Future of Your Brand - Servant of Chaos

Spike Playing to Win

As I discussed in The Future of Your Brand is Play, brands need to take a different approach to engaging with those formerly known as "the audience". In the US Spike TV is screening the whole Star Wars series and have a comprehensive, integrated promotional strategy in place. One of the activations is shown below. Makes me think that playing gold with "The Shark" would be a cinch after all.

The Evanescence of Social Media

Audience 2.0, Creativity, Digital Strategy, Future of Your Brand, Smart Bloggers, Social Media, Web 2.0

In marketing/advertising we talk about changing behaviour. We speak of trends, present analysis and peer into the near horizon of our own timelines. We blog about the changing of consumer experience, discuss demographics, strategies and new ways of measuring reach, frequency and engagement. And in amongst all this conversation we are building our own edifice to social media — shouting, talking and building, word by word, our own empire. But I wonder, is this all sounding so hollow?

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
— TS Eliot, The Hollow Men

If we take a look at the shapes of these stimulus, if we examine the state of BEING rather than the active state of PERFORMING (in our roles of employer, employee, creator, listener, receiver, etc), then we may wonder at the particular historical moment in which we have found ourselves. The popularity and rise associated with "reality TV" shows such as Big Brother and even Eurovision only hold sway momentarily, never to be repeated in the future — for the interactivity, voting and audience involvement is as transient as the beep notification of an SMS alert.

And while our cultural artefacts are being produced at ever greater rates, the co-creation and location of their meaning appears to be increasingly bound up in the evanescent energy of this "interactivity". David Cushman, for example, cites a press release claiming that:

More video material has been uploaded to YouTube in the past six months than has ever been aired on all major networks combined, according to cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch. About 88 percent is new and original content, most of which has been created by people formerly known as “the audience".

However, as Alan Kirby points out in this article on Postmodernism (via Amanda Chappel):

A culture based on these things can have no memory – certainly not the burdensome sense of a preceding cultural inheritance which informed modernism and postmodernism. Non-reproducible and evanescent, pseudo-modernism is thus also amnesiac: these are cultural actions in the present moment with no sense of either past or future.

In the place of Postmodernism, Kirby argues for a new defining cultural moment — pseudo modernism. Identifying 1980 as the turning point, the pseudo modernists can also be seen as those generations succeeding Generation X — so called Generation Y or Millennials, though like anything, is more likely to relate to a mode of being than to an age/demographic group. Kirby’s pseudo modernists are spookily devoid of agency, caught in the neverland between the capacity to effect change and the overwhelming minutiae digital interactions:

You click, you punch the keys, you are ‘involved’, engulfed, deciding. You are the text, there is no-one else, no ‘author’; there is nowhere else, no other time or place.

But if this is the case — if the central seeding authority of the pseudo modernist is "cluelessness" — a contrasting capacity to see and act on a big picture but an inability to act as an individual (or in community), then the antidote may well lie in the social media interactions that are their cause. For while "engagement" may well mean contributing to a social action in a far off country (perhaps distributing our own agency into the network of strong and weak ties), the proliferation of "real world" meetups and the intensity around them may provide some small cause for optimism in the bleak sea of pseudo modernist reality. This desire to capture and contain the fleeting ephemera of social interaction has driven the popularity of "live blogging", the collating and curation of "favourites" via del.icio.us and other bookmarking sites and the use and sharing of photographs, videos and so on. And while the production fails (and always will) in its effort to capture the live moment, we can be in danger of focusing too much on product over process — emphasising the cultural or social aspect of end result over being in the moment.

However, I have a feeling that the artefacts of this new reality are yet to be realised for their value. For while it is easy to discount the quality, merit or even longevity of much that passes for cultural production in the current era, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate what can and should be considered important.

The disbelief in grand narratives that Lyotard identified with the postmodernists is a handy tool when it comes to thinking through our current consumer/cultural moment. And I have a feeling that Generation Y will prove to be more culturally heretical than they might at first appear. After all, the Internet with its hypertext and self-spurning evolution could well be considered the defining achievement of the postmodern generation. But the WAY in which future generations use, activate and build upon the Internet, its applications and social, technological and intellectual networks will have far reaching effects for our cultures and for us as individuals. This generation who have been "always connected" are bound to rethink society in fundamental ways.

This has certainly got ME thinking!

Calling All Marketers — Inspiraton, Anyone?

