What do brands think of us?

We all know a brand means, in essence, what its customers say it means. A company can shout from the rooftops what it stands for and bellow the fine-point details of its customer-centric promises, but all the best marketing and PR in the world can’t save a brand from lack of follow-through on the part of customer-facing employees. Am I right?

In Branded Customer Service, by Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart, the authors turn the equation upside-down and pose the question, “What do brands think about their customers?”

Barlow and Stewart offer as an example, Rolex. What does Rolex think of its customers – in my case, me? Their conclusion: I’m not good enough for a Rolex. While I might be tempted to quibble with the notion of falling short of a standard of good enough, there’s no doubt I’m not wealthy enough to drop $10,000 on a luxury watch. Nonetheless, The point is well taken: Rolex’s demographic is limited, I’m not in it, and the brand is perfectly comfortable with me knowing it.

That got me thinking, what does Best Buy (my employer) think of its customers? Our marketing and PR efforts position our friendly, knowledgeable, helpful “Blueshirt” employees as a key point of differentiation between Best Buy and competitors like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com.

We promise that our people will inspire customers with technology, to help them make sense of all the various options, thus alleviating “techno-stress,” the anxiety so many people encounter when they begin to sort out, for example, the TV viewing differences between LCD, plasma, DLP, LED, etc., or the cell phone pros and cons of carriers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.

A number of friends, neighbors and acquaintances have told me, “I’m not in your demographic. I do my research online, then I buy the lowest price I can find.” Before signing on with Best Buy, I was that guy too. What does Best Buy think of that customer? Frankly, I think we agree that he or she isn’t our demographic. Those aren’t the customers at which we aim our advertising dollars and PR efforts. Obviously, we’d like those people to buy from us (it does help the bottom line, after all), but Best Buy’s differentiating proposition is our ability to offer help to people who need and want it.

So what does Best Buy say about it’s customers (and mind you, this is my opinion, which very likely does not jibe with what our marketing bosses and in-house experts say)? If you’re an average Joe or Josephine who lacks the information and confidence needed to comfortably make a technology purchase, and would like someone who knows more than you do to help you figure it all out and show you how to turn it on, we’ll hook you up!

That sounds good on the surface, but where Rolex is comfortable telling people like me I’m not their customer (buy a Timex!), I’m not sure Best Buy really wants to tell technophiles they should feel free to shop elsewhere. I think we need to expand our tent and broaden our message.

What do you think? Is that about how you see it?

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