by Faheem Chaudhry (@FaheemChaudhry) As the people responsible for guiding organisations through such a dynamic time, we too need to stay agile and adapt. Failure to do so will quickly leave our approach old and staid, as the plethora of messages doubles and triples with each year.
The marketing industry is continuing to evolve at a speed like never before, creating and growing brands that have a significant impact upon the hearts and minds of consumers is becoming more and more difficult. Brands are having conversations with people in more places than ever before, and this is happening at a time when the average person is being exposed to 50 000 branded messages a day (Jay Walker-Smith, Yankelovich Consumer Research).
Grow in capabilities
The key to staying relevant in our thinking is to grow in capabilities. The industry used to be known for housing multiple teams of specialists under one roof, each with a sound understanding of their particular field of expertise; “I”-shaped thinkers, if you like. This then moved to “T”-shaped thinkers becoming the employees that were sought-after — being a specialist in one field with a broad understanding of others.
I’d like to argue that such an approach is old and stayed, and we need to move from being T shaped thinkers, to Pi (∏) shaped thinkers, as first coined by Ashley Friedlein chief executive of Econsultancy in 2012 — those with an understanding of data and technology, together with emotion and storytelling.
There’s a risk that we will become tech-driven creators of campaigns that lack emotion and just follow the trend. Pi-shaped people are able to juggle what are, at their core, very different disciplines. The left brain cuts through the clutter; the right brain wraps the insight in the most compelling story to take to market.
Making a real impact
Sir John Hegarty has widely discussed how, as an industry, we should be getting better, but we seem to be getting worse. We have more toys to play with, but don’t seem to be using them to create the most remarkable communication. The employees of the future who can balance left and right will be the ones who will make a real impact in our industry going forward.
Many would argue that each side can be owned by different functions of the business, and can then be integrated to mine out the best solutions. My problem with this is that it relies on successful internal integration, every time, to deliver the best output for brands. The holy grail therefore relies heavily upon an agency’s ability to integrate, rather than upon the employees’ ability to think across the spectrum.
True integration, if we’re honest, looks easier on paper than it is in real business practice. Those in the next generation who nurture an ability to straddle their thinking across both divides of the industry will be the ones who can drive the most remarkable change going forward.
Chief creative technologists
The world’s leading brands have been quick to realise this, as we can see by the growth of titles such as “chief creative technologist”.
Take Coca-Cola, for example. It talks about nurturing creativity through content excellence. To create ideas so contagious that they cannot be controlled. In fact, consumer-generated stories outnumber Coca-Cola generated stories in the world today.
The power lies in those individuals who will be able to listen and engage with consumer-related stories, mine the data and insights, and reply with stories that are compelling at that moment in time.
Develop deeper emotional connections
This is where we can use technology to develop deeper emotional connections with consumers. If we don’t balance technology with creativity, we’ll just create noise. And there’s enough noise in the world today. We need to find those individuals who can successfully move the industry from one way of storytelling to dynamic storytelling.
Burberry is another brand which has nailed this, with the opening of its global flagship residence at Number 1 Regent Street.
Burberry taps into all our senses, from the dropdown monitors that showcase their latest items to the 55 monitors that twice a day mimic a live rainstorm inside the store. It’s a wonderful marriage of technology and human touch — personalising the experience for their customers using technology at the base, and individual experience to create memorable brand interactions for their consumers.
What we need
Ultimately, we’re in the ideas business. But simply having creative ideas isn’t enough. Ideas are like voices; everyone has one. We need to have a thorough understanding of how ideas will evolve and engage in different ways at different times in the consumer journey.
Those Pi-shaped thinkers who can connect the dots will be the most successful in navigating the industry of the future.
Faheem Chaudry (@FaheemChaudhry) is an account director at M&C Saatchi Abel. His monthly “The Millennial” column on MarkLives aims to give a voice to the industry’s next generation, giving insight and guidance into how to navigate the increasingly complex and changing tides of today’s communication industry.
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