Contextual Content is King

Note: This is the first program to air on TV, where people started to see a meaningful need for one of these big boxes in their home over a radio.

I've been thinking a lot about content lately, and how we've grown to be so dependent on it. But not only that, it has to be the right content on the right channel in the right moment.  Content is no longer king on its own. Rather, it's contextually relevant content that's king.

This concept isn't new in the slightest.

Just look at the TV.  No one could rationalise why they would ever need a TV over a radio for information and entertainment. That was until special TV programming was introduced in 1930s. It all started with a test to prove the medium's ability through its first ever television drama The Man With the Flower in His Mouth. The test was a success, and, well, the rest is history.


To prove the relevancy of this product, the TV, it needed to become the answer to a consumer need, even if that need hadn't been fully realised yet. By giving people content in a way that both satisfied their current needs and made them realise new ones (i.e. 'You mean I can see what people are doing while they speak, just like the cinema, but in my home?!"), you can carve a space in those people's lives for your offering. And the better a brand meets these needs, meaning the more relevant the solution is, the more it will be embedded in their daily routines.  


Clearly, by me using an example from 1930, this is not a new concept.  But what is new is that we're seeing this kind of thinking injected in the world of brand positioning and communications, blurring the lines between product development and marketing.


In the recent Most Contagious 2011 report, it talks about marketing as service design. With brands' ability to access and use consumer data, that's available because of people's digital lives, it enables brands to see gaps and/or unmet needs it can fill.  Additionally, because consumers are aware that brands know more about them, they expect more relevant and ultimately less company-serving marketing being presented to them.  


In fact, for people to stick with a brand these days, they expect to be to engaged in a relevant manner, which encourages their participation (collaboration in product/service/experience design) in both on- and offline arenas seamlessly, while still delivering what they want before they even have to ask. 


At the heart of engagement, which is seen as a branded service more and more, is the delivery of content beyond the product extending its value. This proves the brand's value in people's lives because it's demonstrating that it 'gets' you and why you buy its products/services/etc.

But it's not content alone. There's a lot of content out there - too much in fact! It's about contextual content. Contextual content has been curated by subject matter experts and delivered to you at that moment of need.

This is where the branded service comes into play. The brand can be the subject matter expert for a topic they are known for and deliver on based on their brand purpose and existing products/services/etc. They can then create and/or curate interesting and useful (aka relevant) content and provide people access to it during a moment of need.

Take Simple - the "Worry-free alternative to traditional banking" for example. Simple is not a bank. In fact it uses another un-named bank as its banking provider, but what it does do, which is the reason for all its popularity, is overlay a service on the banking experience. This service is providing content that people feel is missing. Like being able to see real-time transaction data or using natural language to search your  entire transaction history (i.e. "How much did I spend on lunches in July?"). By making this content not only more accessible but contextual, the brand is able to establish more loyalty from users because it creates an extremely useful experience.

Another example, featured in the Most Contagious 2011 report, is Sneakerpedia by Foot Locker. Sneakerpedia is a: 

"Wiki-esque website [that] enables users to create a profile and then upload pictures of all the cool kicks in their collection - complete with a brief history and info on the make, model, material etc. This tagging helps the site to then archive each model correctly, creating a vast and infinitely navigable database of every significant sneaker ever bought and cherished"

Here Foot Locker has created an environment where people can collect and curate their personal shoe data, while learning from a large body of other shoe data they wouldn't normally see, to see what other amazing kicks people have and connect with those who share their passion. So not only are they offering unique content, but they're also inspiring their customers to create their own content and foster their passion! Further embedding the brand into its customer's lives.


I recently read a great quote from Mark Addicks, CMO of General Mills, which I feel sums this up perfectly:

"In 2012, many marketers will start with content as a way to engage their best customers and grow their business versus advertising...They will realise the power of content to enhance the brand experience, deliver the brand's purpose and extend opportunities for the brand to serve"

So how is your brand going to get to know its customers and their behaviour to provide branded content in a way, and at a time, that provides value to their daily lives beyond the product?  
How will you make contextual content king?

Patagonia - Legally Bound to its Purpose

Finally, a brand, other than Apple, we can express immense admiration for, or as my flatmate tweeted this week, "open-mouth kiss" - hello Patagonia!

Last week, I wrote about its Common Threads initiative, where Patagonia clearly establishes its role/purpose within the global community - "to build useful things that last, to repair what breaks and recycle what comes of its useful life"- then asks its customers to do the same to help accomplish its purpose.


Now, Patagonia has asked the government to help it truly live by its purpose without boundaries, becoming California's first Benefit Corporation. This gives Patagonia's directors legal protection to consider social and environmental benefits over financial returns!


