Bringing wisdom to the crowd
Today, various big brands are trying to achieve everything by throwing grandeur marketing messages at consumers through advertising, social media updates, commercials, blogs, websites and so on.
On the contrary, my journey in advertising for more than two decades has categorically taught me to convey one single message to the consumers. When we, as brands, are desperate to get consumers' attention, we forget that our multidimensional touch points made us niche to realities like the immeasurable mood and mind - set in a highly demanding world. Hence, having multiple signals may create confusion. More importantly, as customers are smart about their choices, it is imperative to bring wisdom to the crowd by producing the right kind of signals.
In advertising, we need to be extremely focused on 'what matters most'. For instance, mobile phones have evolved to be a close factor in our everyday lives. Therefore, it has become a very important source of data and centre of signals. All in one approach will not suffice when it comes to content. Instead, a focus on creating unique, high-quality and authentic content that is useful and interesting for consumers will bring the desired result. As each brand has its social pillar - social media will continue to provide its reach with strong verification as users not only click it or read it - they also share it. When good content is consistently appearing, it creates authority and opens up opportunities to build a glowing and engaging profile. This, in turn, produces real value for consumers while disruptive content creates brand amplification in a saturated market. This inevitably has the potential to generate leads and increase brand relevance to the buyers' journey. The content tells an intangible story which has a profound, long term impact instead of meagre one-time sales. This impact is invaluable to the business model and the relationship between the brand and consumers.
One example of a powerful and contextually motivating source for different contents reaching more than 3.5 billion people through multimedia is the FIFA World Cup.
To be able to deliver such unique content to engage consumers, we need growing creative resources. Our classrooms need to nurture the ability to think critically amongst everyone. Institutions need to take entry executives through a language understanding and creative training process for at least a period of three to four months, which I have experienced with companies like P&G, Mobil, Monsanto and so on. Companies can make a significant change in developing communication and behavioural skills of its workforce, which will surely have a snowball effect and build a wise media ecosystem.
The writer is the Managing Director of Paper Rhyme. Contact him at: saif@paperhymebd.com