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Creating the brands we trust: how organizations in the lifestyle category build consumer trust through effective branding and content marketing in the 21st century

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Creating the brands we trust: how organizations in the lifestyle category build consumer trust through effective branding and content marketing in the 21st century

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Content 1

CREATING THE BRANDS WE TRUST:
HOW ORGANIZATIONS IN THE LIFESTYLE CATEGORY BUILD CONSUMER
TRUST THROUGH EFFECTIVE BRANDING AND CONTENT MARKETING IN
THE 21
ST
CENTURY

by

Melissa Ariganello

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)

May 2016

Copyright 2016 Melissa Ariganello

2
Table of Contents
Part 1 .....................................................................................................................................
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................5
Interviewee Profiles .....................................................................................................7
Chapter 2: The Concept of Brand Trust .....................................................................9
Definition of Brand Trust .............................................................................................9
What It Means to Trust a Brand .................................................................................10
From a Customer Point of View ............................................................................11
From an Employee Point of View .........................................................................11
From an Investor/Shareholder Point of View ........................................................11
General Elements to Build Trust ................................................................................12
What Does Brand Trust Lead To? .............................................................................13
Chapter 3: Branding ....................................................................................................15
Elements of an Effective Branding Strategy ..............................................................16
The Value of an Effective Branding Strategy ............................................................21
How an Effective Branding Strategy Helps Build Trust ...........................................22
Chapter 4: Content Marketing ...................................................................................23
Definition of Content Marketing ...............................................................................23
Elements Required for Creating Effective Content ...................................................23
How Content Marketing Helps Build Trust ...............................................................25
Part 2 .....................................................................................................................................
Chapter 5: Case Analyses ............................................................................................26
Marriott International, Inc .....................................................................................27
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Background ............................................................................................................27
History....................................................................................................................27
Branding Strategy Analysis ...................................................................................28
Values & Culture ...............................................................................................28
Logo ...................................................................................................................30
Social Media ......................................................................................................32
Analysis of Brand’s Content ......................................................................34
Employee Interaction/Customer Service ...........................................................38
Conclusion .............................................................................................................39
Virgin America .........................................................................................................40
Background ............................................................................................................40
History of Virgin Group.........................................................................................41
Branding Strategy Analysis ...................................................................................42
Values & Culture ...............................................................................................42
Logo ...................................................................................................................43
Social Media ......................................................................................................44
Analysis of Brand’s Content ......................................................................45
Employee Interaction/Customer Service ...........................................................50
Conclusion .............................................................................................................50
Kate Spade & Company ..........................................................................................52
Background ............................................................................................................52
History....................................................................................................................52
About Kate Spade New York ................................................................................53
4
About Jack Spade ...................................................................................................54
Branding Strategy Analysis ...................................................................................55
Values & Culture ...............................................................................................55
Logo ...................................................................................................................57
Social Media ......................................................................................................58
Analysis of Brand’s Content ......................................................................60
Employee Interaction/Customer Service ...........................................................64
Conclusions ............................................................................................................65
Chapter 6: Recommendations ....................................................................................67
The Importance of Brand Trust ..............................................................................67
Appendix A: Interview Transcript with David Liljegren .......................................71
Appendix B: Interview Transcript with Brenda Lynch ...........................................84
Appendix C: Interview Transcript with Jeremy Miller ...........................................89
Appendix D: Interview Transcript with with Chelsea Krost...................................93
References .....................................................................................................................97

5
PART 1

Chapter 1: Introduction

Managing corporate brands has become more intricate and more complex
than ever before. With advances in technology and growing consumer and stakeholder
concerns, organizations continue to face brand management challenges. These challenges
stem from an ever-growing saturated market of local and global brands. Such
challenges—which also provide opportunities—include a growing expectation of
corporate transparency, difficulty for the consumer to differentiate between competitors,
and a need to keep up with the constant development of new communication mediums
and tools.
One way organizations can diminish the challenging aspects involved with brand
management is to focus on building trust between various stakeholders. The trust
between an organization and a stakeholder will create transparency, help to differentiate
the brand in a stakeholder’s mind and allow communication between the two parties to
flow more effectively. By building and maintaining a branding and content marketing
strategy that resonates with stakeholders, not only will those organizations be at the
forefront of stakeholders’ minds, organizations will contribute to building trust to
ultimately benefit themselves – and affect the bottom line.
Today, company stakeholders—including customers, shareholders and
employees—seek the most trustworthy organizations, particularly because they are faced
with so many options. Business markets are oversaturated, thus organizations must
develop strategies that allow them stick out in the minds of a stakeholder. It is vital for a
brand to already be on the consumer’s “short-list” of brands with the help of an effective
6
branding and content marketing strategy. A short list is comprised of companies that
consumers trust and are familiar with, thus encouraging continuous interaction with those
companies in the form of purchases.
As consumers encounter numerous brands day-to-day, organizations must work
diligently to position themselves as a top choice in her/his mind when making a purchase
decision. As David Liljegren put it:
When an organization is trusted, the beauty is that it becomes a short cut
to a solution. [A customer] is not going to search, [the customer] knows
already, [and they] have a short list of brands. As a business, [being on
that short-list], I’m already pre-qualified to get that business from that
customer.
An effective branding and content marketing strategy thus allows organizations to create
brand trust, which leads to getting on a consumer’s short-list, in turn creating brand
loyalty.
There are many ways to build trust within an organization; this paper will take on
an updated approach to creating brand trust. For instance, establishing effective branding
and content creation strategies provides a good stepping stone for building trust, as
branding and marketing are one of the first things stakeholders come into contact with
when interacting with a company.
This thesis explores how corporate brands within the lifestyle category build trust.
For the purposes of this paper, a lifestyle brand is defined as a brand that has products or
services that provide consumers with an emotional attachment to an identifiable lifestyle
(Jung and Merlin, 2014).
7
With the help of primary and secondary research, the thesis examines the meaning
of trust, identifies the elements required to build trust, highlights the elements of an
effective branding and content marketing strategy and describes what it means to trust a
brand. Primary research consists of interviews from industry experts who specialize in
branding and content marketing. Below is a short profile of each expert interviewed.
Interviewee Profiles

David Liljegren is the President and Chief Strategic Officer of ADK America, a
full service agency based in Los Angeles and New York. The agency, comprised of
experienced professionals, provides clients with research, strategy, creative and media
capabilities.
Jeremy Miller is a branding strategist and owner of the brand building
agency Sticky Branding. Miller is also the author of the bestselling book Sticky Branding,
which provides a branding guide for small and medium-sized companies.
Brenda Lynch is a senior partner at Finn Partners, a public relations firm
specializing in strategic communications. Lynch provides strategic and crisis
communication guidance for clients within the Food & Beverage division at Finn
Partners.
Chelsea Krost is a spokesperson for the Millennial Generation. She is an
accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, author and radio talk-show host. Krost is also the
co-founder and chief creative officer of MPulse, a digital marketing agency that
specializes in content creation targeted to Millennials.
This thesis also explores how brands gain consumer trust through case
8
analyses of the following well-known and trusted companies and their branding
strategies: Marriott International, Inc., Kate Spade & Company, & Virgin America.
These case analyses demonstrate and highlight the elements of the effective branding and
content strategies that have helped these companies to build consumer trust.
Lastly, the author provides recommendations for future public relations
practitioners in regards to understanding the importance of brand trust and how to
achieve it through an effective branding and content marketing strategy. By analyzing
how large-scale trusted brands manage to build trust, other organizations of all sizes can
learn to implement similar strategies to achieve desired results. It is particularly
important to note that the author concentrates on newer strategies, highlighting advanced
communication techniques such as social media, SEO and digital publications. The
thesis is both an homage to these fast-breaking techniques, but also a cautionary tale to
embrace tried-and-true branding strategies instead of discarding them.

9
Chapter 2: The Concept of Brand Trust

Definition of Brand Trust

There are many definitions of brand trust that depend on how a stakeholder views
her/his relationship with a particular brand—that is, whether the individual is a customer,
an employee or a shareholder. Organizations must understand these definitions of brand
trust before they can properly build it.
The general concept of brand trust means “the willingness of the average
consumer to rely on the ability of the brand to perform its stated function” (Chaudhuri
and Holbrook, 2001). The keywords are “rely” and “perform.” When trusting a brand,
company stakeholders must rely on and believe that a brand will, in fact, meet
performance expectations.
To take this definition further, brand trust means a continuing interdependence
between organization and stakeholder: a stakeholder expects a certain behavior and
performance from an organization, which said organization continuously meets, and thus
the stakeholder continues to support the organization. As David Liljegren says: “Trust is
a consistent level of performance, [trusted brands] aren’t schizophrenic.” In order for a
brand’s image to convey trust, the brand “has to be true to who [they] are and true to the
need, and the performance has to [be met]. It has to be a complete circle.” For example,
at a minimum, customers expect to be greeted and almost pampered upon entering a
high-end hotel, such as the Four Seasons; investors in higher end hotel brands expect
certain performance each year; and employees expect to be rewarded and recognized my
top management if they meet company standards.
10
Acknowledging the relationship between a stakeholder and a corporate brand also
helps to define the concept of brand trust, as part of the relationship involves having an
emotional connection. Brenda Lynch, a senior partner at Finn Partners, defines her idea
of brand trust as “caring enough about the brand or a product to invest emotion and to
invest commitment, and to set up a relationship with the brand.” Brand trust involves
both one’s expectation of a brand and one’s relationship with the brand.
Brand trust becomes broken or damaged when the brand no longer behaves in
accordance with how a stakeholder expects the brand to behave. For example, when a
brand encounters a crisis situation, the brand trust tends to subsequently diminish.
However, a brand can still rebuild trust during a crisis situation, but careful
communication strategies and tactics must be implemented. In order to fully break the
trust between a brand and a stakeholder, a brand must behave, operate and perform in a
different state than what the stakeholder expects. Examples of brand trust will be found
in Chapter 5.
What It Means to Trust a Brand

Looking at the general definition above helps to further illustrate the concept of
brand trust in relation to key stakeholder groups. Organizations are not only building trust
between themselves and consumers, but also with investors and employees. Defining the
concept from different points of view is beneficial in crafting an effective strategy that
will help build trust as organizations interact with many different stakeholders. Generally,
organizations have three stakeholders: customers, employees and investors/shareholders.

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From a Customer Point of View
Trusting a brand from a customer point of view means that a customer feels they
can expect certain consistent behavior and level of quality in performance from an
organization and its products and services. Thus, the stakeholder—the consumer—
continues to interact and support that brand. From a consumer point of view, trusting a
brand “is a quiet level of confidence and an expectation of performance; it’s a comfort
level of not having to search for alternatives. [A trusted brand] is like a trusted friend,”
says David Liljegren. Similarly, Brenda Lynch believes that “trusting a brand means that
in every interaction you have with that brand, you have an expectation and the brand
delivers to that expectation, and every so often that brand exceeds your expectation.”
From an Employee Point of View

Trusting a brand from an employee point of view means that workers understand
the purpose, mission, operations and vision of the brand, and that they fully support
living out the brand’s image because it aligns with their own values or beliefs (Alwi,
2015). Employees who trust the brand they work for will support the brand’s actions and
essentially live out the brand’s image. In fact, “high-trust organizations have a strong
sense of shared purpose,” (Hitch, 2012) which means employees who live out the
organization’s culture and values, because they are a good fit, will highly trust the brand.
Social benefits of trust within the organization include greater employee engagement,
employee morale, productivity and satisfaction (Green and Howe, 2011).
From an Investor/Shareholder Point of View

Trusting a brand from an investor/shareholder point of view means that
shareholders recognize that the brand is acting with honesty and integrity. This
12
stakeholder group also expects consistent performance from a brand and the overall
organization; if a company doesn’t reach quarterly targets, the organization may still
salvage a positive image by providing context that is clear and honest. Investors can still
support and trust both companies and their brands. If potential investors trust a company,
they are more likely to invest in the brand as well. Potential investors can begin to trust a
brand by following the brand’s behavior and performance; if they align with what the
stakeholder expects, they will create trust. Furthermore, a link exists between trust and
profitability. The more “instances of trust-building actions over time, the greater the link
between trust and profitability” (Green and Howe, 2011).
General Elements to Build Trust

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual global trust and credibility
study, “trust is built through specific attributes which can be organized into five
performance clusters: integrity, engagement, product/services, purpose and operations”
(Edelman Trust Barometer, 2015). It is clear that the overall performance of an
organization aids in building trust, but it must relate to particular areas of performance,
specifically those mentioned in the Edelman Trust Barometer. If an organization
performs with integrity, is engaging, provides quality products or services, and lives out
its purpose through efficient operations, it is helping to build trust.
Through these performance clusters, stakeholders are getting to know the
organization better and are building an expectation towards the brand, which builds trust
in return. Jeremy Miller, the author of Sticky Branding, says: “trust is actually built out of
multiple experiences and multiple touch-points that convey that this is the kind of
experience that [a stakeholder] is going to get every time [that stakeholder interacts] with
13
the product, service or business.” These experiences and multiple touch-points are all part
of a brand’s performance indicators, as they will likely convey whether a brand is, in fact,
acting with integrity, engaging stakeholders, providing quality and so on.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, brands must “take responsibility to
address issues, have transparent and open business practices, listen to customer needs and
feedback, treat employees well and communicate frequently on the state of the business”
(Edelman Trust Barometer, 2015). All of these performance indicators and touch-points
can be achieved with an effective branding strategy that include specific elements that
address these functions; an effective branding strategy provides a unifying business
strategy that directs all of an organization’s behaviors. Since trust is earned through
touch-points and performance clusters, brands can “leverage trust through aggressive
branding” (Hitch, 2012).
What Does Brand Trust Lead To?

