From David to Goliath. How Challenger Brands Become World Changers.

Big brands get it. At least many of them do. Yet challenger brands and start-ups especially are vulnerable in large part to a lack of vision and purpose. Vision is imperative. Every company has one, or desperately needs to stop what they are doing to find one—a clear picture of their brand’s strategy and direction. Without it, you’re going nowhere, and the marketing people responsible for driving your brand are spinning their wheels without a roadmap or GPS.

We also know that a vision should be big. It should be bold. It should be easy to define. But more importantly it must be relatable. Everyone seeks connection and a cause to champion, but if your brand isn’t a vehicle for either, then you’re not relevant and you’re not the focus of conversation. You remain just a challenger. The goal is to unseat the market leader and win people’s hearts right? Sure, mission statements help to articulate what a brand wants to do, and how it will realize its vision, but carrying that out is another story. Speaking of stories, what is your story and how is that story perceived and received by the world at large or community you wish to influence? What are your values, beliefs and definitions of what guide your brand’s culture and decision-making processes?

Emotional Relevance:

Is your story more like a fairy-tale or a well-crafted documentary? Does it read like a motivational manifesto and resonate with the passions and pursuits of its audience? An engaging story isn’t static or self-serving, but fuels its followers while directionally connecting everyone to the overall goals and objectives of the company. It doesn’t exclude, but invites everyone to the party. It speaks the love language of those who are listening, and inspires cult like loyalty. Apple was once the underdog. Now it’s a giant. Macy’s has magic. What’s your mojo?  

Does your story and the strategy for telling that story connect with your audience and validate their emotional investment and loyalty? Are you adaptive, creative and courageous enough to lead and innovate when others are complacently following? These are the questions that need to be answered before a compelling story can become more than just a story, before it can assist a brand’s mission or deliver quantifiable results, but create movements that alter the world in a meaningful way and leave behind legacies for future generations to follow. This is how Davids can become Goliaths.

If I'm Not 'Feelin It', I'm Not Buying It.

Imagine a world of emotional detachment and disconnect. I’m not just referring to an inability to connect with others emotionally, but an inability to connect with your own heart and the subconscious motivations which drive behavior. Seems inhumane doesn’t it, and if you ever find yourself in that world, find a good therapist, because psychologists warn of all sorts of mental health issues and implications.

Many of us, if we’re honest, find it very difficult to turn emotions on and off. In fact, we’ve all experienced intense emotions in some very passive states: our hearts race when we identify with a fictional character on a movie screen; certain environments, smells, or interactions with people unconsciously trigger past experiences and send signals to the body and brain to respond accordingly. Remember how irrationally motivated and out of balance you felt when you first fell in love? Emotions are attached to associations we make about the way we view ourselves and the world in order to guide choices and largely prepare us for action, either positive or negative. It’s the way we’re wired. Unless you're a robot.

Love and loyalty is driven by this process, and smart marketers understand this. Smart marketers know how to put this knowledge to work. Unfortunately, the people who make decisions about a brand or business, aren’t necessarily from the same school of thought or on the same page. We’ve seen the case studies and documented the failures that result when a brand fails to take into account the emotional programming behind what people buy and why. 

Countless studies have been conducted about the power of emotion and unconscious associations underlying consumer behavior are what send brands either into the Stratosphere or the trash can. I’ve always said this, and won’t back down from this approach, because it is extremely rewarding and not as mysterious or laborious as some would lead you to believe. There is a general consistency to this paradigm that transcends the sales or technology treadmill because it is what drives the treadmill, just as simple gender and demographic differences affect the way brands have always been marketed.

More and more are finally getting it I think, and are seeking to discover what motivates and maintains loyalty; even leveraging those insights, but when everyone within the leadership structure of a business isn’t on board, an identity crises ensues. Brands rebrand and change ad agencies like underwear and undermine the very essence of what differentiates us from the devices we attempt to live our lives through every day.

Branding Isn't Rocket Science… Yet.

There's a how-to book or two out there about satisfying the core emotional needs of customers. Perhaps you've heard of it. 

I hate how-to books. But that's another topic for another time. I do love to talk about advances in marketing however, and point out truths that are often overlooked. For a while now, brand strategists have encouraged the business world to embrace the value of emotion in selling products and as marketers see the value of appealing to consumers’ heartstrings, some powerful insights have begun to emerge, which is awesome. We've finally reached a paradigm shift in perspective. But we've also tried to make a science out of something very abstract, intangible, and somewhat ethereal. We decorate it with catchphrases and package it in some rather verbose and esoteric language only planners seem to use.