Creativity, Digital Strategy, Future of Your Brand, Social Media, Story of the Week, Web 2.0, Web Fun

Following up from the Microsoft teaser, the full-length video is now available.

With the first instalment in this series entitled The Breakup, the intention was to raise debate. Microsoft boldly tackled the issue around the shifting nature of the consumer-advertiser relationship, and invited marketers into the conversation. It certainly was not the type of communication or advertising I expected from Microsoft — and it did capture a lot of attention at the time of launch.

But with this sequel there is a wholly different challenge. Geert Desager and Kris Hoet are clearly taking another step — to facilitate the establishment of a marketing community (moving from conversation to action?). In the process, they are taking a sweep at brands, agencies and all the folks who inhabit them. There are some great lines, including “I tried to look up that Web 2.0 thing you told be about, I just couldn’t find the exact URL”. Let’s face it both agencies and marketers are easy targets (and we provide so much fodder) … so you are bound to raise a chuckle or two.

However, if you do want to move beyond the banter, the site Get Inspired Here is the place you can go. Over the coming weeks (and in the wake of Cannes), there is bound to be plenty of discussion, taunting and maybe even a little creativity. Get your full feed here. Hopefully there are more surprises in store!

Inspiration, anyone?
by geertdesager

The Chief of Blogs

Future of Your Brand

While in New York last week, I had the opportunity to attend a round table discussion at AdAge, hosted by Jonah Bloom.

We had a wide ranging discussion covering the Power 150 through to the future of marketing and its intersection with social media. From the discussion, it was clear that marketers are now actively seeking to
understand the role that blogging or social media can play within their overall strategy — so much so that AdAge, today, is asking an intriguing question — “does your company need a chief blogger”.

Now, I am sure that there are as many opinions on this topic as there are bloggers, but let’s NOT consider your company. Let’s consider your customers. Let’s think about your employees. Let’s understand their behaviour and their expectations … and in doing so, the answer to the question may become clear.

In The Future of Your Brand is Micro, I was looking at the way that thousands of transactional interactions with digital brands is transforming our views of organisations. Today, Seth Godin has a post that deals precisely with the same subject, but he takes it from the point of view of its outcome — to build trust. Each day as we, in our various life roles (ie those that include our professional responsibilities as well as family etc) come in contact with brands, we are engaging emotionally with a brand promise of some kind.

But Robyn McMaster points out that the impact goes far beyond “engagement”. The Journal of Consumer Research reports that “even the briefest exposure to well-known brand logos can cause people to behave in ways that mirror those brands’ traits”. So, it seems, that posters of the Nike brand ambassadors CAN make you me better athlete — and this, in turn, will reinforce my own commitment to that brand — after all, positive reinforcement is a well-known winner.

The opportunity for brands to begin building trust and engaging with their consumers through social media and blogs etc is compelling. Not only can social media begin building a network of trust between the brand and its consumers, but the continued (micro) exposure will bring closer identification between the two. It is also important to remember that your employees are also consumers — and they have expectations of your brand and are well known to be the best source of brand ambassadors/evangelists.

With all this in mind, is there a need for a “chief blogger”? In a corporate setting, a social media strategy cannot be implemented without a sense of leadership within the organisation and without a commitment to conversation around the brand in the marketplace. Therefore, realistically, you are looking at a senior, experienced executive in charge of your social media program — whether the focus is on blogging or on consumer experience. Why is this so?

Politics — whether we like it or not, politics is a fact of corporate life. To be able to overcome or manage the various roadblocks around social media within an organisation, you need commitment to a LONG TERM outreach strategy. The only way to ensure this is senior executive support.
Reporting — while bloggers understand the types of metrics that make sense in the social media space (ie readers, subscribers, inbound links etc), you also need someone with serious business knowledge to be able to match these statistics to business objectives and outcomes.
Brand voice — regardless of whether social media is taken on by a team or an individual, at some point there needs to be a level of responsibility for the tone of your brand voice.
Cross-line of business responsibility — social media does not fit into a neat box. Sure it deals with customer experience, but it can also impact HR, product development, innovation, finance and of course, marketing. It is not a silo — but a cross-line of business initiative is difficult to activate.

There are many other aspects to consider, but a social media chief may well be the key differentiator in the future of your brand.

