"We Need A Fundamentally Different Way To Create A Brand": An Agency CEO Sums Up The State Of Innovation & Advertising

WARNING: this is very long and dense. I don’t expect you to memorize it or even internalize it, hell you might not even read all of it. But I wanted to start a conversation with everyone by throwing the whole kitchen sink at you.

I say this because it’s important that we all take a breath, look down and realize that the clay is in our hands. We can make it what we want. Not just the work, but our future. I’ve been thinking a lot about where we are headed as an agency, where the industry is headed and where culture is headed. And I want to share some of that with you so that it’s all in our brains as we do this game changing work. It’s important that we step back to see the big picture and make sure we are working to change culture to benefit our brands and change our brands to benefit culture.

We live to challenge the status quo and redefine categories. And redefine our industry. We live to make an impact on-culture, pop culture, business, products, financial results. We love to make change--to see the effect of what we do. It starts with the belief that culture wants to change. So we do our part and give it a good nudge.

We don’t do “art"--what we do is not about beauty or reflecting life as it is. It’s about challenging the conventions of culture, the accepted beliefs of our time and our clients’ categories to put a spotlight on what makes them special and has always made them special. We use tension to illuminate their transcendent meaning and make it relevant for today.

A lot has changed in the last decade. People are even more hyper-connected now. We all carry phones with cameras and video cameras in our pockets that are perpetually connected to the Internet. People are the chief content creators. People are the chief content distributors. The entire Internet has been re-architected around people and people-systems. Social media has pervaded our life and in the process its created a new social contract for people and brands.

This new condition has changed the expectations for how consumers experience brands. The expectation of the relationship has become far more intimate. Brands, especially big brands, have the opportunity and expectation to become as intimate with a consumer as a small local business or even a friend.

Because of this, the expectations for honesty, ideals and meaning are high and represent huge opportunities. Brands have to be multidimensional, more human. Brands have stood for simple things in the past: A better mousetrap, the highest quality widget. These things are what they make. But these days people also want to know “why.” This has fundamentally changed branding and it’s been accelerated by a digital and social ethos. It’s not enough to be great at something or to be an expert in your field. The world is buying your bigger mission, in many cases, first. This has to pervade and drive a brand’s messaging and actions no matter what the “media.”

As we move forward, we’re going to be talking more and more about moving social to the core of what we do.

There has been a lot of talk about social media. It’s fascinating and powerful. But its most profound impact isn’t the literal silo of “social media” as we think of it today. The important part is how it’s changing our brains and the way we interact with brands and our expectations of these brands. So as we move forward, we’re going to be talking more and more about moving social to the core of what we do. And, we don’t mean a different media approach. We need a fundamentally different way to create a brand: the way it talks, behaves and thinks and the way to leverage ALL touch points--especially those beyond the obvious “social” touch points like TV. The opportunity is to build a brand that is relevant and explosive within the world’s new social contract and to socialize old media points, uncover/activate new touch points and bring it all together to create a system that connects people to a brand.

It starts with strategy.

Our strategy more and more each day sits at the intersection of the cogs (cognitive anthropologists, planners), UX and media. When you consider the things that this evolving marketing viewpoint brings with it--24/7 communications, a perceived intimacy and real time transparency--a brand needs to know who it is more now than ever. And what it stands for. What we may think of as liabilities have to be turned into opportunities. Silence creates suspicion now. There has never been so much simultaneous demand and opportunity for brands to communicate their values. Jim Stengel talks about the power of this in (his book) Grow--the fact that brands with strong, known values outperform the S&P 500. And when you intersect this value-centric brand opportunity with our social world, the stakes are raised or, better put, the opportunity is enhanced ten-fold for those that leverage it.

Domino’s is an excellent example of this. We know what we stand for, we know who we are. And we did what we thought was right and it’s changed everything. And we’ve done it from TV to apps to online retail ordering and tracking to recruiting. It’s a full circle that your consumer wants to get on the inside of. And it starts with a brand’s “why” because without it you can’t have a real conversation. And there are so many conversations you need to have. So many touch points and people and perspectives need to be addressed, engaged and inspired. So we start with who a brand is, what the target mindset is and what are the shared values between them and then how does the brand’s ecosystem and the consumers’ user journey collide in fortuitous ways to create action, conversation and conversion that cements them to the brand.

The next step is content creation.