According to The Trusted Advisor, “trust is a core ingredient of an organization’s
success.” Building and maintaining a trustworthy organization provides economic, social
and ethical benefits. Economically, trust can help increase sales, repeat business and
referrals and help customers make faster decisions (Green and Howe, 2011). When a
customer trusts a brand, that stakeholder is likely to be more loyal to and continue
purchasing from that brand. The Edelman Trust Barometer puts it simply: “When people
trust companies they are more likely to buy/pay more”(Edelman Trust Barometer, 2015).
Thus, when an organization builds company and brand trust, they are also increasing
brand loyalty and sales.
14
Building trust “is essential to successfully bringing new products and services to
market,”(Edelman Trust Barometer, 2015) as stakeholders’ familiarity with the company
and its brand(s) will be carried over to the brand’s services and products. If a customer
trusts a particular company because it operates with integrity and is engaging to
employees and all stakeholders, the customer will likely trust the products and services
offered by the company and its brand(s).

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Chapter 3: Branding

Before one can make the connection between branding and brand trust, the
concept of branding must be defined. First, branding is more than an organization’s logo
or design. By textbook definition, “a corporate brand relates to the visual, verbal and
behavioral expression of an organization’s unique business model” (Knox and Bickerton,
2003). For an organization to succeed in today’s extremely competitive landscape, it must
have a unique business model that provides a competitive advantage.
Furthermore, an organization must communicate that competitive advantage in
various ways. By communicating the brand’s competitive advantage, the organization can
reach its target audience and compete in its market more effectively. Essentially, a
competitive advantage for an organization is establishing a unique proposition that will
convince customers to choose that particular organization when making a purchasing
decision.
An effective way to communicate an organization’s competitive advantage is
through a strong branding strategy that “builds on a vision, is aligned with business
strategy, emerges from a company’s values and culture, and reflects an in-depth
understanding of the customer’s needs and perceptions” (Wheeler, 2013). All these
factors need to be kept in mind when developing a strong and effective branding strategy.
Branding is more than just a PR or marketing function; it is, in fact, a management
function that should incorporate all facets of an organization. As Jeremy Miller says,
“The growth of a brand is internal, brands are built from the inside out; it's your vision,
purpose, it's the way you organize your team, and it’s the quality of your people and
systems.” It also takes years to effectively build a brand. It takes investments of various
16
resources, both dollars and people, and it takes behavior that is driven by core values. An
example of a brand that has been strongly built on its vision, purpose and values is
Zappos, an online clothing retailer. Every employee at Zappos lives by its tagline
“Powered by Service” and follows the “Delivering Happiness” movement founded by
CEO Tony Hsieh (Gallo, 2009). Every operation, every encounter and interaction is
inspired by Zappos’s purpose and core values, and these factors have ultimately created
the brand image for the company.
Elements of an Effective Branding Strategy

From the definitions above, one can see that branding consists of visual, verbal and
behavioral elements. Looking at all the facets that make up an organization—and taking
into consideration how the organization communicates with stakeholders—the following
elements, deduced from the general definition of branding, are necessary to develop an
effective branding strategy:
• Alignment of culture and values that represents the brand’s purpose
Every organization has built-in values and culture, which employees tend to live
out. When the values are communicated internally, it provides the foundation for a
working company culture. In most cases, the values and the culture of a company
result from the purpose and mission of the entire organization. Once management
establishes a core set of values, they must lead the entire organization to live out these
values, in turn creating a company culture. The alignment of these two parts will
strengthen the organization’s internal function, thus creating a branding strategy from
the inside out.
17
Before an organization can begin to communicate its brand through visual or
verbal means, the organization must figure out how its brand will behave. This
internal representation of the brand will eventually carry out externally, as practicing
the company culture internally among employees will cause the culture to be reflected
externally, and this will provide focus for all other branding tactics. If the
organization’s values and culture align and clearly represent the brand’s overall
purpose, they will contribute to trust. Stakeholders will see the brand is acting and
behaving in the manner they expect from it. If the brand has conflicting values and
culture, stakeholders will take notice and lose trust in the brand. Nike is a good
example, as a few years ago, it was stated that Nike was sourcing most of its footwear
in countries where child labor was being use extensively. This quickly became a
crisis, as the sourcing practice was not reflected in Nike’s values. Nike had to
communicate to its stakeholders in a way that would build trust again.
• A familiar and/or resonating logo that represents the brand’s attributes and
personality
The logo is one of the first touch-points a stakeholder encounters, whether the
stakeholder recognizes the logo in an advertisement, in stores or out on the street.
Therefore, logo design cannot be ignored. When discussing the importance of logos
with Jeremy Miller, he described how a it is a symbol, and “symbols are things
[stakeholders] identify with. It becomes shorthand for knowledge and information. A
strong logo is a symbol and it becomes something that people will identify with.”
Furthermore, branding expert David Liljegren from ADK says, “Logo designs,
color systems, and font choices are all subtle nuances that help convey the brand’s
18
personality, and when used consistently over time make rapid short-cuts to remind
people of the brand.” Thus, organizations need to make conscious decisions when
choosing which type of logo design represents them best. For example, if a brand is
seeking to build its reputation as luxurious, the logo design must represent that sense
of luxury. The logo design must align with the brand’s personality, making it
important to consider how the organization behaves in all aspects and how they want
to be perceived in the marketplace. If the logo design matches the organization’s
personality and attributes, it provides a stepping-stone towards building trust.
A great example of a logo being synonymous with a brand’s reputation is Chanel;
the brand’s famous interlocking “C” is recognized all over the world. Seeing it
instantly provides a connection to the company’s prestigious iconic brand and,
hopefully, conjures the notion of the luxury items the company is famous for
• Consistent and authentic communications across many social media channels

With today’s technology and various social media platforms, many organizations
take advantage of the ability to communicate to stakeholders directly. Social media
platforms have now become tools to communicate an organization’s branding
strategy. In order to be effective, the platforms should contain the brand’s consistent
visual elements, language, and behavior.
Unfortunately, there are some brands that use social media channels ineffectively,
by either continuously posting promotional material, unrelated articles or “memes”
for the sake of receiving additional “likes” and followers. For a brand to use social
channels as a means to strengthen its branding strategy, it must communicate its
19
brand image authentically with audiences. One way brands can do this is by engaging
with audiences through authentic dialogue. David Liljegren says:
The beauty of social media [is that] you can actually have a real dialogue with
your audience. The challenge for organizations is to actually be real and then
allow a bad conversation to exist at the same time as a good conversation.
There is this desire to curate, to edit, to push away, but as soon as [the
organization does] that, the brand in the social world starts to look false and
poorly.

Instead of pushing meaningless messages online, organizations should focus on
creating a dialogue with its audience, whether positive or negative. This way,
audiences can get a sense of what the brand is and begin to trust the brand. Jeremy
Miller explains how “trust is based on behaviors. It's what [the brand] does and how
[it] behaves and how [audiences] interact. What breaks trust is when [the brand]
behaves counter to what somebody expects.”
Social channels provide an opportunity for organizations to communicate what a
brand really is, what it represents and how it will serve the needs of stakeholders. The
social media element of the branding strategy requires a valuable content marketing
strategy in order to build trust. The importance of a content marketing strategy will be
further explained in the next chapter.
An example of a brand that successfully uses social media to build trust is
Starbucks. Starbucks uses its social channels to promote its products in an authentic
way, by using engaging content that is either user-generated or created internally.
Starbucks avoids publishing content that feels like advertising, where it directly sells
20
to an audience. Instead, the company’s content encourages conversation between the
brand and its customers.
• Employee base that embodies the brand identity through brand ambassadorship
(living out the brand)
Lastly, the fourth element of an effective branding strategy involves employees
living out the brand’s culture and attributes. Stakeholders encounter this touch-point
through customer service, and if employees carry out the brand’s identity in how they
interact with a stakeholder, the stakeholder begins to further understand what the
brand is and how to expect it to behave. Chelsea Krost explains how utilizing
employees as brand ambassadors is a great strategy:
If [a brand] has people who work for them and truly love [that] company, they
are going to talk about [that] company and utilize [that] product or service that
much more authentically. Bringing a brand to life in the workplace and
allowing employees to be your brand ambassadors is a great ripple effect in all
ways.
An example of a company that is encouraging employees to be brand
ambassadors is Adobe. Adobe created a Social Shift Program that educated
employees with social media best practices and guidelines, so that employees can
raise awareness of the Adobe brand when active on social media. Adobe also
encourages employees to develop content for its company blog (Abbot). This not
only builds the brand ambassador program but also encourages stakeholders to get
a glimpse behind the company, and this provides an additional opportunity for the
brand to gain trust.
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The Value of an Effective Branding Strategy

All four elements listed above must unite in order to devise an effective branding
strategy that “provides a central, unifying idea around which all behavior, actions and
communications are aligned” (Wheeler, 2013).
As Jeremy Miller explains:

There are really two perspectives about brands; the internal perspective of
[what] you're building and the external perspective of what you are. When
you are in-line, when the internal view of yourself and the external view of
yourself are in-line, you really have a strong brand because it's radiating.
Thus, the advice for start-up businesses and for large brands thinking about re-branding is
to implement all four important elements of a branding strategy and make sure they align
with one another.
David Liljegren also explains the importance of branding and compares it to a roadmap
for organizations:
[Branding provides] a clear and concise way of where [the brand] is going.
It constantly needs to be built, fit and improved. A strong branding
strategy is not only an important communications device, but it’s a very
important organizing principle, both inside and outside the organization. It
helps you prepare for rapid communications. Every person in the
organization fundamentally knows where they are going and what they
have to do to support the brand.
When these four elements are not aligned, brands will lose stakeholder trust and may face
potential controversy. For example, when the Gap had re-designed its logo in 2010, the
22
reaction from the public was not positive. The new logo did not align with the company’s
mission, vision, values or its overall personality. Gap is known for its classic, well made
and easy to wear fashion, which the original logo had communicated. The re-designed
logo was bland and no longer reflected the identity of the Gap brand. This misalignment
resulted in controversy and debate, which led the company to revert to its original logo.
How an Effective Branding Strategy Helps Build Trust

If the brand is trusted and is on a stakeholder’s short-list, “the trust associated
with the corporate brand positively influences purchase intentions” (Green and Howe,
2011).
The elements mentioned above are the general touch-points organizations should
implement to build consumer trust. These touch-points, “the varying interactions one has
[with an organization]” (Miller, 2015) are part of an effective branding strategy, and if
implemented correctly, they can allow a brand to build a trusting relationship with all its
stakeholders.

