Conversational Capital: How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About

Citation

Taran, Z. (2009), "Conversational Capital: How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 371-372. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760910976655

The book's lead author, Bertrand Cesvet, is the Chairman of Sid Lee, and Eric Alpert is Sid Lee's strategist. Sid Lee, the creative genius behind the campaigns for Cirque Du Soleil, Adidas, and Red Bull, knows a thing or two about building great brands. So when the authors share their thoughts on building remarkable brands that people would want to talk about, marketing students and practitioners alike might want to take notice.

The main point of the book is that the most powerful tool in building a great brand is “highly charged consumer advocacy through word‐of‐mouth communication.” Simply put, a great brand is the brand that consumers are excited to tell other consumers about. It has been the authors' observation that there are “several key factors present in a brand story” (p. xx) that make people want to talk to other people about the brand.

Conversational capital is the increased value of the brand due to consumer advocacy. “When products and services become intense experiences, something powerful happens. They become fuel for conversations” (p. xxii). Furthermore, the authors point out that especially meaningful “brand stories” become a part of “personal stories” which consumers “rely on … to define themselves and project themselves to others” (p. 5). This reviewer notes that conversational capital, as it is described, is a somewhat narrowed‐down concept of consumer‐driven brand equity. Note: conversational capital is not about selling a shoddy brand as something it is not. Conversational capital is about making a good brand into a truly great brand.

The authors define eight engines of conversational capital, or “experience amplifiers”, whose presence increases the saliency and resonance of the consumer experience with the brand:

1. 1.

   Rituals. Rituals give rich meaning to consumer experience. The authors particularly stress the rituals of initiation – “rites of passage that serve as transitions from the banal and everyday into the meaningful” (p. 10).

2. 2.

   Exclusive product offering. The product has to be truly great and stand out from the crowd. The authors emphasize the importance of over‐delivery: exceeding customer expectations and industry norms.

3. 3.

   Myths. As foundation stories, myths are extremely important in shaping the identity of the brand. Furthermore, myths shape consumer identity as well: “Myths are stories that tell us who we are” (p. 91). For example, Apple's founding myth is the story of two highly innovative young men who had no money yet started a truly new company. This myth sets the context for user experience: “Somewhere in the backs of our minds, we hope that we are as creative, inventive, and free as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak” (p. 92). Look for a meaningful, resonant story in the brand history that is in line with what your brand is about.

4. 4.

   Relevant sensory oddity. “It can be observed when a consumer experience surprises and delights a full range of senses” (p. 105). The product, the store, the service counter have to look, smell, feel to the touch, and sound different from the rest in a relevant, resonant way.

5. 5.

   Icons. Icons are “signs and symbols that clearly demarcate a consumption experience from any other” (p. 11). Anything can serve as an icon, including buildings (Eiffel Tower), people (John Wayne), landscapes (Caribbean beach), and objects (cowboy boots). The authors maintain that powerful design is important in creating an icon and thus is very important to invest in. Icons have strong associations (for example, Cirque du Soleil's Big Top stands for escape and renewal). “The key is that these icons have to evoke a compelling brand story” (p. 113).

6. 6.

   Tribalism. A brand that facilitates formation and functioning of groups that consumers identify with (tribes) will enjoy increased conversational capital. For example, Harley Davidson's riders gather regularly at large conventions across the US. “Tribalism should be allowed to happen – it cannot be manufactured” (p. 117). Tribalism taken too far, however, can be self‐defeating as it can become too narrow to be sustainable and can fall victim to changing times.

7. 7.

   Endorsement. Peer endorsement, unlike (in most cases) celebrity endorsement, is an important engine of the conversational capital. It is especially important when the endorsement comes from particularly respected members of the tribes (similar to M. Gladwell's influencers).

8. 8.

   Continuity. For conversational capital to accrue, there should be continuity among promise, image and experience, or rather among “who you say you are”, “who people say you are”, and “who you are”.

The authors further provide advice on implementing conversational capital. They emphasize that, at least partly, their advice can be used for do‐it‐yourself brand building. To get started, two actions are of particular importance.

1. 1.

   Assemble the right team. First, you need to put together a highly dedicated multidisciplinary team of “talented A‐listers” capable of generating radically new, disruptive ideas. In selecting the team, “diversity of talent and viewpoint, analytical ability, perspective and debate are required” (p. 136).

2. 2.

   Carry out a conversational capital audit by asking these six questions:

• •

  What drives the customer to interact with your brand experience?

• •

  How does your experience affect the full range of senses?

• •

  Where and how do guests interact with your experience?

• •

  Where does the experience break down, if at all?

• •

  What story are you trying to tell through your experience?

• •

  What are consumers getting out of your story? Is it identity‐shaping? (p. 141).

To help with the assessment, the authors offer a questionnaire that is available at their website, www.conversationalcapital.com. Customer satisfaction and salience of your brand will determine how rich in conversational capital your brand is. If your brand has problems with customer satisfaction to begin with, you need to first fix it. Conversational capital is something only a good brand can enjoy. If customer satisfaction is there, but conversational capital is not at its glorious highest, you need to exercise creativity and generate insight, using the eight engines of conversational capital as your guide. You need to seriously think through the story of your brand.

The book is written in fluid, sparkly prose. The authors engage the audience while demonstrating their own mastery of brand‐building craft. Statements like “Wouldn't it be cool if this book turned to liquid in your hands?”(p. 105) or “We like to walk around the office in cowboy boots, tutus and cowboy hats” (p. 131) in big bold capital letters create vivid images while providing pointed examples of exactly how one might go about implementing the ideas (the former is a rather interesting way of introducing relevant sensory oddity, at least in the minds of the reader, to the authors' own book, otherwise quite standard in its feel, smell and taste. The latter provides a colorful illustration to the idea of controlling the image). Pointing the reader to the tools and discussions available at their web site is a helpful addition and an enhancement to the product offer. It is a tribalist engagement tool as well!

The authors' observations are generalizations rooted in their examination of several cases of remarkable brands. While not particularly drawn from nor backed and validated by rigorous empirical studying, the authors' conclusions are insightful, inspiring, and not at odds with the general state of thought in the brand‐building literature. The book contains a plentitude of interesting examples. It firmly and artfully turns the focus of brand‐building on the quality of consumer experience, which is a valuable and refreshing take on the subject. It will be of interest to practitioners and students of marketing, as well as to strategists. It will also supply useful examples to those who teach marketing (those mini‐cases can be easily used for exam questions – students, pay attention).