“Voice of the customer” can be a challenging concept for brands. Listening to, engaging with, capturing and analysing what customers are saying, thinking and expecting of your brand, products and services can be confronting. Years ago, working with a global retailer, there was a moment where court action was imminent – a customer had taken their use of the brand into an area that did not gel with the brand’s stewards. Luckily we were able to resolve this amicably (and creatively) – but the stakes can be high.
As Oasis wraps up its five night residency at the fabulously named Heaton Park in Manchester, one brand has gone above and beyond – turning the “voice of the customer” into a brand-meets-culture moment. In tribute to the Manchester band’s reunion tour, Aldi rebranded its local store from “Aldi” to “Aldeh” representing the local dialect and the city’s long history of rock music.
It’s literally rebranding in the voice of the customer.
And, of course, this has proven a hit with locals and tourists alike. Even Google Maps has gotten in on the act.
And there’s no change of this sign changing back any time soon.
Aldi UK’s Chief Commercial Officer, Julie Ashfield explains, “What started as a fun, temporary tribute to Oasis and the local accent has turned into something far bigger. We’ve heard shoppers loud and clear, and we’re absolutely delighted to keep the sign up for the long haul.”
And in a world where brands struggle to be relevant in the life of its customers, this activation feels like a bat signal in the gloomy, gotham world of safe branding.
One of things about marketing that you don’t realise until you do it – is that you are working out loud. Many of your actions, decisions and choices are played out in front of an audience. That means that the people who count – your customers, partners and collaborators – and your bosses – all see your work. And they are all ready to judge you.
And while this is run-of-the-mill for most marketers, it’s when crisis hits that it becomes acute. A business or brand crisis sees most marketing and communications teams kick into gear. Agencies leap into action and marketing steps up to be one of the most important strategic arms of an organisation. Those making decisions on marketing and crisis responses have no choice but to step into highly visible leadership – and this takes a certain amount of not only brand bravery, but personal courage.
And so it was with Astronomer when senior execs from the company were caught on a “Kiss Cam” at a Coldplay concert. Take a look at the Google Trends view for the term Astronomer.
As the footage when viral, I was just imagining what was happening behind the scenes:
Social media mentions start building
Google organic peaks and the paid search budget is exhausted
Traffic to the brand’s About and Team pages start spiking
Web services come under strain
Cyber attacks ramp up as brand visibility grows
Marketing, social and PR teams gather to
Viral contagion spreads across geographies and it all happens again.
Now, whenever your brand comes under fire, the crisis comms playbook kicks in:
Respond quickly to control the narrative
Reach a broad audience
Engage directly with your stakeholders
Provide updates and monitor the situation.
But these are generally reactive approaches.
Before this event took place, I had no clue about Astronomer and its DataOps platform. However, thanks to this creative, disruptive and self-deprecating response starring “Temporary Spokesperson”, Gwyneth Paltrow – I not only have heard of the brand, I also know of its products and its upcoming conference.
What’s great about this is that the crisis comms playbook has been turned upside down. What we see is a “culture-first” response:
Paltrow has a global profile as an actor and CEO of her own company. She is also Coldplay lead singer, Chris Martin’s ex – which carries a healthy dose of ironic baggage
The script leans into the humour while keeping core brand and product message at the centre of the communication
While most brand step back from emotion through formal messaging and delivery during crisis comms, Paltrow’s wry smile and delivery reframe the narrative away from the very human crisis that started all this, and refocus on the 300-plus employees of Astronomer.
It will be interesting to see how or even whether Astronomer is able to continue to capitalise on this momentum. No doubt CMO, Leo Zheng, will be high on the list for speakers at upcoming marketing conferences (quick Comms Connect!) – and this will make for a fascinating case study.
As I reflect on this situation and the vastly un-human AI-driven comms world we find ourselves in, I wonder how much artificial intelligence played a role in this effort from Astronomer. I have a feeling this is a culture and creative-led response – but I could be wrong. And maybe we will never know.
You know that when super-optimised brands/websites like Hubspot see an 80% drop in traffic, you know that the foundations of your strategy are shifting under your feet. Little surprise, then, that brands, agencies and consultants are all asking questions about “what is next” when it comes to traffic, demand and lead generation and all things digital.
No matter whether you are client or agency side, for those of us working in strategy, marketing or the black arts of revops, we need answers and we need them now. Unfortunately, the state of play is actually a state of flux. And I expect this will be the case for some time.
For now, the best we can do is maintain a watching brief, and run a rigorous program of testing and learning. Yes – it’s a time to double down on continuous learning. To get you started, here’s a nice infographic explainer by Jake Ward on the various SEO tools designed to track your brand’s visibility across the various large language models (LLMs).
As you can see, we are far from a consolidated or consistent view or or approach – but it will help you get started in this new wild west of the web.
