There's been a lot of hype surrounding the Abercrombie & Fitch move this week - paying to keep someone from portraying the wrong brand image. And despite all the hype - its brought up a good question - how much control does any brand actually have over its image?

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY IT IS. IT'S WHAT THEY SAY IT IS", Marty Neumeier

Brands are all about perceptions, and perceptions are related to our gut-level, emotional response. That gut-level response is not easily influenced and near impossible to direct. Brands today live in worlds where people share their feedback about a brand experience everywhere and anywhere. We don't need experts to tell us what is worth our time. We trust the everyday consumer who shares their raw experience in a flash.

Coke has taken this learning to heart.

With over 33 million fans, Coke has the #2 most popular page on Facebook. But this was not a brand-birthed page Coke created to connect with the Facebook demos. Rather, it was just two everyday consumers who simply loved the Coke brand and wanted to start a Facebook fan page. With little effort, the page exploded to millions of fans. Most brand police would have filed a cease and desist and shut the page down. Not Coke. They saw beyond the legalese and embraced the energy of two passionate customers, later making this customer-created Facebook page their ‘official' page. That move only heightened their brand equity through a very human response.

I doubt Abercrombie's move will reap many long-term benefits to their brand. It'll be a small ripple that will no doubt help their back-to-school sales. But come November, they'll be asking themselves a similar question, "What gimmick can we pull now –to drive Christmas sales".

Picture from previous article posted in The Social Explorer.

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