Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor Associates, has a message to brand experts and technology whizzes: Join forces. Furthermore, he has ideas about how companies should be simplifying their message and interacting more with customers. The key is using the technology to learn as much about customers' needs and wants as possible—and then doing something about it. Sounds simple enough. So, why aren't more people doing it? He recently spoke with Consulting about all of these ideas—which are all available in his new book, Brand Digital .
Consulting: One of the key themes in the book is that there are two kinds of people who need to unite: brand experts and technology experts. Why?
Adamson: People who know branding have been scared by the technology. People who know technology haven't cared about the branding. But those worlds are merging and to be successful today, people who know branding need to understand the technology and the people who know technology need to understand how to use it, not just what it can do.
Consulting: How do you envision that knowledge transfer happening?
Adamson: I think the marketplace is forcing it. I think the answer is that as technology becomes a commodity, smaller, Web-based firms need to move beyond the technology to be successful. And larger firms have been able to avoid the technology side by just doing the usual advertising, public relations and promotions that they've always done. Now, both sides are realizing that they can't rely on those old tools anymore because they just don't cover the marketplace or connect with users to the same degree that the new tools can.
Consulting: Why did you write this book?
Adamson: That's a good question. What made me decide to do it actually was a program that [Landor] leaders were put through about four years ago called "Digital Acceleration." It was a two-day off-site where we were forced to actually use the tools. We were forced to set up Facebook accounts and MySpace accounts; we were forced to understand what social networking is. So three or four years ago, I was forced to stop reading about it and start doing it. And when you actually use these tools you realize that they're not that complicated. You learn, like anything else, more by doing than by just observing. So that was the inspiration to start saying, "Look, if I can figure this out, other people can, too," and creating a framework to do so was part of it.
[Also,] part of it was to try to demystify. Because when you talk to people who grew up with a technology, they tend to explain how things work, not what they do. Often, they'll say it's very complicated [and] "We'll figure it out for you." And in reality, you don't really need to understand what's behind the curtain, you just need to understand what it can do for you. And I tried to make this book not about all the terminology that floats around the category—you know, "avatars" and "astroturfing" and "RSS feeds" and "QR codes." Every day there's a new acronym; you can look at all these acronyms and get lost in it.
Consulting: Which companies are doing it right when it comes to digital marketing?
Adamson: Most marketers are finally getting up to speed. I think Johnson & Johnson is doing some of it very well, particularly for their baby division. They have known for years that moms talking to each other are a key vehicle to getting their brand message into that marketplace. They have the [YouTube] baby channel, and they really created a whole platform for new moms to talk to each other.
The old way people used to go out in the backyard and ask a neighbor on the other side of the fence, "What do you recommend?" Or, maybe they went to their local store and asked. The store owner or the neighbor were the credible sources of what to buy, what to eat, where to go. And then we went into this period where people stopped doing that and just sat on the couch and had someone tell them in a 60-second spot what was good and what was not. They became very passive. And what digital has sort of done is create a virtual backyard fence where you can listen to a hundred different conversations and ask a lot of people what they think and factor that into your decision making.
So marketers that have embraced that and created platforms to allow consumers to talk to each other—like J&J's or General Mills' Eat Better America or Nike+. Nike created a platform for runners to connect and talk to each other. And it's not about the shoes—it's the ability to interact and share and be part of a community.
Consulting: In today's economy, aren't many companies hesitant to expand their technology capabilities?
Adamson: You always have that in tough times—people retrench to their comfort zones. But the best marketers always do one thing brilliantly and that is understand their core customers better than their competition. And that's always been the key to success from the early days to now; the best marketers really get inside their customers' heads better than their competition. And one of the funny things about digital—one of the most powerful things—is it allows you to be a better listener, to be a fly on the wall because people go online and share their most intimate details.
They're on the analyst's couch, they'll put anything online, and if you are good at listening to the conversations online, there's never been an easier time to find out what's on your customer's mind. You don't have to go to Peoria, Ill. and sit behind one-way glass and conduct a focus group and ask some questions. You can pop online and become a fly on the wall and listen to conversations of how people are talking about their frustration with calling plans on this phone carrier, or why they can't find the right cereal that the kids will like. And by listening better, you're able to understand what's on their mind. And if you understand what's on your customer's mind, there's a higher likelihood you'll be able to put an offer and product out there that will interest them and increase your sales.
Consulting: Is there any one technology that a company must have from a branding perspective?
Adamson: I think the most important thing they need to do is listen. Companies are not great listeners in general. [They need to use] the digital space to better listen to, understand and engage in conversations with their customers. If you don't have a mechanism to be able to respond one-on-one and talk to customers in as close to real time as you can, I think you're in trouble because most customers expect when they hop online at 3 a.m. and have a problem with their diapers, Pampers will be able to answer that question in real time.
Consulting: What do brands need to do to get their message out there?
Adamson: If a key part of online is that you're sort of talking over this virtual fence, you have to get your message sticky and simple. If people are going to tell other people about it, they need the core idea quickly and should be able to communicate it in an instant message. If they can't communicate your message quickly, you're missing a major opportunity. The other thing going on is people are consuming much more media. They're interrupted. You go to the gym and see people on the treadmill reading the Wall Street Journal with their BlackBerry watching CNN. So as people do 12 things at once throughout their day, if you've got a complicated, not-sticky brand story, it's going to get lost more than ever in the shuffle.
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