thinking allowed

As you can probably tell I'm starting to get anxious about this thing - which is on Wednesday. Many of you have left helpful suggestions and I had a very nice chat with Chris about it last week (though I think I spent most of my time complaining about how much I hated university) but I'm way behind where I normally am three days before a presentation.

And just now, it struck me why. It's because I've never spoken about brands and blogs in public before. I've got no stuff, I've got no fall-back material, no oft-used examples or can't-miss bits of video.

I often think a planning career is a bit like that Jerry Seinfeld movie - Comedian. This is the tale of Jerry trying to construct a new act after vowing never to do any of his old material. He goes out night after night doing five minutes here and there, finding stuff that works, discarding stuff that doesn't, until he's got enough to constitute an act. It takes a long time. And that's what a planning career is like. Do it for long enough and you get an act. You get some examples, some anecdotes and some theories, which you regurgitate again and again, tailored to fit the situation you find yourself in.

That'll do for me.

Except on Wednesday I'm starting from scratch. I'm talking about brands and blogs, solely on the basis that I have a blog. Hence the nervousness.

Anyhoo, I've been thinking about it for a while and just now I've been sketching some themes out in Inspiration and some of them are starting to make some sense. And I thought, since some of you are often kind enough to help I thought I'd float some of these ideas past you and see if you can make them better/cohrenent/not stupid.

It also just occured to me that loads of people reading this have probably already seen or even done, exactly this presentation, with a ton more expertise and wisdom, so putting these thoughts out there risks me looking a bit naive. Oh well, that's what blogging's all about.

Thought One - blur

I've been asked to talk about this stuff, mostly, because I have some blogs. My personal interest is becoming part of my professional expertise. There's a blurring of life and work. That blurring idea seems to be something that brands are going to have to get used to and blogs represent.

Blogs blur the line between employees as corporate mouth and employees as people. Blogs work best when they're expressions of real personalities, not when they're written according to corporate guidelines.

Blogs (and the marketing 2.0 world they represent) also blur a lot of the traditional silo lines between disciplines and business activities. Perhaps the most interesting blurring is in the line between marketing and services - but I'll come back to that later.

So I thought I'd open with blur. That'll have them rolling in the aisles.

Thought Two - blog as 2.0 instructor

Here's the simple version - blogs are to Marketing 2.0 what TV commercials are to Marketing 1.0 (whatever that 1.0 and 2.0 means).

By which I mean - in the old world, if you got your bit of brand film right you'd proabably worked out most of the things you'd need to know in order to get everything else right. If you've got a functional TV commercial (always remembering that 90% of the time people don't have a functional TV commercial) then you've probably got your strategy right, you've got some sense of how the brand should look, feel and sound. You know a little about its voice. You can probably go off and do some decent print and posters, maybe some DM and a shelf-wobbler.

And I think the blog does the same thing for Marketing 2.0. Get the blog right and you've probably worked out how multiple people will express the brand voice, through words and pictures other stuff, you've probably learned how to be open, you're probably having real conversations with people and you're learning how that works, your lawyers and IT people are probably a little more relaxed than they were 6 months ago about copyright and virus issues. Your people and your organisation is learning to trade control for influence.

There are a few reasons why the bit of brand film will continue to be a crucial part of the communications repertoire...

(1. Nothing is as easy and effective to present as a TV commercial, they work really well in board-rooms and employee meetings, have you ever tried to talk a bored board through an event plan or a website schematic. 2. When they work, which is very rarely, nothing is as high leverage a communucations asset as a good piece of telly, the effect you can have, versus what you put in, is yet to be beat, if you know what you're doing - Richard H points this out a lot and he's right)

...but I suspect the blog is going to sit alongside it in most marketing textbooks as a 'lead tool'.

(And there have to be lead tools. You have to start somewhere. I hate this way people have taken 'media neutral' to mean that every channel is equal. Some are better than others. Especially when you're trying to scuplt an understanding of a brand in your own head or your own organisation - some channels/media are better clay than others.)

So that's thought two - blogs are important because getting your blog right means you'll be more likely to get a lot of other 2.0 stuff right too. There won't be a dry eye in the house.

Remaining thoughts will have to wait. World Cup build-up is about to start. More tomorrow.

warc and  engagement/attention

Comments

[Kirsty]

Hi, I'm a lurker who's been reading for quite a while - an Australian planner currently working in Paris (please come do a breaktfast here...).

Initial thoughts:

I find 'blur' really really interesting, and think it would be a unique story to tell, but suspect the second option would be more appealing to the broader audience there. That said, why not shift the attention away from consumers for a while in that forum...

