I’m not a big daytime soap opera fan but will be watching the future of two soaps in particular this coming year. Cancelled soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” will now continue to be produced and aired… online.  

Maybe ABC and Prospect Park (the two-year-old media/production company that will be producing the shows) are onto something here. Developing high-quality online video programming is still a relatively untested territory. Several brands and media entities have tried in the past with no solid traction to show for it. It seems people are currently unwilling to give quality online programming a try when they are unfamiliar with the product, but what about taking a TV program with loyal followers and bringing them online?

It will be interesting to see the outcome of this move. The lines between watching programs on TV and online are obviously blurring, but a successful outcome of this partnership will accelerate the closing of the gap between our viewing consumption habits. 

“Gen Z” is not brand loyal? Crafting carefully planned marketing to this group is a wasted effort? Now it’s only about product and service quality?

Sure, people have been buying superior products over mediocre ones for years.  Ask American automakers.  Ask Circuit City.  Ask Polaroid, Ask… the list goes on and on.

Yes, a company needs to make a superior product or provide a service that is of more value than the competition – that’s the price of admission.  But after that, I still have to believe cultivating and maintaining a consistent brand separates the best from the rest.

Take Apple for example.  The tablet market has been around for a while, but it didn’t catch fire until Apple introduced the iPad. And now even though there are over 69 tablets for a consumer to choose from these days, the iPad represents roughly 70% to 80% of the market.

Why is this? Because Apple means something to the consumer. The consumer knows what they’re getting when dealing with Apple. The company has been delivering quality products and top-notch service for years. But more importantly, Apple focuses on its brand essence at every customer touch point – which is about a lifestyle; an imagination; liberty regained; innovation; passion; hopes, dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people through technology.  These emotional cues come through in every message the company delivers – from TV ads to in-store experience to packaging.  Keeping true to this brand DNA helps define this company in a consumer’s mind.

And companies now more than ever need strong brands. Why? Because it’s not only the company itself that needs to know what it stands for – it’s the customers that ultimately become the brand ambassadors who spread the brand by wearing it, using it, talking about it and posting it on their Facebook pages.

Photo by: Toca Boca

To be social online you need to be social offline. We follow people, groups and brands we know and trust, and these associations are almost always made in the offline world first. People and brands can’t simply start a Twitter or Facebook account and automatically expect others to care.  There needs to be a connection.

Photo by: Kiwi Morado