"This new legal status was designed to embed goals into companies’ missions that go beyond profitability"


For too long, companies have had to sacrifice their brand purpose - the big hairy audacious goal they set out to accomplish upon inception - to meet the short-term demands of shareholders when going public.  I'm ecstatic to see a brand who wasn't afraid to challenge the rules and ask for support from the government to ensure its ability to live up to its brand purpose everyday.


Often, shareholders are so concerned with short-term returns, that they forget to take a long-view perspective of the brand.  By Patagonia actively, consistently and, now, legally living up to its brand everyday, helping reduce unnecessary purchases and creating products that will live 'forever', it establishes immense trust and advocacy for the brand, which creates demand and sustained or even increased value for itself in the long-term.

It's a step in the right direction, having brands ask for and receiving support, to create, and be truly caring, responsible and sustainable brands.  I look forward to seeing more brands become Benefit Corporations or finding other creative ways to satisfy their big hairy audacious dreams!  The key is not to be afraid to imagine what isn't possible today and ask for it, so it can be a reality tomorrow!

Note: Image found here

2012 - Let's Say Less and Play More

Image Found Here

Happy 2012!! 

I think we're in for another exciting year, and I'm rather pleased where branding is going, maybe slowly, but it's in the right direction...let me explain...

With so much distrust and uncertainty - lots of skepticism - towards corporations and advertising, people are more receptive to brands that are consistent in their actions, transparent with information and good to everyone around them.

However, a consistent, transparent and good brand cannot be developed through an ad campaign any more. People are too smart and have endless access to information (thanks to Google searches and social network, SMS, etc. conversations). Rather, brands have to prove this behaviour and be truly recognised for it and its brand claim, which should be or be tied to its brand purpose.

So for 2012, rather than the 'x' number of things we need to be on our radar this year, I think there is only one to focus on: brands needs to think about long-term engagement programs not campaigns.

Campaigns are born to die, which don't lend themselves to the consistency people want, no demand from their brands. Programs come from the heart of the business, and are built to grow and evolve with purpose at the root.

For a program to be successful, it requires the support of various internal parties, along with engaging and collaborating with consumers. This creates a transparent and communal environment around the brand's purpose/essence.  

The ecosystem created from an initiative is beneficial for a couple reasons:

1. The IKEA Effect - being a part of something, either helping it take form or being involved in someway makes someone proud of their creation/involvement and, therefore, more attached to that brand stimulating loyalty and advocacy
2. Real-Time Consumer Insights - by having people involved enables the brand to learn more about their consumers in context with how they interact with the product, service, program, etc., creating a continuous learning loop to optimise, not only the experience/message but also the product/service being offered. This ensures your brand evolves in a way that is relevant to the market.

To encourage a deeper level of engagement, creating meaningful social connections within the brands community, created from the initiative, there needs to be a powerful motivating purpose exciting both internal staff and consumers to choose to be involved and, more importantly, stay involved.

To do this, the initiative has to be focused on something the brand actually cares about and has the ability to act on, both physically (you can actually do it) and mentally (it aligns with, or delivers on, your brand purpose).  This becomes the brand's opportunity to prove what it stands for while making a positive impact in the real world.

Initiatives are by far not new, just look at the Dove Real Beauty campaign, which is a long-term campaign aimed to do good. Or Threadless, which is a highly engaging platform, nay business model! But what we're seeing is these two elements coming together more and more. So it's becoming something with relevant do-good meaning at the heart, fusing with consumer involvement and engagement to provide some kind of relevant experience that defines a role for a brand in those people's lives.

Just look at Patagonia's Common Threads Initiative where it partnered with eBay to reduce excess consumption by creating a site where people can buy pre-owned Patagonia merchandise. This proves Patagonia's role as a builder of "useful things that last, to repair what breaks and recycle what comes of its useful life", while giving its consumers a role in aiding Patagonia's mission.  Consumers are asked"to buy only what [they] need, repair what breaks, reuse (share) what [they] no longer need, and recycle everything else". This initiative not only becomes a reason to believe in Patagonia's purpose, but gives its consumers the tool they need to hold up their end of the bargain, helping the brand sustain its purpose. I LOVE IT!

Consumers are beginning to expect these kinds of programs from their brands, which aids in re-building trust and loyalty, in addition to maintaining this as markets become over saturated and people spend less on things and more on life enriching experiences.

So this year, rather than just saying stuff to our consumers, let's ask them to play, hangout, share stories and build things together. After all, isn't that how some of our closest and most meaningful relationships, which we feel comfortable confiding in, are built? 

Let's do the same for brands. Lets help them build ways to play and engage with their consumers over the long-term creating an ecosystem that gives them a role in their consumers' lives that they will happily welcome you into because it offers them real meaningful value.

Happy 2012!! Let's play!