The Bottom-Up Advocacy Blueprint: The 5 Reasons Why Caring Only about bar owners and Managers won’t Get Your Brand very Far
And how to stop this short-sighted approach
Brand Advocacy is one of the biggest focuses for Drinks Brands. But most brands do it wrong. They use it as a short-term tactic instead of strategically.
They focus on hierarchy and forget about the network.
I was recently re-reading one of my favorite books by Niall Ferguson: The Square and the Tower. He mentions:
“Networks have always been with us. Throughout history, hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but often real power has resided in the networks in the town square below. For it is networks that tend to innovate. And it is through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread.” (from Niall Ferguson website)
It clarified a thought that I’ve had in my head but couldn’t articulate: most brands nowadays approach the whole galaxy of advocacy and word of mouth in the wrong way. They focus on the Tower and less on the Square. They give crumbs to the square just to tick the box with the tower.
I am referring to Owners and Staff and not only to On-trade but to the Bottom-up trade. (Article below):
