Brandjacking

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Brandjacking is an activity whereby someone acquires or otherwise assumes the online identity of another entity for the purposes of acquiring that person's or business's brand equity. The term combines the notions of 'branding' and 'hijacking', and has been used since at least 2007 when it appeared in Business Week referencing the term used in a publication by the firm MarkMonitor (MarkMonitor and its PR firm, the Zeno Group, coined the phrase; MarkMonitor registered "BrandJacking Index" as a trademark, but not the term "brandjacking" on its own). [1] The tactic is often associated with use of individual and corporate identities on social media or Web 2.0 sites, as described in Quentin Langley's 2014 book Brandjack, [2] and may be used alongside more conventional (offline) campaign activities.

Contents

While similar to cybersquatting, identity theft or phishing in nature and in possible tactics, brandjacking is usually particular to a politician, celebrity or business and more indirect in its nature. A brandjacker may attempt to use the reputation of its target for selfish reasons or seek to damage the reputation of its target for hostile, [3] malicious or for political or campaigning reasons. These reasons may not be directly financial, but the effects on the original brand-holder may often include financial loss - for example, negative publicity may result in the termination of a celebrity's sponsorship deal, or, for a corporation, potentially lead to lost sales or a reduced share price.

Brandjacking examples

Brandjacking avoidance

Brandjacking avoidance may include:

However, action against the brandjackers and their supporters can actually draw attention to the problem (the Streisand effect). For example, following Greenpeace's KitKat campaign, Nestlé had the video removed from YouTube, but Greenpeace quickly re-posted it to video-sharing site Vimeo.com and highlighted the attempted censorship using Twitter and other social media. [6] Attempts by Nestlé to constrain user activity on its Facebook fan page further fanned the controversy.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "'Brandjacking' on the Web". Arik Hesseldahl. 2007-05-01. Archived from the original on May 4, 2007. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
  2. ↑ Langley, Quentin (2014). Brandjack. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   9781137375353.
  3. ↑ Waddington, Steven (2012). Brand Anarchy: Managing corporate reputation. Bloomsbury. p. 94. ISBN   9781408157220. Waddington, quoting Quentin Langley's Brandjack News , describes brandjacking as "the ability for an individual to criticise and publicly shame a company ... [placing] the brand in a hostile relationship with the consumer."
  4. ↑ De bittere nasmaak van suiker Accessed: 7 April 2014.
  5. ↑ Dunlevy, Gabrielle (18 March 2010), Gory Greenpeace KitKat video goes viral, The Daily Telegraph - http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/gory-greenpeace-kitkat-video-goes-viral/story-e6freuy9-1225842479332
  6. 1 2 Nestlé faces KitKat boycott over links to 'palm oil killing orangutans' claim (18 March 2010), Metro - http://www.metro.co.uk/news/818000-nestle-faces-kitkat-boycott-over-links-to-palm-oil-killing-orangutans-claim
  7. ↑ Fowler, Tom (2008), Exxon Mobil says it's not behind 'its' Twitter account, Houston Chronicle - http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5920513.html
  8. ↑ BP’s Global PR vs. BPGlobalPR (2010) Newsweek - http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/04/bp-s-global-pr-vs-bpglobalpr.html
  9. ↑ Tapper, Jake (2008), Barack Obama's Fake Facebook Page (Courtesy of the RNC), ABC News - http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/barack-obamas-f.html
  10. ↑ Sarah Palin's Facebook Alter-Ego Gets Found Out (29 August 2009) Wall Street Journal - https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/08/13/sarah-palins-facebook-alter-ego-gets-found-out/
  11. ↑ Weiman, Lori (June 23, 2010), Watch Out For These Unsavory Affiliate Tactics, Search Engine Land - http://searchengineland.com/watch-out-for-these-unsavory-affiliate-tactics-44692
  12. ↑ Rosso, Mark; Jansen, Bernard (Jim) (August 2010), "Brand Names as Keywords in Sponsored Search Advertising", Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 27 (1): 81–98, doi: 10.17705/1CAIS.02706
  13. ↑ Company Created Official-Looking 'Class of 2013' Facebook Groups for Hundreds of Colleges - Chronicle of Higher Education
  14. ↑ Whitcomb, Dan (7 June 2011). ""Ken" doll protesters arrested at Mattel headquarters". Reuters . Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  15. ↑ Waltzer, Michael (10 June 2011). "Greenpeace Breaks Up Barbie and Ken to Save the Rainforest". Brandchannel. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  16. ↑ Langley (2014), pp.183-185
  17. ↑ "Success. Mattel and Barbie stop toying with the rainforest". Ethical Consumer. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  18. ↑ Langley (2014), p.185
  19. ↑ Frederick, Felman (2009-05-04). "The Cure for Social Media Brandjacking". E-Commerce News. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
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