Marketing to Culture

a blog that explores the intersection of culture and brand.

[marketingtoculture]

Why we're looking for a phenomenal Digital Strategist

At the start of this year I took the decision to work with a phenomenal group of people who were building a fantastic organization that focused on solving business problems with sound strategic thinking, using digital tools and technology. That company is Sonic Boom - the digital, mobile and social media arm for NATIONAL Public Relations, Canada’s largest communications consulting firm with an incredible client roster. 

What I'm doing at Sonic

An integral part of my mandate here is to build the Digital Strategy Practice and team. Having spent the first couple months laying the foundations for strategy process, methodologies and IP, we're now actively looking to hire our first Strategist. This is a critical hire for us, and a phenomenal opportunity for someone to get in early, build a phenomenal career and work with and learn from a group of incredibly smart and talented people.

The Digital Strategy Practice and its mandate

At its core, the Digital Strategy Practice will apply an anthropological frame to problem solving, taking into account both the emotional and rational drivers for purchase/consideration/advocacy etc. Made up of people who understand consumer culture in a digital context, this team will practice model thinking, look beyond client asks to understand and solve business problems, and build strategies based on sound insights and deep knowledge of best practices.

More importantly however, this practice will not limit itself to solving problems with marketing/communications solutions or digital builds, but instead also look at opportunities for building and selling IP through platform based solutions where applicable.

Our next hire will not only help me shape this practice but also play a significant role within the organization, guiding new business and client advisory.

If this role is of interest to you, please reach out to me at [email protected] with a link to your LinkedIn profile, or check out our careers section for a formal job description. 

http://www.sonicboom.com/

[marketingtoculture]

Digital culture drives belief-based consumption

The beauty of culture is that it finds ways to communicate a brand's values, beliefs and manifestos to the public. And social media further facilitates the dissemination of this information, informing and educating audiences along the way. 

It isn't surprising to see more and more audiences buy and relate to brands based on what they stand for.

For example, what do these videos teach you about Disney? I bet you, none of this is news to you.

VIDEO 1: Southpark deconstructing Disney

http://youtu.be/2w5Le0w4pQ8

VIDEO 2: 

[marketingtoculture]

Path to strategy and innovation

I've been wanting to pen some thoughts down on the digital planning process for a while now. So here goes.

(I have enjoyed great success working with this model to build brand level strategies and platforms for large brands in the US and Canada. So there's a lot of practicality to this process.)

In every category, area of interest, product space there are typically 3 or 4 dominant narratives that bind large groups of audiences together online, often in communities - by a shared set of values, beliefs, interests, brand affiliations and stories. (Studying culture helps us find these narratives and understand them.)

These narratives translate into patterns of online behaviour that often vary (to some degree) from one channel to another.  

The great thing about understanding these narratives is that it can directly translate into ideas and strategy for a brand. Think of how you can co-opt existing stories from communities of audiences.

Further, understanding how these narratives translate into behaviour on various digital channels helps in tactical planning - directly transfering a strategy into execution:: mechanics of engaging audiences, seeding content, driving UGC within a community environment, fostering gamification and so on.

The combination of narrative based strategy and channel tactics often lead to the creation of larger strategic ideas that angle towards the building of long term platforms rather than short term campaign based solutions. Platforms that can be transformative to a brand's relationship with its audiences, leading to real tangible revenue models for the client.

I'm sorry I can't share any real client examples here to make this discussion more tangible. I would however urge you to give this thinking process a shot (if you don't already belong to this school of thought). It might just change the way you think about the planning process.  

[marketingtoculture]

Culture communicated online

In the physical world, we observe trends, objects and things around us. That clues us into culture and identity. We then take these clues and translate them into our consumption - serving our hedonic needs. 

The online world is very different. Instead of observing people walking down the street, we observe users within communities and networks, and in the process expose ourselves to a much great volume of information (often in the form of conversations). And this process of hyper-information-consumption makes us consumers very aware of culture and the values and beliefs of brands we care about.

But this is only the beginning.

[marketingtoculture]

The age of belief-based consumption

Last week's Chick-fil-A controversy has interestingly shed light on something I've been wanting to talk about for a while now: Belief-Based Consumption.

