Citi Says No to Social Networks

                       Citi Says No to Social Networks                    

                  

Why is CITI saying "no" to social media? Per MediaPost, it's "brand sensitive" and feels that certainly while teenagers will one day make their own financial decisions, exposing the CITI brand in the social networking environment may "hurt" its brand value.

Caution is always good. Media 2.0 might be pro-social networking, but we're not lunatics believing that social networks are for every brand. Nor that exposure in a social networking environment leads to an Armageddon of sales. But, the key "threat" CITI sees in launching its brand into the blogosphere and social networks is the risk of jeopardizing the controlled CITI logo and what it stands for to the masses. As a main CITI representative said, "I am very loath to put it at risk and let some individual do what they want with it." Hence, CITI's positioning is to maintain a positioning. Here is the new lesson in marketing 2.0 that many companies and organizations are facing: giving customers control over your brand. Can it or should it be done? And what happens if and when a brand manager decides to do that? Will brands become hijacked as Alex Wipperfurth suggests...leading to true brand democratization? Or will brand managers hold on to dear life to their Al Ries "Positioning" book and continue to view marketing as warfare and against the customer? I think we'd all agree that the branding process can be easier with this formal bible on hand.

Corporate America (e.g. CITI, to name just one major company) is not yet ready to take the gamble. And they are being vocal about it. Most of Corporate America is not ready to be challenged, and this makes sense because the marketing VPs that run these companies were brought up with Positioning. But, the American consumer is ready to challenge Corporate America (atleast online), oh and they can do it right now. What to do? Avoid social networks like CITI? Not join in the conversation? Stick to spin and control and don't add value yet? CITI seems comfortable for now, and that's okay. If CITI spent some $235 million in measured media--$11 million on the Internet--over the first six months of this year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, it had plenty of money to focus itself on its current marketing philosophy of "constant repetition of the message and clarity of the message". But the fact of the matter is, the consumer is changing from receiving brand messages to conversing with brand messages; so maybe CITI should reconsider, atleast in the future about how its consumers are accepting and working with brand messages. As the online voice of the consumer continues to grow and seeks to truly engage with brands online, CITI might change its mind; for as Positioning slowly dies as a method of branding, the open source branding approach to building customer relationships will lead to presences in social networks. And to more brand profitability.