(L/M NET: the blogged experience & expertise of some of the best minds in Innovation, Brand Engagement, Communication Agility:
Tom - Tim - Konstantin - Helge - Drew - Charles - Anthony - Adrian)
Last week, I gave the keynote at Google’s marketing conference in New York (which you can read as a cartoon-filled post here). I spoke about how to create “marketing worth sharing” and that technology can’t save a boring idea.
One of the bigger themes of the day was the shift needed in how marketers tell stories. Many of us were trained in the Single Minded Proposition school of marketing, where you succinctly repeat what your brand stands for in every brand communication: “Volvo equals safety”, “Volvo equals safety”, “Volvo equals safety”.
In today’s two-way conversational world with brands and consumers, brand communication is more complicated. We need a variety of messages, and we can’t script every interaction. If we only remind consumers that “Volvo equals safety”, they will quickly tune us out. Rather than cram our SMP into every communication, we need a variety of things to say. Our brands need editorial calendars more than slogans.
This also means that we need to relinquish some of the control in brand communication. When your main brand communication was a single expensive 30-second spot, it made sense that everyone on the extended brand team scrutinized the creative. Now that brands are continuously publishing, the same command-and-control model doesn’t scale. It also doesn’t scale now that much of the communication is generated by consumers.
This communication shift requires a mindset change. In my Google talk, I shared five aspects of this mindset change. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away one signed print of this week’s cartoon. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post by 5:00 PST on Monday. I’ll pick one comment. Thanks!)
(ralf says:
Now it gets really complicated and difficult for those who don't even have a single minded proposition today.
Now they have to identify a whole bunch of relevant and differentiating features in order to convince consumers.
The best performing brands know that for years. So act up now! Enjoy!
And have a close look at Tom's keynote at Google.)
Tom is cartoonist and founder of Marketoonist, helping organizations communicate with cartoons. He draws from 16yrs of marketing, most recently as Marketing VP at method. He speaks about innovation, creativity, and marketing, using cartoons to visualize. @tomfishburne
