9 Comments to 'I keep the ends out for the tie that binds'
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I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Posted By Sam
This post at Simple and Loveable has got me thinking.
The carrion cry of the dying stages of last century was integrated communications, and this school of thought posited the notion that all of an organisation’s messaging should come from a central strategic communications strategy supported by mass media advertising. And to be fair when everyone watched the same TV news and read the same newspaper, integrated communications worked remarkably well.
Unfortunately the internet has fragmented the media and it is becoming increasingly difficult to hold an integrated communications programme together and I would argue that the theory supporting the strategy of integrated communications is no longer valid.
It used to be all about attitude branding:
- Just do it
- I’m loving it
- Make the most of now
- It just tastes better
But branding is no longer about building a brand somewhere out there in brand-space and attracting willing (if somewhat gullible) consumers to it, like a beacon lit by the fire of large advertising budgets. Branding is now about building trust and understanding with each and every individual customer. That is what we mean when we talk about the internet as decentralised communications; there are no more us and them it is just us, ALL OF US.
I can hear the cries now – woah, fuck Sam, hang on. You mean we have to build up brand perception with everyone individually?! How the hell are we going to do that? We’re only an advertising agency for chrissssake.
The thing is, you are already doing it, every day with every single interaction between your organisation and individuals. What you can’t do any more is build up layers using traditional media and branding techniques to cover up the bumps in the road, the service failures, the cold food, the frustrating phone calls etc.
I agree with Nat in the call to integrate marketing strategies all the way down an organisation and as people we all need to have values that we stand by and that we share with the people we work with.
Most off all though I am looking forward to the day when a large organisation decides to reassess their attitude branding and choose a message like:
- You know what, we’re only human
- Sometimes, like you, we have bad days
- We’ll try to get it right next time
- Thanks for understanding our limitations
Mar 5th, 2008
Ha ha I hate it when people say what I was trying to say way better than me
You are so right, the age of being able to cover up your shoddy service is gone… Such a massive endevour like integrating every aspect of your marketing is just not that hard if you think of it as small little interactions based on an overarching set of principles about who you are.
Thanks Nat but all I did was abstract the ideas you already had out; although I think there is some more in this and the whole idea of branding in the webbed world is fascinating, particularly as it changes the rules of the game fundamentally.
Classic case: Google. Their slogan don’t be evil is more like my later examples than the earlier ones.
Hmmmm, must do some more thinking.
You are right, Sam. But it is only a matter of time before marketers begin to manufacture their brand messages around this sort of humility. F&P 2.0: “It’s the putting it right that counts”…
We are already seeing this with the corporate rush to blogging and ‘conversations;’ most of which are astroturf and the standard monologue on a blogging CMS.
Sneaky bastards.
Thanks Jason. Underhand strategies such as astroturfing and old media messaging dressed up to look like Web 2.0 are the Emperor’s New Clothes stitched by marketers and PR people who are still to grasp the impact of the internet on communication; and as the fairy tale goes so the digital natives will be quick to demonstrate that the emperor is indeed standing completely naked in front of the whole world wide web.
You can see this point in action here and my thoughts here, with the good old Beige Brigade getting the brush off from big, nasty L&P.
In marketing and PR now, you need either excellent internal communication so EVERYONE is on message, or be small enough to have a team of only people who ‘get it’ (that’s a handy, lazy phase, that). Make the wrong move in an email, and people will be registering their disgust on the internet in seconds.
Recommend reading the Cluetrain for more on this area.
Excellent point Richard - I had planned a post on the how the utlisation of internal communications can build communication cohesiveness across an organisation; but now realise it sounds very boring.
Hi Sam,
nice one, that was heavy. I read it twice to make sure I had my head wrapped around the concepts.
A lot of the top blog sites (problogger, SEObook) all talk about how important branding is but I don’t think I’ve read anything about the impact the net is having on corporations or much about the psychology behind branding your site.
Follow up post pls k thx!
HI Jackmo, I love your site, some interesting stuff there. I am preparing a follow up to this post detailing the difference between online and offline branding so hopefully this helps.