Posts Tagged ‘brand strategy’
Did they get it right?
For most social media skeptics out there (see everybody not peddling social media like it’s the next incarnation of the television), there’s an enormously growing amount of speculation that Twitter isn’t the social tool that social media folks say it’s going to be. I would lump myself into said category, as well. And while the Brand Bowl 2010 is a really nice concept, both for a show of technology and agency prowess, I think it’s the wrong metric and the wrong thing to show expertise in.
Brand Bowl 2010
Let me explain. Everybody who’s anybody is angling for the next best thing in the ad business. Whether it be one of the various and sundry social applications on the web, say twitter, yelp, ning, digg, delicious, etc, etc, etc, brands can’t afford to be the farm on just one of these. Because, in truth, the social media application doesn’t matter if it doesn’t hit the target audience well. So, let’s use the “results” from Brand Bowl as an example. The Focus on the Family spot, which was quite possibly the most controversial and tame spot in Super Bowl memory, got lots of love in the Twittersphere. Why? It was both controversial AND it bore the exact subject matter that people oft tweet about: politics, religion and controversy. So, naturally, it would grade high on that scale. However, that does nothing to monitor effectiveness, strength of message or any other necessary metric to determine ROI on a Super Bowl spot.
All that’s really to say is that I truly believe anybody still putting Twitter in any sort of elevated status in the social media sphere has it all wrong. Most people who work in brand building in any sort don’t believe it has much longer of a shelf life in terms of the overall brand discussion. It faded quicker than MySpace and most younger consumers are onto something else. I wouldn’t have used it to measure effectiveness of anything. But that’s me.
Social Media is NOT a strategy
I’ve seen too many posts on Twitter over the past few weeks and months about this subject matter to let it slide any longer. Social Media is NOT a strategy. I know there are lots of people who are self-proclaimed “Social Media Experts,” but from my spot in the yard, it’s pretty tough to be an expert in something that’s an emerging communications tool. Just look at how much tv spots evolved in 50 years of television for proof that it takes more than being on Facebook for 3 years to make you an expert. With so many “experts” floating around, it’s hard to separate the trees from the bark on Social Media.
Because so many confuse this particular idea with a strategy, I think this point of view greatly distorts one of the most basic points that brand strategy requires you to understand: the difference between tactics and strategy. So let’s start by defining each of these terms.
TACTICS are methods you use to achieve a desired end. The more specific that end, the better. If you’re looking to drive traffic to your store, you would use tactics that support a push strategy: direct response, tv, outdoor, etc. If you want to increase trial of your product, you work with merchandising to get it close to the register, reduce the price and create POS materials to gain attention. If you’re looking to build a favorable perception of your brand, go with a heavier lean on PR, social media and brand-building executions in a blending of traditional and non-traditional media. These are standard, poorly thought out examples, but you get my drift.
STRATEGIES are gameplans that will involve multiple tactics to create a desired end with a consumer. So, if you’re a clothing retailer, your strategy might be “to get young people to buy our clothes.” Bad strategy, but a strategy, nonetheless. A better take might be, “To be the “OMG” fashion locale for emerging fashionistas.” More descriptive, a tad cheesy, but easy to work against. To achieve that strategy, you would employ loads of smart tactics that would address trendsetting tweens. The broader concept of strategy should house how you are going to move your brand forward, which brings me to a much debated point at the marketing director level: Every execution should be part of a broader brand-building approach to marketing. Every single POS sign, tv spot, press release, tweet or YouTube video should advance the fundamental values, emotions and ideas behind your brand. Based on the current status of marketing dollars across the world right now, I think the idea of doing “brand creative” is just about done. Now, that’s not to say that Nike still won’t do image tv spots or subway boards, but for the most part those will skew toward a particular product. The best agencies out there will figure out how to make the seemingly mundane tactics do a much more effective job of promoting a brand as well.