Hi! Managers: Provocative brand power

As of today, there are a lot of brand provocateurs in the market. Provocative brands not only aim to arouse people by using sex appeal, but the brand is able to draw people through its unique selling point. It’s a power to capture people’s emotion. A provocative brand can be a product, organisation, or even a person or a group of people eg Diesel, Samsung, iPhone, adidas, WikiLeaks etc.
Here are examples of some of the most talked about provocative brands:

--WikiLeaks
It is an international non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. WikiLeaks describes its founders as a mix of Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist is generally described as its director.

--Why is WikiLeaks so famous?
Wikinews is both a hero and a villain, so it might be referred to as “Robin Hood” in the Internet era, trying to create fairness in society by stealing valuable information from public authority and giving access to it to the layman. Surely, a lot of people have fallen into WikiLeaks’ trap.

--Samsung Smart TV
Its revolutionary design and advanced technology allow you to interact with the TV that is compatible with all formats, with ease and fun. You can surf the Internet on TV as well as view photos and home movies. You can watch movies or listen to music. You will be able to experience the superior 3-D.
Every time I went to visit the Samsung Smart TV service centre, it made me feel so excited. It has pushed me into a new dimension in the new world. We are urged to love the pictures in this magic box.

--Adidas mi Innovation Center/Paris
The largest adidas Sport Performance Store to date highlights the breadth and depth of the brand and was created to demonstrate its ongoing dedication to innovation. The focal point is the world’s first “mi Innovation Center”, utilising the latest industry-leading interactive technologies. Predominantly targeting younger shoppers, the combination of technologies provides advanced footwear customisation process, offering consumers a similar treatment to elite athletes.

There are three factors that create brand provocateurs.

--A certain degree of cool
It must be cool, unique, and bold enough to make people turn back to look at you.

-Irreverent and challenging the mass market
-Must have the courage to revolt.
-Must have the courage to be different.
-Must be the leadership of ideas.

--Originality
Be the first one to do.

In mass commercial marketing where the balance of power between brand and consumer is levelling out, the key to successful retailing is to ensure differentiation, relevance and authority. In order to elevate themselves above the noise and ensure a noteworthy voice, brands need to commit to developing communication strategies that demonstrate their visibility and credentials, thus building an edge of genuine influence. The key to achieving this is to demonstrate authenticity of voice and innovation, to strengthen the brand’s position and benefit both brand and consumer.

Pongsak Sanitwongse na Ayudhya is executive vice president of Dentsu Plus, part of the Dentsu Asia Network. His
articles in Hi! Managers are
usually published every first Friday of the month.