buy because of the brand promise or the brand experience?

3. How can brands create experiences in a social world?

Please join us in this online chat on Tuesday, February 1 at noon ET.  Follow #sm96 from your favorite Twitter client or simply go to our LIVE page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.  The format will stay the same with the first question starting at noon and a new question coming every 20 minutes at 12:20 and 12:40.