The end of brands | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon
-
0:09 - 0:13I'm going to talk about transparency,
transparency in general, -
0:13 - 0:19which could be transparency in philosophy,
in politics, or in technology. -
0:19 - 0:22Transparency leads
to a certain serendipity. -
0:22 - 0:25A distinctive serendipity.
-
0:25 - 0:32This serendipity is a weapon that can be
used practically anywhere on the Internet. -
0:32 - 0:35It will destroy many
of the brands all around us, -
0:35 - 0:39and it will destroy these brands,
as it attacks our imagination, -
0:39 - 0:44because our imagination is the land
of the brands around us. -
0:44 - 0:47I'm going to do a demonstration.
-
0:47 - 0:49Let's take an imaginary:
-
0:49 - 0:54Vermeer, a 17th century Baroque painter
we're all familiar with, -
0:55 - 0:59and there we have a brand
that we're also familiar with. -
0:59 - 1:03A very old one that is 41 years old.
-
1:03 - 1:07It has been with us for four decades.
-
1:07 - 1:11And now I'll show you how,
with a little imagination, -
1:11 - 1:13we can destroy a brand.
-
1:13 - 1:16In reality, this is nothing else
but a food-processing giant -
1:16 - 1:19that produces yogurt in a factory.
-
1:19 - 1:23That has nothing to do with art,
let alone with Vermeer. -
1:24 - 1:26What I just did,
-
1:26 - 1:32and what will definitively make you wonder
every time you see a "La Laitière" ad, -
1:32 - 1:38was a little thing many Internet users
already know about: -
1:38 - 1:41every day on the Internet,
-
1:41 - 1:45these unexpected messages are hammered
into you in a serendipitous way -
1:45 - 1:48so as to destroy brands.
-
1:48 - 1:52This summer, you probably didn't miss
-
1:52 - 1:57that reminder that all brands
have a political dimension. -
1:57 - 2:00And don't listen to politicians
that will tell you -
2:00 - 2:03that it's the fault of the Internet
or of social media. -
2:03 - 2:09Politicians are the first to use
transparency to solve a critical problem: -
2:10 - 2:11confidence.
-
2:12 - 2:16When an intense crisis of confidence hit
the French political world, -
2:16 - 2:20the first thing they did
was to pass a law on transparency. -
2:21 - 2:26It didn't really work, but politicians
forgot the dimension of transparency -
2:26 - 2:31which is that transparency comes from
technological determinism. -
2:31 - 2:35Transparency can also be used
by technology experts -
2:36 - 2:38as a political response.
-
2:39 - 2:40You're familiar with Wiki-leaks,
-
2:40 - 2:45and it didn't escape you
that because of the Wiki-leaks affair, -
2:45 - 2:48we no longer count on policy
-
2:48 - 2:54coming from transparency to impose
a reality and to destroy a lie. -
2:54 - 2:56And it also didn't escape you
-
2:56 - 3:00that Wiki-leaks means
lots of internet users. -
3:01 - 3:05These internet users
are called Anonymous. -
3:05 - 3:07Anonymous is utterly fascinating
-
3:07 - 3:11because it's the first real
social movement of the 21st century. -
3:11 - 3:14It's a movement distinctive
to the 21st century -
3:14 - 3:17in the same way syndicalism
was distinctive to the 19th century, -
3:17 - 3:21in the same way syndicalism was
distinctive to the Industrial Revolution, -
3:21 - 3:24Anonymous is distinctive
to the digital revolution; -
3:25 - 3:28And following the Wiki-leaks affair,
-
3:28 - 3:35the Anonymous were part
of all the big social protest movements, -
3:35 - 3:40in the Arab world, here in France,
the United States, Berlin, -
3:40 - 3:46in Paris, China, Istanbul,
or South America, -
3:46 - 3:50Anonymous was in all the major events
-
3:50 - 3:53that touched populations,
until recently, in France. -
3:55 - 3:57Anonymous is really interesting
-
3:57 - 4:00because it heralds the social debates
of the 21st century. -
4:00 - 4:06And these debates
will oppose states, as we've seen, -
4:06 - 4:08but also businesses,
-
4:08 - 4:11since Anonymous is already opposed
to a plethora of businesses. -
4:11 - 4:14Here is one of the most well known cases.
