I think a lot of brands are wondering what to do in this new kind of ecosystem with Amazon and, you know, Amazon’s a top ten cool millennial brand now but on your own channels, do something that they would never do.
Branding that mixes purpose, storytelling and emotion is emerging as brands try to stand out, said Winston Binch, chief digital officer at agency Deutsch.
“It is a challenging time in terms of media and what to do,” he said. “As we move into this programmatic, algorithmic age, creativity has never been more important.” Digital platforms will tout their media choices and data, but those won’t amount to much if brands don’t have something great to say, Binch said.
“People just don’t care what brands have to say,” Binch. “They want life made more convenient. They want brands to help them.” As the world becomes increasingly driven by voice and digital assistants, these relationships will grow.
To build those relationships, they need to have a sense of purpose, but they need to pick their battles, said Binch. “If you stand for everything, you stand for nothing,” he said. They have to choose a stand that is authentic to their brand purpose: Binch noted data shows that 89% of Gen Z will follow brands for their purpose.
Now is a time you’re seeing more brands take a step forward and say: ‘This I who I am,’” he said. “Not having values today is bad business.
Managing those relationships via technology has become increasingly complicated with voice-driven assistants, artificial intelligence and more, said Binch. Brands are only treading the surface, making media buys and Alexa skills, but they need to continue experimenting.
“Right now the playground for brands is somewhat limited,” said Binch, but “standing on the sidelines is not smart.”
The world is moving towards conversational interfaces and this intimacy requires some “brand humanity,” said Binch. As more technology acquires the ability to adopt a brand persona, it raises all kinds of ethical and operational questions for marketers. “It’s the Wild West.”
Binch, who was a judge in this year’s Webby awards, said even the most creative solution begins with data and the insights it drives. Finding an insight can be the spark to trigger emotion in product design.
Watch the full video of this interview, plus other Velocitize Talks interviews, podcasts, and more on our YouTube channel and join us in coming weeks as we share more interviews, insights and intelligence on Velocitize Talks.
Michael Kahn on
AS a mover and shaker of the planet’s systems and shaper of public opinion and as one of the most influential people on the planet, I suggest that any company that wants to sell well should pay their employees well (not minimum wage- i am not referring to executives, they always are paid well), remove themselves from military and government contracts having anything to do with weapons or with surveillance. There are boycotts coming, and strikes as well. We are headed towards turbulent times. People will be using purchasing and economic warfare against the corporate nexis that has already initiated a war on us intentionally or not. Be careful on how you treat the people and the environment. People will take action on a mass basis to support each other. Unity is coming, as well as active resistance to perceived enemies. Large corporations are destroying the people and the planet, the people are waking up and will do what is necessary for survival. Food products need to start using organic and non-gmo products, all others will not be purchased.