startegist

Communication, strategy, branding, leadership, sometimes politics

[startegist]

The Rise of the Right is so Wrong

The time to become concerned is not when they manage to get a ridiculous idea such as the so-called 'Muslim ban", Mexico wall or North Korea attack through. The time to worry is when these concepts are given a stage because that's where the audience is born and the concepts start spreading. Hatred, racism and inequality, the notion that people have different worth, grow from here and create divisions that can quickly and dangerously evolve from a stage to words to actions. The solution isn't to attack figureheads or individuals. This will just antagonise, fuel the brand of mean and rally support around the victim role they’ll gladly use to encourage outrage and further division. 

A more constructive way is continued education and influence of key decision-makers through letting elected leaders, journalists and people in our lives and communities know that inequality and racism are destructive and we support neither. Also looking at the root issues of these social divisions, such as job creation, and taking those seriously is a productive way of levelling out the hostility - perhaps not with everyone, but it's a step in a solution-focused direction. “When they go low, we go high.” - Michelle Obama

[startegist]

Follow-up on the previous post

I take it all back. 

[startegist]

How do you solve a problem like Trump?  5 strategies

Bully him? He will bask in the victim role. “I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC anymore.”

Invite him to an intellectually challenging discussion? And his toys out the pram, on the floor. “Sad!”

Mock him? See answer 1 in combination with answer 2. “LOUDLOUDLOUD CAPS!!!”

Reason? This could be a winner, just give him a lolly and tell him it's Opposite day first. “#fakenews”

High school clique play? Yep, like the 14 year olds roll. Pressure his inner circle, get them to tweet support for your cause, repeat with the next one, and he ungracefully flops into position, albeit for a split second. “We have had tremendous success, but we don’t talk about it.”

[startegist]

Advertisingland Sweden

A Swedish trend publication called KIT recently asked me to comment on how Swedish advertising is viewed abroad and why there's so much talent coming out of the tiny, cold country up north, which I thought I'd share here: Swedish advertising is seen as genuine, smart and often funny. The Sweden brand in itself is impressive and I don't just mean the country's Twitter account; it's impressive how many brands from little Sweden are well known and highly visible internationally. The advertising they produce is seen as original and rightly so; the advertising industry understood the importance of communicating with the experience in mind. How did they become so good? A mix of things and here are some: Trend creation and awareness Small countries are often guided by homegrown trends or look to other countries for inspiration. In Sweden there's a high understanding and consciousness of world trends and they're also a driving force in world trends. Intuitively innovative Mix the trends with an intuitively innovative mentality, an encouragement to be open and curious, and access to world-class education where they teach you to think critically, creatively and strategically, and out comes a very exciting contender in international advertising and communication circles. Looking beyond the profit They're also good at understanding and appreciating the value in communication beyond profit gains which gives more space for creativity, new thinking, and new creation.

[startegist]

The Voice Assistants Are Coming

Voice technology has been around a while. Siri was released as an app in 2010 and was the first modern digital virtual assistant, arguably the first known example to most people but voice-recognition goes all the way back to 1962. The IBM shoebox was launched, at about the size of a shoebox, it was equipped with 10 small lamps labeled 0 to 9 and speaking the name of the digit would cause the corresponding lamp to light up. From popular culture examples of voice recognition from KITT in Knightrider and R2D2 in Star Wars to voice-controlled gaming with the brilliantly badly planned Konami Laserscope and calling the bank to have your balance read to you in the 80s, the evolution of this technology to a practical, mainstream way has been slow. One reason could be the fear of the unknown and the difficulty of changing people's behaviours, skepticism around the boundaries of privacy or simply not having an offering that is beneficial and easy. It's likely a mix of all of these. And it's about to change in a big way. With Google Home, Amazon Echo, HomePod and the fantastically named LingLong DingDong hitting the shops, virtual assistants are being brought into homes. Finally. And why not? While body language may take the crown as the most important form of expression when speaking to other humans, speech is the go-to method we consciously choose. With non-humans on the receiving end, the potential for practical assistance is huge. It's not surprising how quickly getting a news update, skipping a song, adjusting the volume, asking a question and controlling the lights or temperature by requesting it becomes completely natural. We're just doing what we've always done; speaking. In a wider context, brands now need to consider not just what they look and feel like, and symbolise, but what they sound like too. Voice makes them more human. Consider the top five supermarkets in your area. Where would each one regionally come from? How would they sound? Do they range from old to young? Are they male or female? What are their attributes, assertive and authoritative, gentle and kind or something else? Who are its partners and affiliates? The virtual assistant could turn into a virtual friendship circle where you chat to Alexa about your reading list and fashion choices, ‘Margaret’ about your Waitrose shop, ‘Carl’ about your Nike+ fitness goals, Google about your news and ‘Daniel' about your Spotify music recommendations. This can be applied to anything, for example education and self-development and improvement. In an increasingly competitive world and professional market where we're overloaded with information every day, self-development is a must to not fall behind but it's also exhausting to fit it in. Virtual assistants open up the possibility of non-judgemental tutoring, coaching and mentoring, and doing courses during your commute or on the go. There are plenty of resources out there - the overload of information is not a bad thing, it's about making it work for you. With an accurate and reliable writing to speech and speech to writing service, you could have control of what to learn and when, and the ability to complete course work and give feedback too, maybe even with the voice of your choice.  We’re not quite there yet but it’s not far away. A survey by JWT and Mindshare about voice technology asked people if they'd feel comfortable using voice in public and the majority said they wouldn't. What people say and what people do often differ. As long as it's conversational and natural, isn't it just like walking down the street and talking into your handsfree microphone as you would with a friend? Needless to say, I’m a fan and can't wait for voice technology to become truly integrated into my life. 