-
4:17 - 4:21Four years before Sony was attacked
by Kim Jong-un and his formidable pirates -
4:21 - 4:23(Laughter)
-
4:23 - 4:25four years before this sad episode
-
4:25 - 4:29that is easily worth as much as
Saddam Hussein and anthrax combined, -
4:29 - 4:34Sony was attacked
by different kinds of enemies, -
4:34 - 4:37in what was known as a digital Fukushima.
-
4:37 - 4:41Sony was attacked by Anonymous,
-
4:41 - 4:45helped by another
group of hackers, called LulzSec. -
4:46 - 4:50And LulzSec followed
a very simple procedure: -
4:50 - 4:56they took what used to be, at the time,
Sony's confidential information, -
4:56 - 4:59such as credit card numbers,
user names, and passwords, -
4:59 - 5:05and they made them public,
allowing endless pirating to happen. -
5:05 - 5:08Users on PlayStation Network are like you.
-
5:08 - 5:11They always use
the same user name and password. -
5:11 - 5:13Once I have your user name and password,
-
5:13 - 5:19I can access anything: the Amazon account,
your Paypal, your company's intranet. -
5:19 - 5:22And if you work for the CIA,
this is a serious problem. -
5:22 - 5:25This had dramatic consequences for Sony.
-
5:25 - 5:28Here we see Sony's share price
over a three-month period. -
5:29 - 5:33First off we have Fukushima
- this took its toll on their share price- -
5:33 - 5:36secondly, there was Anonymous.
-
5:36 - 5:39Thirdly, the arrival
of the infamous hacker group LulzSec -
5:39 - 5:43who in a manner of speaking
instrumentalized Anonymous and the masses. -
5:43 - 5:48Compare this to Nikkei, the equivalent
of CAC 40 in the Japanese market, -
5:48 - 5:52and you'll see that, first of all,
Sony and Nikkei follow the same trends, -
5:52 - 5:54and secondly, well, it all falls apart.
-
5:54 - 5:56After analysis,
-
5:56 - 6:02we see Sony has lost 3.5 billion
in its stock market value in this period, -
6:02 - 6:06of which two thirds
are attributed to Anonymous. -
6:06 - 6:07In the end,
-
6:07 - 6:13this digital Fukushima will cost Sony
1.7 times the real Fukushima. -
6:13 - 6:15That's huge.
-
6:15 - 6:20And among the things
that deteriorated Sony's value, -
6:20 - 6:24right off the bat
we have its brand, the Sony brand. -
6:24 - 6:27So let's imagine that brands are valued
in the same way as companies -
6:27 - 6:29in the stock exchange.
-
6:29 - 6:33A business's trademark is a part
of its worth in the stock market, -
6:33 - 6:36especially when it is widely known.
-
6:36 - 6:38Today's problem is
that we are going back to a world -
6:38 - 6:41where a company's brand
is its Achilles's heel. -
6:44 - 6:47Not counting brands
that already have stock market value, -
6:47 - 6:49there is an astronomical quantity of them
-
6:49 - 6:53whose prices can sometimes reach
ridiculous amounts. -
6:53 - 6:57This year, Apple's value
has exceeded 100 billion dollars. -
6:57 - 7:00If you take the 100 biggest
brands in the world, -
7:00 - 7:06their total worth would be
2.9 trillion dollars: -
7:06 - 7:09an enormous bubble.
-
7:09 - 7:11An enormous bubble
built on the relationship -
7:11 - 7:15between brand equity
and confidence equity. -
7:15 - 7:18This brand equity is calculated
somewhat scientifically, -
7:18 - 7:19astonishingly enough,
-
7:19 - 7:22using the consistency
-
7:22 - 7:26between a company's practices
and the value their brand. -
7:27 - 7:30And that's what will attack the masses.
