Periodically we celebrate excellent work, great campaigns and ideas that represent a measure of vision and innovation. For the most part we chronicle higher-calling projects that can impact brand behavior. But every so often a more tactical bit of communications wizardry comes along that you just have to recognize and salute for its sheer out-of-the-box brilliance.
Certainly there’s strategic linkage between the Tropicana brand of OJ and sunshine – the warmth and glow often attributed to Florida orange groves where this delicious fruit gets its healthy props.
So the brand evidently decides that working with portable sunshine can serve as a platform for effective, engaging and maybe entertaining online video communication – as well as serving to underscore a bright metaphor that’s tied to the juice’s origins.
I would have loved to be in the Tropicana conference room when this idea was presented — just to see the reaction, the questions and the process that led to approval. I say that because of the boldness and uniqueness of the project.
Just imagine for a moment: in a small Arctic Circle town in northern Canada each year they go through a period of near total darkness – a continual and unrelenting nighttime. So Tropicana sends an expedition to the town, hauling in a giant gas filled balloon-like object in the shape of the sun. The orb is erected and lit, spreading artificial sunshine and undoubtedly some cheer to local residents…. Not to miss a product tie-in opportunity, the crew passes out OJ bottles to the enraptured onlookers as they marvel at the spectacle of man-made sunshine.
The entire story is deftly shot on video with a thoughtful music track underneath and made share-able with the rest of the world through YouTube and Facebook. Watch it here:
Bravo to Tropicana for bringing a little light to the lives of these Arctic dwellers — and then allowing the rest of us to observe and enjoy the experience. Disruptive isn’t it? Unexpected. Entertaining. Memorable. Emotional. What do you think?
Wow, last week was “Apple Land in America,” with all of the online and mainstream media conversation around iPad. Marketing sites did comparisons of buzz-metrics between Jobs and President Obama’s State of the Union message, with Apple winning on most scorecards. Apple continues to blaze new trails, even in their deft handling of the sales message.
Brands look at the Apple phenomenon with envy. Wouldn’t we all want our brands to glow with similar outsized levels of consumer devotion and enthusiasm? Truckloads of breathless media attention and positive coverage oozing out of every channel we can dream up?
There’s a very simple yet dramatically important aspect to Apple’s behavior that bears mention. So much of the time in marketing and PR we’re focused on the essence of the new feature and benefit. We sit down in a conference room to review in every detail the various achievements the R&D department has wrought in discovering new recipes, technologies or bringing measurable improvements to an existing product.
And so communications follows this path to creatively move the “what’s new news” through various media channels. On the other hand, Apple religiously and routinely focuses its communication from a slightly different angle: the consumer first and itself second.
Sure the product messaging is there, but the twist is vital, important and matters to achieving a better outcome. The overview tour of iPad is conducted from the user experience point of view. It’s about you first and how the product answers the need, rather than me first and my wizardry.
What’s missing?
The lesson here all too often is about remembering to put the consumer in the driver seat on messaging. Framing the new product in terms of the consumer’s real need and then connecting to your solution’s deft handling of same. Steve Jobs talked about iPad in the user context. How the product makes common tasks like Web browsing and book reading more engaging and interesting.
Simply said: consumer first, me second. The shift is important because relevant messaging trumps the easy-to-fall-into trap of specsmanship. Consumer self-interests govern our willingness to engage and listen. Apple smartly knows this and frames the message in this way.
Consider a new food product that comes to the table answering first how it solves a preparation dilemma cooks would immediately recognize.
Or maybe a household appliance that springs from real-world concerns expressed by time-stressed homemakers.
So often in the consumer electronics world its about increased lines of resolution or connectivity improvements and expressed as such. Apple understands the specs and technology advances aren’t nearly as compelling as the experience itself.
Sea of sameness interrupted here and there with unique ideas
By Robert Wheatley
The National Fancy Food Show in San Francisco started last Sunday with a bang as 17,000 retailers, distributors and brand minders came together at the Moscone Center to see and taste what’s new in specialty foods.
The convention is remarkable in its fantastic array of vendors from around the globe who showcase their products for US retail distribution. Especially cheese, cheese and more cheese that populated both exhibit halls. The air was heavy with the zesty pungent dairy-air of hard and soft varietals mostly from Europe and North America. It’s hard to imagine any of the Showgoers having to retreat for lunch given the wall-to-wall noshing – all of which was occurring at a break-neck pace as everyone attempts to canvas the acres of product categories and companies.