People's decision-making is increasingly becoming belief based. What I mean by that is people are increasingly choosing to do business with those companies that share their values and beliefs. In the process of doing so, audiences are bringing these brands into conversations with peer groups both online and off, making these brands an integral part of their (audience) identities. When value systems are involved, audiences are more than happy to spread a brand's message into the marketplace (through their own personal networks). The series of events this past month that occurred as a result of the President and COO of Chick-fil-A openly expressing his opposition to same-sex marriage illustrates exactly that. His comments had such an impact that it led to hundreds of thousands of supporters buying chicken from the restaurant chain on August 1 in order to express their support for the company's values. It of course also led to protests from thousands of people who will likely never again consider eating at a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

While the Chick-fil-A event is rather dramatic, it certainly isn't the first time that a brand is choosing to sell based on its values. Lululemon for example made a business out of putting its beliefs and values front and centre at every customer touchpoint (e.g. shopping bags with the phrase "friends are more important than money") - selling to those who believed what they believed. Vans is another brand that sells its beliefs. The company is deeply engrained in skate and snowboard culture and spends a lot of its earnings furthering a set of values that skate/snowboarders relate to - the most recent example being its announcement to buid a 14,000 square-ft skateboarding complex in California. A similar case can be made for Mountain Equipment Co-Op, a Canadian outdoor gear/clothing company that has a cult-like following amongst liberal/left-leaning outdoor recreational enthusiasts.

Digital tools and access to information has made culture (values, beliefs, symbols etc.) important to audiences.

Digital tools have allowed us to not just connect with niche groups of audiences who share values and beliefs with us, but have also helped us understand disparate groups and form opinions about them, and even build varying degrees of relationships with them. Essentially, we know who the allies are. And we know how and where to find them. It is this process of looking beneath the surface, and past the marketing message, that is increasingly powering communities online and driving websites like reddit.

The requirements are changing for brands.

Any organization that has looked to create self-sustaining communities online has already experienced the need for a level of transparency that was previously never required in business. In my opinion, what we are beginning to witness is a new reality to the brand-audience relationship. Culture will drive business, and will dictate how audiences relate to brands. It's now up to the organizations to respond.

[marketingtoculture]

What digital marketers need to know about identity

I was recently presenting insights from a qualitative research project to a client of ours in Toronto. Our research piece uncovered the digital behaviour and habits of an audience our client was largely unfamiliar with.

While presenting, I was confronted with an interesting question and I thought it warranted a blog post. Our client was concerned. They felt that because their audience was behaving (consuming and sharing content online) in patterns that differed from the patterns seen in the offline world, their marketing efforts would be targeting a persona that wasn’t necessarily authentic. Understandably, our client was hesitant to market their product to a trend in behaviour that potentially lacked longevity and substance.

In today’s vast digital landscape, understanding identity and what it means to an audience in a given online situation is critical for digital marketers. Without which it becomes a real challenge to create brand experiences that relate to audiences at a deeper emotional level. Take Opera Software (the makers of the Opera web browser) for example. The company has very effectively leveraged an understanding of audience identity and culture on reddit, to acquire users and craft a strong niche community for itself. This is a skill that is going to become increasingly valuable in the coming years as organizations are faced with having to participate in numerous niche communities and platforms in order to reach their audience.

Persistent identity is a myth.

Context has such a dominating influence on our experiences, our likes and dislikes, that it is extremely rare to find no differences in the way people behave from one contextual setting to another. Think of the last time you were with your parents. Did your behaviour with them differ from your behaviour during your last job interview? What were those differences? Did your use of language change? What about your facial expressions? Or even your choice of clothing?

The influence of online context on behaviour tends to be highly exaggerated, often creating patterns of behaviour amongst an audience that differ quite a bit across communities, social networks and other contextual settings. If I use myself, as an example, I tend to take on the persona of a very opinionated socialist-libertarian when on reddit. On Twitter, it is a completely different story. I focus on sharing useful content, fostering friendships, and sharing the interesting moments in my day to day life.

The idea of an authentic self is a fundamentally flawed idea, particularly on the internet where social norms (or a lack thereof) allow for a greater degree of freedom.

Digital marketers have a challenge.

An audience member may react very differently to a brand onTumblr than she would in a forum-based community setting.And that’s where the challenge lies. Marketers now need to create multiple customized experiences to convey a brand’s meaning and tell a story that is truly immersive for an audience.

Solution: Pay attention to context.

What matters isn’t whether your audience is being authentic about who they are and why they’re consuming a particular kind of content on a platform.What really matters is making sure that the observations you are making about your audiences’ digital behaviour is context specific, and leveraged in the same manner when creating marketing programs and experiences.

Consider an example. Let’s say you’re the Marketing Manager for Converse, and you’re gathering information about the way punk rock fans are interacting around the Converse brand in the forum space.

