I Think This Is How You Do It...

Hi. I'm Cosmik, and I'm AFK in Alterac Valley.

Shhh!

You and I haven't talked in a while. I like you. I've missed you. So let's get reacquainted by talking about something that happened a few months back because the past is safe but the future is scary and different.

Earlier this year discussion arose in parts of the blooOOOoogosphere including VirginWorlds.com

Not as excitingly unworksafe as it first sounds

in which everyone asked why World of WarCraft has more subscribers than EverQuest II. However, the primary reason for World of WarCraft's initial success, son nom est brand equity, didn't fully receive the attention it deserves so let's chat about that, why don't we.

In his book "Brand Aid", Brad VanAuken introduces his readers to the concept of brand equity with an example of two lunches.

In the first lunch, imagine that you are catching up with a close friend. In between the entrée and the waiter spilling water into your lap, your friend makes an odd remark.

I totally love your new haircut...mullet-head

You decide to shrug this off and attribute it to a bad day at work.

Next week, during your usual lunch, the critical remarks continue.

You're not pregnant? I could have sworn because you're so, you know, what with the wobbly bits...

You think to yourself that something must really be affecting your friend. Job. Family. Money. Health. That losing bid on eBay.

This behavior continues on for the next few meetings and regardless of how loyal and sympathetic you try to be, it gets to the point where you feel your friend has changed so much that you decide to spend less time together.

You're got a little something hanging on your lip. Oh, it's your face!

The end of the relationship comes next. It may take months, it may take years. But it comes.

Now, in the second lunch, imagine that the person you're sitting with is exactly the same except for the single fact that the person is a total stranger. The same conversations are made, the same remarks are said.

Fat arse!

Unless you like a little bit of masochism,

you'd end up walking away from the table thinking that the person is a total jerk, hoping to never see them again.

In the first lunch, you tolerate the person's behavior because s/he is a good and long-time friend. S/he had equity built up with you. The person in the second lunch, on the other hand, had no equity with you.

The same can be said for brands and companies. If you are familiar with and trust a company,

you are emotionally attached to that company,

you have equity invested in that company,

you are more likely to forgive said company if they do not meet the expectations of your relationship. On the flipside, if a company has no equity with you, you'll be quick to kick them to the curb should they fail to live up to your standards.

All of this is well and good if you have "friends" and go to "lunches". I prefer to think of it a bit like a school. With a school you've got a world based on classes, people trying to beat you and take your stuff, and everybody trying to score a mount.

This is a relatively new school, so a lot of people have only just enrolled having arrived from larger, more established schools. Even so, a few kids are already experiencing some popularity. One kid in particular...let's call him Tony...has begun to make a bit of a gang after the first party he held resulted in 500,000 people walking in through the front door of his Mom and Dad's house while they were away on holiday.

There were a few gatecrashers, some things got broken, and Tony's hired security could get a little heavy-handed sometimes, but it was still a pretty good party.

Now, Tony's trying to build up some equity with the rest of the kids because there are benefits to being the most popular kid in school. However, it's getting mixed results. Some kids are loving his parties. Other kids aren't getting quite what they hoped.

Especially those kids that went to the Sci-Fi themed party where Tony rearranged the furniture and swapped the alcohol for Red Bull halfway through the night.

Other kids just don't know Tony well enough to hang out with him.

Then a new kid gets transferred to the school from one of the larger nearby schools. This kid...let's call him Billy... is the talk of the entire school. At his old school he was captain of the football team, the lead in this year's musical, threw some awesome parties, and totally slept with Becky Hansen. And importantly, Billy is a kid that a lot of the other kids grew up with and hung out with before they enrolled in the new school.

Billy has a lot of equity with the kids at this school. So much so that many of the kids invite their other friends, ones that don't know Billy personally, to hang out with him. Needless to say, Billy's first party at his new school is a hit with the kids. Word.

And yeah, it helps that Billy's party has fun games, good food and bitchin' music, but you've gotta get the kids to show up first.

Oh, and remember - even though Blizzard has so much brand equity that Activision Blizzard is named as such and not Activision Vivendi, no company is above leveraging the equity of other brands in order to sell their own.

But Mr. T and William Shatner are actual people, not lunch examples! Actual people can't be brands!

They sure can, Sally. In fact, one of the most powerful brands to come out of Sony Online Entertainment is the Scott Hartsman brand. This brand has so much equity that when news broke that Vanguard development was moving to SOE, there were many calls for Scott to take control of it.

Similar scenes occurred when Scott announced his departure from SOE and people decried that this would result in the end of EverQuest II's period of steady improvements.

Not a team. Not multiple people. A single person. The Scott Hartsman brand.

 

-----

And hey, Merry Christmas to you. Let's swap present stories later, ok?

Comments

[Per]

Merry x-mas from Norway you lazy bum :)

[D-0ne]

You were a little easy on SOE there. SOE were the friend of a friend that was obnoxious about how great they are during lunch and then lights a cigarette while you're still eating.

[Stratumseind horecafraude Eindhoven]

In fairness, dude was drinking 50 Bulls a day.

[URL]

WOW! These are really great pics! I'll make the donation ASAP.

[Link]

I want you, now!

[Visit]

Thanks for adding the links.

[URL]

Amazing work!

[URL]

Be little more tolerant :)

[Main]

I do agree with you.

[My page]

Oh my God, yours site is excellent! Look mine:

[Home]

I'll try it.

[Site]

Great initiative.

[Homepage]

Im really happy to see all this...

[Main]

Good luck!

[Homepage]

Get outta here!

[Main]

You're totally right, I totally agree.

[Visit]

You're totally right, I totally agree.

[Main]

Good times!

[Enter]

Nice to have met you Saturday =)

[Enter]

Excellent article, will keep this in mind.

[Main]

No idea.

[Link]

Peace!

[Homepage]

Get outta here!

[Go]

Used to be one a week!

[Click]

Get outta here!