Even with all of the chocolaty goodness, it’s hard not to notice the pervasive sameness and slim distinctions between competing offerings. So we see in dramatic relief the problem plaguing so many businesses in the era of over-choice and saturation. It just all runs together. For any business unveiling its version of Chevre, infused olive oils or extreme Cocoa chocolate, your eyes glaze a bit as many overlap together in a noisy heap of feature/benefit style selling.
There were some standouts — interesting items you could tell were more like Purple Cows as Seth Godin would call them – ideas that exude their own natural charm and glow with built-in interest.
Speaking of cows, Slow Cow borrows a chapter from the Red Bull school of functional beverages and produces its polar opposite: a concoction that slows you down with a layer of relaxation.
The grist underneath this proposition gets interesting as you explore the nature of life’s mounting pressures, alongside a desire for better blood pressure and a reaction to the relentless push, push and more push that accompanies life in our dog-eat-dog business world.
A healthy respite sounds about right. So this new category gets interesting as you see the possibilities around it for punching through on an issue many may be pining for: some liquid relief.
Although all things bacon may be so very “last year,” the savory, smoky, salty punch of breakfast protein was back in an array of products from sandwich spread and seasonings to desserts.
Chicago high-end chocolatier Vosges hit a taste high note with their bacon-infused chocolates. A generous sample covers the tongue with caramel, chocolaty sweetness followed by a quick after-note of smoky savory-ness that offered a dramatic counterpoint to what you anticipate from a chocolate bar. Even more exciting was their new and unique line of spice inspired ice creams.
In a word — awesome.
Also interesting was Bay-area based Hint. Clean, straightforward packaging promotes a hint of natural fruit flavor at zero calories and no added sugars.
Honestly, I thought it would be no taste, too. But to my surprise the fruity flavor was there and discernable. A sweetness was also evident, but again without the added sugars found so often in these beverages.
Parents will love this option for their kids because it comes without the down side.
The winners and losers here in the longer run will be an outcome of how they invest in building their brands. Yet, for so many the pre-occupation is pushing the product into the pipeline without much effort given to considering how brands are built. Noticeably absent was any reference to consumer insight on preferences and interest in these offerings or the trends on which they’re based.
Uniqueness and differentiation are vital to getting traction with consumers and markets that are already saturated with similar products making similar claims in similar categories.
Those who can punch their idea far enough to the right or left to create a new category they can own have a shot at a sustainable business that can increasingly accumulate value for its owners in the longer scheme.
Speaking
I had my shot at the event to help bring some of these brand-building ideas to life. Here’s my deck if you want to take a look:
From left to right — Andy Hopson, strategist and consultant to our firm and Noble, Bob Noble, CEO of his namesake agency and Rich Timmons, President of W&T standing in front of Noble’s 50-foot fork totem –an iconic nod to their firm’s heritage and expertise in food communications.
Our agency, like many these days, is in a constant state of reinvention as we work to align ourselves with the changing media landscape and resulting client communication needs. Chief among the requirements of effective communications and brand strategy guidance is the overwhelming need for up-to-the-minute insight into trends, consumer attitudes and behaviors.
We’re about to introduce you to CultureWaves…
Just a little background to start: We happen to believe in strategic partnerships, especially when a combination can change math so that 1 + 1 = 3 or more. And so it is that we are embarking on a partnership with Noble, a fascinating advertising, test kitchen, new product creation, Internet media and insight firm run by the visionary Bob Noble and his team of experts from, of all places, Springfield, MO. Yes they have a growing Chicago office, but the nerve center of Bob’s operations flows from his loft building environs on the business end of a shopping mall plaza in the Show Me state.
Bob’s unique take on the changing landscape is to re-think the agency business model. Voila, we had a simpatico going right out of the chute from our first meeting, as we share the same view that old agency business models and tactical capabilities simply won’t cut it in this increasingly social media-driven world.
So Noble has launched a unique, proprietary “human insights engine” called CultureWaves. Key to its functionality is the software underneath that Noble created called Neemee. So what’s it do, you ask? CultureWaves is fueled by hundreds of “farmers” – essentially a large group of intensely curious human observers who contribute articles and ideas to a searchable Thought Bank. So the magic isn’t in algorithms but in thoughts and perspective that flow from real people.
W&T now plugged into Neemee and CultureWaves…
Candidly we’re still in the training mode over here, so we have much to learn about extracting insights. What we can tell you is this — the entire process is much about discovery and the ability to aggregate information in one place in such a way that patterns and trends become noticeable. And that in turn can lead to new ideas and observations around emerging human needs and interests.