Every touch point is an opportunity to prove who you are. To do this requires creation of assets that can help literally and philosophically tell the story. Icons, characters, employees: Best Buy blueshirts, Domino’s employees, tangible assets etc. All of these inventions can help a brand talk and relate where a product or logo can’t.

And it often comes down to the little things we say. With MINI we wrote and crafted the legal lines on ads. Those are opportunities to show the lights are on. That someone is home. The personality, the story is in the details. And there are so many details. We’ve always loved the small but huge “media” opportunities that most agencies overlook. These define a brand. I’ve always believed that if you are nice most of the time but you show a dark side once, people believe they’ve gotten a sneak peak into the REAL you. We are wired to read between the lines. It’s what a politician says when he’s off mic that we find more compelling--especially when they think they are off mic and they aren’t. That becomes the brand truth. So we have to embrace that. The details, the hidden opportunities, the 140 characters will tell this new world who your brand really is.

This philosophy has to find ways to spread to every touch point. Even in the realm of TV. There is interactive TV (Whopper Lust), there is the opportunity to build apps and leverage social networks to enhance the TV/movie experience (Best Buy movie mode, Old Navy Shazam), but also the approach to the content just needs to evolve as well. We’ve always worked with press releases to develop ideas. It’s not about getting press for the sake of press, it’s about understanding the expectation of impact within an idea as you concept it, vet it and create it. It’s about understanding what will drive the conversation and illuminate the message in a spectacular way. That’s what we live for. But also, don’t underestimate the fact that a simple, well written, brilliantly executed big idea can still change the world by simply challenging the way we think. Our Ikea "Lamp" spot did this. The Windows phone launch work did this. 30 seconds of culture changing words and images.

Now in the life of a brand there is a continuous stream of actions every day and they all can’t try to create a huge news day for a brand. We also need to create snackable content, bits and bites--shareable, playable, postable quips that maintain our strong relationship and give the world something to talk about. In these spaces our press release technique begins to evolve into tweets-the more intimate version of a press release. Where the result can be called social currency.

Our brand has to know and communicate our story but it has to also be able to tell the consumer’s story.

And, not surprisingly, sometimes people would rather talk about themselves than our brand. So how does our brand become a vehicle or conduit for THEIR story? Our brand has to know and communicate our story but it has to also be able to tell the consumer’s story, literally. Understanding this potential for contribution is key because this may be more valuable to them than the product or service itself. That’s the future of word of mouth. Ultimately when it all comes together, real magic happens. It’s way more than an integrated campaign. It’s literally a new way to go to market, to create and grow a brand that drives powerful results.

The third key element in this is production, development and operational touch point integration. Digital production and invention is not an afterthought or output. As a social approach to all marketing and a social ecosystem starts to come to life for a brand we know that values and voice are key to delivering that brand. And we know the old corporate identity elements of color, sound, logo, type still work to connect a brand. But more and more importantly the interactions themselves and the opportunity to connect and share with the brand-the literal functionality-becomes a key branded element. The interaction itself must feel right and repeatable and ownable. Also as mobile and tablet become the first screen, we can’t just piggy back on what exists; future experiences are ours to create. It’s about way more than watching and announcing and each one of these consumption and action opportunities can be branded from start to finish. And it has to be. That’s why we are so deeply involved with this work for our clients. The pieces of the ecosystem have to come from one place, share a voice, a flow and a functionality that literally IS the brand. Also, brands have more and more technology and data lying around that can be leveraged more visibly to tell their story. Pizza Tracker is this. An operational, internal checks and balances system that has become a confidence builder for mom, a game for her kids, a business accelerator for Domino’s and a new communications platform with the consumer.

So whatever you want to call it--marketing, advertising, Hollywood meets Silicon Valley, branding, inventing--it’s never been more exciting. But brands will need to be made ready for this world, this new social contract, and then activated. So, are you awakening to the cultural shifts in consumer/brand relationships that should be impacting everything you do today? Is your brand ready? What can you do now to make sure it is? Are you leveraging every touch point opportunity? How will you build a brand that the world can believe in, that matters?

Andrew Keller is CEO of Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

via fastcocreate.com

 

Gallup: The Value of Personal Branding - Achieving Success In Any Economy

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In the first article in this series, "It's Time to Brand Yourself," Blaise James explained his theory of self-branding. Your personal brand isn't a couple of adjectives, and it shouldn't be a résumé either. It should demonstrate your authentic talents and strengths. Your self-brand is integral to your career and your life -- and it influences your long-term career strategy and development.