The insights you gather here has 3 contextual elements attached to it:

a)  Discussions around the Converse brand,

b)  Taking place amongst punk rockers,

c)  In a discussion board/forum format.

Which means you must now leverage these insights to create brand experiences for this audience in a similar contextual setting. For example, you could apply these insights to a branded punk rock community that’s owned and managed by Converse.

So the next time you’re conducting research or are worried about the applicability of your marketing programs to an audience on a digital channel or community, think about whether you’re applying digital insights in the right context. And if you are, you stand a much greater chance of having your message resonate with your audience of interest.

[marketingtoculture]

Why culture is still a largely ignored topic amongst marketers. :)

[just-a-wonderfool-blog]

Culture?, Stockholm, May 2012

[marketingtoculture]

How could I have not re-blogged this one?!

[marketingtoculture]

A fundamental shift in marketing

For decades brands created identities for audiences - the Marlboro Man, GAP kids, The Mac vs. The PC guy, and so on. But we're now entering an arena where brands are looking towards audiences to help define their identity. Brands are looking to understand culture, and draw on the values, beliefs and affiliations of these cultures to craft their own identities. 

This is a fundamental shift in the way brands, and consequently, organizations will function. And digital tools will pave the way for this fundamental shift in marketing.

[sheirafurse-deactivated20231207]

Timeline: Great Moments In Creative Direction

(via Critical Eye: Details.com via Liquid Agency)

[open-music]

—> Marking the creative revolution in the 1960s.

[marketingtoculture]

As organizations get more advanced in their use of digital tools to reach their audiences, we (as marketers and as agency folk) are increasingly faced with a greater complexity of problems to solve. This means we're often put in a situation that requires us to tell a brand story on a multitude of platforms, involving audiences that often behave quite differently from one platform to another. (See post "content is everything") 

And that's where I think the real value of cultural insight lies. Because studying culture allows us to find existing narratives and stories that audiences already share and associate with a brand or an area of interest. Whether it is audiences on Tumblr creating funny gifs and meme's about a product, or audiences in discussion boards using brands as a means to craft an identity, insight from culture allows us to translate a single brand story into multiple narratives that relate to audiences in different contexts. 

When was the last time you thought about leveraging culture to convey a brand's story?

[marketingtoculture]

People have always wanted to immerse themselves in the story they're consuming. What's changing is the way technology enables it.

Paraphrasing Frank Rose from "The art of immersion".

[marketingtoculture]

Paying attention to the intangibles

Every wednesday morning at Sequentia, we indulge each other in an hour long session reserved to discuss anything from the ideas we're working on to the problems we're trying to solve for our clients. This morning the conversation centered around the intangibles in an audience-brand relationship - elements that go beyond serving a tangible need or pain point. Elements that seemingly serve a need for self-actualization (if I am to use Maslow's terminology). 

Through this conversation, I was reminded of an interesting blog post by Grant McCracken in the Harvard Business Review a couple weeks ago, where he talked about the strategy a local library adopted to make itself culturally relevant to younger readers.

In this particular case, the library focused on an understanding of the intangible need it served - providing a unique magical ambiance where ideas are born. So they created just such an experience where they invited  local kids to leave their stuffed animals overnight for a "sleepover" at the library. The next morning when the kids came to pick up their furry friends, they were charmed with photographs of their animals' mystical journey overnight. 

Doing so allowed the library to create a magical, intangible connection with this younger audience.

In the digital context, we often forget about the intangibles when creating experiences. We focus too much on servicing audiences, fulfilling known needs, and we don't pay enough attention to the brand experience delivered (or desired) every time an audience member interacts with a brand/product online. 

So here are a few questions you should be asking yourself: 

What are the feelings you'd like audiences to associate with your brand?

Are there emotional elements your audience would like to associate with your brand?

What feelings are currently evoked when your audience interacts with your brand online? 

Is your online experience consistent with your offline experience? 

Image source: http://arvinabrown.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/hpim2422.jpg

[marketingtoculture]

Learning from the 60s

"I'm worried that we're going to fall into the trap of bigness. That we're going to worship technique instead of substance." - Bill Barnbach.

The crucial problem, writes Thomas Frank (in his book "Conquest of cool"), was the dominance of rules and science, the priority of statistics and routines, the methods that would soon be heralded as the hallmarks of an era of certainty (1950s). 

--> This philosophy has had a profound influence on my career and my thinking in the field of digital marketing and research. IMHO this school of thought is even more relevant and important in today's highly uncertain socio-political environment. (read "the power of noticing")

Image source: masters-of-rock-issue-7-psychedelic-60s.jpg

[marketingtoculture]

The cusp of another revolution in business?