The end game is simple. We want to increase our value to clients by helping them see emerging trends and needs on the horizon that they can meet and fulfill. At the end of the day, brand relationships are built on a foundation of relevance and greater meaning. And how can you possibly expect to divine the elements of relevance without firm human understanding of what people are into these days.
Human behavior rules…
Often said that agencies exist to help brands better understand how to influence consumer attitudes and behaviors, and in doing so to earn permission for a relationship – one that hopefully drives brand preference and thus sales. So knowing more about human behavior serves to fulfill our primary mission.
So far the journey proves to be fascinating. In the coming weeks, we’ll reveal more details about the CultureWaves model and share our learning with you.
There’s winning and then there’s winning. Our firm struck gold twice for Nature’s Variety pet foods. And silver once for Thermos brand. It’s award season, the time when industry peers assess and evaluate the finest work out there to determine the campaigns worthy of a best-in-class trophy.
For W&T the win isn’t in the trophy. It is in the validation of our strategies, insights and work by those who arguably can tell the difference between medium and outstanding. Interestingly the Gold level recognition is for the same program on behalf of Nature’s Variety pet foods.
Bravo to all of our brilliant team members who made this happen and at the source of all the effort and great ideas that led to this outcome…
Publicity Club of Chicago has awarded a Gold Trumpet in the Marketing category to W&T for Nature’s Variety, and a Silver Trumpet in the same category for Thermos brand’s Hydration For All campaign. At the hotly contested national Sabre Award competition, Nature’s Variety is one of five finalists for the top prize in marketing, the Gold Sabre. Getting to this level is no easy task as the largest global brands on the planet participate. Our work bested a broad field of iconic household names with very deep pockets.
The Rotation Diet campaign for Nature’s Variety was an outcome of a close collaboration between agency and client. Our goal was to identify the right path to building distinction and differentiation into an emerging pet food brand that is fighting for growth and share. In the end the victory is found in the client’s business results. So here’s to 20 percent year on year growth at the bottom line! This outcome is really our finest hour. And importantly an hour now acknowledged by our peers and colleagues.
Likewise the strategic campaign for Thermos similarly helped fuel sales and distribution growth in a difficult economy. The core idea: leverage Thermos as part of the rising tide of consumer interest in moving off of drinking water in plastic bottles and on to more environmentally appropriate solutions. The project put Thermos in the center of public and media discourse on the evolution of hydration and water consumption.
As a former national award judge, I understand the criteria separating winners from the rest. It is not just a judgment on the freshness of an idea or its superlative execution. Rather, it is the result that weighs heaviest. The goal of marketing communication investments for any brand is acquiring and keeping more customers. The extent to which W&T’s work contributes to client business growth is the real measure of excellence. That our peers agree is just icing on the cake.
Still sitting in the wings, or actively participating…
Not a day goes by without yet more evidence that social media platforms are no longer add-ons but integral to brand communications strategy. Yet many organizations still remain on the sidelines unsure of the right path or unconvinced that there’s any there
there with respect to meaningful outcomes.
If you can buy the idea that peer-to-peer influence is powerful and that conversations are occurring all around us on a daily basis about brands and business, then we have common ground to discuss the dimensions of this new media space. Here’s a quick digest to help absolve some of the lingering skepticism.
By now you may have seen the awful YouTube video about seriously misguided Domino’s Pizza employees abusing the food. Yet another story that demonstrates the ability of average people to gain instant global notoriety, good or bad, in today’s wired and transparent world. Buts social media should not be looked upon as simply a technology enabler for mischief.
What does this media environment look like?
As defined by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, here are the general categories of social media communication and their basic functions:
Viral Marketing
Messages and communication designed deliberately to achieve pass-along distribution.
Community Marketing
Create and support special interest communities (user groups, fan clubs, discussion forums) by providing interactive tools, content and information.
Evangelist Marketing
Coalescing and cultivating brand ambassadors, advocates and volunteers to help spread brand messages.
Influencer Marketing
Engaging experts, opinion leaders, people in positions of respect and authority to help educate and influence the views and attitudes of others.
Referral Programs
Tools intended to help enable current happy brand fans to recommend and refer brands ton their social circles and family.
These categories ladder up to new ways of interacting with current and potential customers. The genesis of all this in response to overwhelming evidence that pushing messages through interruptive media channels alone is no longer the best path to constructing a sustainable brand/consumer relationship.
