centrs's dashboard

I saw that. I guess I'm thinking from a admin and user experience standpoint for Satisfaction itself - in these beginning stages, you're going to get consumers that will come in and start an Oreo "company" page while you may have someone from Nabisco come in and add a Nabisco page with Oreo, Chips Ahoy and Teddy Grahams as products, and then Kraft comes in - is there a way to eventually merge what could be duplicate threads and entries?

I know if I try to create an Oreo company, and it already exists, that this site will alert me, but if I create Oreo as a company, and then someone else puts it as a product under another company, things can start getting confusing and messy. Add to that that Oreo has several products and then it gets crazy.

(Are the product and services labels aware of the company labels? "Oops - that already exists as a product." or, "The product you are trying to add already exists under the company XYZ".)

A brand manager is going to "get" participating and monitoring conversations on his brand/product profile page, but when he has to sort and select and follow threads related to his brand/product from a slew of conversations about hundreds of other products under his company's main profile page, it becomes a bit trickier.

One last thought - at times, the brands are going to want laser precision when it comes to topics. Using Oreo again as an example, they may only want to hear or participate in conversations about their new snack cake for a period of time.

A lot of fun things to ponder. I am looking forward to seeing how all of this works itself out!

Additionally, not many consumers know the distinction between a brand, product or service, and a company/organization. If someone wants to discuss Oreo products (cookies, cakes), they may know that Oreo (brand) are made by Nabisco (brand umbrella), but not that Nabisco is owned by Kraft, the company. I would bet nine times out of ten, they are going to start an Oreo profile and not a "company" profile.

Likewise, a brand manager is going to feel more comfortable participating in conversations about his/her particular brand, and the products under that brand, (such as a toothpaste), rather than feeling like they are representing a behemoth such as Procter & Gamble or Unilever as a whole.

The higher up in a brand within a company you can get, the more meaningful the conversations become for both the consumer and the brand. Most customer service agents aren't empowered to go "off script" anyway.

I would give the option of adding a product or service in addition to a company or organization. It would provide a better experience for both consumers and the brands.