The brand, The audience and The message
3/2 2010
When creating communication there are three things to consider, the brand, the audience and the message. Of course you cannot separate these three but depending on which one you focus, the outcome can be anything in a 360 environment, basically any concept in any media.
However if we focus on the digital world are there 3 pillars equal, or is one more important that the other when creating a concept and solution? Lets briefly look at an example of each of the three in practice.
When the brand pillar is high
Absolut have successfully taken their ‘no advertising’ brand communication one step further on the web by creating an Absolut world online. Online ‘In an absolute world’ focuses on creating experiences rather than running campaigns. Allowing their audience to engage in the brand and create their own messages, just as a long line of creators have done before them. In doing so Absolut have successfully made interacting with the brand reward enough.
When the audience pillar is high
Apple has long used the engagement of their almost religious audience, to create a somewhat unprecedented buzz for a product, even before any of them have even seen it. As we have just seen, with the recent pre-launch fever of their iPad, Apple are now benefiting from the wealth of new communication channels open to their audiences. In effect the results turn not only the end consumers but also respected media outlets into brand champions.
When the message pillar is high
When Spotify sparked to life they did not have a known brand or for that matter an audience. In fact they pretty much shut out their audience, allowing only people who received an invite to gain access to their service, for free. You could pay of course but why pay for it when you can get it free. This just drove the message home even harder, and a frenzy of invite hunting ensued. This in turn empowered the few audience members they had, making them guardians of the message and spreading the access to a chosen few.
We are constantly hearing how brands are now in the hands of their audience, and that the message is now a conversation and evidence of this can be clearly seen in all three examples above. However, I have seen many digital campaigns get so close to success, but somehow fail. Sometimes this is due to a lack one of the pillars and sometimes because they place equal weight on all three. The relationship between these three pillars is a fragile balancing act, and in the digital environment, is one that needs to be reviewed at the start of every campaign. Digital communication above all, needs to hit the nail on the head first time; there is little room for forgiveness out there.
Steinar Danielsen
Steinar Danielsen is the co-founder and Creative Director of Supernative, a digital communication agency based in Stockholm. He works with providing analysis, online strategies, creative concepts and digital identities, for a range of international brands.
In some countries the spotify invite concept did not work. They have recently changed this and made all invites free to download on the their website. Lack of audience pillar?
I really like the absolut world it looks cool. But not sure that it will sell more.
It is very true! When the expectations of have are high it puts a pressure on the brand to launch a product that exceeds or meets these expectation. Like a movie director making the following film after a success, the relation to the audience and press is so strong. But I also think that if both the product of the brand and the media/consumer relation is built the message does not have anymore value.
Obama only had two of these pillars, no products and succeeded.