You are definitely in good company…
Social media is no longer a horizon opportunity, employed by a hand full of risk-taker brands. Here’s a look at the current state of affairs in social media activation.
According to Netpop Research LLC, of the 136 million US broadband users over the age of 13 years, 76 percent of them (105 million) are now contributing to social media through a variety of activities ranging from uploading photos and videos to blogging, tweeting as well as rating and reviewing products. Since 2006, of the total period spent on line, time spent communicating has grown by 18 percent, while time spent in entertainment pursuits has declined by 29 percent. Communication is evolving to become a form of entertainment.
So brands and businesses are responding by investing in and building their social media participation. New research recently released by Aberdeen Group profiles the new era of social media programming as a core element of brand marketing communications strategy:
58% of companies have dedicated resources devoted to social media marketing.
61% of companies have online community platforms (e.g., discussion forums, ratings and reviews, etc.).
68% of companies increased their investments in social media marketing while 34% are keeping their investment level that same as last year.
84% of companies aim to track and measure the ROI of their social media marketing activities.
58% of companies have dedicated resources devoted to social media marketing.
Rather than wait another year, as you formulate future plans, maybe now is the time to sit down and look at how these tools can be put to use in helping build brand relevance and relationship with consumers. People are expecting a tangible, meaningful connection between their lifestyle interests and the brands that will matter to them.
Granted it feels a little wishful and maybe even goofy to say happiness can be linked to business success, but hang in with me, and you’ll see how this pays out.
You have to love the story of Zappos. In less than a decade it’s gone from idea to around $1 billion in sales. Not bad. You’ve probably encountered the hall-talk and legend of extraordinary customer service and devotion to culture which grounds most word-of-mouth about this Internet e-tailer.
After browsing through some of the Tweets at Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh’s Twitter page, I discovered a link to a podcast from a recent presentation he made at a conference in Austin, Texas. It’s worth a listen. The talk goes on for a while… it remains engaging due in part to Tony’s affable, informal story-telling style. And helpful because of the insight he conveys around the “magic†ingredients that have helped propel Zappos from shoe seller to multi-category storefront.
His presentation hits a crescendo near the end when he moves beyond storytelling to advising, translating the powerful Zappos experience into some specific and focused direction that can benefit other businesses and brands. So here it is without further set-up:
Happiness
That’s right. Businesses and brands can find a path to success through a happiness strategy. Hang with me here before you conclude this is going to be psychobabble. The infrastructure that supports extraordinary service at Zappos, the investments made there to enhance the service experience and outcomes involves clear dollar and cents decisions and allocation of assets.
But underneath you can see the point emerge: it is their single-minded focus on culture and hiring the right people to fit within that world, that helps create traction with consumers. In relating this success to other businesses, Hsieh says that in the end happiness lies at the core of engagement, brand building, and business success. In customer interactions, employee attitude, longevity, turnover and, the feelings consumers have towards his brand.
He confesses to having studied happiness carefully and the triggers that bring it to life. Not surprisingly he relays that research studies consistently confirm that happiness sought-after and thought to flow through better jobs, relationships and money prove fleeting. In the end, it turns out human beings have a structural need to be a part of something larger than themselves.
Bingo: The Higher Purpose
As if he had been quoting chapter and verse out of the Wheatley & Timmons belief system about brand development, he talks about the compelling need for businesses and individuals to define a mission and higher purpose that transcends the daily balance sheet concerns of commerce.
Brand relevance springs from forging connections to a consumer’s lifestyle aspirations, desires and wants. What kind of vision, community and purpose can we craft for our brands that achieves higher purpose, meaning and therefore systemically delivers the recipe for happiness with those we wish to sell to (happy = satisfied = loyal = potential heavy user = brand ambassador)?
We all crave happiness as human beings. It is a fundamental driver in our lives. The notion of higher purpose and mission is linked to this sense and certainly fits strategically with how brands can earn a valued place in the lives of their best users. Hsieh says he’s been able to move the path in his organization for employees from job to career and then on to calling. And within the concept of calling he’s unlocked a reservoir of happiness internally that translates externally into the grist that authenticates the stories of incredible service experience.
For brands, a higher purpose becomes an enabler of relationship with core users. The unselfish acts of a brand that are intended to help facilitate lifestyle passions is a powerful vehicle to differentiate and elevate the entire strategic conversation about go-to-market strategy. Appropriate we think in the age of consumer control. Makes me happy.
