Challenge culture for CONVERSUASION

It’s a little bit of a buzz word, but when I heard about  Colin Drummond from CP+B talking about CONVERSUASION at Ad Lounge in Toronto, my ears pricked up.  Lets be real, conversuasion may sound a little like adwank, but stripped back I believe it’s about how you turn conversations you create in culture into meaninful brand engagement and action. When asked what his point of view was on ‘conversuasion’, his point of view was very much around ‘creating culture’ to spark conversations amongst social networks that then lead to persuasion or action. In quite a few of my Red Bull posts I talk alot about brands needing to create culture and engage with ongoing conversations around interesting cultural objects. His logic was based on Crispin’s strategic way of working and this way of working is behind all their most successful ideas ‘Whopper Sacrifice’, ‘Whopper Freakout’ etc. So it goes like this:

- Culture are the millions of rules that we all live by, those rules must be challenged to open up a CONVERSUASION with people.

- Challenging existing rules leads to tensions and when you make people tense it moves them to decision outside their normal experience..and gets them talking

- If you want to change rules, you have to challenge culture by finding and exploiting cultural tensions that exist.

- To get people talking, your brand has to pick a side and stand by it

In my view, this thinking is the reason why Crispin comes up with some culturally relevant and subversive ideas as they constantly challenge defined cultural rules, whereas most brands just challenge category rules which don’t get people talking. It’s reflected in their creative brief which I wrote about earlier this year here.

My point of view on CONVERSUASION is that great brands resolve cultural tensions, sparking conversations, but it’s all about creating tribal ideas, ideas that people are inspired to rapidly mobilise around. Another dimension is collaborative creativiety, in that brands need to be far more open source in their ideas, and let the community help shape the outcomes of those ideas in real time. Conversuasion is not about beginning and ends of campaigns, they are either about digital platforms that deliver amazing utility eg: Nike + Football or they are about the community shaping the outcome of the ideas in ongoing narratives. It’s also thinking about how you continually experiment with popular culture.

Creating culture is what more brands need to do and was great to hear Colin share his viewpoints and it’s clear why CP+B are leading the way with culturally subversive idea that typically always start conversations.

10 Principals for Engaging Teens/20 somethings

Here are some principals I’ve been talking about recently in different presentations about the new marketing model for engaging young people…it definitely focuses on digital natives around the world.

1. It’s not just about the BIG IDEA anymore, it’s about TRIBAL IDEAS – ideas which spark a rapid mobilisation of youth via social media, they can be big or intimate, they just have to get the tribe connecting with each other QUICKLY

2. It’s about interesting and provocative BRAND BEHAVIOURS, not brand statements or promises, it’s about DOING NOT SAYING

3. Youth are not a destination or target for your messages, they are your PARTNERS IN PRODUCTION and modulation of ideas

4. Think about CREATING CULTURE not mimicking it, provide an interesting lens into their world, rather than putting a mirror up to their lives

5. COLLABORATIVE CREATIVITY is the new platform for engagement, they want to participate in brand ideas, put their own spin and co-develop brands..they know your brand better than you do

6. Spark CONTINUOUS CONVERSATIONS NOT CAMPAIGNS, ban the word campaign from your marketing plan, think about what conversations in social media you are stimulating, fostering

7. CULTURE JAM with youth, be subversive and disrupt the status quo, find something for the tribe to CHANGE

8. INSPIRE THE SWARM don’t try and talk to individuals as decision making is a team sport

9. Ideas have to be FLUID and evolve, youth are chameleons and interests/passions change on a daily basis, so your ideas should morph and evolve with what the tribe wants

10. Have a clear and compelling reason to why youth will FOLLOW YOU

If you can apply a couple of these principals to your next conversation you have with youth, I reckon you may have some success..Word.