23
Chapter 4: Content Marketing

Definition of Content Marketing

Content marketing is a relatively new concept because the Internet has created
opportunities for many new social and digital platforms to enter the landscape.
Organizations of all kinds have determined a way to use these platforms as marketing
tools. Thus, content marketing now includes using blogs, social media channels, video,
websites and newsletters to create conversations and engage with audiences in the hopes
of gaining new customers and brand loyalists.
Content marketing is part of the branding function, as creating content for the
purpose of communicating and marketing to audiences can strengthen a brand’s image.
Utilizing social media platforms and content marketing opportunities is a part of a
brand’s overall strategy. Now that organizations have an online presence, it is important
for brands to develop content marketing strategies and tactics that not only help
strengthen overall brand image but also help build trust. This chapter specifically
explores each of the elements of content marketing within the overall branding strategy.
Elements Required for Creating Effective Content

Effective content is valuable to audiences, whether the audience group is a
customer, employee or shareholder. According to Valuable Content Marketing,
(Jefferson, 2013)

valuable content must be:
o Useful –either educates, informs or entertains
o Focused –relevant and meaningful to audiences
o Clear and Compelling –creates a story that people understand and resonate
with
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o High Quality –interesting and well-produced
o Genuine –written from the heart and captivates one’s emotions
The model above provides a framework for businesses to create valuable content
that is shareable and that will ultimately increase trust.
A brand must implement a combination of these elements, if not all. If a brand is
able to deliver valuable content containing these 5 elements, it is creating “supercharged
content” that will be shared. When content is shared, the trust continues to grow. As
consumers tend to trust one another (for example, friends & family) and see their peers
sharing a particular piece of content, they will trust the content. Furthermore, if the
content is valuable, well-made and of high quality, it will also gain trust, as no
stakeholder will trust poorly-made content that does not provide any value. For instance,
if a beauty blogger posts an endorsement for a new makeup product on social media via a
high-quality video that demonstrates the product’s use, her network will see the post, and
will trust that what is being said about that makeup product is true. Upon viewing the
endorsement, at minimum, the beauty blogger’s network will then consider purchasing
the product.
Other factors that influence the value of content are its “shareability” and
trustworthiness, stemming from a perception of authenticity and transparency. Brenda
Lynch explains:
The key is [that] the words, the pictures, everything has to be authentic to
the tone of the brand and who they are. [The content] has to make you feel
something, such as give you humor or make you angry. It's evoking an
25
emotion and a feeling in you that is authentic and relatable to whatever the
brand or product is.
Not all content has to be created by the brand, however. Chelsea Krost
believes “implementing [an] organic and authentic user-generated content into a branding
strategy is a great way to get your consumers involved in a brand. It makes brands feel
that much more relatable and authentic.” Thus, the objective is to use both brand-
generated and user-generated content to provide valuable content that becomes
trustworthy information for the consumer.
How Content Marketing Helps Build Trust

Content marketing allows brands to appear human and transparent with their
audiences. It provides more personal communication tactic that builds the relationship
between a brand and the customer, and thus helps to build trust. Chelsea Krost explains,
“Trusting a brand means that you enjoy their content, you engage and share their content
and believe that truly what they are saying is true.” The central idea is that “content is
king,” and the more information that is shared with audiences, the more “connections are
made and trust is built” (Stephen, 2014).
The information that is shared—that is, the content within the content marketing
strategy—must be credible and authentic in order to be considered trustworthy. Once the
target demographic trusts the information, the goal is to have a brand’s audience return,
not only to gain additional information, but also to access its products or services
(Stephen, 2014).

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PART 2

Chapter 5: Case Analyses

This section examines three lifestyle organizations: Marriott International, Inc.,
Kate Spade & Company, and Virgin America. In the following chapters, each lifestyle
company and its brand(s) has a separate case analysis, which contains a history of the
organization, a branding and content marketing strategy analysis, and conclusions derived
from the analyses. These case analyses demonstrate how each lifestyle organization
builds consumer trust through branding and content marketing.
Each case analysis is segmented into two parts: a branding analysis and a content
marketing analysis. The branding analysis demonstrates how the selected brands develop
a trustworthy brand by utilizing the following elements:
• Alignment of culture and values, representing integrity and purpose
• A familiar and/or resonating logo that represents the brand’s attributes and
personality
• Consistent and authentic communication across many social media channels
• Employee base that embodies the brand identity through brand ambassadorship
(living out the brand)
The content marketing analysis explores the social media aspect further by reviewing
the brand’s social media content. This part of the analysis demonstrates how the brand’s
social media content meets the following the Valuable Content Marketing criteria
outlined earlier.

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Marriott International, Inc.

Background

Marriott International, Inc., is a global hospitality and lodging company with
more than 42,000 properties in 79 countries. J. Willard and Alice Marriott founded the
company in 1927; its headquarters are in Bethesda, Maryland. As of January 2016,
Marriott employs 199,929 people worldwide. (Marriott International, Corporate
Overview).
History

Before Marriott International, Inc., was founded, J. Willard and Alice Marriott
opened the franchise business A&W Root Beer in Washington, D.C. Over the years, the
family added hot meals to their business and re-branded as Hot Shoppes. The business
took off, and the Marriott family opened two more Hot Shoppes restaurants on the East
Coast; one, opened in 1928, was the very first drive-in restaurant. In 1937, Hot Shoppes
began to expand into the airline catering business, offering its meal boxes to passengers
at Hoover Airport in Washington, D.C. In 1953, Hot Shoppes went public (Our Story).
After being in the restaurant business, the family decided to shift into the hotel
business in 1957, where they opened the world’s first motel-hotel in Arlington, Virginia.
Due to its success, the Marriott family continued to expand and began to transform the
hospitality sector. In 1972, Marriott partnered with Sun Line to become the first hotel
company to enter the cruise business. In 1983, the company began to offer lodging for
business travelers, with the newly launched Courtyard branded hotels (Our Story).
From 1986 to 2000, Marriott launched additional brands/properties, including the
Fairfield Inn, the JW Marriott, TownePlace Suites and Springhill Suites. The company
28
also acquired various lodging businesses, including Residence Inn, The Ritz-Carlton
Hotel Company and Renaissance Hotel Group. From 2001 to 2011, Marriott acquired
modern brands, including the Bulgari Hotels and the Autograph Collection. From 2012 to
the present, Marriott debuted the Moxy Hotels and acquired both the Gaylord Hotels and
the Delta Hotels and Resorts, helping them become the largest full-service hotelier in
Canada (Our Story).
Brands

Marriott International, Inc., currently encompasses 19 brands ranging from
luxurious resorts and urban retreats to city boutiques and executive suites (Marriott
Brands):

The Ritz-
Carlton

BVLGARI
Hotels &
Resorts
EDITION

JW Marriott

Autograph
Collection
Hotels
Renaissance
Hotels
Marriott Hotels Delta Hotels
and Resorts
Marriott
Executive
Apartments
Marriott
Vacation Club
Gaylord Hotels

AC Hotels by
Marriott
Courtyard by
Marriott
Residence Inn
by Marriott
Springhill Suits
by Marriott
Fairfield Inn &
Suites by
Marriott
TownePlace
Suits by
Marriott
Protea Hotels

Moxy Hotels

Branding Strategy Analysis

1. Values & Culture

Marriott International, Inc., lists 5 values on its corporate website (Core Values):
• Put People First
• Pursue Excellence
• Embrace Change
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• Act with Integrity
• Serve our World
As for Marriott’s corporate culture, employees are expected to be inclusive, involved
and green (Marriott Corporate Culture, 2015). These three aspects are what comprise the
corporate culture.
For the “inclusive” aspect, Marriott states that its environment is created to help
everyone be who they can truly be, “where everyone’s strengths and talents are valued,
and everyone has the opportunity to achieve their potential” (Marriott Corporate Culture,
2015). This culture of inclusiveness directly aligns with the values “putting people first”
and “pursue excellence.”
As for the “involved” aspect, Marriott encourages employees to get involved in
“community service projects that focus on five global social issues; poverty alleviation,
the environment, community workforce development, the wellbeing of children, and
global diversity and inclusion.” This culture of involvement directly aligns with many of
Marriott’s core values, including “put people first,” “act with integrity” and “serve our
world.”
The third aspect of being “green” inspires everyone involved in the organization to
believe they can make a difference in the world. Marriott is a leader in social and
environmental responsibility, as the company has been working to minimize its impact on
the environment and has supported conservation efforts in various communities (Marriott
Corporate Culture, 2015). For example, the chain was among the first to encourage
guests to reuse their towels during a multi-day stay rather than wasting water to launder
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thousands of linens each day. These efforts directly correlate with the “serve our world”
value.
Marriott International, Inc., demonstrates how its values set precedents for its
corporate culture via a webpage on its corporate website, thus clearly communicating the
alignment of the two. This alignment of corporate values and culture naturally establishes
trust because the organization demonstrates how it lives out the values it has set. This
makes it easy for stakeholders to clearly recognize this alignment when interacting with
the brand.

2. Logo

Image 1 Corporate Logo

Image 2 Fairfield Inn & Suites Logo

Image 3 Marriott Hotels Logo

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As illustrated in Image 1, Marriott’s logo is written in bold red serif text. Along
the text, the logo contains a symbol that mimics the first letter of the company name, an
“M.” This logo appears on many of Marriott’s corporate and brand materials. In some
cases, as seen in Image 2, the brands under the Marriott umbrella also carry the same
corporate logo, maintaining an air of brand consistency.
This brand consistency, in turn, creates trust. When guests see that a hotel
contains the Marriott logo, they automatically associate that hotel with their perceptions
of the Marriott brand. For example, Marriott is often associated with reliability and
comfort. If a guest sees a particular hotel is part of the Marriott brand, they will infer that
the hotel also conveys reliability and comfort. Attaching a familiar corporate logo to a
product design can create a sense of familiarity in the minds of stakeholders, thus helping
to build trust. This familiarity is particularly important for a resonating logo design.
Furthermore, the logo aligns well with the brand’s personality and culture. The
color red, for instance, is “associated with the heat of sun and fire and is considered a
high-arousal color, often stimulating people to take risks,” according to color think tank,
Pantone. It has also been shown to “stimulate the senses and raise blood pressure, and it
may arouse feelings of power, energy, passion, love, aggression, or danger” (Fast
Company, 2013). When thinking about Marriott as a brand, consumers can recognize that
the company is a “powerhouse” full of many small brands. Thus, the color red conveys
Marriott’s power in the hospitality sector.
Quite recently, Marriott International, Inc., upgraded and re-designed the logotype
for its signature brand, Marriott Hotels, to signify change and modernize its overall
appeal. As illustrated in Image 3, it still contains the iconic “M” that appears on the
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corporate logo. This continues to add an element of familiarity. It further resonates with
current consumers who are familiar with the Marriott brand, reinforcing trust. The
addition of the black text of the word “Marriott” was a strategic decision to mimic
Marriott’s overall brand personality. The black text is modern, simple and conveys
luxury. In fact, the color black is often used to market luxury products and services due to
its implication of power and sleekness (Fast Company, 2013).
Since Marriott’s corporate and brand logos convey familiarity and resonate with a
consumer’s perception of the brand’s overall personality, they are clearly comprised of
strong design elements that produce trust. The various logos convey exactly what a
stakeholder would expect from Marriott, and that is what makes the design contribute to
the brand’s trustworthiness.
3. Social Media

Since Marriott International, Inc.,’s portfolio contains 19 branded hotels, the analysis
only examines its corporate social media accounts. Marriott International, Inc., has active
accounts on Twitter (@MarriottIntl), Facebook (Marriott International) and Instagram
(@MarriottIntl). The look and feel of each account is very consistent, as seen in Images 4
and 5. For example, the cover photos on Twitter and Facebook are identical.

Image 4 Twitter Cover Photo
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Image 5 Facebook Cover Photo
There is consistency in the content shared on these platforms, as the company
often shares the same piece of material on multiple platforms. The audience can see that
the Marriott accounts are used to promote and share information about the company’s
brands specifically and the hospitality/travel industry in general. Audiences also expect to
receive content that is similar across all platforms. The Marriott account does not divert
into other subject areas that are unexpected or “off-brand,” thus giving the social media
pages a feeling of authenticity.

Image 6 Twitter and Facebook Post

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Analysis of Brand’s Content

Twitter Content - @MarriottIntl

Useful: The content educates and informs users on the requirements of effective
leadership thus making it useful to audiences who want to learn from Marriott’s
leadership. Although the information does not pertain directly to Marriott hotels, the
article was written by the SVP of Digital Communication at Marriott International, thus
linking it back to the brand.

Focused: The content is meaningful on a corporate level. If a user is following the
corporate account, there is a high possibility that he/she admires Marriott as a corporation
and believes he/she can learn a great deal from a professional perspective. Thus,
providing this type of content is meaningful to a target audience that follows the
corporate account.

Image 7 Twitter Content
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Clear and compelling: The tweet leads to a blog post on LinkedIn that has been viewed
2,348 times and has received 140 likes. This high volume of impressions demonstrates
that this type of content is easily understood and resonant.

High quality: The blog post is of very high quality due to its writer’s high status: SVP of
the Digital Communications at Marriott International. Furthermore, the image used
alongside the tweet is crisp and clear.

Genuine: As the content provides practical advice, it communicates the sense that the
brand genuinely aims to engage with its audiences. It does not contain any self-
promotional copy to encourage audiences to stay at a Marriott hotel. Instead, the copy
provides meaningful information that helps build a trustworthy relationship with its
readers.

Facebook Content – Marriott International

Image 8 Facebook Content
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Useful: The content informs readers in two ways: It tells audiences that Marriott
International is named as one of the top workplaces for Latinas, and it demonstrates an
employee’s passion for the Marriott brand through a quote. Since it informs audiences,
the content is considered useful.

Focused: The content is relevant to Marriott’s brand because it contains news coverage
on Marriott International, Inc. It provides meaning through telling a story, i.e. showing
and quoting an employee.

Clear and Compelling: The post is compelling because it celebrates an achievement
while being authentic to the Marriott brand. It is not considered unusual for Marriott to
support its achievements and employees and it is set in the company’s core values. The
photo and quote highlight Marriott’s various core values.

High Quality: The post is lengthy but contains an interesting quote and photo that make
the post high quality. The post would not have the same impact if it did not contain these
elements.