Word of mouth begins with those inclined to recommend
Are you talking to the influencers who can drive business in your category? Especially the message multipliers who can be enlisted as brand ambassadors and are useful in driving trial of new products and services? Are you purposefully targeting those who sway others, or really just attempting to carpet bomb enough consumers with your messaging in the hopes that no one will escape the barrage?
The effectiveness of your spending can be multiplied ten-fold if you make an effort to better understand the role of influence and how to reach those who in turn reach others. You may agree that word of mouth retains the highest degree of credibility for consumers about what products to buy, so the question remains, are you going after those at the headwaters of WOM?
Just who are they?
In marketing communications there are two paths to follow: the shotgun model that recommends broad-based communication across multiple platforms intended to engage a wide audience. And then the rifle shot, aimed more precisely at a smaller audience of engaged individuals and influencers capable of becoming ambassadors and advocates for brand messaging.
In order for listeners to listen, they must be open to the medium and the message. And in today’s environment of ultimate consumer control over the timing, method and outcomes of engagement, there’s simply no place for messaging that is “pushed at†audiences who are not paying attention. The question we’re considering here: Can we harness the power of influential consumers to multiply the impact of our outreach campaigns?
Yes.
According to WOM research firm Keller Fay Group, there are 30 million people in the US alone who are measurably more likely than average to 1) seek out information; 2) share ideas; and 3) make recommendations to others. Certainly the anything-you-want-to-know-anytime aspects of the Internet has democratized access to information, but not everyone is built to influence and lead.
Those who fit this description, according to Keller Fay are:
Three times as likely as the rest of the population to spread word of mouth
Engage in social networks that are almost twice as large as those of other people
Are active seekers of information from an array of sources to supply their need to know
These social influencers can accelerate new product adoption because others disproportionately seek out their advice. And this makes sense on an array of levels: leaders lead. There are people we encounter in our circle we look up to, listen to, who always seem to be on top of what’s going on. It is how they are constructed as human beings — their nature and behavior that drives this principle.
On a more global scale, the Word of Mouth Association identifies five types of market influencers:
People in formal positions of authority
Individuals who are recognized as subject matter experts
Media elites (journalists, bloggers, pundits)
Cultural elites (celebrities, artists, musicians)
Socially connected people
In this environment of ROI focus and the need to produce the most effective and efficient outcomes in communications per dollar invested, doesn’t it make sense to look carefully at those who are in the influencer wheelhouse in any given product category? It’s imperative that brand communications strategies take these audiences into account and develop specific outreach tactics aimed at engaging and involving them.
The end result: better traction and outcomes for brand communications because the message delivery doesn’t stop with the media we employ, it continues on through the words and actions of those who are compelled to share their views with others around them.
Coupons and deals are everywhere. If everything is on deal all the time, then certainly there’s no distinctiveness to be found in the deal. The deal soon becomes the new floor. And the floor may stick over time: 10 percent down is the new flat?
Last time we looked a dollar still had a hundred cents in it. So the deal dollars come off the top of the budget, making the remaining kettle of funds smaller. And in the interest of achieving volume goals, the margin side of the P&L takes a hit. But we all know that margins are dear to owners, be they investors of the public variety or families and individuals of the private kind.
In the end profits get restored and budgets shrink to accommodate. Fewer dollars then are available for innovation, research into consumer behaviors and needs and other tools used to build equity and attract new business. The steamroll effect of this can leave brands vulnerable to rivals less enamored with habitual deep discounting.
Value re-defined
Value is not just price. Valuable-ness comes from relevance to the consumer’s needs. And in a difficult economy, finding the relationship footing with consumers who wield tighter wallets means that value can still translate effectively when looked at through a lens that sees beyond coupons and discounts. Here are three paths:
1. In parallel
Procter and Gamble has deployed the formula for this in their Tide Total Care campaign. The twist on value is helping consumers get more mileage out of their clothing investment. The value message is there but not tied solely to price as motivator to buy. Is there a value proposition that runs alongside the benefits of product use?
2. Empathy Hyundai’s Buyer Assurance Program, now imitated by other auto brands, aims to put the brand in league with the real world concerns of buyers. It says I know what you’re facing and I’m there with you. We can help take the risk out of this major purchase. How can you mine alignment with uncertainty and anxiety in tangible, meaningful ways that tell consumers you understand their plight?
3. Emotion
Consumers may try to remain objective in times like these, but we are emotional creatures and will respond with the heart as much as the head. We know people are spending more time with families, eating at home more often, looking for those areas where control can still be exerted. Simple pleasures and moments of gratification that offer comfort and social interaction can be powerful when everything else looks uncertain. Can you sync up with the emotional tenor of the moment and link brand use to enabling occasions of escape, enjoyment and serenity?