Matt Dickman via Compfight

The Future of Your Brand Is … Micro

Audience 2.0, Branding, Digital Strategy, Future of Your Brand

This article is part of the series — The Future of Your Brand Is … which will be unfolding here over the coming weeks. Be sure to check out The Futue of Your Brand is Play — Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

If you read blogs, whether they be technology, marketing, education or even business focused, you will be repeatedly hit with the message that the world is changing. Or worse … that the world has changed, and it is we, the business folks — the marketers, accountants, analysts, managers and teachers who are needing to catch up. For those working in agencies, the call is also shrill — with writers variously predicting the death of agencies or demanding a refocus. And while this is one of my favourite topics, the larger picture is about the future of brands and the way that we, as category-resistant consumers are embracing, shunning and extolling them.

But while the consumer landscape has undergone a profound change, it is easy to see why business is slow to move — for no matter how advanced we are in our “home life”, evidence of a leakage from home to profession is minute. Take for example, the humble wiki. How many of you heard of a wiki? How many of you have you have used one? How many have set one up? Who has read something on Wikipedia?

Now I am guessing that many of my blog’s readers would raise their hand at at least one of the previous questions. But now ask yourself, does this apply at work? Extend the same question to blogs. Does your company have a blog? Are you involved in it? If not, why not? What are the barriers preventing you?

The skunk blog

There was a time where I did not think that every company or brand needed a blog. I saw blogs as yet another communications channel to be chosen or rejected based on an understanding of your audience and your objectives. But as the pace of digital innovation accelerates, and as it is matched, step for step, by our interest in technology, the measures by which we understand “audience” are shifting. With longer working hours and a blurring of the boundaries between “work” and “life”, we are always on the lookout for approaches, tools and technologies (not to mention friends, networks and colleagues) that will help us filter, assess and analyse information regardless of its source. We are in effect “Continuously Connected”. This has a profound implication for brands and consumer experience … and in many ways it is making our experience SMALLER, not larger.

If we think about (and measure) the impact and reach of a brand based on the touchpoints that we have with it, then the digital brand is going to be leaps and bounds ahead of the non-digital brand. And while this takes brand valuation down a “transactional” path, there is some benefit to this. With every click of a mouse, every read of an article or completion of a search query, the digital brand delivers on its promise (unless of course your site is down). And while the transactional value of this brand interaction is small, it creates an impression. It delivers some small piece of value directly to your consumers.

This is where the skunk blog comes in — the blog that flies below the organisational radar.

Even if your company is slow to start with blogging. Even if there is resistance to the concept. No budget. No interest. The surest way to demonstrate the value of blogging is through blogging — and there is a long history of skunk projects that have delivered value to companies such as IBM. Sure you will need some type of executive sponsorship to start — but make a personal approach. Explain the opportunity. Outline the plan of approach and start slowly. Start by listening.

Setup some feed readers or Google alerts for your company name and your main product/service line. Start finding out what conversations are already circling. Find out the best and worse impressions of your brand. Identify your evangelists and anti-evangelists. Compile the data and present it to your friendly executive together with a clear action and activation plan.

Then you start small. Remember — the future of your brand is micro. Begin to write blog posts, engage with your dissenters and supporters. Comment on their posts. Discuss topics. Dig beneath the surface of issues. Remember, with every page view and every comment, your are building value for your brand.

And while this is brand activation in a microscopic form, there is a macro view too. Google have almost single handedly brought about a revolution in economic models. When we think of digital branding and digital advertising we think Google.

The Behemoth Google Ushers in the Micro

Umair Haque’s great article reminds us of the branding challenge that comes about in an economy based on micro-transactions. Based on Google’s new position as the #1 global brand (as defined by Millward Brown’s Brandz report), Umair describes how ubiquitous and cheap interactions are changing the nature of our relationships with brands. For with every returned search request, with the delivery of a targeted AdSense ad, the insight that comes via Google Analytics or the easy collaboration of Google Docs, Google grows and compounds its brand promise. It really is a brand built click by click.

In fact, when interaction is cheap, the very economic rationale for orthodox brands actually begins to implode: information about expected costs and benefits doesn’t have to be compressed into logos, slogans, ad-spots or column-inches – instead, consumers can debate and discuss expected costs and benefits in incredibly rich detail.

Where many brands invest 5-10% of revenues in the building and expansion of their brands, Google have climbed to the top of the brand heap with minimal brand expenditure. They have no need. Their brand promise manifests with every interaction. With every click. With every page load.

So where does this place the brand or company that has no online presence? What about those brands with outdated websites and no blogs, social network information or visible online community? What does the future hold for them? They may not disappear overnight. But their relevance to a marketplace that has already moved will amount to dollars that Google invests in its branding. Almost zero.