Genuine: The post isn’t overly promotional; it informs audiences in an authentic way by
recognizing an internal achievement. Seeing that a company cares for its employees tells
consumers that the company will also care for its customers – in this case, guests – thus
helping to create trust.

37
Instagram Content - @MarriottIntl

Image 9 Instagram Content

Useful: The content informs users of Marriott’s volunteering efforts, visually showcasing
how its brand takes part in worldwide issues and international events.

Focused: The content is meaningful, as it relates to International Volunteer Day. This is
Marriott’s way of entering a conversation in real time, all while promoting one of its
brands. Allowing brands to be part of a conversation with consumers creates trust, as this
provides an opportunity for consumers to continue to understand, interact and engage
with the brand as if it were a person.

Clear and Compelling: The photograph creates a story in relation to international
volunteer day. The photo is showing audiences how the staff at the Ritz-Carlton
participates in community service.

High Quality: The photograph is very professional looking and matches Marriott’s high
standards in regards to quality.

38
Genuine: It is meaningful and genuine content because it is sharing a story in an
authentic way without being over-promotional. Marriott International, Inc., is able to
enter a conversation naturally, as the topic aligns with what the company supports as seen
in its core values.
4. Employee interaction/Customer Service

From personal observation, it can be concluded that Marriott employees at both the
corporate and brand property levels provide a consistent level of satisfactory customer
service. Each employee is a brand ambassador for Marriott International, Inc., and by
acting as a brand ambassador through various interactions with stakeholders, employees
are fully living out the Marriott core values, e.g. putting the customer first.
A document created by Marriott International, Inc., describing the management
philosophy at Marriott and its properties highlights the importance of carrying out the
brand’s values in everyday behavior in the work environment: “A business succeeds not
because it is long established or because it is big, but because there are men and women
in it who live it, sleep it, dream it, and build great future plans for it" (Marriott
Management Philosophy). This statement alone demonstrates Marriott’s effort to make
sure its employees act and behave in a way that fits the Marriott brand.
There are three core work values that employees must abide by while working for the
properties owned by Marriott International, Inc.: “Keep Units Clean And Attractive,” “Be
Courteous And Helpful,” and “Provide The Best Products Possible” (Marriott
Management Philosophy). These three work values make up Marriott’s overall branding
strategy. They can be seen as key ingredients: Without these, the properties would not be
branded as Marriott hotels. These values are necessary due in part to the fact that
39
management wants to keep consistency across all brands under the company umbrella.
It’s part of the branding strategy; although each property is different, through interactions
with employees, a guest will know it is a Marriott International, Inc. property. Knowing
what to expect, no matter which property guests choose to patronize at, gives guests a
confidence in the brand and thus creates trust.
Conclusions

As seen from the branding and content marketing analysis, Marriott has clearly
implemented strategies and tactics that help to build consumer trust. When consumers
interact with Marriott, they see through the logo that properties under the Marriott brand
are trustworthy because they are familiar and represent exactly what they say they are.
When consumers learn about Marriott’s values and culture, they recognize the alignment
and begin to trust that the organization is behaving in the way they said they would.
Thirdly, Marriott authentically presents itself online with engaging and practical content,
which also helps to build consumer trust. Lastly, Marriott’s employees from all properties
further create trust by living out the corporate brand whenever they interact with a
stakeholder.
Marriott International Inc.’s branding strategy is highly effective in creating trust
due to brand consistency and its strength in putting people first, whether it is a guest or an
employee. Consumers are able to trust Marriott International and its brands because the
organization is consistent with its branding tactics. Furthermore, the branding strategy is
fueled by Marriott’s key strengths: its attentive personnel and comforting hospitality,
which can be experienced when interacting with the organization’s touch-points.

40
Virgin America

Background

Virgin America is an airline based in San Francisco, California. Its mission is to
make flying fun with newer planes, attractive fares, top-notch service and innovative
amenities. Virgin America’s competitive advantage involves providing a service unlike
its competitors. When flying with Virgin America, travelers experience mood-lit cabins
with leather seats and have access to video touch-screens that offer a variety of
entertainment options and WiFi (About Our Airline).
Virgin America launched in August 2007 under the conglomerate Virgin Group.
Since then, Virgin America has earned numerous awards, including “Best Domestic
Airline” in Condé Nast Traveler’s Reader’s Choice Awards and Travel +
Leisure’s World’s Best Awards (About Our Airline).
Virgin America, a division of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, was first
established in San Francisco and serviced Los Angeles and New York. Today, it serves
over 25 different destinations around the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Virgin America
competes with other low-fare carrier airlines but has a competitive advantage of
providing first-class services and in-flight entertainment options to all flyers (Virgin
America Hoovers).
Background of Virgin Group

Virgin Group is an international investment group and conglomerate. The
company was founded by Sir Richard Branson in 1970 and has grown to own various
businesses in a wide range of sectors, including the mobile, travel, music, wellness and
leisure industries (About Us).
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History of Virgin Group
Branson launched his first business at the age of 17 in 1968 with a school-based
magazine titled Student. In 1970, Branson opened his first retail music store, Virgin
Records, and the Virgin brand was born. The name was inspired by a colleague’s
thoughts about everyone’s experience in relation to business: “We're complete virgins at
business” (Milmo, 2012).
With the success of Virgin Records, Branson and his team developed a record
label under the Virgin Group umbrella. In 1984, Branson branched out into another
sector, the airline industry, and launched Virgin Atlantic.
From 1984 to the present, Branson continued to expand Virgin Group by
launching other businesses including Virgin Radio, Virgin Cola, Virgin Trains,
Virgin Mobile and Virgin Galactic (Milmo, 2012). Today, Virgin Groups owns the
following 38 businesses:

Virgin
Active
Virgin
America
Virgin
Atlantic
Virgin
Australia
Virgin
Balloon
Flights
Virgin
Books
Virgin
Care
Virgin
Casino
Virgin
Connect
Virgin
Earth
Challenge
Virgin
Experience
Days
V
Festival
Virgin
Galactic
Virgin
Games
Virgin
Gift
Card
Virgin
Green
Fund
Virgin
Health
Bank
Virgin
Holidays
Virgin
Holiday
Cruises
Virgin
Hotels
Virgin
Limited
Edition
Virgin
Management
Virgin
Media
Virgin
Media
Business
Virgin
Megastore
Virgin
Mobile
Virgin
Money
Virgin
Giving
Virgin
Produced
Virgin Pulse Virgin
Pure
Virgin
Racing
Virgin
Radio
Virgin
Start Up
Virgin
Trains
Virgin
Unite
Virgin
Vacations
Virgin
Wines

42
Branding Strategy Analysis

1. Values & Culture
Virgin America’s core values are (Hawkin):
• Being Virgin: embracing the Virgin brand and doing things differently no matter
which business category it pertains to
• Elevate People: highlighting the importance of teammates, guests and the overall
community
• Creating “wow”: encouraging everyone within the business to surprise and delight
travelers
Virgin America’s culture can be experienced in many different ways, including
visiting Virgin America’s website, flying and interacting with Virgin America’s team,
and reading about Virgin America in the media. The various touch-points are all part of
the brand experience; Virgin America has made its culture a part of the brand experience
that stakeholders can trust.
Virgin America’s attendants and pilots are known to be charismatic and “hip,” which
is further complemented by the on-board atmosphere, mood lighting and available in-
flight movies. The personality and culture that comes through to stakeholders is
considered to be strong, unique and authentic (Million, 2014). Furthermore, the
corporate culture at Virgin America is considered to be one that “rewards initiative and
does not discourage a creative approach” (Branson, 2011).
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The reason the culture is perceived so highly, by both customers and employees, is
that it stems from Virgin’s core values. When stakeholders experience Virgin America’s
culture, either at the corporate or consumer level, they are experiencing the core values
Virgin feels strongly about. This alignment of culture and values builds trust, as
consumers have an expectation as to how Virgin America will operate and how its
employees will behave.
2. Logo

Image 10 Virgin America Logo from 2004-2007

Image 11 Virgin America Logo from 2007-2013

Image 12 Virgin America 2013 to Present

44
As illustrated in Image 10 to 12, Virgin America has redesigned its logo three
times in the past 10 years. Although redesigned often, the essence of the logo has
remained relatively the same. The colors throughout its history have stayed consistent
and the symbol, the red wing, has also been present throughout the changes. The
consistencies throughout these design changes have helped maintain positive trust levels
between stakeholders and the brand. It is clear that the most recent design of the logo was
created to stay relevant with today’s design trends with a more up-to-date typeface. While
it’s appropriate to upgrade logo designs over a number of years, the essence, the look and
feel of the logo naturally stays the same, unless a business is looking to re-brand.
The symbol evokes an image of an airplane wing, so audiences can connect this
logo to its business without hesitation. The choice of red is used to signal power and
emotion. It is a strategic choice to use this color to help the brand stand out against its
competitors. In fact, “when Virgin Group was just starting out, Richard Branson was
smart to use red to convey confidence and energy” (Stanger, 2012).
Furthermore, the color and the inclusion of the classic “Virgin” logo connects
Virgin America to Virgin Group. For stakeholders that are familiar with Virgin Group
and its businesses, if they already have trust in those businesses, that trust should carry
over to any other Virgin business.
3. Social Media

Virgin America has an active social media presence and is recognized for having
a more successful strategy than its competitors. Virgin America’s tone on social media is
quite similar to that on any other media: bold and casual. Its social media strategy also
encourages innovation, much like its company values and culture. Audiences can see
45
Virgin America using its social platforms to experiment in hopes to gain awareness. Not
only does the company publish and share content, the brand connects with audiences by
engaging audiences and listening to what they have to say in a genuine way (Ajmera).
Virgin America’s social media strategy is consistent with Virgin’s overall brand
personality, and thus audiences trust the content published on its various social platforms.
Furthermore, the engagement with customers is helpful, fun and, above all, genuine.
Various employees have access to Virgin’s social media accounts, and this allows for
customer concerns to be acknowledged 24/7. This combination of consistency and
authenticity allows Virgin America to gain trust from its audiences (Ajmera).
Analysis of Brand’s Content

Twitter Content – @VirginAmerica

Image 13 Twitter Content

Useful: This type of content is entertaining because the photo playfully features Virgin
America’s plane replacing Santa’s reindeers. Companies that play on familiar and topical
46
concepts like this quite often entertain and delight audiences. In addition, the play on
words “slaying in the moodlight” refers to one Virgin America’s famous features. This
type of content allows audiences to continue to recognize Virgin America’s airline
amenities and thus consider flying with Virgin the next time they travel.

Focused: The content is relevant and meaningful to audiences during this particular time
of the year. This type of content would be considered timely and focused because it is
holiday-related; a majority of audiences participate in or at least easily identify this
holiday and thus can make a personal connection to the content.

Clear and Compelling: Similar to the point above, this content is compelling because it
resonates with those who celebrate Christmas and who may be thinking of traveling over
the holidays. It is also compelling because the photo is simple but clever.

High Quality: The image is deftly manipulated to let audiences think that Virgin
America’s plane has replaced Santa Claus’s reindeer. In addition, the play on words
replacing “moonlight” with “moodlight” is very unique.

Genuine: The content celebrates the holidays in a clever and unique way in tune with
Virgin America’s overall brand personality, thus making the content authentic to
audiences. As evidenced in all of Virgin’s communications, wit is a key element.

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Instagram Content - @VirginAmerica

Image 14 Instagram Content

Useful: The content is informative and entertaining. To announce a new destination,
Virgin America creates a fun and interesting photo that tells a story instead of simply
making an announcement.

Focused: The photo and caption illustrate Virgin America’s announcement in an
interesting and meaningful way. The snowboarder in the photo visually demonstrates the
words “Catch a lift,” and the airplane wing refers to “catch some air,” demonstrating the
brand’s knowledge of snowboarding culture. These visual elements announce a new
destination through a story that target audiences can clearly understand.

Clear and compelling: The content resonates with audiences because Virgin America
has published an announcement. For many stakeholders familiar with Virgin America,
48
this creative delivery of such announcements is expected from Virgin America due to its
consistency with its culture and brand personality.

High Quality: The photo is manipulated in a very high quality format. The details are
carefully designed, such as the inclusion of the Virgin logo on the snowboard. The
visuals clearly communicate the information in the caption, thus making it well-produced
content.

Genuine: The content is not overly promotional; it is genuine because it tells an
announcement with a visual story.
YouTube Content

Image 15 Youtube Content
Virgin America Safety Video #VXsafetydance

Useful: This content is informative and entertaining and allows audiences to get an inside
look—it is Virgin America’s safety video that is shown before every flight. This video
was published on YouTube because of its entertainment value, and the goal for the
content was to gain awareness and reach. Publishing the video online allowed the content
49
to go “viral” – which means the content was passed along to others because it was highly
effective content.

