Failure and Marketing Anxiety
This week I have added a guest post by Michael Koenka. This is an extract from his conversations with Laurence Parkes (Planning Director, AKQA) and Boris Nilhom (Digital Director, THEY) on the subject of ’learning by failure’.
‘Failure is more insightful when trying pathbreaking new ideas and execution. Advertising, for the most part, uses pre-existing channels/technologies to get the message across. Leveraging the medium is our battle cry, while redefining the medium might best be served by innovators and NPD bureaus – those with the license to take the risk and redefine the norm – not the harbingers of communication. Facebook, Google, and the likes, all motivate their staff to try new things and mess up the expected, to create the new, the unexpected, the innovative. This is the hacker credo. Everything can and should be improved.
At the core of this idea lies the notion that nothing is ever truly complete; that life, systems and communications (to name but a few), are an ongoing, iterative and collaborative game of redefinition and reinvention. Keeping a goal in mind (qua the success/failure rhetoric above) is handy, but I believe that rigid definitions of what “works” and what “doesn’t” actually impedes the “move fast and break things” concept.
I agree with Boris that the asymmetry of information ad agencies hold over the means of communication makes them more money, but unfortunately, it’s dishonest and falls painfully short of adding any real value to anyone’s life other than the CEO (who now gets to buy that third Audi). This, I believe, is our clarion call to change the game.
Today, our challenge as advertisers must evolve from the communication gurus of the past. I believe our goal should be about connecting people, brands, and the stories they both love, to facilitate and enhance pre-existing and ongoing dialogues. Embracing failure, in this sense, means embracing change.
This is why I don’t think the advertising world as it stands today is in a position to embrace this ideology, for too much of what’s keeping it alive is also what’s keeping it stagnant: risk aversion, stakeholder dependency and a crippling fear/anxiety when facing the unknown (i.e. “Will this work?”). I say it’s time for a change that encourages failure with the goal of driving real, relevant and truly innovative success stories.
I think social media is the key to embracing change (and failure), but I’m horribly biased (or wrong – or both).’
Michael Koenka is a Social Media Expert and collaborates with Amplitude in helping brands create relevance, reach and responsivity online.
Amplitude
Since September the 1st I have launched my own brand consultancy: Amplitude. It’s been an exciting and intense journey and within our 1st few months of business we have had the opportunity to work with some amazing clients.
Here is a quick snapshot of our offer.
To find out more you can also visit our website www.amplitude.info
People who talk to brands who talk to people
As a follow up to my post ‘care to talk?’. Facebook’s feature sponsored storytelling builds on the principles of the conversation prism.
Care to talk?
Care to talk?
The conversation prism was a real trigger for me to write this post. In our ‘new reality’ of ongoing feedback and insight, where does branding stand and what are our chances of really connecting with consumers?
In 2011, Branding has become amazingly complex. The discipline that started with Jack Trot’s vision of ‘positioning cutting through the communication clutter’ has become the victim of it’s own success. And somehow ‘en route’ with the entrance of new media the traditional Marketing message has evolved from monologue to dialogue – losing quite a few Brand Consultants and Marketing Gurus in their own continuous stream of Marketing ‘mumbo jumbo’.
What is interesting about the conversation prism is it puts the brand at the centre. The brand becomes the anchor of listening, observing, identifying, prioritizing, internationalizing and routing. Which builds on a truth I’ve always believed in. Brands talk to people.
What does that mean?
Brands talk to people. People do not think in USP’s, insights with dilemmas or brand discriminators. They relate to each other through conversation. Their daily lives are a sequence of events and narratives.
As Brands evolve and become more participative, the conversation that brands have with consumers needs to be spot on – meaning both credible and relevant to the people they talk to. Brands that fail to do so run the risk of being perceived as big corporate monsters and will instantly loose the trust of the people who buy their products or services.
My Interview with Marketing Tribune
Two page interview featured in Marketing Tribune. Please click for Dutch version. English version will be available shortly.
