A Branded Cloud

I just finished reading an article in the NY Times, Amazon Introduces a Digital Music Locker. At first I felt myself becoming critical - thinking, is Amazon just trying to be Apple with their iTunes? How is this really benefiting their brand goals?  Are they starting to forget about their eCommerce business?

But it was that last question that made me start to turn my criticism around.  Maybe this is the next step for eCommerce.

In fact, I could start to see Amazon's "Digital Music Locker" simply become the "Amazon Digital Locker".  More people are buying their content in digital form over physical from, because let's face it, having less stuff is more as an increasing number of people have less space and are becoming more mobile.

Amazon has a unique opportunity over competitors like Apple (who would have ever thought an online book retailer would be a competitor to a computer software company...I love how digital is really muddying the waters and making a clear and focused understanding of your brand purpose so essential! But I digress...)

As I was saying, Amazon is unique in that they distribute the content and don't create the device. You see Apple creates the devices and a reason to select the devices is for the added services like iTunes, iBooks, and all those other beautiful Apple services that come together to form the complete brand experience. But some people aren't tied to one device, or one device manufacturer, so enter Amazon and its digital locker - who is properly positioned to make people's content purchases device agnostic (ignoring for a moment the Kindle) and available wherever they need it.  I'm still not sure about the idea of uploading all your existing content, but that's not the point of this post.

The point is, maybe this is the future of eCommerce - storage - a branded cloud if you will. A place where people can buy and store their purchases so they can access it anywhere and any time creating one more reason to choose a brand over another.

But I want to be clear, this is a value-add service, which can be mimicked by others. So the delivery of the service and how it substantiates the overall purpose of the brand is what will differentiate it from the competition.

Meaningful Brands

Note: To see Umair Haque's video on Rethinking the Idea of the Brand, click here

Today, I came across this video by Umair Haque. I enjoy his work because, like me, he believes organizations need to have a point to what they're doing. This 'point' isn't a bottom line figure, rather it's something that matters to people, society, nature and the future.

What I enjoyed about this video, was hearing that his research findings indicated a dramatic shift in what consumers demand in brands - meaningful, tangible and beneficial value that helps them get more out of life. Consumers, effectively, want to buy good brands - organizations that are choosing to add to society, nature, the future, etc. rather than do harm for short-term gain!

Additionally, I was equally pleased to hear this value shift is happening on a global scale, and is, in fact, happening more rapidly in developing markets like China, India and Brazil. To me, this indicates that for today's brands to remain relevant and be tomorrow's brands, having purpose and consistently acting on that purpose is essential. And lets not forget the ability to fake having purpose is becoming virtually impossible with the extensive access consumers have to information and their willingness to share their findings.

This desire for meaningful brands is not only relevant to the business to consumer relationship, but also for the business to employee/talent relationship. It seems like the majority of my friends, family and colleagues these days are looking for a sense of greater purpose in their work - whether it be improving health & wellness services, making an experience more beautiful, or ensuring what a brand communicates isn't smoke and mirrors.  When these people no longer feel they are living with purpose and contributing to a meaningful brand, they will seek employment elsewhere. Knowing this makes it much more important to have a meaningful purpose when trying to attract and retain tomorrow's limited top talent (read more on this in my previous post Meaning Will Attract & Retain Future Talent).

I think it's worth noting that at the beginning of this video, Umair talks about functional brands and how they were established to provide cues indicating a trusted provider of specific goods and/or services. I believe this remains a fundamental element of brands, if not more so as there is a greater need to maintain trust since they experience considerable scrutiny.

So at a basic level, brands are still here to establish trust, which turns into long-term demand. But now, the global population is becoming more socially aware rather than being solely focused on themselves, and brands need to adapt to remain relevant to this change.  This, then, begins to peak my interest in the realm of luxury goods, which for so long have been built around egocentric/aspirational demand, rather than a more inclusive/altruistic demand. How will or how should luxury brands respond? And will tomorrow's definition of luxury change - if it hasn't begun to already?  I think I have something to think about for my next post...   Would love to hear some of your thoughts in the mean time.

Focusing On My Passion

Recently, I left Blast Radius to put greater focus on my passion for brand strategy.

I'm very proud of the work I produced and the team I collaborated with while at BR. However, I wasn't fully satisfying the goal that drove me to London. So, like I often reference when writing about brands, to satisfy your purpose certain trade-offs must be made.

My trade-off was to leave Blast Radius, a great digital agency with amazing expertise in social media, to put greater effort and drive behind my passion for brand strategy. This was a very difficult decision, but one I'm happy with.

In the near term, to continually satisfy my purpose, to help organizations make meaning and live it everyday, and do something I've been wanting to do for quite awhile but with never enough time, I will be travelling to Tanzania to volunteer with an orphanage, The Tanzanian Children's Fund, for the month of May.

What drew me to this organization was its purpose/philosophy of establishing a family dynamic for these children, in addition to providing education, and their commitment to this philosophy in everything they do.

Coming from a wonderful family and having had a spectacular education growing up, I want to pay it forward and help this organization continue to make meaning and live it everyday!

Upon my return, I will seek to work with pure brand agencies to help organizations position, innovate and evolve with purpose at the heart. After all, this is what I love to do, and sometimes difficult trade-offs must be made to make your dream a reality.