Focused: The content is mainly relevant to Virgin America customers. However, because
it is entertaining, many travelers who fly could find this content relevant as well. It
resonated with so many different audiences that the video earned 6 million views within
two weeks of going live. Virgin maintains its hip brand image by creating unique,
shareable content.

Clear and Compelling: Viewers resonate with this content because it is funny, catchy
and creative. Safety videos aren’t thought to be entertainment, as they are produced to be
informational and important. But as this video pushes the same message in a creative and
unique way it has resonated with so many audiences.

High Quality: It is well produced, resonating with viewers. This video has earned over
11 million views to date because of its high quality. The music and lyrics are catchy, the
actors are compelling and the video production is of exceptional standard. Furthermore,
including Youtube star Todrick Hall added additional value to the content as many
audience members recognized the talented performer.

Genuine: It is evident that the content comes from Virgin’s core values, pushing the
boundaries and being innovative. It is out of the ordinary yet fits within the expectations
50
the brand has created for itself. The video has captured many stakeholders’ emotions
because it is upbeat and clever, encouraging joy and happiness related with the brand.
4. Employee Interaction/Customer Service

Every interaction between a consumer and a Virgin employee is brand enhanced
because every employee goes through a recruiting, training and engagement program that
encourages staff members to live out the brand’s culture and values. As Branson stated,
“Every teammate in the company goes through Refresh, our annual ‘brand bath,’ to
improve our guest experience across the airline.” The Refresh program includes team-
building practices and training in areas such as conflict resolution, hospitality, and
emotional intelligence (Hawkins). Part of the training process requires each employee to
understand the Virgin brand philosophy, demonstrating how crucial the branding strategy
is to overall image.
This employee training is necessary for the Virgin brand because treating every
employee like a brand ambassador allows stakeholders to continue to trust the brand and
company. Through Virgin’s brand ambassador training, employees provide an additional
touch-point for consumers to experience the Virgin brand; the more consistently and
often these touch-points are experienced, the more trust a consumer has toward a
company.
Conclusions
Virgin America provides yet another example of a brand that successfully builds
trust through effective branding and content marketing strategies. By creating a familiar
logo, aligning its core values with its culture, implementing a strong social media strategy
51
and training employees to be brand ambassadors, Virgin America is able to create a
cohesive brand experience that allows stakeholders to trust the company.
Stakeholders expect a certain performance and behavior from Virgin America,
and the company successfully meets expectations through its brand experience. In fact,
this brand experience is what makes Virgin America’s branding strategy so successful,
because in every interaction one has with the company, they are experiencing a bold, fun
and trendy environment that defines the Virgin brand. Virgin America has implemented a
branding strategy that is not only strategic but also authentic, and that is what makes them
a trustworthy company.

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Kate Spade & Company

Background

Kate Spade & Company was launched February 26, 2014. It owns two lifestyle
brands: Kate Spade New York, a fashion retailer for women, and Jack Spade, a fashion
retailer for men. Aside from its two core brands, Kate Spade & Company also owns and
operates the Adelington Design Group, a jewelry design and development division (Kate
Spade & Company, Our Company).

History

Although Kate Spade & Company was launched in 2014, it was formerly known
as Liz Claiborne, Inc., which was founded in Manhattan in 1976 by Leonard Boxer,
Jerome Chazen, Anne "Liz" Claiborne and her husband, Art Ortenberg. The company
was highly successful, earning more than a $1 billion in sales, and was quickly listed on
the Fortune 500 list (Minato, 2012).
In 1989, Claiborne and Ortenberg left the company, but with new management
and marketing strategies, the company still succeeded, managing to hit the $2 billion
mark in sales (Minato, 2012). Under this new leadership, the company also acquired
many fashion brands, including: DKNY Jeans & Activewear, Segrets Inc, Lucky Jeans,
Mexx, Juicy Couture, Kate Spade and Jack Spade (Minato, 2012).
From 1989 to the 2000’s, Liz Claiborne Inc. faced major business changes and
mishaps, which ultimately led to a decline in sales. In 2010, it was rumored that Liz
Claiborne was heading for bankruptcy, so the company began to close many of its stores
around the nation. In 2011, Liz Claiborne Inc. began to sell its brands, the first one being
Mexx. Unfortunately, the sale left Liz Claiborne with a debt of $60 million, as the brand
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only sold for $25 million. The company later sold its Liz Claiborne brand to J.C. Penney
for $228 million because of fear of bankruptcy (Minato, 2012).
As Liz Claiborne no longer owned the Liz Claiborne brand, the parent company
re-branded to Fifth and Pacific Group. Under this name, it continued to operate Juicy
Couture, Lucky Brand, Kate Spade, Jack Spade, and Adelington Design Group. New
York City’s Fifth Ave. and California’s Pacific coast inspired the name of Fifth and
Pacific Group (Minato, 2012).
Following the re-branding, in 2013, Fifth and Pacific Group stated that it would
sell two of its brands in order to focus on the highly successful Kate Spade line. Juicy
Couture was sold to Authentic Brands Group for $195 million and Lucky Brand was sold
to Leonard Green & Partners LP for $225 million. The CEO of Fifth & Pacific noted that
the company would go back to “its roots as a mono-brand company” (Mau, 2013).
Following the sale of Juicy Couture and Lucky Brand, Fifth & Pacific announced
in 2014 it was going to re-brand as Kate Spade & Company to reflect the success of the
Kate Spade brand and for Kate Spade CEO, Craig Leavitt, to replace the CEO of Fifth &
Pacific.
About Kate Spade New York

Kate Spade New York is a fashion brand founded in 1993. Kate Spade, a designer
from Missouri, was set on designing the perfect handbag, and launched her first
collection of handbags under the Kate Spade label. The company grew over time and was
purchased by Neiman Marcus Group in 1999, where Kate continued to remain active
(Kate Spade Biography). In 2006, Liz Claiborne Inc. purchased the Kate Spade brand for
$124 million (Moore, 2006). In 2008, Kate and Andy Spade left the company, which
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inspired Liz Claiborne Inc. to bring in Craig Leavitt and Deborah Lloyd to revitalize the
Kate Spade brand. With Leavitt and Lloyd’s leadership, the Kate Spade brand became the
most highly successful brand within the Fifth & Pacific Group (Mau, 2014).
Kate Spade New York has over 140 retail stores around the United States and
over 175 stores internationally. The brand is known for its playful attitude and crisp
colors. The retailer sells fashion and lifestyle products such as handbags, clothing,
jewelry, fashion accessories, eyewear, shows, home décor and desk accessories. Kate
Spade New York encourages “personal style with a dash of incandescent charm, [of
which they call it], living colorfully” (The Company, Kate Spade New York).
About Jack Spade

Jack Spade, launched by Andy Spade in 1997, is a fashion brand that focuses on
providing useful but stylish products for men. Its first product, a messenger bag made out
of waxed cotton and heavy canvas, was sold to a hardware store in 1997. The bag offered
durability, functionality and style, making it perfect for those who needed utility bags at
work.
In 1999, the first Jack Spade store was opened in SoHo, New York. It featured
travel bags, trench coats and other practical merchandise with a mix of modern and
classic designs. Over the years, Jack Spade offered clothing that carried Jack Spade’s
aesthetic for function and style (History, Jack Spade). As a brand, Jack Spade, “stands
for smart designs and ideas to help men live a layered life” (Kate Spade & Company, Our
Company).

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Branding Strategy Analysis

This case analysis solely examines Kate Spade New York, as the parent company
has recently re-branded to reflect the Kate Spade brand.
1. Values & Culture

Kate Spade and Company’s website dedicates a page to describing who they are
as a company, which naturally tells audiences more about the culture and its values.
Below is the full text found within the webpage, and key words have been highlighted for
analysis.
It started with an idea and a small handful of passionate
believers. It's grown a bit since then, but we still believe it's
the people we work with who bring our brands to life.
Ours is a place that values creativity. Where colored
tights and sparkly heels are standard attire.

We are interested and invested. Personal style is applauded
and cultural curiosity is encouraged.

We find inspiration everywhere- and from everyone.
Make a sketch, pick up the phone or send a note.
New ideas are essential.

We're passionate people. We're playful, too.
Don't take yourself so seriously that you forget
that what we do is fun.

We're a group of individuals working together as a team.
Succeed and there are plenty of people to cheer.

The bar is high. If it were low, we'd only trip over it.

We strive to be the best – to do things in a way that's
uniquely our own. Always optimistic, often irreverent and
wonderfully original.

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This is the spirit of our brand. It's what makes us
who we are.
Illustration 1 Kate Spade & Company’s About Us Page
As illustrated in the text, company values are described and all can be felt and
realized when interacting with the brand. When entering a Kate Spade store, speaking
with an employee, or using one of its products, it’s evident that the values are inscribed in
each touch-point. The retail stores are designed to appear creative and playful, with an
abundance of colors laid out all around. The products are of high quality material and the
customer service is attentive, which both meet the values of striving to be the best and
setting the bar high. Each store contains a quote that describes a “Kate Spade” girl, the
company’s buyer persona:
She is quick and curious and playful and strong. She is a voracious reader
and a fantastic dancer. She saves old snapshots, but always loses her
umbrella. Her emails pile up, but she never forgets to call her
grandmother. She has $7 in change at the bottom of her handbag.
This quote directly aligns with the company values of being optimistic, playful,
creative and curious. Furthermore, creating a target customer as part of the branding
strategy adds the element of aspiration. This strategy encourages consumers to aspire to
be the target customer, the Kate Spade girl described above.
All the touch-points experienced are part of the culture of Kate Spade, and this is aligned
with the company values, thereby creating trust between the stakeholder and the brand.
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2. Logo

Image 16 Kate Spade New York Logo

Image 17 Kate Spade & Company Logo

Image 18 Jack Spade Logo

As illustrated by Images 16 through 18, the logo designs are consistent with one
another, as each contains bold black text. This is important for the Kate Spade parent
company because it wants to convey the same image as its brands, Kate Spade New York
& Jack Spade. The choice of black font is strategic because it conveys luxury,
particularly important for Kate Spade New York as the brand aims to offer “aspirational
luxury with a clever wit and playful charm that is distinctly [its] own” (Kate Spade &
Company, Our Company).
The color black can also signify exclusivity and glamour, other descriptions that
Kate Spade and Jack Spade seek to convey. For the Kate Spade New York logo, the
addition of the spade symbol adds quirkiness and wit, aligning well with Kate Spade’s
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mission of providing products that are witty and charming. For the Jack Spade logo, the
text is bold, which helps to convey that this brand is for a male audience.
Since the Kate Spade parent company Kate Spade & Company was carefully
rebranded to highlight the success of the Kate Spade brand, the logo is designed to be
familiar so that eventually the parent company logo can carry the same weight, in relation
to recognition, as the brand’s logo. The logos resonate with stakeholders because they
directly communicate the brands’ and company’s mission through design and text. This
visual communication of what the brand is creates trust between the company and the
stakeholder; the stakeholder can form expectations of the company just by looking at the
logo. The look and feel of the Kate Spade and Jack Spade logos relate with their
respective brand personalities, and that is what helps build trust.

3. Social Media

Since the parent company, Kate Spade & Company, does not have social media
profiles, the analysis examines Kate Spade New York.
The content shared on the brand’s Facebook and Twitter accounts are consistent,
with some posts duplicated for each platform. The cover photos for both platforms are
matching, as seen in Images 19 and 20, and they are often changed depending on a time
of year. This season’s cover photo reflects Kate Spade’s new arrivals for the holidays.

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Image 19 Facebook Cover Photo

Image 20 Twitter Cover Photo

Kate Spade’s social media strategy consists of selling its products in an authentic
way, focusing on the act of sharing rather than promoting. On Twitter, the account often
shares the content of bloggers and influencers, particularly when these audiences interact
with Kate Spade products. On Facebook, the account is used to share promotional deals
and new product arrivals. On Instagram, the account is used to share its products as well
as photos that relate to the brand’s personality, such as photos highlighting patterns,
colors, fun food, and classic New York moments (Galante, 2012). Kate Spade uses social
media to authentically communicate and let its “brand voice” speak to stakeholders. Kate
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Spade instills trust in its brand on social media because the brand avoids publishing
commercial messages and instead focuses on engaging with audiences.
Analysis of Brand’s Content

Instagram Content - @KateSpadeNY

Image 21 Instagram Content

Useful: The content published on Instagram featuring various Kate Spade products
informs the audience of the products that are available. It also informs audiences that the
highlighted products make a great holiday gift, hence the hashtag #getgifted is included.
The hashtag is also unique to the company, which encourages audiences to enter a
conversation.

Focused: The content is relevant and meaningful because it pertains to gift giving during
the holidays. During this time of year, many audiences are searching for gift ideas, either
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for themselves or loved ones. This makes this content relevant and timely.

