June 30, 2023
Hi, hi!
Wowza, how went your June?
I’m wrapping up a busy month filled with audits, architecture mapping, and kicking new campaigns out of the nest like little baby birds. Graduating projects from “To Do” to “Hey, we did that!” feels pretty great.
Thankfully, we weren’t too busy last week to also hold a panel here at Overit.
The topic was “the future of brand,” where we gathered other agency friends to discuss the meaning of brand, where it’s headed, and its importance in a world where everyone is looking at AI to automate and quicken.
Isn’t it so 2023 that a panel about brand became a panel about AI?
We’re friends, so I can confess a couple of things:
- I am genuinely excited about AI, eeeven if its domination of every conversation leaves me weary.
- I find the rumors about the demise of brand greatly exaggerated. Our obsession with social media/growth marketing/insert-new-thing didn’t kill brand. Neither will AI.
Here’s why:
While your competitors may succumb to AI's word-salad approach to content and campaign creation, that reliance can also render them indistinguishable from everyone else doing the same thing. A strong brand maintains your identity in a sea where everything looks and sounds alike, especially as consumers start questioning what's real and what's manufactured.
Today, AI is smart, but future iterations will be even smarter. They will shift our focus from time-saving efficiency and data regurgitation to providing truly unique insights telling us where our brand should move next and the trends that will captivate our audience one year from now. Knowing who we are ensures we continue moving into the spaces we wish to occupy.
Brand isn’t dying; it is our competitive edge. It will determine whether you thrive in AI or lose your identity.
So how can you build an exceptional brand in a world increasingly driven by robotic intelligence? And where do you begin if you’re starting from scratch?
Get crystal clear on your values and purpose.
If you're unsure who you are, relying on an AI prompt to speak for you is a surefire way to become the most forgettable brand on the block.
Exceptional brands are exceptional because they know who they are. They have established a strong sense of purpose and value that aligns with their customers' needs and aspirations, and they exude it. They live in that sticky, sweet intersection between what’s interesting about them and what truly matters to their customers.
Doing the work to identify what you stand for is impactful. Start by asking yourself some key questions:
- Why do you do what you do?
- What should the future of your industry look like?
- How does that differ from today?
- And most importantly, how does your brand uniquely contribute to getting us there?
These questions can be synthesized into your Mission, Vision, and Values.
If it’s been a minute since you’ve been through this, spend an hour or two just getting your thoughts onto paper or even a napkin. Let the sentiment in those imperfect sentences and clumsy words guide you toward committing your brand to its purpose.
Mirror back your customer's voice.
I was heavily brand auditing this month. One of my favorite parts of that process is when I can interview a brand’s customers. I rarely want to know what they think about my client’s products. I want to know:
- What are you worried about?
- What do you truly love?
- What scares you?
I want to hear their real-life experiences and for them to talk about their problems in their own words.
So many marketing campaigns I have created over the past 15+ years have included the actual words and phrases I have heard from real customers. It’s not my brain that produced a lightbulb moment for an award-winning campaign; it is your customer’s voice played back.
How can you bring their voice to your marketing?
- Interview customers about their fears, thoughts, and aspirations.
- Unlock their brand rituals by sitting with and observing them.
- Create a customer advisory board with diverse profiles, needs, and audience experience.
- Leave an empty chair to represent your customers in your executive, brand, and product meetings to acknowledge their place in the room. It sounds hokey, but you’ll find yourself talking directly to it.
There are so many magical ways to use AI. Letting it speak to your customers without heavy intervention and refinement is not one of them.
Understand the world you exist in.
I’m not talking about finding your sense of place.
I mean paying attention to the cultural shifts, trends, and issues affecting your customers and literally making it part of your business.
As marketing leaders, we become so inwardly focused. We go head down to improve our product. We think it’s helping with productivity and meeting our business needs, but really, we’re losing the “everything else” happening in someone’s life that influences how they interact with our brand or whether they are even in the mind frame to think about it.
Exceptional brands tie issues that matter to customers into their everyday actions and their corporate responsibilities.
Controversial conversations are hard but necessary, and consumers demand them.
These cultural shifts often lead to changes in preferences, trends, and social norms. Brands that fail to acknowledge and adapt to these changes risk becoming outdated and losing relevance in the eyes of their customers. Understanding the cultural climate allows you to identify emerging trends, anticipate consumer demands, and stay ahead of the competition.
Leanne Ricchiuti is a friend and colleague here at Overit. She runs PR and is always yelling at encouraging us to turn on the television, pick up a newspaper, and read our clients' industry trades. She understands that awareness of what’s happening in the larger world matters and impacts the stories we and our clients must tell.
Identify the top two or three social or economic issues facing your audience and use your Mission, Vision, and Values to identify where you stand on them and make that known.
The most human brand wins.
AI is showing us what’s possible. It’s creating new ease, access, and efficiencies. But it's up to us to add the layers of human intervention needed to identify how to use it best. We must define our brand, know it, and let that be what sets the course. AI can move you there quicker, but only if you know what you stand for and where you're trying to go.
Thank you for reading and for continuing to share our little newsletter with your networks. I appreciate you so much.
