Conversations on the Future of Advertising

In a series he just kicked off, Gavin Heaton at Servant of Chaos will be talking about the future of your brand. Make sure you bookmark his site or, better, subscribe to his feed. I know you will not want to miss learning and talking about Gavin's ideas.

Monday I gave a presentation as part of another series hosted by Tim Brunelle called Conversations on the Future of Advertising. One of the things I talked about is personas. Each of us has more than one as a thin slice. In other words, depending on our function and role, we have a whole persona associated with it that may be different from the one we identify with in another role. There are many personas in each person.

For example, I could engage a customer in his role at work with a conversation tailored to the specific needs and wants in that role. Then, I could meet that same person in a social media context and they would be a different persona. Same person, completely different conversation. We know that they may be inclined to listen and engage at a specific level - the one associated with role at work - once they have interacted at a more general level - social.

Gavin sees two meta-trends upon which he plans to build his series:

1. Micro-transformations -- Micro-transformations refer to the miniaturizing of consumer behaviors into ever smaller discrete steps. This fragmentation of direct experience is driving a range of sub-trends that are, in turn, being facilitated by economic, technical and social changes.

This resonates with me in light of the observation on and work I have been doing on personas. It's not about targets, rather about where the connection points are. When you meet someone in a social context, you tend to find those rather quickly with some people. Hugh MacLeod has been talking about Social Objects. A Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. 

Because of the general problem of spam, overwhelm with information, and distrust of unknown quantities, I suspect that the more specific to a person's stage in their process the connection happens when they are in the work role persona, the greater chance they will resonate with it. This says more direct marketing than advertising. Marketing principles have not changed, they still work. It's the conversation that gets you there that is changing.

Will advertising be more direct, personal and (hopefully) relevant?

2. Infatuations -- In a globalized world, our infatuations are taking on new dimensions. No longer is infatuation one-way, but it is bi-directional … what we love now returns that love in an equally idealized form.

I don't know about you, I am really looking forward to Gavin's take on this one. At our interaction with MIMA, we talked about ideas and how the money is in the execution. Understanding what we can foresee, rather than predict, from current stories and patterns, can and does lead to insights and they in turn lead to action. That is the bedrock of Get There Early, the book by Bob Johansen at the Institute for the Future. 

Can customer service be the conduit for what we call infatuations?

[image courtesy of AP. Carnevale di Venezia]

Comments

[Mario Vellandi]

This reminds me a bit on sales thinking. Coming to know your customer will definitely help the sale sure. But in the art of communication, one must transmit first and strive for receptivity. Hence in the absence of qualifying lead information, all one has to work with is a perceived state of mind based on observation and situational factors like time and location. Then the salesperson has to adjust the conversation based on the reactions. This salesperson behavior modification mechanism is enhanced with experience and a degree of emotional/social intelligence.

In traditional advertising though, there is no personalization because there's no human interactivity. The closest thing you get is customized one-time messages based on the campaign reach and segmentation plan.

So many good ads have extended invitation to interaction points like websites, phone, and physical locations. That's the 'end'. If the creative 'means' don't adequately fulfill that 'end', the ad fails. Depending on the medium and product/service category though, awareness and positive affinity are all that's possible though an ad.

Ahh, the complexities and variabilities. We can discuss this further next month.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Part of our job in marketing is to arm the sales person with social objects - that is information that will allow them to make connections more easily.

We have an opportunity with online experiences to build that interaction in our initial stance of receptivity. The ad or teaser should be the beginning, not the end. To me creative work is the departure for a conversation, not the end all be all. An ad can also be an invitation. Yes?

[John Dodds]

Customer service/experience has always been the key to marketing. It's just never been sexy.

[Mario Vellandi]

@Valeria - But of course, that's the way I'd like to see it. Ads not as some sort of awe inspiring 'I'm-fasicated-with-your-product' vehicle, but an invitation mechanism for further discovery, exploration, and interactivity at your own convenience (online), pace (in-store), and depth of communication (human [phone, in-person]).

@John - CS never has been authentically sexy in ads because the human element has to be experienced to be believed. Even if the interaction is very brief (8 seconds), it's a lot more impactful than a pretty picture/video of a person smiling and appearing helpful.

[John Dodds]

Mario - wasn't talking about CS in ads - it is fatuous there. I'm just saying that marketing has always been about customer service/experience.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@John -- I am developing a whole concept around infatuations and customer service. It may not be sexy, yet it is key to marketing. Mario touched upon an experience needing to be lived before we can believe it.

@Mario -- thank you for developing the concept further. We should look forward to talking to a company's customer service, not dread it.

[Mario Vellandi]

@John - I know you didn't imply that; I miswrote with the intention of generally saying CS is difficult to promote or publicize. And yes, great marketing is about CS/experience. As sample proof, there are plenty of people willing to pay premium for a product/service simply because of the experience. No hassle, service with a smile, quick response, proactive assistance, and surprise.

[Gavin Heaton]

Thanks for the mention and encouragement, Valeria. Now that I am into it, it is actually a much larger effort than I first thought. The first part of The Future of Your Brand is Play is now up, and it looks like there will be at least one and maybe two more posts on that alone.

Just hoping that The Future of Your Brand won't be the end of me ;)

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Mario -- the element of pleasant surprise is rare, thus even more valuable to me as a customer. I suspect it might be the same for many.

@Gavin -- truly looking forward to your thinking and your first post was very interesting. Hoping with you you'll be around for the whole series : )

[Amadou M. Sall]

"There are many personas in each person."

Very Shakespearean! Valeria, you're a deep thinker, a profound philosopher and an awesome marketer.

We should be able to play all these different parts while always making sure we retain our authenticity.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Amadou,

All the way from Senegal - I am honored. Thank you for the very kind words here and on Twitter.