The document discusses how brands should avoid obsessively stalking and trying to mimic their target customers. It argues that brands should instead try to understand their customers' world but develop a unique identity and create products based on their own interests rather than just repeating what they think customers want. The document advocates for brands to devote resources to self-discovery instead of stalking customers and to become brands that people want to follow rather than the other way around.

1. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
BRANDS WHO STALK
A quick riff on brands who become obsessed with being like their target.

2. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
There are funny in society that make
normally unacceptable things acceptable.

3. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
I can punch you in the face and ignore you when you talk to me.
while boxing
on instant messenger

4. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
Our morals, behaviors and norms don’t always
travel intact between environments.
We have some weird standards in marketing

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@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
I can stalk your online profiles and talk
to you when you want to be ignored.
Dear consumer,
Brand, xoxo

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@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
To unsubscribe to these letters, please like me on Facebook.
Why do brands think it’s so acceptable to stalk people?

7. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY. 7
We’re collecting data not stalking. We’re a
data driven company who wants to add
value to our customer’s lives.
Hey man!
Brand, xoxo

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@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
But, why do you need to know how I eat my breakfast?
Please fill out our survey on ‘stalking’ for a chance to enter our sweep-stakes.

9. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
Insights allow us to design things you like.
Dude,
Brand, xoxo

10. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
Share this letter with your friends.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
You mean, like Xzibit?

11. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com

12. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
Thank you for registering your interest in
cars and music artist Xzibit.
Participant,
Brand, xoxo

13. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
Vroom, vroom we love cars, do you?
Man, that’s so creepy.

14. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
It’s very easy to become sycophantic, opportunistic,
and disingenuous with our campaigns.

15. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
Remember, consumers don’t judge authenticity based
on actual behavior but, rather, the intention behind it.

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@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
For example, most people think
stealing is moral if it’s to feed a
starving family.
EVERYBODY LOVES ALADDIN, RIGHT?

17. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
Typically, a brand’s intention is to be like their
customers. But, that’s invasive.
Stop saying what you think your customers want to hear.
Let’s create a new standard

18. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
It’s acceptable to disagree with your target. It’s
ok to have an intrinsically defined identity and
to create things you like.
OUR NEW IMPERATIVE
A brand should try their best to occupy the
same world as their target and interpret that
world in a unique, useful way.
BUT

19. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
OUR NEW OUTLOOK
Knowing everything about a target doesn’t
mean you’ll resonate with them.
You can only know so much about someone

20. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
One of the great unsettling revelations of
the digital age may be that we are not
snowflakes, that humanity comes in just a
few hundred models.
“
AARON DIGNAN

21. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
A CHALLENGE
What portion of our budget can we take away
from stalking and devote to self discovery?

22. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
It’s about becoming a brand that people want to stalk
instead of the other way around.

23. ©2009 UNDERCURRENT GLOBAL. CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.
@alexanderchung
alexanderchung.posterous.com
BRANDS WHO STALK
Thanks!