This is not the future you want for your brand.

Update: Seth Godin has a nice post linking this drip-feeding of your brand promise to the power to build trust over time.

The Future of Your Brand is Play — Part 3

Future of Your Brand

Late last year I was thinking about trends and opportunities for 2008, hoping to discover some gold. And while I don’t normally do trend forecasting, I actually found it interesting and challenging — and a lot of hard work. What I found, however, was not that I had an undiscovered gift for beyond the horizon forecasting … I found great benefit, instead, in enforcing a discipline upon my thinking. You see, writing a blog trains you to write in a short form — you distill ideas down to a manageable size. But to really order my thinking around the patterns that emerged from my research, I had to dig deeper … find those connections and similarities. I had to play with the data and find a way to craft it all into a cohesive story.

I must admit that I was disappointed to find that I had no ground breaking ideas to report. Then I realised that blogging had provided me with an unexpected benefit — a constantly inquiring focus and a mountain of ready data. By going back over a number of posts over the last 12 months, I could see actual hypertext links between pieces of information. Tags and categories helped form the patterns … and comments from my readers helped open my eyes on some points or suggest completely new ways of thinking. And while I write hundreds of posts per year, often forgetting the detail of many, there are some that achieve mythical status in my mind. And while re-reading some of the posts made me want more, it also made me wonder, “what is it that causes one post to stand out among many?”. (Here’s a hint, it is the future of your brand.)

Coming to grip with infatuation
For as long as I can remember I have loved words. I am fascinated by their sound and their shape. I love listening to the way they are pronounced by different people. And I especially enjoy a good performer holding onto the long ends of a word and reminding us of the sexy way words transform our world. In many ways, this infatuation of mine was always going to lead to some kind of writing. No wonder I ended up working in marketing and blogging (or worse, combining the two).

But as I poured over thousands of words, trying to connect sentences, ideas, actions and conversations it became obvious to me that I was under the spell of some kind of infatuation. This exercise on trends and opportunities had become something else. Something beyond itself. It had become “meta”. There were many levels of connectedness rolling around in my head. I could imagine the linkages, but could not quite discern the tissue between them … until I realised my infatuation. I had fooled myself. I had become infatuated with discerning the trends.

The definition of “infatuation” includes “foolish or all-absorbing passion …”. And it became clear that my best way forward was to admit it. But there was something slightly different at play. What I was feeling felt like it was being reciprocated. If I was infatuated with ideas, they too were infatuated with their expression. With every idea that I would distill and connect, I would feel this glow, a buzz. I thought I was entering a completely weird universe until the light went on … this bi-directional energy is about reciprocity. It is about give and take. It was a metaphor. It was akin to receiving a comment on my blog.

Kidsperience
In many ways this was a childlike experience. I had entered into a domain that I had only ever dabbled in before and I felt like a child looking in awe at a new world. But in applying my experience with kids marketing, I started to see parallels with social marketing, with the passion for gadgets and with the gold rush energy surrounding cool new technologies. It was like being back at school, except that the schoolyard was now a whole lot bigger! In fact, it seems that as adults we spend a lot of time unlearning what we learned (or knew intrinsically) as children. As Rachel Happe says in Social Networking and the Popular Girls:

… why are we as adults relearning things that these girls know better than most of us do?

I mentioned before that one of the challenges with kids marketing is to create the Eureka moment. It is that moment in time where thought and action are compressed — it is where we are simply astonished by something. It can be the cleverness of an idea, the audacity of an ad or the feeling that we are in the presence of genius. When you apply this to a product (particularly a kids product), the importance of the Eureka moment becomes obvious. The Eureka moment does two things:

It produces a yet-to-be-told story that places the child in the role of participant — that is, the brand/product is subsumed by the imagination of the child and the child becomes the centrepiece of the brand story (eg I see myself driving around in a Green Machine)
It creates instant credibility (and desirability) in those closest to the aura of the experience.

So it works for the child (internally) and for the child (externally). It provides self-worth and social currency. It is bi-directional.

If you have kids, then you will probably have heard of Webkinz. You can buy these cute toys from stores all over the place — but it is not the toys that kids want most of all. It is the code that comes with them. For with every Webkinz that you buy, you get access to an online world where this toy comes to life. It is a virtual world for kids and their toys. The Webkinz folks have cleverly observed the massive take-up in virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, and have crafted an immersive and engaging environment for kids. The conversations about Webkinz buzz around the Webkinz universe and around the playground. If you are not participating, then you are missing an opportunity to play with your friends — not to mention not even being able to understand the terminology used by your friends.

