The Age of the Proto-Brand

What can the business and branding world gain from Eddie Izzard?  Aside from any obvious answers, there lies an intriguing connection in the back-story of the comedian’s success.  First, Eddie Izzard (Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story) does not perceive himself as being naturally funny.  Being a comedian for him is a lot of work. He plans out his ideas, practices his delivery and prototypes skits with small audiences. Only after working on the content, refining the delivery, and sharpening timing is the new comedy recipe tried again on other audiences. Elicited responses again are evaluated, fine-tuned, and re-delivered.  The end result is that he has mastered his delivery, the crowd walks away happy, the cable networks get their viewers, and the brand that is Eddie Izzard grows.

 
Lots of failure + Lots of iteration = Strong brand
 
Now think about traditional development process.  Planning, design, and launch.  Launch? Here’s an age-old concept that is being re-shaped in the era of the proto-brand.  As social media and technology open up development, co-creation will become the normative process for many brands.
 
As the speed and quantity of new offers being thrown at us increases, our attention spans become shorter and we’re more easily distracted.   In this 21st century business environment, brands cannot rely on the one-liner.  People’s considerations are changing faster than ever, in some cases disrupting the validity of our traditional segmentation practices.  So, in a world where the only constant is change, how will you evolve your products, services, and experiences?  How are you structuring your existing customers and yet-to-be-discovered clients to allow for Eddie’s approach to testing and iteration?  
 
In the world of open, brand is more valuable than ever.  More than what you can offer is the outcome of the way you act: trust, equity, and loyalty. Open up to people, and you gain empathy, support, and forgiveness.  Close the door to them, tell the same jokes over and over, and soon you’ll be looking at a theater of empty seats.
 
(Eric Wilmot) @ewilmot

*photo of Mr. Izzard courtesy of Dave Morris, under Flickr Creative Commons license.