[startegist]

The Post-Consumer

I'm about 10 pages into Seth Godin's The Purple Cow, a book / manifesto about how to approach marketing which was published in 2005. Seth Godin was a guest on Emma Gannon's podcast a while ago and her firm recommendation inspired the purchase yesterday evening on Amazon. (Thank u, Emma!) In the book Godin briefly, knowledgeably and casually runs through the evolution of marketing over the past 100 years, in a way only he can, which inspires the question 12 years after it was published: where are we now? These days, those of us who live in hyper-commercialised societies that are optimised to make money are constantly fed by brands - products, solutions, innovations, lifestyles, just plain stuff, and you can buy it any time either in real life or online for delivery to an address of your choice the following day. There are so many choices to make which is exhausting, taking us to a place where we shun it and shift the way we approach shopping and being a consumer. Post-Consumerism is moving beyond addictive consumerism. We've been fed to the point of over-saturation, we can't take anymore, it's pouring out of our ears and . Much like the news have become so ridiculous in a world of Brexit and Trump, brands have flooded the world with products to the point of where keeping up would be a full-time job (although I'm sure journalists are exhausted these days). So, what comes afterwards? The shift and guilt from owning more than we need, guilt both from a global citizen and environmental POV,  is maybe directed to the wellness of ourselves and those around us. Instead of purchasing materially made objects and things, we invest in our skills, well-being and our beliefs, bettering ourselves and expanding our minds. It might also make us even more independent and swing us further away from products to services, plugging into whatever works for the time-being until we are exhausted or grow bored and move on. A part of the daily routine today, gone tomorrow - we all have many examples of this. It's old news that the lifespan of people's loyalty and attention has been declining but a feasible future can’t be a steady decline until we can't focus for more than milliseconds at a time (can it?). What is interesting is approaching products or services or whatever you have to market not with an ambition based on longevity, margins and big growth over time, but one of filling a need for a length of time that makes sense and moving on to something else with your customers or with a new group of people. They won't think twice about leaving - why shouldn't you move on to something new and exciting too?

[startegist]

Brands in social media: learn, adapt and experiment

Where I live, everytime there’s a seminar or talk at agencies, schools or anywhere else with the words ‘social media’ in the title, the place is packed. Literally bursting at the seams. With marketing directors and client side people, a few ad people and students, everybody knows it; if you’re a brand you have to be on social media. And get followers. 

But in practice, what does it actually mean and what is the value in getting people to like your page, or follow you on Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn?

To TALK of course! Think of your social media presence as mingling at a party, or better yet, getting to know new friends. Here's a chance for you to hang out with the cool crowd - your customers - so, like the new kid on the street, suss them out and see how you can fit in.

But how? 1. Research - Who do we want to reach and what topics are they interested in? 2. Set the strategy - With what message or topic(s) and what means will you reach them?  3. Get creative - Set a creative expression and framework for the communication. Where will you get content from continuously? 4. Define goals and objectives - how will you measure the success?

Humility and humanity For a lot of brands and people, working in this long-term way with a strategy that evolves and changes over time, as opposed to a project with a clear start and finish, might be new and unknown territory. One of the most exciting aspects of being active in social media, is that your brand will be so close to the customer and their involvement will be a great support in developing your strategy. 

Consider the flexibility this provides; you can test and try all sorts of different types of communication, topics and content and really get to now what it is people like (or don't like) about your brand. Find out how people really feel and address those feelings. 

Stick to the plan Although the strategy will change over time, it’s also important to give it time to set and test the hypothesis. It won’t become a hit overnight unless you do something brilliant or brilliantly terrible. Test and tweak the strategy and communication over time and learn from the response. 

With things changing so quickly, it’s harder to measure success quickly. A month isn’t likely to show anything big and meaningful, but six months might give enough data and insights to see patterns and results.