Clear and compelling: The story behind this photo is related to a party, as seen through
the incorporation of party imagery like glitter and champagne confetti. This is relevant to
the time of year, with holiday parties on the horizon. The witty pun about glitter being an
actual hue is straightforward and consistent with the brand’s tone.

High quality: The photo is well produced, crisp and clean, and clearly taken with a high-
quality camera.
Genuine: The photo is genuine because it allows the brand to be helpful to audiences by
lightly suggesting giving the brand’s products as gifts. Audiences likely feel joy when
they see this post as it inspires happy holiday memories.

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Facebook – Kate Spade New York

Image 22 Facebook Content

Useful: This type of content informs the reader of available products in an interesting and
unique way. It features a living room space and encourages readers to create the look for
themselves by purchasing specific products.

Focused: This type of content is meaningful because it strays from the strictly
promotional. While the company is promoting its products, it does so in an authentic and
engaging way, showing what type of “look” a consumer can get.

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Clear and compelling: The photo of the bedroom and the text telling viewers to imagine
a pretty space when they wake up sets the stage for promoting the product. It creates a
story, making this post not appear overly commercial or promotional.

High quality: The photos are very well produced, as they are professionally shot. The
glimpse at the bedroom is intriguing because it is stylized and hints at a room that looks
lived in.

Genuine: The post is genuine because it is a piece of content that provides helpful advice
on how to create a look that target audiences would likely want to create.

Twitter - @KatespadeNY

Image 23 Twitter Content
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Useful: This type of content entertains audiences because it is video that visually depicts
the Kate Spade lifestyle by featuring celebrity spokesperson Anna Kendrick. The video is
whimsical, witty and clever, making it entertaining to watch.

Focused: The video is relevant to the holidays because it involves a holiday party.
Audiences who view the video during this time of year will get a glimpse of what’s in
season and what is being sold at Kate Spade.

Clear and compelling: The video is a story of a girl, featuring Anna Kendrick, and her
misadventure that she experiences when she jumps into a cab with another actress. It is a
witty and clever piece that ties in nicely with Kate Spade’s brand identity, all while
showcasing the brand’s outfit pieces. Kendrick clearly epitomizes the Kate Spade New
York girl.

High quality: The video is interesting because it tells a story featuring two well-known
actresses and is well produced.

Genuine: The content is developed to capture the hearts of consumers during the
holidays, as it inspires viewers to think of their happy and joyous memories.

4. Employee Interaction/Customer Service

Kate Spade New York recently announced that its retail employees would no
longer be labeled as retail associates, but as “muses” (Tuck, 2015). Muses continue to
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provide assistance to customers, but also facilitate an “authentic experience that’s
customer-led,” said Mary Beech, the company’s chief marketing officer (Maheshwari,
2015). The name change comes from the idea of “a muse of style, a muse of lifestyle,
and a muse of the interesting life” (Maheshwari, 2015).
This implementation of a new name for retail associates and the goal of creating
improved customer service is essentially Kate Spade’s way of converting employees into
brand ambassadors. When customers interact with employees, they are experiencing the
brand personality first hand. Part of being a “muse” is to “to authentically engage with a
customer and [provide what the] customer wants to experience [at] Kate Spade that day”
(Maheshwari, 2015). This idea of being a “muse” is consistent with the Kate Spade
brand and is an authentic way to allow the company to connect with customers by
developing a trustworthy relationship.
Conclusions

Kate Spade & Company and its brands manage to build trust through their various
brand-enhanced touch-points. Part of its success is due to the re-brand of the parent
company, as it helped to further increase awareness and trust in the company. Prior to the
formation of Kate Spade & Company, many stakeholders would have unaware of the
parent company, but now that it highly focuses on its brands, stakeholders can make the
connection.
Kate Spade New York’s branding strategy is effective because it is cohesive,
authentic and meaningful to its consumers. It’s also trustworthy because it has built a
consistent experience, both in interactions online and offline. When consumers interact
with the brand, they get a sense of the brand’s voice and personality due to its strong
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brand identity that can be witnessed through the brand’s logo, culture, values, social
media platforms and customer service. Kate Spade New York is successful at projecting
the expectations and promises customers would have for the brand.

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Chapter 6: Recommendations

The Importance of Brand Trust

After conducting primary and secondary research on brand trust and the
importance of an effective branding and content marketing strategy, it is evident that
understanding what contributes to brand trust in public relations is crucial. With the rise
of new tools and communication platforms, public relations practitioners must
acknowledge the various ways they can build trust between companies and their
stakeholders.
Public relations practitioners must be aware of – and drive – a company’s
branding and content marketing strategy, as it sets a foundation for PR communication.
Keeping these elements aligned will allow consumers to trust the company. Public
relations practitioners must also amplify the importance of brand trust within an
organization, as it leads to consumer loyalty and improved performance. Lastly, public
relations practitioners must work with management to devise an effective brand identity
and content marketing strategy that will work to build a trusting relationship between the
company and the consumer.
Considering Marriott International, Inc., Virgin America and Kate Spade & Company
have implemented successful branding and content marketing strategies that helped them
build consumer trust, several recommendations for other organizations should be noted:

1. Conduct a brand audit to see whether the brand messaging aligns with consumers’
actual interaction with the company
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This is the first step an organization should implement when looking to strengthen its
brand(s) or considering a re-brand. Every interaction between brand and customer will
ultimately build consumer trust, so these touch-points must be audited prior to
implementing any changes. Organizations must determine whether or not the touch-
points reflect the mission, purpose and values of the brand. The entire messaging of the
brand, whether it is visual, verbal or behavioral, must align with the actual interactions
customers have with the company/brand.

2. Create a resonating logo by matching it to the brand’s personality
Organizations must be attentive to the design elements of the logo and determine whether
or not the logo reflects the brand’s identity. The choice of font and color does have an
impact on a subconscious level, influencing the consumer’s opinion as to whether or not
an organization is, in fact, trustworthy. When the organization has a logo that resembles
what the brand wants to convey about itself, it becomes a natural fit that builds trust.

3. Align the brand’s culture with the company values
Organizations must align a brand’s culture and personality with company values or there
will be a disconnect that will be clearly discovered; this kind of disparity will weaken
consumer trust. Thus, organizations must be aware and continuously re-vise whether or
not the brand’s culture is actually matching the core values of the company.

4. Communicate on social media platforms consistently and authentically
Organizations must have an online presence, and social media channels provide endless
opportunities for brands to connect with consumers. This ability to connect and build a
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relationship with consumers allows for organization to build trust. Thus, publishing
content that is consistent and authentic is crucial for strengthening the bond between
audiences and the brand/company.

5. Develop and publish content that is useful, focused, clear, compelling, high quality
and genuine
For organizations to implement a successful social media strategy that builds consumer
trust and loyalty, social media accounts must provide valuable content. Such valuable
content can be in the form of a photo, a status update, a video, a blog post, etc. The key is
to make sure the content provides value to the audiences by being useful, focused, clear,
compelling, high quality and genuine.

6. Encourage employees to be brand ambassadors
Organizations must develop the brand experience in all aspects, especially when
customers interact with company employees. Motivating employees to be brand
ambassadors allows them to embody the brand’s attributes and personality. It also further
engages employees in the workplace, making it possible for team members to build
relationships with customers and thus building consumer trust.

7. Monitor branding and content marketing strategy and its communication tactics
Lastly, public relations practitioners need to be ever vigilant about monitoring all parts of
the brand strategy and the resulting communications. If, for instance, Kate Spade retail
“muses” became less-than-helpful during customer interaction, this could place the brand
in danger. Practitioners also would be wise to examine social media trends to assure that
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brands are not simply jumping on the bandwagon but are authentically interacting with
stakeholders.

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Appendix A: Interview Transcript with David Liljegren

Interviewee: David Liljegren, President & Chief Strategic Office of ADK America

1. What do think a brand should do in order to convey trust?
A lot of it comes down to performance. Many years ago brands could sort of go out there
and say what they wanted to do, ‘I’m just going to say that I stand for this’ and your
products and/or performance may or may not have met that promise. It was harder for
organizations and individuals to connect the details of the activity or environment that is
being created to fulfill that promise with the words. The old saying, ‘you got to walk the
talk’ that is a very popular one now a days. Over the last ten years, the ability and
transparency in business and employment, actions and activities, promises and
performances has changed dramatically with the internet and social and all of the new
communications tools that are out there. Performance is key. You have to say what you
are going to do and perform on a very individualized basis these days. The key for it
though is knowing what you want to say and perform on it. Good brands really focus in
two ways: either hunt for the unmet need in the marketplace and tailor that action to
match that, but it has to be true to who they are. You can’t suddenly say there is a
demand for pink elephants, I’m going to make pink elephants, if you actually make
automobiles.
There is a trust factor in the believable, so it has to be true to who you are and true to the
need, and performance has to meet. It has to be a complete circle.

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2. What do you think it means to trust a brand from a consumer’s perspective?
It is a confidence. It is a quiet level of confidence and an expectation of performance, it’s
a comfort level of not having to search for an alternatives. It’s like a trusted friend. You
know you can rely on them. Branding can also be thought of as a very personal
experience. Think of your best friend, why do you like your best friend? Well a brand can
be a best friend too. I don’t even think to go anywhere because I know that works, it’s
right for me. I’ve arrived at this point of satisfaction, through trial and error, I’ve tried
other goods and services, I like this one, it works for me. That trust level has to be broken
for me to consider an alternative. From a consumer point, you are advocates. There is a
range of loyalty, there are people who will absolutely advocates, like Apple. Apple makes
a large range of products but are they that much better than their competitors? Lots of
people who would probably say no but trying to convince the Apple advocates of the
world, and you would never convince them. Then you have people like me, who think it’s
a great product but I could be swayed.
3. What makes a brand trustworthy?
Trust is a consistent level of performance, [brands] aren’t schizophrenic. You don’t want
your power company to suddenly open a restaurant. That is why you see in lots of
mergers, people will buy things that are within their wide-space of brands and
organizations, and then divest them if they don’t fit within the value proposition that they
trying to play out. Why do I think something is trustworthy? It is consistent. It can
surprise me but it has to surprise and delight me. It’s got to be something that extends out
of the beliefs of what this brand can do. A very important part of branding is permission.
There is a reality of the permission the audience will you give to change. It’s like
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McDonalds open a hotel, yes I give them the permission to be really good at fast food,
and maybe you can extend into healthy fast food, but jumping over here and pulling out a
hotel – no it doesn’t work. Brands exist within the context of the history of their
communications and their environment.
4. Why are trusted brands important from a business point of view?
The beauty is that you are a short cut to a solution. I’m not going to search, I know
already, I have my short list. As a business, [being on that shortlist], I’m already pre-
qualified to get that business.
Part of building trust, is making sure the brand understands their audience. Find the
attributes that people hold important but haven’t had enough of. When it comes to
defining the value and how a brand can position itself, within the context of where it can
move, it has to discover very closely those things that you need more of that you would
give me permission to provide you.
When it comes to trust, a customer thinks: prove to me that you understand me, provide
things that delight me and don’t suddenly change mind, don’t scare me.
5. What are the differences between admiration and trust when it comes to brands?
I could admire [a brand] for being crazy, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I trust them.
There are companies out there that are constant innovators; they are pushing the
boundary of something. They could be very exciting to watch but do I want them? No I
don’t necessarily want that in my back pocket, [I would be afraid] it might blow up. It
becomes critical in the brand positioning, who are you targeting and what do they want.
Some people want bleed-edge innovation, the latest in everything.
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6. Can you describe how important it is for a brand to build a strong branding
strategy?
In communications, there is a challenge when you get in environments that are tough
economically and a huge demand for ROI. It has become the classic problem with any
Communications functions: how do you prove a straight-line relationship between this
notion of spending and investing in a brand and the dollars? It’s very hard to make that
100% connection.
If you accept the notion of having a powerful brand fundamentally helps business,
because it shortens the new business cycle and helps retain loyalty. A lot of businesses
face the challenge of not necessarily having a bad brand definition or strategy, they have
a problem in the communication of that strategy, and how to keep people aligned around
things. Think about how the nature of businesses has changed; think about the
communications environment that swirls around the organization and the speed in which
that changes. Now when you build a 9 month long campaign, once it’s launched, 20
seconds later you can see the audience comments on social media. You’ve got a social
media agency who is watching this and maybe are in charge of how to respond, you have
the traditional ad agency that might be responsible, you have employees, how does an
organization keep itself moving forward in a consistent manner? That is the role of a
consistent brand strategy. It is a clear and concise way of where you are going. It’s a
destination. It constantly needs to be built, fit and improved. If the organization wraps
itself around that and believes that, then I know what my brand stands for. People in the
organization fundamentally know where they are going and what they have to do to
support the brand.
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A strong branding strategy is not only an important communications device, but it’s a
very important organizing principle, both inside and outside the organization. It helps you
prepare for rapid communications. If your social media person understands the three core
tenants of what your brand has to stand for, then they are more likely to respond to an
immediate comeback. Without that knowledge permeating through the organization, how
do you keep it from going schizophrenic?
As a brand consultant when working with brands, it’s not about pulling everything
together and see what comes out. It’s a matter of throwing things out. It’s the willowing
process to get to the things that really matter. It’s the meshing of the business strategy
and the branding strategy. There are totally inter-related and mutually related on each
other.
My first job is to understand the business strategy. Where are you going? Where does the
business need to go because branding is a way to help you get there.
Branding is a very utilitarian tool, your brand is as critical as to the performance as
anything else, and even more so as your environment becomes more chaotic.
When you look at things like luxury branding, the emotional contract is different. People
will buy it, because they are associating themselves with the brand for different reasons,
because they want to share the emotional value of that brand. These brands help you be
cool.
7. What are your thoughts on social media’s impact in creating trust?
Social media is a tool. In my mind it still has to be proven the value it can actually
deliver. IT is very difficult to connect likes and impressions with actual business
performance. Coming from the view that a brand is an important business tool, there’s an
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uncertainty there. Many organizations are not really structured for the world that
embraces social media. They are not nimble enough, they don’t know how to respond
quickly. The beauty of social, you can actually have a real dialogue with your audience.
The challenge for organizations is to actually be real and then allow a bad conversation to
exist at the same time as a good conversation. There is this desire to curate, to edit, to
push away, well as soon as you do that, your brand in the social world starts to look false.
Leveraging social media for brands has to be carefully thought out. A brand strategy
helps those [who are managing the social media accounts] know how to respond in real-
time. It’s making sure the brand strategy is embedded into the organization or making
sure the two aren’t in conflict.
When it’s done with honesty and open-ness and integrity, it can be a massive help. These
are words that are important in brand. If consumers think they are being sold, it’s not
going to work.
8. A company’s culture & values articulate the brands overall image, what key
phrases or words lead to consumer trust?
It’s very hard to tell someone to be something they are not. When you’re talking about
culture of organizations, you are straying into a huge world of organizational psychology.
I started the employment engagement practices 20 years ago, so I’m a huge employee
communications guy. I think it’s critically important for organizations. The challenge is
for a while now, there was this notion of an employer brand, I fundamentally disagree
with it. The problem was you would have the HR departments defining an employee
brand and then you have the marketing or branding areas defining the organizational
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brand, and they weren’t the same thing. Employees were extremely confused as to what
the [organization] means, how does this come together?
There’s a master brand that represents everything, down to a fragmented “house of
brand” analogy, where there’s a brand for every product. I’m assuming you’re talking
about the core employee brand, where you ask yourself who I am every morning and who
I work for. Within that context, values, mission statements and the brand becomes a very
integrated set of platforms. I call it key management statements or key management
platforms. They are often done independently and try to fit retroactively.
I’m sure you’ve seen the classical period, where you have mission/vision/values, brand,
consumers etc. It’s a lovely hierarchy of communications. This was always a struggle for
me. First of all because there’s too many things, employees just can’t grasp it. They think
“Okay I’ve got a vision, a mission, I’ve got my values, I might have some audacious
goals, I got some strategic imperatives floating around, and now this brand thing- what do
I do with that?” Where does one look when you need help? What is guiding what?
There’s two competing things, organizations create their own internal noise and that
becomes harder and harder for employees to work out. Organizations now put on so
much pressure on employees to multi-task, so they don’t have time to pull this stuff, so
you got to make it easy for them.

