New Technologies and Branding

<p>Prologue xi</p>
<p>Introduction xv</p>
<p>Chapter 1. What is a Brand? 1</p>
<p>1.1. The brand: a concept built from relationships 1</p>
<p>1.2. The brand is anthropomimetic 3</p>
<p>1.3. The brand as merchant 4</p>
<p>1.3.1. Exaggeration 4</p>
<p>1.3.2. Celebrity 6</p>
<p>1.3.3. A matrix for modeling celebrity? 7</p>
<p>1.3.4. Fallibility 9</p>
<p>1.3.5. Exaggeration, fame and fallibility: the trio from hell 11</p>
<p>1.4. The Brand exposed 12</p>
<p>1.5. All Brands are controversial 13</p>
<p>1.6. Leader? Tough luck! 16</p>
<p>1.7. The Brand is not set up for conflict 18</p>
<p>1.8. The Brand is not always agile (and that is an understatement) 19</p>
<p>1.9. The irrational reactions of the Brand 21</p>
<p>Chapter 2. Conflict 25</p>
<p>2.1. Etymology of conflict 25</p>
<p>2.2. What is a conflict? 26</p>
<p>2.3. When is there a conflict? 27</p>
<p>2.4. Conflict is complex 27</p>
<p>2.5. Experts of a small piece of the whole 28</p>
<p>2.6. Conflict can be an asset 29</p>
<p>2.7. The words of attackers are traps 29</p>
<p>2.8. The words you use are also traps 31</p>
<p>2.9. (Here) conflict is not 32</p>
<p>2.9.1. Conflict is not latent hostility 32</p>
<p>2.9.2. Conflict is not an accident 33</p>
<p>2.9.3. Conflict is not a judicial procedure 34</p>
<p>2.9.4. Conflict is not a game 34</p>
<p>2.9.5. Conflict is not a crisis 35</p>
<p>2.10. The characteristics of conflict 36</p>
<p>2.11. What do you think of when someone says conflict? 37</p>
<p>2.12. When someone says conflict, what should you think about? 38</p>
<p>2.13. What Sun Tzu has to say 38</p>
<p>2.14. What Simmel thinks 39</p>
<p>Chapter 3. The Players in Conflicts 41</p>
<p>3.1. The five agents of conflict 41</p>
<p>3.2. The attacked is the Brand 42</p>
<p>3.3. The attacker 43</p>
<p>3.3.1. Deciphering it in 12 points 44</p>
<p>3.3.2. Who are they? Are they isolated individuals, connected individuals or aggregate groups? 45</p>
<p>3.3.3. What is their level of cohesion, unity? 46</p>
<p>3.3.4. What are the official reasons presented? 46</p>
<p>3.3.5. What is their expected benefit? 46</p>
<p>3.3.6. What is their strategy: destroying confidence, preventing activity? 47</p>
<p>3.3.7. What are their beliefs, and how deep do they go? 48</p>
<p>3.3.8. How intense is their commitment? Are they ready to go all the way with it? 48</p>
<p>3.3.9. What is their history with the Brand? Among the critics, are there any who have been employees, customers or competitors of the Brand? 49</p>
<p>3.3.10. What is their level of interconnection or differentiation with the Brand? 50</p>
<p>3.3.11. What are their supports, their backers, their alliances? 50</p>
<p>3.3.12. What are their strengths and their means (financial, intellectual, media, etc.)? 51</p>
<p>3.4. The expected benefits 51</p>
<p>3.4.1. Weakening (winning is a failure) 52</p>
<p>3.4.2. Obtaining the recognition of harm 53</p>
<p>3.4.3. Obtaining reparations 54</p>
<p>3.4.4. Revenge 54</p>
<p>3.4.5. Correcting 55</p>
<p>3.4.6. Prevention 55</p>
<p>3.4.7. Destruction 55</p>
<p>3.4.8. What the attacker wants to damage 56</p>
<p>3.5. Allies 57</p>
<p>3.6. The audience 58</p>
<p>3.6.1. Immature humor, more than ever 59</p>
<p>3.6.2. Do not touch the nice ones 61</p>
<p>3.7. The arbitrators 62</p>
<p>Chapter 4. Hostility, from Yesterday to Today 65</p>
<p>4.1. The places, times and forms of conflict 65</p>