Nike: We don’t do advertising, we do cool stuff

We do cool stuff...not advertising

Really interesting article on how Nike approach marketing to youth. Simon Penstridge the UK marketing director has some killer quotes which capture what alot of other youth brands have to start thinking about..it’s the key reason why they are who they are and continue to engage youth in such interesting and deep ways. Here’s some of this thoughts on their evolving communications model/approach, and what they stay true to:

AN UNDYING COMMITMENT TO THEIR CORE BRAND IDEA

“Everything we do is motivated by the fact that we’re here to enable athletes to be even better.”

INSPIRATION AND INNOVATION ARE CORE VALUES

“Innovation comes in the form of our constantly evolving products, Inspiration comes from the way in which we enable consumers to experience these products.”

BE PART OF THEIR LIVES, INFUSE YOUR BRAND INTO THE CULTURAL CONSCIOUSNESS

“We don’t do advertising any more. We just do cool stuff, it sounds a bit wanky, but that’s just the way it is. Advertising is all about achieving awareness, and we no longer need awareness. We need to become part of people’s lives and digital allows us to do that.”

80% PRODUCTION SPEND, 20% MEDIA SPEND

“Some of our best campaigns have been the cheapest to create because they’ve caught the imagination of users and then taken off like wildfire”

INSPIRE CONSUMERS

“We want to inspire consumers to seek out our content this is the model we will be following from now on.”

EVALUATE IN THE REAL WORLD

“You don’t get anything from sitting behind a two-way mirror listening to focus groups, You learn from living and breathing your brand. When anyone in my team comes up with an idea, I tell them go and run it past a kid on a football pitch. If they don’t get laughed at and if they avoid coming across as the kid’s un-cool dad, then they’re probably on the right track.”

EMBRACE A FAIL FORWARD APPROACH

“We’re pushed to take risks in everything we do as long as we’re enabling the athlete to be better, Sure, we’ll get some things wrong but you’ve just got to go for it.”

Simon has clearly got his finger on the pulse and ‘gets it’..more marketers need to take a leaf out of Nike’s book.

Gesture Marketing to Youth

In terms of youth marketing, there will always be a role for the big ‘broadcast’ piece of content that is a rallying cry  to excite, entertain or inspire them. However, more than ever I feel the best youth brands are succeeding by creating lots of ‘MICRO INTERACTIONS’ – intimate gestures of unexpected utility which make their life easier, better or more fun. Yes, it’s all about brand utility and ‘doing stuff’ before you say stuff. It’s shifting from thinking about BROADCASTING  a message to NARROWCASTING a conversation with youth. Creating ‘intimate gestures’ which are far more organic, involving and seeking collaboration from the community/tribe.  I really believe youth brands need to start thinking about what unexpected and interesting ‘gestures’ they can make to youth – intimate gestures that either make them feel special, help them belong, help them express, help them believe or just plain out entertain them…it’s all about ‘intimate gestures’ and whispers that are sparked as opposed to shouting down to youth Thoughts?

Youth want tribal ideas – tips on how to create a movement around your brand

The fundamental emotional need of youth is and always will be BELONGING. It’s hardwired from birth, a primal need to belong to a community, to a tribe. It’s a fundamental form of self expression that is at the core of the human psyche. The growth of social media has turbo charged young peoples ability to connect and be part of global tribes.

The best youth brands understand that youth are desperate to connect with each other, so youth marketing is not about pushing messages onto a target audience of disparate individuals, it’s about inspiring the TRIBE, so they connect with each other. It’s about talking to the WE, not necessarily the ME.

 Tribal marketing in 2009 is about leading and connecting Gen C ‘The Connected Collective’ with ideas and each other, it’s about finding something worth changing and mobilizing a group of likeminded people around it.

Think the Red Bull energy tribe, Apple’s creative tribe, Nike + running tribe, Zoo York’s mischievous skater tribe, Lego’s imagination tribe, Axe’s player tribe,  Roxy’s chic surfer tribe, Wii’s playful tribe,  Threadless’ design tribe – just a few examples of brands that have inspired people to come together and form a tribe around their brand, a community with shared passions, interests.