The way I like to talk about organizations when I get into sort of deep-values definition is
that it is actually a core of things. You have your values, and your mission. These are
deep and lasting things that define who you are, they are not going to change. They are
very stable. Are you ethical? Are you entrepreneurial? These are the core of who you are.
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Like Southwest Airline’s mission is “We are going to democratize the skies” and
everything we do as an organization is making air travel and transport and the experience
of flying available to as many people as possible. This is very stable. It only changes
when something significantly rocks the deep DNA of an organization, like a massive
merger. When bank of something bought bank of something, and mushed together to
create this new thing, then somebody should step back and say: “what is at the core of
that?” Often cases, it’s why mergers fail. Right at their core, there was a difference of
people that work for these things.
Then I have my vision. Companies will often flip the mission and vision. The vision
starts to say ‘if this is my fundamental reason for being, and this how I intend to comport
myself in the world, and how I want people to treat me and treat them’ – how do I bring
that to life? So now I’m starting to go, these are the big initiatives that I’m going to
define around me, that extend beyond the current planning cycle. These are 3-5 year
plans, I’m going to go this way, because I firmly believe. Toyota announced today by
2070 or 2090, they intend to have 90% of every vehicle they produce not powered by
fossil fueled, hybrid or not. That is an audacious visionary statement. These are your
long-term plans. Brands should encapsulate that. Brands sit around this. Essentially the
brand is the translation of this big intent of an organization, the mission, the vision and
values, it becomes the commercializing agent, of making that organization interact with
its audiences, regardless of who they are. You can have employers, customers, regulators,
and communities. All of these groups have an invested interest of what this thing [brand]
represents. If your statement out here [points to customers] doesn’t resonate with here
[points to regulators] you got a problem. Because these people are the same. Your
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customer can be a regulator and employees are all of it. It has to take into account the
way it brings the brand to life. If I want my brand to be seen as cool, you can’t say I’m
cool. You are cool by the nature of the things that you do. The words that you choose
need to be real with the people you are communicating to. There’s this horrible set of 50
or 60 words organizations use within value statements, and they become a corporate joke.
They are so over-used. Language and its ability to connect and convey emotion is critical
to branding but stereotypical constructs can destroy it.
This notion of defining brands is [realizing] that we’re all human, some less usual than
others. But you got to communicate in very real and sensitive ways. Now if I’m defining
the Nasdaq, I’m going to adopt language that is going to appeal to very aggressive
finance people. It’s not going to be warm and fuzzy. It’s going to be performance driven,
the notion and tone of that communication, the design. The steel in the design was chosen
deliberately. The hard edges were chosen deliberately to convey a brand with energy,
forward-looking, and momentum. You do use every element that you can pull from the
communications method to make brands real. Language is one of those elements.
When you think about how brands interact with the world, there are really 4
environments. There’s the environments they keep, those can be real or virtual. What you
do on social, how you build your environment. If you walk into Google’s headquarters,
and if it looked like a bank of America building, you’d be confused. You’d expect
[Google] to be very cool, you want to walk in there and see wacky stuff going on. That’s
who you think they are, that’s the perception. If their environments don’t match that, if
their website looks like it belongs to an accountant firm, there is a disconnect between
what you hope for, want and believe about the organization and how it’s acting.
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The products and services. You’ve got the environments you keep, and a brand also
expresses itself through its products or services. It’s performance characteristics; it’s the
things that are held dear. The way you design a product, it speaks a language, that is true
to the ethos of an organization.
That notion of purity, whether you are defining a bottle of water or a massive
organization, the purity of the promise and the ability to chase that and manage that and
do that and keep within that boundary is important.
By their products and services, by their environments, the next one is People. You are a
brand ambassador for USC. You are conveying the USC brand, you are internalizing it.
Every employee, every person in this agency, represents this agency, whether or not they
are selling it.

The last one is Communications. Getting this whole thing [points at the 4 squares] is an
effective brand strategy. The problem is, often cases, the way the businesses are
structured, simply doesn’t allow this to come together. There is no central organizing
principle. The maintenance people in charge in the organization don’t talk to the people
who are in charge of the brand.

Communications is a classic. All of a sudden, communications goes from a centralized
person who manages the brand, it comes down to the customer who has the product. The
customer is the incentive, but price is not a brand attribute.
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The imperatives of the business are not aligned with the core of what the brand needs to
be. There must be alignment between the management systems of the organization and
the core of what the brand needs to stand for, otherwise it will fail.
The very beginning of a brand assignment, I ask what do you think is important about
your brand, what are your strengths? It’s very difficult to answer, so I ask a different
question. Let’s think about the business and what you want to do and what you want to be
perceived as going forward. There’s ways that brands differentiate themselves, it’s called
the positioning spectrum. It was started by a company called Enterprise IG.
It’s a handy tool, because ‘what makes this organization great’ is a big question to ask.
There’s infrastructure, there’s products and services, there’s approach, there’s people and
there’s mission/vision/values/cores. Every organization has all of this. They make stuff,
there’s a way they do this, every one has people. For apple, they are all about innovation
but true innovation to the consumer is often meaningless. When I look at the latest
Surface, and the latest Apple, which one is better? I may not be able to tell the difference.
When incrementally improvement gets to the point where it’s unable to get experienced
by the consumer, there’s a problem. Is Apple at the point? They are getting close.
For infrastructure, it’s everything you can feel and touch. I am physical there and
physically present. For approach, there’s a way you interact with me is different. Whether
I am friendly, approachable or aggressive. These are ways we can talk about the
organization. Is there something that you want people to know about you, that they don’t?
Which part of the positioning statement do you want to talk about?
At its core a brand is fairly simple, it’s a definition of promise. What you are expecting
when you engage with me. It’s the promise. What kind of promise? That’s defining the
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brand strategy. How do I bring that to life? How does it come through in customer
service, in product design, in communications that re-enforce that idea, in ways that you
value?
When I think of the world of branding, I see it come into this new world for it because
there’s so many ways to communicate. There’s so many ways to extend your reach to an
individual. Unless you don’t have an organizing principle to help manage that, it will all
spin out of control.
9. What makes a logo resonate with a customer? How do you know it’s going to be
effective?
We spent a lot of time talking about the strategic underpinnings of a brand, well brands
aren’t just strategy. There’s emotion to them. How do you define emotion? That’s the
wonderful world of branding, it’s the intersection of creative art and strategic thinking.
Suddenly making that jump from one process to another, is incredibility difficult, so there
needs to be a bridge. That bridge is personality. I have spent time with CEOs defining the
core important things they have, but then they ask ‘how do you want me to talk.’ Do I
wear a suit? Or am I wearing Bermuda shorts? Am I friendly or fast? Am I aggressive or
calm? Do I use a sans-serif or a serif font? They both convey different things. The secret
is trying to project the personality. The way I like to do it is defining the brand’s
personality with three words, and they have to be human words. It creates a personality
set that I can take to a creative thinker. I have to talk about the emotional side of the
brand in a different way, a creative side. The designers need to know this softer language.
Logo designs, color systems, font choices are all subtle nuances that help convey the
brand’s personality, and when used consistently over time make rapid short-cuts to
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remind people of the brand. Some brands do funny little cues, and designers do that to
give some personality.
10. What resonates with the customer more? The color, the design or the entire
package?
It’s the package, it has to become an integrated thought. Where brands have problems is
when it isn’t an integrated thought and that can happen with any level, it can happen as
part of the value proposition or how it looks or feels. If you have one part of an
organization doing something with a look and feel, and another part of an organization
doing something completely different else, consumers might think they aren’t the same
company. The key is the business model defines the brand strategy. The brand strategy
and its manifestation and how it projects itself internally and externally is guided by how
to reach out, interact and engage with the target audience. You have to be able to blend
these two together.

