Tuesday, March 17th at 10:00 AM
Presenter: Charles Sayers – Sapient
This type of stuff would probably come under the heading of strategy (but not quite as boring). It shouldn’t be approached in a way that makes it a long grinding process. I could/should take 2-4 weeks to get a strategy of any size. Stories for everyone (not just the creatives).
Sapient – largest interactive firm in US. On the consulting side, it’s more about the infrastructure and how to do these things.
The university is made up of stories, not atoms. The brand is actually experience, but you have to figure out how to tell the story. It is the art of storytelling, and a lot of creativity goes into it. There is no formula for creating a brand (everyone is different, culture is different). Have a structure in place is good – some containers to catch the creativity.
Coca-Cola
Ever story begins before it begins. You cannot go in and say you’re going to define a brand – companies will say they already know their brand. The issue is more that they can’t communicate that brand.
Coca-Cola approached to define the brand definition. How do you break apart the company and the drink. They wanted to define the company on its own. They couldn’t talk to stakeholders, they had very short time, and couldn’t talk to anyone about it. Interns were brought in, and communicated very differently (some draw, some photograph, etc.). They all communicated very differently. One intern would doodle constantly. A room was set up called the idea room. You had to leave an idea in there when you leave. Nothing was thrown away, and there was no order. There is no right, no perfect – people are scared of criticism. All ideas are valuable, and there is no wrong. The doodler just went, and got caught up in the passion. The ideas he created prompted other ideas, or the questions when people looked at his material.
What is in the name? If you remove the logo, do you still have the same feeling? Tool called the roll of opposites. You’re different because someone wants to be the opposite of you. Does Coke want to be a vessel where everything is contained, or stream where items move through? Solid or fluid? Heritage or Vitality? A choice needs to be made on these. People don’t want to make choices. This slows things down. The choices are important – dictionary vs. a novel. Someone chose the words to use in the novel.
Clients love context – Who are we like? Say, we want to be like Apple or Target or BMW. You don’t want to be them, but how do you want to be like them?
Force people to think in ways they aren’t used to thinking. Make people uncomfortable, and they’ll be forced to move in a direction. If they’re uncomfortable, they’ll work themselves towards and answer, and know why.
Your stories will have multiple maps. As much as you plan A-B will be different for every person. Create things that cause a lot of reaction to see where people will go with it. You can be aware reactions (positive and negative) to see where people will go.
Role and Positioning – Ask the question "what if?" This is better than "What is?" or "What should it be?" Don’t wait until the end to have a point of view so you can start experimenting on it right away.
Set up a brand room, then let Coke senior executives come in and look at the walls. He started to see things differently than anyone else had seen. The story came out of this experience. The story (room) turned into a book, "Our Manifesto for Growth." Everything in one place helped point and move the company in the right direction.
Autotrader.com
- Who are they?
- How are they different ?
- What position can we own in the marketplace?
If everyone is agreeing to these questions, that is bad. There should be some argument. Find the person who is very angry. You’ll get passion from that person. Conflict is needed in the story.
Who is involved? Facilitator – forces people to challenge assumptions – someone curious,
Visual thinker – someone who isn’t necessarily a great speaker.
Marketing and IT in the room to conflict with each other.
Strategy person – someone rational balanced
Business person
Tool: Everyone goes to the movies. Celebrities have a certain reaction in our culture. People feel they know celebrities in a different way. Pick a spokesperson for our company. When you pick someone, why did you pick them? They went with Christian Slater, and they agreed he was right.
What are the challenges? Web domains. How do you communicate what you want through a short (probably taken) web domain? Create differentiation through combination.
Vision – what do you want to be? The heard of the world’s auto marketplace.
Difference – revealing choices, you don’t buy a car, you find a car.
Benefits – best vehicle selection, confidence that everyone will find the care they want or sell the care they have.
What type of leadership do you want? Leader through control (Steve Jobs). Do you really want to lead? Do you want to be known as a leader? Is leadership what you want? Autotrader probably didn’t want to be a leader. Are you the best friend or the leader?
Do you want to lead, or do you want to be the best? Start playing with the differences.
Do you want to be a roll model or do you want to be a friend?
Who is autotrader.com? Your best friend with millions of cars. Regular everyday kind of guy with a really big parking lot.