So, how do you create a tribe around your brand? Here are a handful of thoughts

1. You have to have the balls to create ideas that polarize, ideally AGITATING and DISRUPTING the  STATUS QUO. You have to be a little subversive and not scared to create CHANGE. Unless you spark an interesting conversation, you won’t spark a movement. The biggest mistake youth brands make is trying to appeal to everyone, they end up standing for nothing and falling for everything. Think less about your proposition, and more about your brand point of view or your call to arms.

 2. Gen C are the ‘CONNECTED COLLECTIVE‘, they join tribes for the CONNECTIONS.  They’re dying to mobilize around something interesting.   Think about how you’re letting them connect via web 2.0 platforms and how they can work together around a cause/idea. It’s all about making it easy for youth to find each other and connect. Music festivals have been tapping into these shared ‘connections’ for the last decade and now the gaming world is doing the same with MMORPG’s. 

 3. It’s about leveraging PEOPLE POWER.  Done successfully, the collective becomes your most powerful asset, they’re empowered to spread your idea, to create the movement. Your job is to help facilitate the interactions amongst the tribe and give them something worth talking about, something worth changing, something worth believing in. Politicians and activists have been doing it well the past few years, think Obama, think Al Gore, think One Young World.

 4. Find your brands TRUE BELIEVERS, listen to them then, create utility for them, provide value in the experience and your brand will become magnetic. You only need a 1,000 or so, look at T-Mobile with their flash mobs. Virgin are the kings of seeking out their true believers and always giving them utility, no matter what category then enter.

 5. LEAD THEM, all the great tribes have great charismatic leaders, you create your own brand charisma by showing leadership attitude and staying true to a belief system, committing to a cause. People mobilize around strong people/brands who believe. Red Bull, Nike are the archetype leaders in their respective youth cultures, always appealing to the fringes, but not alienating the masses.

 6. CREATE CULTURE for the tribe. Create something that matters to youth, don’t try and mimic what’s happening now, give them a lens into something new. Create a new sport, create a new way of doing something, EXPERIMENT and don’t be afraid to fail. You’ll get credit for having a go.

 7. TRIBAL IDENTIFICATION is important, you have to create a way of knowing if you’re in or out. Whether it’s badging yourself or an internal point of association, it’s extremely important as tribal brands have followers, not customers. I witnessed this first hand in Austria last week, with Austrian teens plastering their bedrooms with the stickers of their favourite brands, Aussie kids brand their mobiles with stickers of their favourite surf brands.

 8. CONSTANT CONTENT CREATION  – This takes ingenuity and effort over pure big scale production budgets.  Youth brands have to think of their marketing calendars not in quarterly installments, but as an ONGOING STORYTELLING PLATFORM.  It’s less about discrete uniform evolutions of ad campaigns, but about creating interesting narratives youth can follow – think youtube channels that are constantly update with new content, whether that be experiential type stuff or raw stuff. The surf brands are the kings of this, as they see themselves as media businesses, not just surfwear sellers.

Remember tribes exist, your job as a marketer is to help organize and connect these people. Find something worth changing, then create an interesting point of view on it, something fresh, something worth believing in that they’ll want to talk about and belong to.. See, easy?

Inside the Black Jersey – great Adidas sports content

Adidas have recently released ‘Inside the Black Jersey‘  – a 5 part branded content series which provides an intimate portrayal of the team and how they went about clinching the 2008 Grand Slam Tour (beating England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) – only the 3rd time the All Blacks have achieved this feat in their 100 year history. I really like this content, Yes I’m  a massive rugby nut and getting an inside look into the lives of some of their great players was great. It’s a great example of how Adidas’ really focus on the mental side of achievement with their communication and really differentiate from Nike, who are more about the external\physical preparations that goes into winning.