Now to many, I'm just an art director, but I say it often. Brands that can bypass the head and reach the heart and soul of a consumer will always outperform the logical appeals and positioning of their shortsighted counterparts, because the heart is more involved in making decisions than our heads. That much has been proven, although for some there remains much debate.

Emotions are powerful motivators and can be powerful economic levers, but without a proven psychological theory to tell us where, when, and how to extract emotional insights, opportunities are lost some will say. That's certainly true, but trying to measure the heart with intellectual metrics in my opinion is like trying to breath under water without gills. We know in part, and even see in part, and as a creative I for one can appreciate the mystery of how this all works.

Psychologists for years have tried to unlock the secrets of the subconscious to reveal the hidden meaning behind our conscious thoughts and behaviors. But trying to decipher raw emotion sometimes is like pinning Jell-O to a wall, especially when we continue to handicap ourselves with a fact-based, quanti­fied approach. It's like the left-brain trying to comprehend the right without an interpreter and vice-versa. 

No one loves strategy consultants, market research and consumer insights more than I. But sometimes it gets unnecessarily convoluted and complicated. We need to simplify the process I think, go back to basics, and at times trust our gut because it knows the terrain, and isn't prone to the paralysis of too much analysis. One thing I know for certain. The day we develop a fool-proof formula for the psychological and/or sociological underpinnings of how and why people use products and services, many of us in marketing will indeed become redundant and find ourselves looking for a new career. But don't hold your breath. I don't see that day coming any time soon.

Is it Really About Brand Engagement or Getting Hitched?

Loyalty. Commitment. Marriage. Sure, not the sexiest or most marketable of phrases, but for brands, it's the Holy Grail. Yet, before we even go there however, we need to talk about engagement. Yes, engagement in all of its meanings. It's the latest buzzword branding gurus have been throwing around for some time now, and anyone who's anyone knows just how important it is for a brand to relate relevantly with the world in an alluring and compelling way, both online and off. However, most conversations on the subject are confined to the former and revolve around content since this is now the primary way people connect and interact with brands.

Therefore, it's important to point out that in the era of content marketing how important it is for brands to be real, because up until this point we've seen more than our fair share of desperate, tacky, and predictable attempts to manufacture "engagement" based upon conventional and cheesy call-to-action tactics. The internet is more than a content delivery system, and engagement is not about creating something gimmicky for people to share but rather the right kind of content. Otherwise engagement remains just shameless and sophomoric. Content is only king so far as it provides the building blocks to something powerful people can affectionately align themselves with and passionately champion and defend offline as well. The roadmap to the heart hasn't changed, just the tools are different. Brands that insist on intrusively 'selling' themselves through traditional advertising strategies or asking for likes, followers, and retweets won't survive or garner enough interest or enthusiasm to warrant the type of commitment needed today to keep quality customers engaged and involved.

Sexiness by itself isn't enough. Commonality alone doesn't cut it. Neither does an attractive promise or price. It's a combination of factors that makes for relationship material and a level of emotional buy-in most brands would kill for, because ultimately it's what drives us as people. It's the secret sauce. It's about relationship. Otherwise your brand will just be left standing at the altar.

Why I'm Thankful for the Economic Downturn

I began my career like any art director or designer does, doing production, paying my dues. But in time, and with some hard work, I finally moved my way up the responsibility ladder, and was able to sink my teeth into some fairly creative and challenging work. But eventually I became bored. I wanted more. I just couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew I wasn't just a designer. I wasn't being challenged. Yet the days grew into months, and the months into years of not doing anything about it. It wasn't until I abandoned the cushy corporate paycheck to pursue my passions that I was finally able to spread my wings and grow. 

Upon being promoted to creative director of an agency startup, I found myself a lot more involved in the strategy and planning behind campaigns; not to mention pitching and presenting to clients. I was hooked. While I still love design and remain very competitive in that arena, I've been devoting more and more of my time to copywriting and brand strategy over the past five years. But much of that came about only because I was forced to explore new opportunities, and at the same time, rediscover what I really wanted to do with my life, and what was inside of me all along.

Like many small agencies at the start of the recession, a downturn in business meant I was now on my own to find new employment. After several attempts to land something comparable however, I turned back to freelance and contract stints for survival, and soon found myself on a new journey to uncover what really motivates me most. 

You see, it isn't until life squeezes us sometimes before we learn what we're truly made of, and what we were put on this earth to do. Adversity corners us and demands of us to ask real questions, to search for real answers about the future, especially when it's our future being called into question. Only then can we come face to face with our strengths and our weaknesses and come to terms with what makes us special. It's about focus. It's about destiny.