The passion with which kids have adopted immersive worlds, and the energy that they devote to them is amazing. From the kids point of view, connecting with friends online is a very natural way of living — in fact, many kids have known no other way — the Internet has been part of their lives for as long as they have been alive.

For brands who are not developing their digital mindspace, there are bound to be substantial challenges as older teens begin moving into the workforce. Not only will non-digital brands find it hard to reach this new workforce, they will be missing opportunities to engage a savvy consumer-force fully conversant with technology and its place in their lives. And while the real impact of this shift may be a few years off, the shockwaves are being felt even now — for just as kids have adopted the social media and immersive worlds loved by their parents, the bi-directionality of kidsperience is also manifesting in the adult consumer space. The kid-like enthusiasm with which 30-70 year olds are colonising social media is shifting technology into a more playful space … placing even larger demands on brands.

A Seesmic Shift
I remember watching the buzz around Seesmic from the safe distance of Twitter. The limited release of “invitations” caused a split between the seriously cool and connected and the wannabe social media crowd (for the record, I was a wannabe). It was like the Joost launch on steroids. And while the conversation around Seesmic continued to grow, it started to create a game of sorts where you could only play if you had an invitation — the challenge was to reach out into your network and request an invitation before they all dried up.

But the most interesting aspect of this was the energy around the launch. From a distance, it was like watching the ad for the Green Machine all over again. This time, however, it wasn’t kids who were hyping it. It was adults from all over the world. And better yet, each one of those adults had the keys to the door — with a limited number of invitations to share, each Seesmic participant could share this new technology gift with a friend.

I am sure there are plenty of other examples that you can call to mind. Technology brands are adopting are more open approach (even a playful stance) towards their brand. Look at Google and the fun they have with their logo. Look at the NAME of the PLAYstation (realising that the average age of a Playstation owner is >30 years). The list goes on and on.

But it is not just technology where I see this shift taking place. There are subtle shifts happening across the speectrum. And it is not JUST about the P-L-A-Y approach that I have mentioned before … but it is about brands becoming creative with their marketing and letting consumer PLAY with their brands. It is about brands opening their brand stories in a way that allows consumers to step inside. And surprisingly, it is NOT about big shifts. It is about the small ones. So while the Future of Your Brand is Play, equally, the Future of Your Brand is Micro.

The Future of Your Brand is Play — Part 2

Branding, Digital Strategy, Future of Your Brand

This article is part of the series — The Future of Your Brand Is … which will be unfolding here over the coming weeks. Check out The Futue of Your Brand is Play — Part 1 here.

When I think back on my childhood friends and how those friendships started, I am amazed. I try to think what it was that drew me towards a particular child. I wonder what he or she saw in me. How did I negotiate the subtle rituals of friendship and why does “finding” new friends become more difficult as you grow older?

One of my nephews is master “friender” and I have been fascinated by his approach for years. I watch as he approaches groups of unknown kids. I observe his body language … when he hesitates, when he moves forward. I listen to his tone of voice. And I watch the other kids too. I love the naivety and openness of the way he interacts. It is both completely self conscious and unknowing. It is a complex performance which I should, by rights, pay to see.

But the thing that makes this work is that the kids are playing with the same building blocks. At this stage of life, the world is relatively small. Our personal knowledge bases are just being established. We are still learning. Filtering. Growing.

And while the ease with which most kids operate are bound up in the complex rules of our societies and cultures, they are also subject to the developmental themes that permeate our young lives. Understanding these themes explains at least a little, how we make friends and provides vital clues for brands seeking to reach new markets. We only need to test against a certain number of criteria before we discover an affinity … and from that affinity we can build a more grounded relationship — one experience at a time.

Branding and kid’s play
In the first part of The Future of Your Brand is Play, I talked about why some kids advertising works really well — because it taps into the nature and methods of kid’s play (and I used the Green Machine as an example). There are four major elements to this:
P — for power
L — for learning and curiosity
A — for adventure
Y — the yelp of surprise and delight

By structuring your messaging and experience design around these elements you are actually working with the major developmental themes of childhood. For example, when kids introduce themselves to each other, one of the last things they do is say their name. It is peripheral to the task at hand. The first step is to establish affinity — to walk through the building blocks of personal development, giving and taking, finding connections and moving to the next. If there are enough connections across these developmental themes, then the kids will become friends — at least for a period of time — and they become friends because they have created a context within which “friending” can occur. From that point, it is all about shared experience, social currency and, to be honest, shared infatuations.

But for brands to manifest these elements correctly, it needs to go deeper. There are four elements but a number of themes … and the more themes you touch upon, the faster and more completely will your strategy work. The themes and corresponding elements are as follows (let me know if you can see more):
P — for Power

Demanding of attention
Testing limits (boundaries around behaviour, responsibility etc)
Controlling the controllable
Belonging

L — for learning and curiosity

Skills development
Negotiation

A — for adventure

Exploring an ever changing world
Actively making the world a better place

Y — the yelp of surprise and delight

Recognition and reward
Self expression

Green with Envy? No it’s a Green Machine!

Using the Green Machine example, let’s take a look at how and why these elements and themes work.

P — for power
The name of the “Green Machine” provides a link to power. It organises the product around the sense of power that comes from automation. Clearly the child who rides a Green Machine is a tester of boundaries.

The design of the product is also aggressive — and innovative. While bikes have a standard set of handle bars, the Green Machine forgoes these, using hand levers instead. This means you will stand out from the crowd — attention (and plenty of it) will be yours.

L — for learning and curiosity
As infants start to gain a sense of their bodies, a wonderful transformation comes over the faces. They hold their hands up near their faces and watch as they control the small movements of their fingers. Not only is this a moment of mastery, but also a powerful stimulant to learn.

The design of the Green Machine is clearly radical. It immediately raises a lot of questions. What is it like to ride? How does the steering work? Will my friends think I am cool with this? There are questions of aspiration but also questions to do with the EXPERIENCE of the Green Machine. Just like the infant who suddenly becomes aware of her fingers, tapping into the experiential nature of this toy is a powerful attractant for kids.

A — for adventure
One of the things that I like about the Green Machine is that it is a DISRUPTIVE experience for kids. It turns the idea of a bike on its head. It moves away from “function” and focuses on designing a powerful experience for kids. In many ways the Green Machine is a non-linear innovation in the trajectory of bikes, and while it may not represent a permanent break — it exposes kids to the IDEA of an alternative.

And, of course, there are the standard elements of adventure in the product as well — a sense of challenge and “otherness”, the opportunity for mastery and control and the alignment of our sense of self with a brand/product that exists on the margin.

Y — the yelp of surprise and delight
Crossing over with Adventure, the sense of self expression that comes from the Green Machine is powerful. It is quite visceral. In my mind, I can hear the sound of the plastic wheels crunching across the concrete. I can feel the skidding. But most of all, I can hear my yell as it all happens. Clearly, this is going to be a fun toy. A fad perhaps. But a lot of fun.

Developing infatuations
One of the things that the Green Machine also does successfully is to provide its owner with instant social credibility. But this also extends to friends and acquaintances. There is an abundance of social currency in even standing next to it. The lure of social currency introduces us to the idea infatuation. Is it really the product or the brand that we want? Or is it what comes with it — the experience, the kudos, the shiny sheen of adulation (real or perceived)?

This public infatuation provides kids with a topic around which they can communicate that extends beyond their common developmental bonds. Through the experience of playing, using and sharing the Green Machine, kids are able to enter into a language that describes their shared world while also reinforcing it. Even the child whose infatuation is unrequited (ie who does not have access to the toy) can share in this experience. The product designers and copywriters have done their job well — providing kids with a language for infatuation — from the “adjustable bucket seats” through to the “hug the road tip-proof design” (and let’s face it, how many kids really will ride this on a road?). But by activating the PLAY elements and series of developmental themes, there is something greater to be learned … this is not just about kids, kids marketing or even play. It is about centering your brand around the experience of its greatest proponents. What we now call “word of mouth” was practiced daily in the schoolyards of my youth. Understanding that play is ageless opens yet another door to the future of your brand.

Play is ageless — content in the age of digital strategy
The Internet, social media, Web 2.0, game consoles and so on have brought a level of play into the world of adults and into the world of business. As Jordan McCollum points out, a study by Burst Media demonstrates that a range of age groups consider that Internet content is focused on their age group:

76% of 18-24 year olds believe this
73.9% of 25-34 year olds believe this
55.7% of 35-44 year olds believe this

And while the figures are massive from a targeting and positioning point of view something doesn’t add up. Well, it doesn’t add up in the world of old media and stale demographics. What this does suggest is that those who engage with and consume digital media do not conform to the patterns of behaviour that we have come to expect. This also means that if there is a belief that Internet content is focused around a wider number of people, then the potential reach of your branding efforts is mind bogglingly large. But how does a brand reach out to and engage with this wide, savvy and individualistic audience? This is about creating a bi-directional brand model. It is about tapping into the elements of PLAY and building your strategy around this. It is about KIDSPERIENCE.