<p>4.2. The competition 65</p>
<p>4.3. The public square 66</p>
<p>4.4. The court 67</p>
<p>4.5. The borders of conflict: between separation and the contact zone 67</p>
<p>4.6. The temporality of conflict 68</p>
<p>4.7. What do the conflicts that engage the brand look like? 68</p>
<p>4.8. Guerrilla warfare and terrorism, excellent value for money 69</p>
<p>4.8.1. The fly s strategy 70</p>
<p>4.9. Scandal 71</p>
<p>4.10. Alert launchers 74</p>
<p>4.11. The social dynamics of conflict 76</p>
<p>4.12. Skepticism and modernity 77</p>
<p>4.13. Conspiracy theorizing 78</p>
<p>4.14. The scapegoat 79</p>
<p>4.15. The mystery of herd behaviors 83</p>
<p>4.16. Rumors 84</p>
<p>4.17. The crowd 85</p>
<p>4.18. Lynching 87</p>
<p>4.19. Trust, the first victim of conflict 88</p>
<p>Chapter 5. The Techniques of Conflict 95</p>
<p>5.1. Old methods botoxed for the digital age 95</p>
<p>5.1.1. The trap hoax 95</p>
<p>5.1.2. Denigration 100</p>
<p>5.1.3. Petitions 101</p>
<p>5.1.4. Boycott and buycott 102</p>
<p>5.2. New digital techniques 105</p>
<p>5.2.1. Astroturfing 105</p>
<p>5.2.2. Persona management 110</p>
<p>5.2.3. Google bombing 110</p>
<p>5.2.4. Trolling 111</p>
<p>5.2.5. Denial of service attacks 114</p>
<p>5.3. Databases as a tool for scandal–mongering 115</p>
<p>Chapter 6. Preparing for Conflict 117</p>
<p>6.1. Building a strong brand 117</p>
<p>6.1.1. Brand ladder 120</p>
<p>6.1.2. Identity prism 120</p>
<p>6.1.3. The pyramid of qualities 120</p>
<p>6.2. The narrative scheme 121</p>
<p>6.3. Stabilizing opinions 125</p>
<p>6.4. The art of the reply 127</p>
<p>6.4.1. Managing conflict from the start 129</p>
<p>6.4.2. Knowing the forces in play: the absolute obligation 129</p>
<p>6.4.3. Organize yourself 130</p>
<p>6.4.4. You have a point of view... Say it, loud and clear 131</p>
<p>6.4.5. Train your teams 131</p>
<p>6.4.6. Take charge on social networks 132</p>
<p>Chapter 7. Acting in Conflict 135</p>
<p>7.1. Five possible reactions to attack 135</p>
<p>7.1.1. The silent expectation 136</p>
<p>7.1.2. Indifference 136</p>
<p>7.1.3. Negotiation 136</p>
<p>7.1.4. Commitment 137</p>
<p>7.1.5. Capitulation 137</p>
<p>7.2. Can we refuse to acknowledge that we are wrong? 137</p>
<p>7.3. Apologizing costs less than it pays 139</p>
<p>7.4. Apologies and low points 141</p>
<p>7.5. The Streisand effect 142</p>
<p>7.6. Are you going there? Keep zen and in control 143</p>
<p>7.7. Keep a conflict journal 145</p>
<p>7.8. Orchestrate engagement techniques 147</p>
<p>7.8.1. Public debate 147</p>
<p>7.8.2. One–upmanship the fatal embrace 148</p>
<p>7.8.3. Exhaustion 149</p>
<p>7.8.4. Make jokes, not war 149</p>
<p>7.9. Tell a story that is stronger and more appealing than the attacker 152</p>
<p>7.10. Tweak and revise your actantial model 153</p>
<p>7.11. Imagine the actantial model of the attacker 154</p>
<p>7.12. Adopt your assertiveness, even by forcing yourself a little 155</p>
<p>7.13. Conflict is a theater of improvisation 157</p>
<p>7.14. Prepare to be spontaneous 158</p>
<p>7.15. Attention to detail 160</p>
<p>7.16. Seven tips and tricks to improvise without fear 162</p>
<p>7.17. The semiotic square: judo instead of boxing 163</p>
<p>7.18. Moving conflict onto new terrain 165</p>
<p>7.19. The merchants of doubt 168</p>
<p>Conclusion 171</p>
<p>Epilogue 177</p>
<p>Appendix 179</p>
<p>Bibliography 183</p>
<p>Index 185</p>
<p>Index of Brands 187</p>