<– Back to chapter 2: BIG DATA and Vertical Thinking

Horizontal thinking and shareable content

As analytical approaches and theoretical methods become established and set in stone, we delve deeper through the layers of vertical knowledge. In the quest to fine-tune to utmost perfection, so we can go to market with the best strategy. Which in reality is only marginally better than the neighbor's as everyone is running down the same tracks.

This is where Content marketing and "moments of inspiration" emerge. After years of cruise control on AI and DATA crunching, we are beginning to see initiatives that bring the human element back into marketing… again. Transparency, honesty, and inspiration are just a few of the "concepts" that suddenly sprout up among all the "communication channels" like weeds breaking through layers of stone-hard asphalt.

Take an example like "Facebook campaigns." Here, genuine "shareable content" must be created before anyone cares to engage with it. It seems like a given at first glance. But if you look back at how marketing initiatives on Facebook were stitched together before we had Facebook ads, it is clear to distinguish between what people share because it is fun or inspiring (intrinsic motivation), and what people share because it is part of a competition or a specific requirement to participate in a fun campaign (extrinsic motivation). There has usually always been a very short distance between share and like, and the brand's name and logo.

One of the first new trends that have blossomed is, among other things, "Why" after we have operated in "What" and "How" for many years. Why is already becoming a worn mainstream buzzword. Whether the essence behind it is truly meant or understood is irrelevant to some, as long as it is a hot buzzword and has news value, there is money in it.

We are busy, things to accomplish, goals to meet, and money to be made.

As the soft values that are sprouting in the advertising industry these days are not based on numbers, it is not as easy to automate with a simple and understandable action plan. Although many are trying. Some settle half-heartedly for a half-day workshop, with markers and yellow notes, brainstorming "why" in context over a cup of coffee, while client contacts and deliveries rush through their minds.

It can be difficult for decision-makers to buy into the soft values when there are no numbers to prove a secure ROI. The closest we come to data are case studies based on empirical studies of frequency in phenomena. Whether it can be called solid data is debatable.

It takes courage and will to use the new soft values in a proper way that truly stimulates the economy. It needs to get under the skin to work properly. We are entering a time where the consumer will disengage if the interaction between provider and receiver is too superficial or too obviously greedy.

Consumers have become wiser, and it is no longer a question of trying to get them to do something active for your brand. It is more a question of how the brand can do something active for the consumer without plastering it with share, like logos, and hidden agendas.

Last year, it was a huge hit for WestJet to turn its back on flow TV and dare to spend the entire TV advertising budget on gifts for their customers. Or it wasn't quite that simple. The concept was that a number of passengers had their wishes fulfilled. By the airline buying gifts for them. Consumers devoured it raw, and the video gained such high status that it hit news channels in the USA. But it was clear to see that this was merely a creative spin on creating "shareable content" for a fraction of what a TV ad costs to produce, with a tenfold effect.

One would immediately think as a consumer that the airline did it solely because they were in the Christmas spirit and good to their customers. But that would never have happened if there hadn't happened to be a dozen hidden cameras capturing it all for massive YouTube spread. A concept whose creative level can be debated. But a lot of soft values were used that fundamentally just aim to convince customers that the brand doesn't care about money. One might call it "reverse psychological marketing." Which is based on genuine false love. But it was a creative gamble, and it paid off.

Creativity requires courage as it is often also associated with the risk of not achieving ROI – one must be willing to make missteps and foster a playful approach to the issues.

Food for thought: If one were to bet even more on the soft values, one might as well be completely indifferent to money and dare to spend the entire return on large beautiful gifts for ALL their customers. Instead of a small handful, filmed from four angles. That would probably create some fun and certainly unpredictable ripples.

UPDATE: We are already seeing companies like Facebook and Tesla's Elon Musk investing in bringing the internet to even the most remote parts of the world immediately without demanding money for it. I wonder what their financial strategy is. Perhaps it is a matter of them returning to the roots of their own success and trying to drive innovation in the best pioneering spirit without thinking of income as the main goal and fulfilling needs first and then seeing how it bears fruit. Many could learn from this. Risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit.

Although the soft values will likely hold longer in the market than the more rule-based methods, buzzwords like "moment of inspiration" will also at some point become a commodity, neatly packaged and thrown into the shelf alongside "content marketing" and the other soft values, which are sold as commodities. Later widespread and overused.

UPDATE: After I wrote this in March, the new buzzword #purposemarketing has emerged, which is precisely what I am writing about but often seen in a larger context than just gifts for a handful of customers.

It is in a way tragic to see transparency, inspiration, and "feel-good moments" being packaged under the ROI umbrella and spat out on the other end as good intentions only if there is money in it.

"Think not what your customers can do for you, but what you can do for your customers…"

In chapter 4, we talk about user experience design also known as UX Design – what are the trends, where did the "experience" go, and a bit about horizontal thinking.

On to chapter 4: UX Design –>

Share this:

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
• Share on X (Opens in new window) X