Notice to the left the image of a transparent canoe. I was looking for images to use in my postings because every time I search for an image relating to transparency, I get something like this. I have gotten a transparent iMac, a transparent hat, a bottle of Coca-Cola and many other random images. Today, I tried yet again to find an image to go along with my posts and the theme of my blog and I found this canoe. Bare with me now: let’s let the canoe represent transparency as a business model and the vehicle that takes a successful business down the river (or path) to successfully communicating with audiences. It makes sense!
And it goes along with the theme of this post….
Coca-Cola, established in 1886, is known for their American icon of a soda. According to their website, the Coca Cola Company owns four of the five top nonalcoholic beverage brands in the world, over 3,000 products, and over 42,000 associates worldwide. Recently, the company initiated a social media initiative that seemed natural to Senior VP of corporate affairs, Clyde Tuggle. He announced that Coca-Cola will be opening an office of digital communications and social media. What I found most profound was his comment as to why: in order to maintain success, the company needs to continue to connect to constituents, “one person at a time”.
So Coca-Cola has the right idea, right? The company wants to connect; they want to have a relationship. As I have said in previous posts, building a relationship takes honesty and openness. The transparency call behind this idea has been answered and I comment the SVP for his initiative.
Image credit: Seawayblog
April 5, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Ansa,
I think the idea of connecting to individuals, rather than the masses is the way to go. People need to start thinking of each customer as a person, otherwise the marketing campaigns and customer service will suffer. Coca-Cola is known for being a less authentic brand, and its good to know that they are trying to change their ways. I’m glad you took the time to post about this restructure.
April 5, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Hey Annie, thanks for commenting. I’m responding because I never knew that Coca-Cola was thought of as less authentic – I’m definitely going to look at this step differently because that would make this a more than huge turn-around. It’s interesting how we can see how important transparency is and how it effects reputation.
April 6, 2009 at 12:56 am
We are in a time in which each and every customer has the potential to have their voice heard. It’s up to the companies to decide whether they are going to be the one’s listening or not. The era of legitimate authentic customer service is slowly approaching and with it will come better quality products with the potential to solve a lot of miscommunication problems that have been plaguing businesses for years.
April 6, 2009 at 1:27 am
Ansa,
I really enjoyed the image you chose to represent transparency. Great analogy! I agree with you that Coca-Cola and Clyde Tuggle have embraced new social media tools by choosing to connect with their customers ‘one person at a time.’ Today, it is rare that a company is so open and honest about its transparency goals. By being open, Coca-Cola has taken the first step to build a lasting relationship with its customers, employees, and stakeholders.
Since Coca-Cola is such a large, worldwide company, I’m interested to see what types of social media tools they implement into their company structure.