At first I was bitter, but now I am better and more equipped to handle the challenges that come with finding the right fit. When you don't know who you are, there will always be someone with an agenda who will either mold you into what they want, or keep you stuck in a cycle of discontent and dysfunction, which never works out for either party. Great teams are built around people who not only enjoy what they're doing, but are uniquely gifted to fulfill the role and function their position requires, and that's a win-win for everybody.

Marketing Isn't Dead. It Just Got a Wake-Up Call.

I love it when industry pundits make generalizations without accounting for how different we all are, or how diverse human behavior really is. One size never fits all, and painting with a broad brush is extremely shortsighted. In fact, even among hispanics alone, there are more sub-cultures and market fragmentation than any other people group.

What I'm driving at, is the notion that traditional marketing is dead (at least, the science, rationale, and thinking part of the selling process is dead) or no longer needed somehow, because consumers have full control over their own purchasing decisions. Or do they?

For years, gurus have been saying that the digital era pushed aside old rules of engagement and made way for an exciting, new marketing landscape. I don't dispute that. But one thing hasn't changed all that much, and that's the way our brains make decisions. Everyone is influenced by something, and that changes dramatically depending on who you talk to on any given day.

I've heard the arguments. Consumers no longer wish to tolerate annoying advertisements or traditional marketing methods that disrupt their busy lives. They strongly despise any business or brand that tells them what to buy and why. Instead, consumers know what they want and how to get it. Unfortunately, that's not what the research shows, or what common sense would dictate.

Sure, we all have access to a world of information via the Internet. We can research our own products and services online. We can read forums and see what others are saying about brands. We can contribute our own thoughts and reviews. We can follow key people on Twitter or Facebook and even write our own blogs. But how many are actually doing that, especially for day-to-day purchases?

Statistics show that the average person isn't doing all these things before they go to the store to pick up a gallon of milk or some laundry detergent. People are creatures of habit, and many things along the retail path-to-purchase influence the decisions we make. For instance, many decisions are often determined at the last minute.

It's true, the Internet has transformed the way we shop, and marketing has had to adapt to the cultural shift. Instead of just broadcasting a message, brands and businesses are actually returning to the days when they used to engage consumers in a two-way conversation about their needs and concerns. Somewhere a long the line, we lost sight of this principle and consequently, our way. Involvement is a valuable, but often overlooked investment. It's about championing a movement; not just a message, which involves anything that helps your brand become an industry leader that people love, trust and loyally align themselves with.

Rather than paying for expensive ad space, or spewing out press release after press release, brands are forced to participate in a new process or perish. But that doesn't mean we should all become digital PR agencies and digital marketing firms. That's just over correcting. Businesses are as different as the consumers they serve, and there's no cookie-cutter formula that works for all brands. That's why an integrated approach works best and we need to focus our time and attention accordingly. This is not about a digital revolution, but an uprising that brings the customer back into focus where they rightfully belong.

Champion a Movement, Not Just a Message

Anyone who knows me at all, knows how much I love to talk about branding, the future of brands, and the importance of social media, although that term is a bit dated now that global interconnectivity is within everyone's grasp today. In this parallel universe, interactivity has become the new norm and participation is hardly an option. In fact, life will never be the same, as marketing itself is being re-branded. Yet I refuse to spew the same esoteric rhetoric your run-of-the-mill social media marketing guru can provide these days. You know, the type that go on and on about engagement, social purpose and responsibility? The same group who started out years ago with an an insatiable preoccupation with tactics and technology, as if platforms like Twitter or Facebook invented the art of conversation and communication between human beings and brands.

But make no mistake, they all know one thing to be profoundly true. The conversation is definitely different. But while most businesses are studying how the internet keeps changing, they ought to focus their time and attention on how the internet is changing their business. That's the biggest variable in all of this. People are different. Attitudes are different. Tolerances, routines and behaviors are all different. The consumer is different. The world itself is very different.

The internet has empowered customers, and now THEY call the shots. They own the conversation. They dictate what they want from a brand. As Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts has said in a keynote speech in Cannes, "return on investment," or ROI, should be dubbed "return on involvement." In essence, marketing has moved from interruption to interaction in the battle for customer attention and relevance. Endearing brands know how to champion a movement, not just a message.

Then there are those who still point to the old adage that content is king. Really? Content is just the hors d'oeuvres served at your cocktail party. That doesn't make it king. Your guests are king. Your social network is king and the conversations that revolve around their content is king. Social media isn't just a content delivery system, anymore. It's about community, connectivity and the collective causes of cultural movements that arise and become a rallying cry for brands and their followers. Those who get that are king, in my opinion, and that's all I have to say...for now.