Unless there’s a business reason (and I can’t think of one) to pursue a path aimed at commoditizing your brand, it is folly to pursue a strategy that ultimately says loudly and profoundly to the consumer, “our prices are so low you have to stoop to pick them up.†It’s harder to stay the course of equity building, investment and innovation but nothing worth doing ever comes without extraordinary effort and risk-taking. You can do it.
(I know the headline above was first coined by someone else, but can’t remember the source this morning — a bit foggy today, I apologize. If anyone can identify the author please raise your hand).
I’m reading Chris Brogan’s blog today about the changing role of advertising and the interesting question about what works effectively these days – informing or entertaining? Chris goes on to mention David Ogilvy and an age when advertising served a useful purpose? Does it still? A recent post by Jeff Jarvis entitled “Advertising is Failure†suggests the evolution of ad creative sensibilities from inform to entertain has helped undermine the relevancy of this form of marketing communication.
Buy this book. By Ken Roman, one of the greatest leaders to emerge from David Ogilvy’s inner circle…
I grew up inside Ogilvy & Mather. Spent eleven wonderful years there during the era when Ogilvy was truly Ogilvy (all but one of my years there was prior to the hostile takeover by former Saatchi & Saatchi accountant Sir Martin Sorrell). We were exposed to David’s views and philosophy on a routine basis and brought up in a culture that was religiously respectful of consumer insight as a fundamental “table stake†in any form of effective communication.
David was still around when I entered the senior management ranks and I met him several times. One aside if you’ll indulge me: at the very first agency-wide management conference after WPP scooped up O&M, we were all treated to lunch at the headquarters dining room in New York. We were to hear an introductory talk from Sir Martin. David attended. We sat next to each other at lunch and during our conversation I explained to him our common Scottish heritage and my arrival in this world in Edinburgh, Scotland. Of course with American parents I have no accent. He said I was making it up just to get in his good graces. We laughed. We talked… great time with a marvelous and legendary figure whom I deeply respected and greatly admired.
Ogilvy’s early history and legacy as inspired by the long-form (copy-centric) ad theory was characterized as story telling that informs, perhaps even educates in order to motivate. The word “news†was also liberally applied to advertising’s creative role in those days. Which I always found interesting given that in the PR business “news†is the primary media field we work in and around on a daily basis. So we’re intimately familiar with what constitutes news and news-worthiness.
The commonality between ad and PR worlds simply stated: product news can be translated through both paid and unpaid (earned) vehicles. Combined the two forms of outreach are always better and more effective layered together than separated.
In more recent years advertising has gone the way of technique, art and entertainment. Image more so than information. Movie-making at its finest in an attempt to secure attention with messages that are more oblique and implied metaphorically than simply stated. Honesty, credibility and authenticity, three central strategic pillars of correct public relations strategy are more important than ever.
How would David operate in a world of content creation?
Nonetheless, the world has indeed changed. I wonder if he were around today how David would react to the current communications environment? What would he say about the role of ad and PR now that the consumer really runs the show and has ultimate access to every shred of information imaginable about products, services and the companies that provide them? And the ability to shut out any “marketing noise†not deemed useful, helpful or inherently believable.
I honestly think he might come to the conclusion that PR is the new advertising. I say this because news and useful information reign supreme in today’s outreach toolbox. And ironically the Internet presages the first global media platform that marries a content rich environment with the ability of brands and businesses to publish “news†and “education†— without having to navigate the filter of editors and editorial eccentricities.
Today we are content creators in PR as much as we are experts in navigating the private domain of editorial operations, decisions and outcomes.
Don’t get me wrong, coverage in earned media is critical, essential and relevant as much to brands as it is to consumers who consume news either online or off. The added layer of content creation allows us to craft communications in narrative and video form that fulfills the mission of education (and conversation) around useful information. It comes across with the same sensibilities as editorial media story telling. Feels like news. The difference: we construct the material and publish it. So PR may indeed be the new advertising. And word of mouth, the purest form of advocacy, may now be the new PR.
What would remain familiar I think to David is the unending devotion to consumer insight as the first step in any effort to divine the best way to talk to consumers. His genius as a copy writer steeped in the traditions of narrative story telling would feel right at home I believe in the new media world. Knowing his penchant for books and teaching, he may have already published the definitive work on the evolution of communications strategy in the new media age.
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