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Appendix B: Interview Transcript with Brenda Lynch

Interviewee: Brenda Lynch, Senior Partner at Finn Partners

1. What do you think it means to trust a brand?
Trusting a brand means that in every interaction you have with that brand you have an
expectation and the brand delivers to that expectation and every so often exceeds your
expectation. I believe trusting a brand goes way beyond just a transactional point of view,
and so if a brand continues on delivering consistently to me, then I don't really trust it,
that's just the workforce. It has to have an emotional level to it, that's what makes the
difference and takes you from a tool to a trusted a brand.
2. How would you define brand trust?
I would define it as caring enough about the brand or a product to invest my
emotion and to invest a commitment in it and to set up a relationship with it.
3. In your opinion, what must a brand do in order to convey trust?
I would say every single touch-point throughout my days, whether it would be through
social media or at point of purchase or customer service, after I've bought the product, I
expect a consistent engagement with me, in a very authentic way. I expect you to live up
to your brand promise of who you are" in every single time you touch me or I engage
with you.
4. Can you describe how important it is for a company to build a strong branding
strategy?
I think it is extremely important in today's world, things are becoming commodities and
as there are more of the same thing or ways I can get things that are very similar, if I don't
have a sense of brand and brand loyalty to you, and I don't trust your brand, then there's
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not a reason to keep coming back to your particular product. I can buy or interact with
anybody's product. That is the point of difference: is your business selling a product and
is getting in and out of the market or is the business selling a product and is building a
company around it where you have customers that come back? They will only do that if
they trust your brand.
5. What are your thoughts on social media’s impact in creating trust?
Social media has upped the ante completely across the board as we think about how we
relate to brands. Before, a product was out there I either heard about it or not, I went and
bought it, if my friends used it, maybe once in a while I would talk about it with them,
but social media has changed all that. Now I'm seeing products a lot more, I'm hearing
conversations, not only from my friends but my social media virtual friends, so
conversations about products have become a much larger part of people's lives. Social
media has also changed the game because before I could make a okay product and people
were okay with it. Now if I make an okay product, social media is telling everyone there
is a better product out there. If I make a product but let you down in customer service or
let you down on one of the touch-points, you are going to talk about it and then you're
sharing that with people everywhere. There's no where to hide anymore, companies have
to make great products, stand behind them, market them correctly or it's all over Twitter
and Facebook and you're a chasing it like a ball that is rolling away from you and you'll
never catch it.
6. When company social media accounts create content, such as videos and images,
are there elements that should be in that content so that it could help build trust?
A post that goes beyond a commercial [conveys trust]. I've got a product and it's for sale
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versus I got a product and it fits into your lifestyle or this product relates to you. That
comes from several different things. The key is the words, the pictures, everything has to
be authentic to the tone of the brand and who they are. Second, it has got to make you
feel something, like give you humor, or it could make you feel "aw that's so sweet" or it
can make you angry. It's evoking an emotion and a feeling in you that is authentic and
relatable to whatever the brand or product is.
7. What are you thoughts on a company logo? What makes a logo resonate with a
customer?
I think that logos that resonate are ones that fit the identity of who the company is, so if
it's a kid's brand and it's whimsical and cute, you'd like that. If it's tech brand, it's going to
a stable, bolder colors and shapes because you'd want it to be rock solid. So it's that
balancing whatever the name or the look is of the logo with what kind of emotion again
you'd want it to convey. Then, it's how often do I see it, and where do I see it? Where do I
find it?
8. What are your thoughts on employees living out the brands?
I think it's two-edged. A portion of your employees living the brand is key to keeping the
brand fresh and young and constantly relevant, striving to keep where it needs to be.
That's really important, but I think half of your company should not be living the brand,
but understand the brand and continue to put a marketing discipline and quality discipline
around it. Using Red Bull as an example, if every body at Red Bull is an extreme sports
out there living life on the edge person, there's not going to be a lot of company left
behind because not every body can be living on the edge all the time. You can appreciate
it, but somebody has to be back at the office. It's that balance and also I think living the
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brand is key for a young company that is starting up and as that young company everyone
has got to live out the brand, but as the company grows, you have to bring in your
traditional marketers, MBAs to be able to keep it going, but they have to honor and
respect what the brand is and recognize the employees living out that lifestyle and I want
them to live it.
9. How can employees build trust through customer service?
Customer service has radically changed with the coming of social media. Customer
service used to be like this scenario: I alone used your product and in the primary of my
home, I had a bad experience, I'm upset, and then I had to decide to stop my whole life at
this moment, go find a piece a paper and write a letter and send it to you or go pick up the
phone and sit on a call and be told it is a 10-15 minute wait before I can tell you how
unhappy I am with your product. A lot of products were kept in the market place a lot
longer than they should have been, because companies could convince themselves that
their products were fine, because they weren't hearing back that people were unhappy,
and then they would have a focus group, and everyone would complain about something,
and the brand would go "oh who knew, no one knew they were unhappy, we would have
changed it." But with the coming of social media, that barrier has been significantly
lowered. If I have a bad experience with your product or service, my phone is in my hand
and it is super easy in the spur of the moment while I'm still mad shoot you a tweet, post
something and take a picture, and shout out to the world "can you believe this?" and
people are going to answer me back and people jump on to the conversation. Customer
service has really moved to social media. People expect for big companies to respond
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within 2 hours or for small companies a day. People expect brands to either make it right
or say "I've heard you."

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Appendix C: Interview Transcript with Jeremy Miller

Interviewee: Jeremy Miller, author of Sticky Branding

1. In your opinion, what must a brand do in order to convey trust?
I think it's building a consistent relationship with their customer. It's not about simply
being consistent or being authentic or all those types of trite words you hear in marketing.
I think it's really that deep relationship where somebody knows you, they like you, they
know what you stand for, they know what kind of experience they are going to have and
if that were repeated again and again you have that kind of depth to the relationship and
trust is built into that. Trust is actually built out of multiple experiences and multiple
touch-points that convey that this is the kind of experience that I'm going to get every
time I work with your product or service or business.
2. What are those multiple touch-points you referred to?
They can be anything, think about your favorite restaurant, what do you like about it? Is it
the quality of the food, the kinds of dishes you get, is it the wait staff, is it the decor. It's
probably all those things and they all kind of come together to create comfort. Every
brand has different touch-points; every company has different touch-points. It's
understanding what those primary ones are, and where do they have the most influence. If
you're looking at an internet brand like Zappos, it is going to be the website and phone,
and a bit of email and social media. Website and phone are the two primaries and its the
packaging and the experience you get when returning product, it's all those varying
interactions you're having, those are touch-points.
3. What do you think it means to trust a brand?
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I think it's going to be contextual to what you're doing. I don't have a necessary answer
for you, but I think you need to study the area of persuasion sciences. Look at what is
trust in the terms of modifying behavior and re-enforcing behaviors. Trustworthiness is
the next core credibility component, which refers to the communicators' perceived
honesty, character and safety. Honesty and character and safety are what would be pulled
from Dr. Richard Perloff from Dynamics of Persuasion.
4. How can a corporation communicate they are trustworthy?
You shouldn't use specific key words because whenever says "trust me", you don't trust
them. Trust is based on behaviors. It's what you do and how you behave and how you
interact and how consistently you do that because what breaks trust is when you behave
counter to what somebody expects. So the more you talk, the less trustworthy you are.
5. Can you describe how important it is for a company to build a strong branding
strategy?
There's really two perspectives about brands, its the internal perspective of you're
building and the external perspective of what you are. When you are in-line, when the
internal view of yourself and the external view of yourself are in-line, you really got a
strong brand because it's radiating. The growth of a brand is internal, brands are built
from the inside out, it's your vision, purpose, it's the way you organize your team, it's the
quality of your people and systems. If you have a beautiful design but your product isn't
great, people are going to see through that.
6. What are your thoughts on social media’s impact in creating trust?
It's just another touch-point. For some companies, it's very important, for others it's not. If
you're an airline or a hospitality company, anything that has a high consumer touch-point,
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then your responsiveness and engagement on social media and the way you are organized
is very important. If you are say an engineer product that has very low social media
traction, its probably not as important. Social media is a tool and you have to decide
whether that mode of communication is important or not.
7. A company’s culture & values articulate the brands overall image, what key
phrases or words lead to consumer trust?
It comes down to behavior. The best taglines are never said they are always delivered.
When someone can say what you are without telling them first, that is really the most
powerful brand positioning they have, because then they are really fulfilling that purpose
of why you exist and people can put their own words to it. It is very much behaviorly
driven, the benefit of words and the words of being simple and clear allows you to
communicate internally and externally what it is you are trying to achieve. When
you have the words to describe your mission, your purpose, your culture, and you can
articulate simply and succinctly, then people will say "Oh I get it" and they will agree
with it and identify with it as an employee or customer. That polarization is very
powerful.
8. What makes a logo resonate with a customer?
It is a symbol. Symbols are those things we identify with, it becomes a shorthand for
knowledge and information. When you see the apple symbol on the back of a laptop, you
know it's an Apple computer, and it has a whole set of story that is built into it. Symbols
can pull out memories you may have, for example when you see the McDonald's arches
from afar. A strong logo is a symbol and it becomes something that the true exposure
people identify with. If you look there's a fantastic white paper put out in the last couple
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of weeks, called the best logos are simple. There is a great deal of truth to it, the
consistency and simplicity of the image and the typography that creates the symbol.
9. What can employees do through customer service in order to build the trust
between a consumer and a company?
You are the front-line, the customer service is the interaction dealing with both positive
and negative circumstances and if its their ability to solve problem and ability to convey
the brand's purpose and meaning and culture. An arrogant company will come across
through their arrogant customer service. Customer service is the embodiment of how
customers interact with your business.

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Appendix D: Interview Transcript with Chelsea Krost

Interviewee: Chelsea Krost, millennial spokesperson, radio-talk show host co-founder of
MPulse

1. What do you think it means to trust a brand?
To trust a brand means to me that you are on board for a lot of their marketing tactics. We
get pounded by so many different avenues today, from traditional media, whether it is
television, print, strategic PR, and also social strategy and influence marketing. I think
trusting a brand means that you enjoy their content, you engage in their engage, share
their content and believe that truly what they are saying is true. Also I think trusting
brands means that you're consistently a consumer of theirs.
2. How would you define brand trust?
I think brand trust means again that you're consuming their content and engaging in their
brand via social media and you are loyal consumer and not a one time buyer. You're a
repeat customer.
3. Can you describe how important it is for a company to build a strong branding
strategy?
It's vital. I think without a branding strategy your company and/or product is not likely to
take off. I think a branding strategy is what makes or breaks a brand today. I think brand
is so much more than their services or their products. Now that we do have social media,
now that we can engage with brands, on our own personal time. I think a branding
strategy needs to include traditional branding but also implementing the social strategy
that is relevant to the younger demographic who isn't necessarily watching commercials
or paying attention to a pop-up ad or a billboard. I truly think a branding strategy is vital
for success.
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4. When company social media accounts create content, such as videos and images,
are there elements that should be in that content so that it could help build trust?
I think brands who utilize user-generated content, so the content that the every day person
is populating and generating, and posting and sharing on behalf of the brand's brand. It's
incredibly vital to appeal to the Millennials, generating that loyalty from the brand,
reviews are essentials to the Millennial demo, those 18-35. We are so much likely to
purchase something if the reviews are great. We are the Yelping generation. That content
of a review is user-generated content, and is dictating whether we do or don't partake in
that brand service or product. I think implementing organic and authentic user-generated
content into a branding strategy, into a social strategy, into a marketing strategy, is a great
way to get your consumers involved in a brand. It makes brands feel that much more
relatable and authentic. It's also cost-effective. It doesn't have to be some glamorous big
shoot for a commercial ad anymore. You can really crowdsource user-generated content
to make your campaign that much more unique and significant.
5. What are you thoughts on a company logo? What makes a logo resonate with a
customer?
I think logos today are really simplistic. Simplicity is king. Look at Facebook, look at
Spotify, even Twitter. It's some sort of icon that is representative of the brand. I don't
think that anything glitzy and glam-y is the way to go. I think truly showcasing your
brand's name in the logo is incredibly important and to make your brand relevant and to
make us all remember that that logo is associated with that company. I think simplicity is
key, I think we reverted back to simplicity. I think in the 90's it was more about the color
and glitz, but I think the lowercase is a popular thing right now, like Facebook or Twitter.
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Even mainstream television shows, they are having lowercase initial, which is not the
traditional norm usually.
6. What are your thoughts on employees living out the brands?
I think that is the way to avoid job hopping which is slightly an epidemic amongst this
generation. I think its a way to bring in your employee base that much more. Utilizing
your employees also be your brand ambassadors. It's such a great strategy because if you
have people working for you who truly love your company, they are going to talk about
your company and utilize your product or service that much more authentically. I think
the reason why you have such enormous amount of people submitting their resumes to
Google and Zappos of the world is because they are truly giving their employees an
experience in the workplace. It's not in a cubicle working 9-5 and you don't have a
relationship with your boss and there's nothing that you know that is exciting about that
workplace. I think bringing your brand to life in the workplace and allowing employees
to be your brand ambassadors is a great ripple effect in all ways.
7. How can employees build trust through customer service?
Customer service goes same in hand with that user-generated content category. Customer
service is one of the most likely reason that someone actually comes back to your brand
or product or service or doesn't. We are a very instant-generation, we want everything
fast, everything efficient, everything now. If that can't resemble your customer service
then you'll have a bunch of angry consumers. Jet Blue is wonderful, if there's a delay or
am unhappy about something on my flight, I'll tweet at them, they are so instantaneous at
getting back at you. I think that's some sort of customer service. Now if you are able to
appeal to your consumer via social media versus picking up the phone, I think it is
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absolutely vital to make a consumer happy. Again, to make your brand that much more
human. I don't think anybody likes to be prompted by a robot for an hour before they get
to a person. I think customer service either makes you have happy consumers or very
frustrated consumers, so again I think it's a vital element to a successful brand and a
successful way to keep your consumers happy.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Ariganello, Melissa (author)

Core Title Creating the brands we trust: how organizations in the lifestyle category build consumer trust through effective branding and content marketing in the 21st century

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/15/2016

Defense Date 04/15/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag branding,brands,content marketing,Kate Spade,Marriott,OAI-PMH Harvest,social media,Virgin America

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer (committee chair), Tenderich, Burghardt (committee member), Wang, Jay (committee member)

Creator Email ariganel@usc.edu,melissa.ari90@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-227283

Unique identifier UC11276479

Identifier etd-Ariganello-4249.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-227283 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Ariganello-4249.pdf

Dmrecord 227283

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Ariganello, Melissa

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA