Advertising in 2020: The New Brand Building Reality (written in 2012)
This is a copy of a submission made in 2012 by Karl Heiselman and I for a Wharton book on advertising in 2020. Since we’re almost there, I figured I may as well share it. They quoted a small portion on pages 82 and 83. I’m surprised how much of it held up.
Create a layered narrative, not singular meaning
A predominant approach to brand strategy has been the creation of a singular narrative or “brand story.” This concept is broken. Successful 21st century brands don’t focus on singular narratives, instead they create layers of meaning for their customers.
Focus on signals, not communications
The new battleground for messaging isn’t your message to your customers, but instead the message your customers choose to share with each other. This message is influenced more by the meaning carried by your signals than the message carried by your communications.
Blind in my left eye, blind in my right
Data is driving a revolution in marketing. Providing a new level of insight and understanding of customer behavior, and allowing real-time review of what works and what doesn’t. But the art of asking people their opinion is not dead, and should remain an important part of the insight gathering process.
The revenue / equity cycle
When we think about the role of brand relative to business, we should consider the relationship between revenue (making money from the brand) and equity (investing money in the brand). While traditionally we’ve tended to consider these activities as separate and discreet, we should instead consider that they are in fact an inter-related cycle. A cycle in which business performance is dependent on our ability to maintain an appropriate balance between the two.
Brand driven problem definition
Brand driven innovation is an important concept if you want to use your brands purpose to successfully drive innovation and transformation. As problem definition sits at the heart of innovation, achieving success means translating your brands purpose so that it connects to the problems to be solved.
Branding in an information rich world
The landscape for brand building today is a bit like an upside-down map of the world. There are lots of things you already know about it. Countries, continents, oceans, and seas, and yet at the same time, everything looks quite unfamiliar.