Regarding the second option, I think it's a great point. Totally agree re media neutral not meaning all channels are equal. Question from the audience in advance: could/should ALL brands have a blog, theoretically? Just wondering out loud, after too little sleep - does every brand want to have real conversations with the consumer, or be open? Sounds stupid I know - just being the (hungover) devils advocate to help the thinking along...

[Rob Mortimer]

I think thats good stuff.

The thing that interests me is how blogging is forcing companies to become more open and honest; and making them think about promoting their business without sales talk.

Faris spoke about the intelligent/stealth consumers, and I think this is a really important thing for businesses, both in and outside of blogging.

[russell]

thanks for this. I'm thinking I might do a little bit on each thing. And I'm going to come up with some more things tomorrow. I like the 'should everyone have a blog?' question.

you're both very generous to chip in.

[Clay Parker Jones]

Russell -

Echoing everyone else...thanks. Very relevant. "whatever that 1.0 and 2.0 means" ... I was thinking today, how the heck are we only at 2.0? Seems crazy to me. I was also thinking about what 3.0 will look like. What do you think? I'm of the mind that 2.0 starts to close the gap between social identities and brands, and 3.0 will involve communities and brands that are fully invested in one another, sort of like a Venn diagram that overlaps completely.

Also, on a related point: I'd been waiting a long time to have a blog on something. I think I may have my personal strategy set... And this post helps to "verify" my new blog's existence. So, thanks for that too.

[blaiq]

Russell, I was wondering if the two thoughts were options but your own comment suggests they aren't.

I think the second thought is particularly powerful and can/should stand on its own. Having struggled through a few blogs of my own I know exactly what that means. And it's wonderful to think a brand might go through the same process.

I'd like to add though, that in the case of brands, blogs won't force them to learn anything new; they will just have to unlearn a few things. A genuine, unpretentious voice is inside all of us - even companies and brands. The first step is to stop being self-conscious and worried and be ourselves.

There's this quote that I am reminded of - "Sport doesn't build character, it reveals it." Post reading your note, I can't help but think it's the same with blogs.

[Rob Mortimer]

There is the issue now that companies/brands that wait too long to blog will be seen as late to the game, and given the image of trying to cash in instead of being genuinely forward looking.

[jamesb]

moving from a personal account of becoming a consumer and producer of media/content to giving something of a reality check to the hype around blogs [being a good indicator that a brand strategy is on tack] of media seems a good place to start. i'd be tempted to go further on that thought - web2.0 as an 'ideology'. there's a lot of blind faith out there, a lot of zealots and there's not always a good rationale for undertaking 'conversational marketing' other than not to miss out [as Rob says, this is detrimental]. and if I were in the audience I'd love to hear you talk about the nitty gritty of making great work... how it comes about, what the sparks were, the insight, whatever... tell stories.

[Rob Mortimer]

Actually, a great example of this is W+K London. They actually talk about pitching, about NOT winning; and this is something i've never seen from a big agency.

It shows a human side to a media company, and this makes them feel more accesible. It costs them looking like a 'perfect' machine (as media co's like to portray themselves), but it makes them seem much more in touch with the end consumer and newer media (like Web 2.0 (though I HATE that term)).

[fernanda]

Russell,
I agree with Rob's comment above about W+K London' blog.
You might want to talk a little about the main differences between a blog and a website. Although it seems obvious, for brands it might be difficult to have the human side a blog requires (I think)to not seem false ou superficial.

[Iain Tait]

Kirsty makes a great point about whether or not brands should have blogs. Whilst I think almost every individual on the planet could squeeze together some kind of blog out of what they do or don't think or do on a regular basis.

But are brands the same? I suppose that 'good' brands do have things to say and converse with us about, but 'bad' ones, ones that have been fabricated out of product lies and mistruths find it much more difficult.

I also think that the very simple question of 'what is a blog? (vs a website)' is a really big one. I've had discussions with a few clients recently about how much blog functionality you can strip out before you lose the essence of what a blog is.

Ultimately if you end up with a series of bits of content sorted reverse chronologically is that a blog? Apple seem to think so: http://www.mac.com/blog/

Personally I think the notion of blur is really really interesting. The blur between, work and home, product and brand, private and public, individual and company, audience and publisher, etc. etc. etc. I think real blogs tend to 'get' the blur, whereas most corporate ones don't (with the few notable exceptions that always get cited: GM, Scoble, Sun).

[TomMorton]

Everyone hates a brand values chart. So perhaps you'll forgive an example of a values statement that actually worked. When PlayStation 2 launched in 2000, it defined its values as: Intelligent, Disruptive, Unconfortable, Omnipotent. It works because it's vivid: not everyone's cup of tea but something that you could build a distinct brand around.