Lately I've been thinking a lot about our current cultural environment and the influence it is going to have on the way organizations interact with markets, particularly in the digital space. 

We seem to be on the cusp of yet another countercultural movement. Events that have transpired over the last 2 years (both on and off the internet) certainly suggest so. Here's a quick refresher.

Wikileaks

Anonymous 

Occupy movements

The ongoing battle for The Pirate Bay's survival

The death of SOPA/PIPA recently

And there's a lot more evidence in popular culture (TV shows, film, art etc.)

When the 60s counterculture made a return in the 90s, we saw a huge shift in the way consumers and citizens organized themselves. We saw a change in marketing practices and the general way corporations conducted business. And like the 60s, the counterculture made its mark, probably not to the same extent, but it did anyway.

And here we are approximately 2 decades later, in the midst of yet another storm. Where will culture lead us this time? What role will digital tools play? Are we ready to see a fundamental shift in the way companies do business and treat customers? 

Image source: http://static.arstechnica.com/02-09-2011/anon-internet-is-here.jpg

[marketingtoculture]

Context is everything

Audiences behave differently in different contexts, whether it's in the physical world or online.

Remember Stanley Milgram's obedience studies at Yale in the 1960s where participants were asked to administer electric shocks to subjects in order to test the influence of punishment on learning? As Sam Sommers rightly points out in his book 'Situations Matter' - "the world is constantly pulling our strings, colouring how we think and guiding how we behave. And yet we rarely notice."

Understanding context is as important as understanding audience behaviour and motivation. Particularly if you are looking to translate insights into the planning process. Without the right context, an audience will not relate to a brand. And your strategy will fail.

So the next time you find yourself working with insights, ask yourself some of these questions: 

In what contexts were our insights gathered? E.g. A product might be considered an essential part of one's online identity on Tumblr, while seen as a guilty pleasure on a message board (even when the audiences interacting on these channels are the same!).

Which contexts are of most importance to my brand? 

How does that change the way I position my brand in each of these contexts?

What sort of content & experiences would I need to create to appeal to audiences in each of these contexts?

Would the process of audience acquisition and relationship building differ across contexts?

Image source: Unknown. Found on this site.

[marketingtoculture]

Why Google Plus Is Not a Community.

Predictably, Google Plus has got practically every one blogging and tweeting about it. Is it a challenger to Facebook? Will the lack of anonymity prevent Google Plus from succeeding? The views are as varied as ever.

Today I'm joining in the debate, but for a specific reason. I've been noticing that the expression "community " is being repeatedly and loosely used with reference to Google Plus and that troubles me.

Google Plus is not a community.  A colleague and I recently concluded an extensive research project that looked at the relationship between culture and thriving online communities. We wanted to understand the underlying reasons that made online communities tick (or fail). The results of our research left us with an understanding of some critical ingredients for self-sustaining community environments online. I want to bring three of those ingredients forward, to help you understand why Google Plus can't be a community. Anonymity. To truly create a community environment online, audiences need the option of hiding behind a pseudonym. The keyword here is 'option'. And it can make or break communities.  The problem with Google Plus is that as a social platform, it is tied to the one identity (of you online) that already has an insurmountable amount of information about you, especially if you're a Gmail user. And you can't get away from it. From your last online purchase to that nasty email you just sent your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, Google knows it all. It's hard to be someone else on Google Plus.  Identity and purpose.  Communities thrive because their membership shares a certain identity. Some of the most successful online communities have an underlying purpose, a common vision, no matter how ephemeral.  Google Plus lacks the ability to satisfy both these needs. Given Google's reach, and the ridiculous ease with which one can join Google Plus and build a network, it's practically impossible for Google Plus to maintain an environment that shares a common identity. Purpose is another blind spot. No one seems to have any idea what to use this platform for. And the user-base is already too large for Google to be figuring that out now. Heck, even Facebook had purpose when it started (if you were born after 1975, you probably know what I mean).  Reputation. Every online community has its leaders. They (leaders) perform a very important function - of keeping the community's identity intact. And in most communities, leaders are not appointed. They are chosen by the community for their contributions, their knowledge and passion. Here again Google Plus fails (and it's a major failure) - it does not allow users to build a reputation.

I could go on and on, but I think by now you've got the picture. So let's call a spade a spade. Google Plus is nothing but a Facebook alternative - with a couple of new features, and without its (Facebook's) dating cachet.

Our research report is available here.