You bring up a great point. I think what we’ve got with Western Union is a unique opportunity where the CEO has practical, relatable experience with the brand as a customer. As he describes the joy of sending money to his home country, we believe him, because it is authentic and genuine, and we understand the “why” – why it is important to the CEO that they grow the customer relationship. Evidence this works for WU is in the hundreds of comments, it even appears that some global customers believe the CEO posted the video from his personal page. Looking deeper into WU, you’ll find a respectable and community-generous corporate culture which is consistent with the #givinggratitude message.

In the case where a brand has been plagued by either wrong doing, or perceived wrong doing, a thank you to customers would obviously be inappropriate. But an internal, or external video of how to migrate from a current situation to a goal situation might go a long way. Every orchestra needs a conductor to set the mood and keep the time. This is why authentic messages from leadership, in a market that demands more transparency, is essential. Thoughts?

That’s how I like to see it. A brand is made around connections and relationships between the brand (and its employees) and the customers.

Showing gratitude is one of the most under-rated things in business. It’s not really because brands are not grateful. It’s just that they don’t think about expressing it or just don’t know how.

Every time I speak with a small business owner or employee, I can see how much they care about their customers, how proud they are of them… That’s the strengh of smaller businesses in my opinion. They often have more reasons to care and develop strong relationships with customers. For bigger brands, it can be tricky. Recording a video is awesome but it can be seen as “fake”. Let’s say Comcast recorded a video thanking customers. I’m sure 99% of people would think it was just corporate image building and not genuine.

For bigger brands I’d say the best way to show appreciation is to train front line employees to perform small gestures to show customers they care. This shows the company is inherently human.

Such gestures performed by front line employees are worth a lot more than a video recorded by the CEO. Now if the CEO took time to call few customers and thank them personally, it would be different.