The New Economy: Where Branding and Digital Become Essential

Last week, my first blog entry was posted on Critical Mass' blog, Experience Matters! Feel free to check it out when you get a chance! A lot of great content is posted there: http://experiencematters.criticalmass.com

Here is my post from Experience Matters:

Recently, Umair Haque's presentation on Constructive Capitalism caught my attention.

Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 - Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.

In short, this presentation discusses a shift in the economy from strategy to ideals, claiming that organizations can no longer be successful by trying to dominate markets or coerce people into buying products. He feels this is a result of an influx in richer and freer interactions among customers and between customers & organizations - this is no doubt a result of an increase in social media adoption through digital platforms.

With this economic shift, there is a change in its associated institutions, which act as the rules to interaction. The 20th Century institutions led to various crises that have encouraged this change:

Looking at the 21st Century institutions, Umair believes this economic shift starts with meaning - focusing on creating positive outcomes rather than income - and by focusing on meaning, the other institutions will follow.

As a person passionate about branding, and who uses digital to leverage brands, I gravitated to this thinking because of its emphasis on creating interactions through ideals, which requires a combination of strong branding & engaging digital initiatives.

There are strong correlations between Umair's Constructive Capitalism and branding. I believe all great brands have purpose - a core goal/idea that keeps the organization focused and consistent in its actions. This purpose is not about achieving high returns (income), rather it's about making meaning - to change the world, right a wrong - essentially creating positive outcomes that are focused on ideals rather than strategy.

Google has an exemplary purpose to 'organize the world's information and make it universally accessible'. This audacious goal/ideal motivates the organization because they feel like they are contributing to something grander than a bottom line. This internal motivation and guiding purpose enables the organization to look beyond existing markets & innovate to find new ways to satisfy its purpose - focusing on equity rather than domination.

The key to successful branding is to live your brand purpose - be consistent in your actions and create reasons to believe in the brand.

What I love about digital is its ability to create reasons to believe - or what I like to call Digital Reasons to Believe. Digital initiatives can create engaging experiences that provide services, support and, most importantly, a 2-way dialogue which bring the brand to life. It creates interactions, which are the foundation of this new economy.

Twitter, Facebook, forums, blogs, etc. make us freer to foster relationships with customers rather than focusing on transactions. This extends the lifetime value of our customers & generates positive brand recommendations. In addition, these digital interactions enable us to learn from our customers & discuss new ideas/products/etc., which results in users receiving more value in the end because they have been a part of the development process.

Digital platforms enable us to create meaningful interactions, which in turn helps organizations better satisfy their purpose to make meaning & create positive outcomes.

I'm excited & passionate to be a part of this new economy. I look forward to seeing more interactions and meaningful ideals!