Critical Questions 02-16

For Reading: Brand Forces

How has the consumer become an active participant in the brand building process? This chapter touches on the idea of social media, but I feel it does not delve very deeply into it. I recognize that brand conversations are no longer one way between brand and consumer but now go back and forth. Is social media the only cause of this or would branding have evolved into this without it? What forms of social media have helped make this change and where is it headed in the future?
This chapter also talk about certification. It says that “certification matters because we all want to be able to tell the difference between ‘good companies’ and just good marketing.” Does certification really matter? Does it say something about a company if they are able to rise to the top without attaching one of these certifications to their product? A certification seems like the easy way out. It seems as if the company can’t think of another way to persuade customers, so they just attach a logo to their product instead. Do we as consumers even recognize these certifications and can we tell real ones from fake ones?