-
7:30 - 7:33And they're going to attack
places we all know well: -
7:33 - 7:37Facebook, Twitter, things like that.
-
7:37 - 7:40All of you have a Facebook account,
maybe a Twitter account, too. -
7:40 - 7:46And maybe you've come across
this serendipity, two years ago, -
7:46 - 7:49when the Rana Plaza
collapsed in Bangladesh, -
7:49 - 7:51killing hundreds
of working women and children, -
7:51 - 7:56and among the rubble and bodies
were found Benetton labels, -
7:56 - 7:59highlighting the complete inconsistency
-
7:59 - 8:04between the values of the brand,
and the company's actions. -
8:04 - 8:06The trademark disappeared.
-
8:06 - 8:1030 years of communication thrown away.
-
8:10 - 8:14You couldn't have missed this serendipity
-
8:15 - 8:18during the horse meat scandal.
-
8:19 - 8:24Again, the masses
are armed by serendipity. -
8:25 - 8:27And in the Arab world,
-
8:27 - 8:32you couldn't have missed this serendipity,
-
8:33 - 8:35lasting all summer,
-
8:35 - 8:39that provoked a collapse
in Coca-Cola's market shares -
8:39 - 8:41in the entire Arab world.
-
8:41 - 8:46Today's issue is
that businesses are becoming -
8:46 - 8:52more and more attached to their brands
in a way that is inspired by Dorian Gray. -
8:52 - 8:57On the one hand, we have a brand that is
public, beautiful, young, dynamic. -
8:57 - 9:00On the other hand, a company
-
9:00 - 9:05that's rarely public, rarely young,
and rarely dynamic. -
9:06 - 9:11On the one hand, we have values,
on the other, we have habits. -
9:11 - 9:16On the one hand, we have a brand's imagery
on the other, we have reality. -
9:16 - 9:18On the one hand, we have consumers,
-
9:18 - 9:21who are imagined abstractions
of publicity agents, -
9:21 - 9:26and on the other,
we have citizens, you, me, all of us. -
9:26 - 9:29Nobody here can be reduced
to a simple consumer, -
9:29 - 9:31at least, not without a serious lobotomy.
-
9:31 - 9:33(Laughter)
-
9:33 - 9:34The issue we find ourselves in
-
9:34 - 9:39is that little by little, this barrier
between public and private, -
9:39 - 9:44which we've all seen change with Facebook,
and the adolescents who use it, -
9:44 - 9:47this barrier also exists for businesses.
-
9:47 - 9:48And little by little,
-
9:48 - 9:52the private domain of a business
is becoming more and more public. -
9:52 - 9:56And under the impulse
of the crowd, little by little, -
9:56 - 9:59the private workings
of the business will become public. -
9:59 - 10:03Today marks the beginning
of a digital revolution, -
10:03 - 10:10which will force brands to apprehend
transparency, without fighting against it, -
10:10 - 10:14but understanding
and manipulating this transparency, -
10:14 - 10:16and taking part of it, one way or another.
-
10:16 - 10:18The digital revolution will force brands
-
10:18 - 10:22to interact with the masses,
rather than put up with them. -
10:22 - 10:24The digital revolution
will force trademarks -
10:24 - 10:27to integrate this famous serendipity.
-
10:27 - 10:30To make it theirs, not to be victimized.
-
10:30 - 10:34And finally, the digital revolution
will force brands -
10:34 - 10:38to share the imagery
which was once exclusively theirs. -
10:38 - 10:40Thank you.
-
10:40 - 10:42(Applause)
- Title:
- The end of brands | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
How the Internet, thanks to citizen action, transform brands. And even destroys them.
- Video Language:
- French
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 10:48
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon | ||
Denise RQ approved English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for La fin des marques | Fabrice Epelboin | TEDxLyon |