User:Robbhecht/Brandhackers

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Brandhackers is a 2,000 member monthly Manhattan Meetup which began in 2008 in New York City by Robb Hecht - one of the first new media labeled CIOs (chief innovations officer) by Entrepreneur Magazine. The initial informal rather culty monthly Meetup soon turned into an on and offline social network showcasing prominent and rising digital marketing and brand technology opinion leaders in the city including no-namers to EVPs and Presidents of major brands and tech companies. Over the course of three years the term "brand hacking" slowly moved into the marketing industry venacular with the same term and approach usurped by Silicon Valley West Coast digital events developed by advertising publication AdAge in 2011.

Brandhackers is now a forthcoming business book based on Robb Hecht's Brandhacker Blog Posts since 2003 which will chronicle the brand hacking process and methods. Some in the marketing industry have referred to "Brandhacking" as sponsorship. Some have called it co-branding. Hecht's Brandhackers Movement rather has positioned "brandhacking" as a political economy of brand power, e.g. the process of leveraging the "power" or reach of a brand to another brand's benefit or to build a non-related cause/effect consumer relationship via messaging, repositioning, brand mashup or utilitarian technological integration. "Brand hacking" a brand, in Hecht's view, calls for tweaking the Brand API or core DNA of a brand ever so slightly allowing the brand to offer new consumer utility not entirely close to what the original brand was originally known for by the consuming public. This hack brings the brand into an area some in the consulting industry would call "taking a 'Blue Ocean Strategy'" or a leap into innovation not previously seen by a brand competitor in that same industry. In Hecht's view, via brandhacking the brand maintains its identity, but its utilitarian value may be perceived post "brand hack" in entirely new ways. In effect, the "brand hack" process Hecht chronicles innovatively mashes the brand up into an entirely new brand that previously didn't exist. Hence the name and process "brand hack". Hecht calls this "branding for good"; not 'brand hijacking', or what he calls "branding for bad".

The Brandhacking Movement Hecht propogates recognizes and embraces the power of all things digital (social media, mobile, online gaming, Search, SEO, GPS, comparison shopping engines and online video, etc) to target and influence customers with new and disruptive technologies and brand messages and seeks to facilitate and increase commercial transactions and brand engagement. Updating the well-respected Al Ries branding methods of the mass-reach and produced consumer goods 1950s-90s, Hecht's goal for the brandhacking marketing process is to strategically sell goods and services by encouraging companies and their crowd-sourced consumers to become involved in branding, vs. stopping the branding process altogether as proposed by Naomi Klein in her book "No Logo".

Some recent "Brand Hacking" example case studies include the marketing leadership at Banana Republic developing a new brand line of clothing called the MadMen Line to reach the TV show's target demographic. This brand hack positioned Banana Republic into an entirely new arena, beyond retail, e.g. TV audiences. Another brand hack example was Nike building the Nike+ System which moved the brand beyond just offering running shoes, but actually consumer technology. The brand identity stayed in tact, but the brand hack moved the brand into services not directly related to manufacturing and marketing just actual shoes - the brand's original core identity. The brand moved beyond manufacturing and marketing into tracking the consumer running experience, bringing Nike brand beyond just shoes but into utilitarian wearable technology provider.