After reading John Grant’s new book, Brand Innovation Manifesto, I started thinking about Scott’s last post about consistency. Grant makes an interesting point that many modern brands are much more complex than brands that were developed in an ad-centric world, because they are built through experiences. Google, Starbucks, and JetBlue are all pretty hard to sum up in a unique selling proposition.
So maybe in this increasingly fragmented world, consumers are able to embrace multiple brand messages or even slightly conflicting thoughts to build an even more dynamic brand. A case in point, Fast Company recently profiled The Martin Agency’s multipronged strategy and the success of simultaneously airing three distinct narratives for Geico. Multiple narratives have been around for a while- just look at Budweiser who covers off the Clydesdales, August Busch and some hip hop ads all in the same football game.
So is a simple, consistent campaign a relic of the past? One advantage a multipronged strategy offers is that it allows marketers to cost-effectively dabble in new ideas and then invest behind the ones that take off. In-market success beats quantitative testing any day of the week. But will it be too confusing for consumers to grasp?
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Adrian Lai | June 19, 2007 | Permalink
http://tinyurl.com/2bn5×9
You should really check out this post by Faris on Transmedia planning. Essentially what you’re describing as a “multi-pronged strategy” above.
hope you’re well!
Cheers…
Scott | June 28, 2007 | Permalink
Let me play devil’s advocate. Is the “multi-pronged strategy” necessary to connect with consumers in a “fragmented world”, or is it simply an excuse offered up by brands that lack focus? I actually think Google (simplicity in search), Starbucks (your third place) and JetBlue (efficiency with style) have very singular value propositions. Whereas describing Geico in a couple of words is near impossible. Because I don’t understand Geico’s concrete value prop, I don’t think of it as any different than its competitors.
It’s my opinion that companies that have a very simple, concrete value proposition are the “stickiest” (check out Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath). Push back though… do you think Geico’s messages are “sticky”? Do they effectively differentiate the brand? Or, are they just good fun?
Andy | June 29, 2007 | Permalink
Might be worth separating ‘positioning fragmentation’ from ‘tactical fragmentation’. They’re very different beasts. I agree with Scott that no matter how complex the world becomes, there will always be the need for a clean, simple over-arching vision. However that can then of course be broken down into splinter-expressions for different moments and mindsets.
Perhaps it is evolving the view that a brand is a single personality into seeing it as a family of personalities; each with their own slant, but basically stemming from the same thought? I wrote a piece about personifying brands last year: - You might evolve my Homer Simpson reference to the entire Simpson family.. one brand - different characters…
Andy | June 29, 2007 | Permalink
p.s. This is the link to my hypothetical argument described above:
http://nowincolour.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html
Scott | July 5, 2007 | Permalink
Check out Andy’s post above - he offers some interesting argumentation for approaching brands as personalities… I like the idea of a brand’s personality being so clear, that you can predict and understand its behaviors and reactions to specific situations. Perhaps JetBlue’s web-based video reaction to their snowstorm debacle is a good example of personality aiding prediction.
To Andy’s comment above though… I wonder if a brand evolves from a single personality to a family of personalities, does that family have to share any DNA? The Geico Gecko and Cavemen are not splintered versions of a single personality IMO… they don’t share the same DNA, and don’t help me understand how Geico will react to specific situations. Is there a unifying thought in the Geico campaigns (besides comedy)? Is that to their advantage or disadvantage?