Your self-brand is integral to your career and your life -- and it influences your long-term career strategy and development.

According to James, Gallup global brand strategist and former strategic planning director at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, your personal brand helps you map out the best of who you are and apply it to the best of what your company is. To do that, James recommends writing a statement of purpose, determining your point of view, and ascertaining your principles -- not only because they act as guides to conduct your strategies, but also because they're hard for anyone else to replicate. Your self-brand can help you become invaluable to your company or to a hiring manager. 

In this interview, the second of a two-part series, James describes how people can reconcile their brands with that of their companies. He talks about how to define a differentiated brand and how to present it. He explains the difference between tactics and strategies in branding -- and why hiring managers are bored by most résumés. And in the end, he shows why s

Self-branded people are so valuable to companies. Read on to learn why constructing your personal brand may be the best thing you can do for your workplace and for yourself.

GMJ: You said that the first step in the process of building your personal brand is thinking of yourself as an embedded entrepreneur. The second step is ascertaining your talents and those of your boss. What is step three?
Blaise James: Step three is finding the positive aspects of the environment that you and your consumer share so you can make your brand undeniably appealing to your consumer. This is how some of the most powerful brands today achieved success. 

For instance, Dove realized that its consumers lived in a world in which individual beauty should be celebrated over the unrealistic, manufactured beauty promoted by the beauty industry. Dove used its "Campaign for Real Beauty" to make this positive challenge. Kaplan University, a top brand in the explosive online education category, realized that its potential American consumer lives in a country in which 76 million Baby Boomers will retire over the next two decades and only 46 million American workers will be there to take their place. Kaplan saw this as a positive for their business: to lead the effort to train the nontraditional American student -- which traditional education has essentially failed -- to fill this 30-million-person gap. So they are leading the charge to "End Wasted Talent." This positive brand appeal connects the Kaplan brand name to a real mission in the consumer's world. In both cases, a larger environmental factor -- the way consumers define beauty or a large demographic trend -- added special positive significance to their brands.

Your brand needs to do the same. For your own brand, if your consumer is your boss, your environment could be a positive aspect of your company: for example, a can-do attitude, a unique expertise in your industry, or a relentless pursuit of creativity. If your consumer is the hiring managers within a particular industry, that environment might be what's happening in the industry or business world today.

Say that one of your talents is analytical ability. One key factor in your environment is that companies are trying to get smarter about how to be productive while saving money. So your analytical talents will definitely be a plus, and they should be a featured part of your brand. The point of this step is to think about the ways your talents intersect with the environment that you and your consumer share.

The Four Steps to Building Your Personal Brand Step 1: Think of yourself as an "embedded entrepreneur." Embedded entrepreneurs have a different mindset; they come up with new solutions to company problems and new ideas to fuel future growth. They understand what makes them unique and use that insight to navigate a profitable and fulfilling path within their company and over the course of their career. Step 2: Develop an understanding of your talents and strengths -- and those of your current or potential boss. Find what you're naturally good at so you can develop your strengths regardless of what field or position you're in. Then develop an understanding of your "consumer's" talents and strengths -- those of your current boss or the hiring managers within your industry, for example. Step 3: Determine the positive aspects of the environment you and your consumer share. For example, an organization's environment could be a can-do attitude, a specific expertise, or a relentless pursuit of creativity. Understanding your talents, your consumer's talents, and your shared environment is crucial to building your brand, because your talents must mesh with and make sense within your environment if you are to be effective. Step 4: Articulate your Purpose, Point of View, and Principles (the "Three Ps"). They are guides to how you will deliver your brand using the appropriate tactics.

GMJ: So part of your brand offering is your purpose?

James: When I create brand strategies, I go beyond purpose. You need to unpack purpose and help people understand how they carry out their purpose. First, you find the intersection point between you, your consumer, and the environment you share. I call this finding the "you, them, and us." Then you take that information and create statements of purpose, point of view, and principles.

The point of view tells us the why, the purpose tells us the what, and the principles are thehow. They're how you achieve your purpose.