My next excursion will take you into the world of “kidsperience”.

The Future of Your Brand is Play — Part 1

Future of Your Brand

This article is part of the series — The Future of Your Brand Is ….

Working in kids marketing is an interesting challenge. Of course, there are ethical issues that you need to balance — the same can be said about any form of marketing — but there is something far more brutal in kids marketing than first meets the eye. It is the kids. They are a tough audience. There is no engagement, no discussion, no “pussy footing” around an issue. Either you are ON or your are out the door. There is no in-between.

One of the great things about this is that you know very quickly if your marketing is going to be successful. This is especially true online, where almost real time results can be seen flicking across your WebTrends or Google Analytics dashboards. But equally, this means that failure is also swift and judgment harsh. For those of us working with social media, we will be used to seeing the occasional unpleasant message in comments or on a forum some place. It comes as part of the landscape. But kids will be direct. Unwittingly cruel. And frighteningly honest. It is one thing to have “constructive criticism” on the campaign that you have taken months to craft, but quite another to be told “this sucks” by a 10 year old. It is even worse to have this echo across the web with alarming speed.

As a way of mitigating the risk of failure, one of the approaches I have used successfully is to align messaging, activation and engagement with the core developmental needs of kids at various ages. But to do this well you need to go deep. Really deep. And it needs to be personal. This is not just about the kids that you market to, but it is understanding on an emotional level, what worked and what did not FOR YOU. It means going back into your own imaginings and memories. It means searching honestly for the things that thrilled, frightened and fascinated you. It means being authentic.

The art of surprise

“I don’t know a lot about art, but I know what I like”

In Australia, this quote was famously dropped by Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, but anyone involved in the world of advertising or marketing would have heard it a thousand times. It is the defence of the unprepared client, the unready account director and the floundering creative director. It means that, in reality, the brief was ill prepared. It means that there was precious little by way of insight or analysis. It is the excuse that absolves one of responsibility — unless, of course, you are responsible for the creative.

And while I have heard this line a thousand times, there is some truth to the statement.

When I put together a brief I try not to be too prescriptive. After all, I want a creative response, not a yes/no answer to a series of problems. But there is a fine line between instructing and informing. And of course, I can also be obtuse, too far from the mark. Too open (but then, that’s what questions and phone calls are for). When I first receive a response to a brief, I am hoping to be amazed. I want to be surprised, astounded. I want the “Eureka” moment where an idea turns to gold and it gives me a moment to bask in the glory of true genius. This is the same expectation of the child. It is very much like I am a child opening a present. As children approach the world with a sense of awe and wonder, it is no surprise that the most mundane events elicit a powerful emotional response. However, as adults we guard ourselves with layers of cynicism and wrap ourselves in the safety of our own self knowledge. It is much harder for us to be swept up in an idea. We have EXPECTATIONS. And if someone says “gold”, then we want to see it.

The brands that “get kids” understand the Eureka moment. They understand the art of surprise. They know what it takes to make a child respond with gleaming eyes and a rush of hastily thrown together syllables — “ffffwwoaaarhhh … eyeewahnthaaat!”. They are able to manufacture the excitement and stimulate the imagination. They are able to allow the kids to transform themselves from a spectator into a participant in the blink of an eye. These brands let the kids in, allow themselves to be taken over by a rampant imagination. In fact, they do this by design. Yes, design. But it also art.

To understand how this works, to think through the power of surprise, its link with desire and how it can be created, I want to touch briefly on one of my childhood desires. (I told you this needs to work on a personal level.) But as I do this, I want you to think back to those cusp years, your “tween” years where you are not quite a child and not yet a teenager. These are pivotal years. Remember for a moment the toy that you loved but never owned. Or loved and loved till it fell apart. For me, my first unrequited love was the Green Machine. What was yours? Think about it now.