Filmed by a small crew of just three  women, each 10-minute episode follows a different member of the team, including ‘The Captain’, ‘The Rookie’, ‘The Character’, ‘The Coaches’ and ‘The Playmaker’. The first of these follows skipper Richie McCaw in the lead up to the opening game against Scotland – McCaw discusses how the team’s training schedule is structured, what the boys in black do to unwind as well as what the all black jersey means to him. This, along with the second episode and a promotional trailer for the series, can be viewed at adidas.tv.

http://www.adidas.tv/?channel=Rugby

It’s interesting to see that Adidas creates content which really gives people an intimate and close up look into the mind of the players and team culture whereas one could argue Nike’s approach to content is to glorify the players via big budget ads around their skills. I like the fact that Adidas really focus on getting inside the head of the player…it’s a nice angle on the ‘Impossible is Nothing’ brand idea. Nike still kicks Adidas’ butt in terms of developing branded utility (eg: Nike Bootcamp training tools) but in my view Adidas is making more real and interesting content for fans.

Youth are NOT a target audience, they are Partners in production

Marketers need to stop thinking of youth as their ‘target audience’.  This description treats them as a destination point for marketing messages and assumes they live in isolation of each other. In reality web 2.0/ social media platforms have made youth remarkably connected and the way in which they discover, process and share information and content has changed dramatically. Forget target audience and trying to talk to individuals. Think about what ‘COLLECTIVE’ you can interact with and inspire – they are all about belonging to a group and now rely absolutely on that collective for which brands to engage with.  Todays youth are obsessed with remixing content and need to be treated as your partners in production and distribution of ideas – think of them as ‘message carriers’ – your biggest media asset.

Young people appreciate brand narratives which build and involve them across different touchpoints, not just linear one dimensional ads. This requires us to stop thinking about marketing communication programs as rigid structures – the future will all be about flexible ‘open source ideas’. It’s difficult, but you need to plan for content you don’t create. Like the fact that people may rip off your ads on youtube or create facebook fan pages, or blog negatively about your ideas. You need to be able to embrace this type of community feedback.

Our job as marketers is to spark conversations in culture around topics of interest relevant for youth, then allow for collectives to jam on it and send it on.  Savvy brands tell interesting and engaging stories which zig and zag across multiple media platforms but are built around a common theme which creates cultural capital amongst youth collectives.

How Nike SB, Red Bull, Grey Goose, Diesel and Burger King made it

Some case studies on how the best brands have had success and failures. A look into Nike SB, Red Bull, Levi’s vs Diesel, Grey Goose vs Absolut and the re-incarnation of Burger King. Some observations on what other brands can learn. The preso is from last year but I never put it on the blog…

Brand Leadership – 5 Global Cases from the best brands By Dan Pankraz

View more presentations from guest7e5b6a.

Best content of 2009 – Lewis Hamilton and the RC Grand Prix

Have a look at this new Lewis Hamilton viral from Vodafone in the UK. For me, this is the best piece of content of 2009 so far, bar none. It has all the ingredients to go wildfire on the web. Is it scripted? Most likely. Does it matter? NO. This is the best example of a brand (Vodafone) leveraging its sponsorship of a sporting property. They’ve brilliantly tied in the functionality of the Blackberry Story with every mans childhood dream, controlling a real race car with a remote control. And it’s very sublte too, not in your face. As to whether or not Simon & Steve were really contacted my McLaren, well that’s just part of the folklore that adds to the mythology of the idea. It feels user generated and real and I don’t feel like i’m being tricked at any stage…not like the Witchery campaign.The pay off of seeing Lewis driving his F1 McLaren Mercedes using a Blackberry is worth 3 mins of my time. Love it.

Gen C Crave Constant Contact and Change

Gen C are the connected collective. They seek constant constact with their friends and the world. Meet four mates from Sydney’s Potts Point who shared their views on the best thing about being their age, friends, Facebook and change. Lesson for marketers..Surprise them, entertain them, stimulate their need for constant contact…and above all, give them something to talk about…