Your statement of purpose comes first, and it will be a guide to how you'll conduct yourself and a filter for the decisions that you'll make as you deliver your brand. So, for example, the statement of purpose for an HR manager, Jane, might read "I'm in the business of providing senior managers with the human capital they need to feel confident in leading our company to growth." A CEO might say, "I'm in the business of inspiring global organizations with the leadership, management, and futurism they need to create value for the world's shareholders." And the statement for John, a marketing director for a nonprofit hospital, might read "I'm in the business of providing visionary executive directors with the strategic new audience development expertise they need to achieve their healthcare mission."

A statement of purpose is good, but it's possible someone could replicate it. Although purpose is important, it's only one step in creating differentiation. The second step is to determine your point of view -- your beliefs and unique take on the world. You do this by completing this sentence: "I believe the world would be a better place if . . ."

This exercise is valuable to establishing your personal brand because it's hard to replicate beliefs. They also give you a real motivation for doing what you do. Most people and companies never answer this question for themselves, let alone for their consumers.

The Three Ps of Your Personal Brand Strategy When crafting your brand strategy, a statement of purpose is important. But it's also crucial to "unpack purpose" and help the consumers of your personal brand understand how you carry out your purpose. Statement of Purpose: This statement is your guide to how you conduct yourself, and your talents can provide key clues. To build your statement of purpose, complete this sentence: "I'm in the business of . . ." Point of View: This statement affirms your beliefs and your unique take on the world. State your point of view by completing this sentence: "I believe the world would be a better place if . . ." Principles: Principle statements articulate how you act on your purpose. Either you make good on them, or you compromise your purpose. These statements begin with phrases like: "I always . . . " or "I only . . ." or "I never . . ."

GMJ: What should your statement of beliefs include?

James: Your statement of beliefs should articulate what you will do that's positive in the world.

Let's go back to the example of our nonprofit marketing manager John and look at his point of view. John believes that even the best ideas need the genius of execution and follow through to make a difference in the world. Remember, his purpose statement is "I'm in the business of providing visionary executive directors with the strategic new audience development expertise they need to achieve their healthcare mission." So his point of view now answers why he's trying to achieve this purpose.

The answer why really helps us differentiate ourselves. For corporations, this whystatement can be incredibly motivating to employees who deliver the brand.

GMJ: What else can help you differentiate yourself when crafting your purpose statement?

This is another reason why knowing your talents is so important. Let's say that John has taken Gallup's Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment to help him identify his talents. John's top talent themes include Analytical and Activator, which in this context provide insights to how John thinks and how he influences others. John knows the type of executive director that he wants to attract: He wants to work with people who consistently look toward the future -- this is a talent often found in the StrengthsFinder Futuristic theme. Many people in nonprofit organizations embody the theme of Adaptability; they have to dance on a dime to accomplish their mission with limited budgets.

Now we've reached our brand intersection: where Analytical and Activator meet Futuristic and Adaptability. So John's brand focus is as a realizer of visions. He can help executive directors activate their ideas. And because this statement is genuine to John, it's valuable and hard to duplicate.

The point of view tells us the why, the purpose tells us the what, and the principles are thehow. They're how you achieve your purpose.

GMJ: Explain principles. Do you mean values or ethics?

James: Think of principles as either/or statements. Either you make good on them or you've compromised your purpose. Statements of principles begin with "always," "only," or "never," and they give a structure to and are a litmus test of your personal brand.

Let's use John as an example again. His statements of principle would be something like this: "I will only work for executive directors who have real vision." "I will never send a résumé to a nonprofit organization with a mission that I don't believe has lasting, significant relevance." And "I will always ensure that I have a yearly strategy in place to guide marketing initiatives." These principles will help him achieve his purpose. Just like any good brand strategy, they act like a filter that guides his decisions.

You can't stand for everything or you stand for nothing. You have to focus.

By the way, CEOs are often shocked when you tell them their corporate brand can't be everything to everyone. It's the same for your personal brand: You can't stand for everything or you stand for nothing. You have to focus.

GMJ: Of what value are social networking sites to self-branding?

James: Don't confuse strategy with tactics. This is just a word of warning: Many personal brand coaches lead with "Build your brand on Facebook" or "Do self-branding on Twitter."

If you hear that, proceed with caution. These folks are confusing strategy with tactics. Your résumé, your interview, your networking groups, your Facebook page, your tweets, your LinkedIn connections -- all that stuff is tactics. They're the ways in which you reveal your brand. Your purpose, your point of view, and the principles that guide you, those must come first.

GMJ: So how do you use these sites in a way that is consistent with your strategy, your brand?