The Green Machine was a revelation. It was a colour that could not be mistaken. It was aggressively green when every other bike was red. It was low when everything else was high. It jutted out like an angry chin. And I can still see the camera angles used in the TVCs. The camera is slightly below the track of the footpath and a kid comes rocketing down the path leaning to his left, hands firmly on the twin controllers, banking the green beast around the edge of the garden. It is all over in a flash. It is all big wheels and green frame and kids with smiling teeth.

And while these images are a blur, what I remember to this day is the emotion and excitement about this toy (let’s face it, it was a toy). But what is weird (and probably slightly alarming) is that my memories of the ad actually feature me. When I replay them in my mind (what little I can remember), I see a blonde haired boy in a brown velour jumper and blue slacks (it is the 70s remember). It is me. But an idealised me. It is the invincible me … the one that can wear my “good” clothes while out riding with my friends.

You see, in this episode, in one single ad, there has been a complete transposition. It is me in control. I am in the driving seat — literally and figuratively. I am in the brand and surrounded by it. And I am giddy with the excitement and joy of the experience. Even now I am smiling.But being unrequited, my desire was disrupted. Perhaps this is why the Green Machine lived on for me. (It seems that it lived on for others too as it was reprised for a new generation some years ago.)

Why did the Green Machine work? Quite simply, because it tapped into the way that kids PLAY:

P — for power
L — for learning and curiosity
A — for adventure
Y — the yelp of surprise and delight

Next I will go into detail around each of these items and show how and why they work for kids. Oh, and in case you have not started to see it yet … I will piece it together to show why, in all seriousness, the Future of Your Brand is Play (see Part 2 here).

The Future of Your Brand Is …

Future of Your Brand

At the end of 2007 and in the early part of 2008 I watched as a series of predictions hit the web. Some of these posts and articles predicted the end of this or that, or the beginning of something else. Some looked at trends, others at opportunities. Sometimes the focus was observational. And while I don’t normally go in for trend analysis, I felt a strange sort of pressure to come up with my own list of predictions. I began stewing on it … and it became worse with every new, additional post that I saw on trends. But then I realised that the only expectations were my own. I felt released. And now a good two months into the year, the focus on the future has been forgotten — we are, everyday, seeking to define and create it with our words, actions and ideas. We are thinking on the fly, strategically doing and jumping in feet first. If anything, 2008 is more of the same … more blogging, more social media, more connections and ideas, more conferences and meetups. I don’t know if it IS faster that 2007, but it feels it.

As it turns out, I did give into the task of compiling a trends and opportunities document. And to my surprise, I enjoyed doing it — even if I found it difficult. The task of sorting through ideas and organising my thinking took much longer than I anticipated — as did lifting my eyes beyond the next 24 hours. Blogging had made me responsive to events, but I also felt like it had shortened my vision. Rather than thinking big, big picture, I had become opportunistic. It took quite an effort to step outside of this ideation myopia to begin seeking the connections between events, conspiracies, movements and ideas that would form the backbone of my document. I was helped in this by reading some very well structured books — Joseph Jaffe’s Join the Conversation and a review copy of Michael Port’s upcoming Beyond Booked Solid (reviews coming I promise), and came to the realisation that when it came to insight I needed a little more focus, not less — I needed to zero in, not fly at 10,000 feet.

Out of the haze I settled upon two meta-trends — the trends of trends:

Micro-transformations — Micro-transformations refer to the miniaturising of consumer behaviours into ever smaller discrete steps. This fragmentation of direct experience is driving a range of sub-trends that are, in turn, being facilitated by economic, technical and social changes.
Infatuations — In a globalised world, our infatuations are taking on new dimensions. No longer is infatuation one-way, but it is bi-directional … what we love now returns that love in an equally idealised form.

By forcing myself to work through these elements, I began to also consider the nature and future of advertising and marketing. I started to wonder not just about the trend, but the IMPACT of these things on business, on leadership, and of course, on brands. Where would it all go, and how will it change the workforce, our society and the way that we interact with each other? How does this jigsaw fit together?

Now, after a couple of months, these ideas are starting to take shape in my own mind. But rather than writing small posts on this, I felt like I needed a more expansive format — so I am embarking on a blog topic series — entitled The Future of Your Brand Is …

Over the next few weeks I will be interrogating the future of brands — and at the end I may even pull the pieces together in an eBook. Let me know if you think this would be useful.

For my first excursion I will be walking in the footsteps of Sigmund Freud and going back to childhood — for it seems to me, The Future of Your Brand Is … PLAY. Join me later this week for the first instalment — or make it easy and subscribe to my feed.