For a while at Base One we’ve been questioning the logic of the single big idea as the basis of a brand’s campaigns. Having spent years creating consistent and compelling campaigns around a single idea, why change? It’s been proven to work and buyers are still buyers surely?
Well yes, and no. The fact is that Buyers are changing as this extract from a post by Chris Tacy, Chief Innovation Officer at Brand Experience Agency, Method implies:
… now we have an entire new demographic who have grown up not
having to take it. And as a result, the control relationship between brands and
consumers has changed. And it's not going back. Technology has helped - but
behavior is a big part of this. And at then end of the day... the chickens are
coming home to roost.
In this new world... The Big Idea doesn't really hold
water. Without the control relationship on the side of the brands, it's not
even justifiable. [http://method.com/#/thoughts/ideasculture/detail/WpPost/17/]
It’s this change of relationship that is making us rethink. Brand owners have to realise that they will no longer have control of what people think or say about them. We can influence what they say and think but not control it. And our buyers fit many Persona we know that and for each of them the brand can mean different things. Therefore, we need to start developing clusters of brand ideas that can be relevant to different groups, and yet all relevant to the brand.
Strong brands in the future (even B2B brands) need to resonate as part of the sub-cultures that exist within our markets. Sub-cultures are different yet they overlap, so too must the ideas we place at the centre of our brands.
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There is a question here of whether brand owners have ever had the control over customers' minds that they and their agencies thought they had. The real change now of course is that the internet has given consumers the ability amplify their opinions to a vastly greater number of people – not just those they have face to face contact with. And often, they are better at this than the brand owners and their agencies.
The traditional big idea (in the sense of a single advertising idea pumped out through a range of media) is increasingly anachronistic. However, some form of core thought that acts as glue for a range of communications is probably more important than ever. The trick is to develop ideas that are media-neutral, allow for customer interaction and, critically, are also adaptable to context.
The danger in all of this is to say that all the power now lies with the consumer and all we can do is create an environment where they will form positive opinions about our brands (this is my (crude) reading of Mark Earls' book Herd). I don't buy this. Yes consumers have more power than ever (and personally I think this is a good thing). But we are in the persuasion business, it's down to us to change customer behaviour. To echo Chris Tacy, this is how we earn our money.