James: When you have a solid personal brand strategy, who you're following on Twitter makes sense. The tweets you send have common themes because they come from your sense of purpose, your point of view, and your principles.

Depending on what your principles are, you may decide never to shotgun a résumé to monster.com. You may not subject yourself to the decision process of TheLadders.com. Instead, you may send a creatively packaged snail-mail letter to the senior vice president of human resources, or you may join the arts committee that the CEO and her husband chair. Those are all tactics that send a message about your personal brand.

But are they the right tactics? You will only know after you've put your strategy in place. Once you've done that, your résumé stands out because you're focused like a laser beam on what you want and how you talk about it. Hiring managers get a real sense of your difference and are clear about why you want to work at their firm.

So much job advice these days is about just getting a job. Just get it -- and so what if you take a step down?

GMJ: But that's a reality for many people.

James: It absolutely is, and it's bad for companies. This is exactly the cross-purpose that hiring managers are facing. They don't want to spend the money to bring in workers who are just looking for any job. Instead, they're going out of their way, in my estimation, to sniff out people who are just trying to get a job for the sake of working.

GMJ: What gives people away when they're doing that?

James: Résumés, for one. There's a whole way of gaming résumés nowadays, and it's not at all strategic. If you're cramming your résumé with buzzwords that you think are right for the job but have nothing to do with who you are or what you've done, how have you differentiated yourself from everyone else applying for that position?

What pops out at HR VPs are interesting facts that authentically come from who you are and that tell them how you will realize the mission of the job and the purpose of the company. That makes them want to call you in, because you gave them a sense of your unique value.

Self-branded employees are self-directed and more innovative. They're problem solvers, and they're a lot more engaged.

This is key: Don't start on tactics until you have your brand strategy. Then, when you get into the tactics, don't just do what's hot. Bring a sense of who you are to how you present your skills and experience. Think about how to differentiate yourself and your brand over the long term.

Remember: You're now an embedded entrepreneur. I hope that opens up a different way of thinking for people. The way the world is going, markets are so cluttered and competition is so acute -- and companies can basically replicate a product or service overnight. Their brand is crucial to differentiating their company, product, or service from all the others. The same is true of people.

GMJ: How does thinking of yourself as an embedded entrepreneur change how you approach your work?

James: Having a personal brand also helps you realize that meeting your goals matters as much as meeting the company's. When you're pursuing your goals -- and they're aligned with your company's goals -- you're much more engaged to act on the company's and the customer's behalf.

It also gives workers a sense of control. Right now, 7.2 million people are unemployed, which is a daunting number. Most workers still have jobs, but many of them are feeling uncertain and fearful.

GMJ: How are embedded entrepreneurs valuable to companies?

James: Embedded entrepreneurs point their brand toward the problems of the business. If you don't know what your talents are and you don't know what your brand is, it will take you a lot longer to get up to speed, and you'll be less productive. Anything that helps people express their talents leads to increased engagement, which benefits the company. Ultimately, people feel more engaged in their jobs when they're coming up with ideas, thinking creatively, and pursuing an agenda -- being proactive rather than reactive.

Gallup knows that people who work from their talents are more likely to be engaged, engaged employees are more likely to engage customers, and engaged customers are much more profitable to your business. So if you're a CEO, you want your workers to know their talents and use them to construct their identities in the company. That takes some work, some really profound thought, but it's worth it -- self-branded employees are self-directed and more innovative. They're problem solvers, and they're a lot more engaged.

GMJ: What can managers do to help people build their self-brands?

James: Ultimately, people have to do this on their own. It's a personal process that factors in someone's whole life. It's not top-down -- it works from the bottom up. But managers can encourage employees to develop their brands, and they can focus on their own brands and chart their own way through their companies. Your personal brand is more than just words -- it's actions. Live out your principles. Don't pay them lip service. That's something managers can do: lead by example.

-- Interviewed by Jennifer Robison

via gmj.gallup.com

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Jim Woods is president and founder of InnoThink Group. A leading consulting firm specialized solely in enabling organizations of all sizes in all industries develop top line growth through strategic innovation and hypercompetition. Jim has over 25 years consulting experience in working with small, mid size and Fortune 1000 companies. He is a former U.S. Navy Seabee and grandfather of five. For availability email or call us at 719-649-4118. Subscribe to our innovation and hypercompetition newsletter.   

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