The Goldiblox EffectGood Brand Building Today (and how to Spot it) Jim Cuene

It’s a pretty amazing time to be in the digital brand building space. Incredible creative opportunities, an amazing palette of tools to work with, and an audience that is willing to pay attention to good work. but, only if it’s really good. And, as creators and partners to brands, how can we a) talk to them about what is good and what isn’t and b) help our own teams do the same. !The goal today: Examine a recent piece of great brand building and use it to discuss the hallmarks of good and/or great work. In other words, i want to share a framework that you can use to look at modern work and determine for yourself if it’s good or not.

HelloIntro & Experience

It all used to be so easy. An ad was an ad. You knew what it was before you absorbed it. You knew the format, your knew the shape, you knew you were getting sold to. The formats were consistent across brands, common conventions were mostly followed, and consumers could distinguish ads from other stuff. !More importantly, consumers got familiar enough with the formats that they could often give you a couple examples of good ads they had seen. They had their favorites. ! Now, it’s harder than ever to tell what’s an ad and what isn’t. When you have guys jumping out of a balloon at the edge of the atmosphere and people are tuning in to watch, is that stuff an ad, or content, or a PR stunt or something else? !While i would have classified that as something other than ad, i do know what Redbull did was fantastic. Quite literally, amazing. And, it was a great brand building. You just knew it was. Like the old judge said: I know it when i see it. !But not every brand is red bull, and the hipsters in Brooklyn will yawn when they see the next outer atmosphere space jump. Most of the stuff we’ll see these days is in the messy middle between an “ad” and the space jump. !Our problem becomes: How do we know what brand building is good, and how can we talk about it intelligently (and not just say, as i do, cool/awesome/killer/etc. ) !We need signs, and guidelines, and rules of thumb to help us quickly make of what we’re seeing and give words to our instincts.

It’s a pretty crazy time. The top image of St. Peter Square was taken when the new pope was announced in 2005. The second image was of the same spot when Pope Francis was introduced. !Everyone is making media now. Everyone is *in* the media. We’re all working with and for brands in some way. It’s just a more collaborative time. And, with so many brands so prevalent in our lives, it’s easy for people to make their own media, and talk about brands. !But, its just making it harder to determine what’s real or fake, much less what’s good or bad.

And, new approaches to brand building are getting invented all the time as we brand builders get more comfortable with the tools and platforms. And, for that matter, as consumers get just as comfortable. We should expect to see lot’s of novelty. !But is the novelty good? Or, just clever. And, how do we make sense of all the follow-on activity and “me too” approaches?

We end up with lame stuff like this. I like that they’re trying, and this is kind of cute, but it’s not great. Being fast is really good, so they can take some pride in their planning and executional quality. But, i don’t know just how good. Speed and/or “realtime” is only one dimension.

With all the change, with all the format experimentation and attending hype, it’s easy to get fatigued and cynical. There’s a level of cynicism in the brand building space now. And, that growing cynicism making it easier than ever to ignore or miss the great stuff as it’s emerging in the big, unwashed population of the internet. !If you care about making good work right now, you’ve got to have at the very least, a mental checklist to evaluate what you’re seeing.

How do we know great when we see it?

It’s critical not to let the cynicism and overload stop you from paying attention to what’s breaking through. Or, about to. !History lesson: If you walked into a dingy club in Hamburg German in 1961, you might have seen these kids. You would be forgiven for mistaking them as a hack band of wannabes, with their leather jackets and rough versions of american R&B hits. !But, if you knew music was still in the very early stages of a transformation, if you knew rock and roll was changing just about everything, you might have seen the signs. You might have recognized the rough outlines of the future in this group of kids from Liverpool. While the rest of the world was happy with those at the top of the charts (think: Pat Boone or Connie Stevens) the Beatles were creating something new. !Key lesson: Expect greatness to come from unexpected places. Pay attention. Be aware of your own standards to evaluate what you are seeing.

Theres a recent case study that’s worth reviewing. It broke through the clutter on the web and got shared, linked to, and mentioned more than most brand content recently. And, i think this provoked a really strong response from a lot of people. !So, as we’re looking at this, we should be asking ourselves: If this broke through, what made it good enough to do so? !The Golidblox backstory: * female standford engineering grad * See’s there aren’t enough female engineers * Creates a company to fix that * does some media jacking to drive maximum attention, fast and cheap. ![Play the Video]

Why is this good?

• Purpose Lead

• Clear POV

• Voice

• Actions, Not Ads

Brand

• Aspirational statement

• Designed for sharing

• Participatory

• Remarkable Execution

• Tie to product

Brand Building

I think we can all mostly agree this is good or really good. I’d argue it’s great. !We’ll take a closer look, but here’s my framework for evaluating what i’m seeing. I use this when i’m trying to evaluate the creative ideas or expressions that come my way. I’ve based this off of the brands i’m seeing gain traction in the social spaces, and the brands who have creative work i admire. Its informed by my personal view of the world, but i think this is as good a place to start as any. !* Purpose -lead - Does this brand have a discernable purpose that is guiding it’s actions, it’s products, it’s messaging? In other words, is there a meaningful “why” behind all this (or, is it simply, “sell more stuff”) !* Clear POV - Does the brand have it’s own POV about the world it’s working in? Does that POV demand or ask for my attention in any way? !* Voice- Is there a particular voice to the brand? Are they “speaking” in a tone/style that is unique or different enough to be noteworthy. Does a somewhat fully formed personality come through in the voice (the opposite of disengaged, or overly commercial) !* Is there evidence the brand is taking actions that the world would find meaningful (beyond making and selling products). Are those actions organized or driven by the purpose?

Purpose: They’ve got their purpose front, center and core to all their efforts. It drives EVERYTHING they do, not just their ads. That’s a key component (IMHO) of great brands today: they act from their core values, their purpose, from their culture. The ads and acts are a reflection of their beliefs, not simply a container or a publicity stunt.

They’ve got a definite take on what’s going on in the world. They see a real tension in the world (we’re not giving our girls what they need, society is letting them down) and they have an opinion about it. They ate not going to be passive. They are going to let that POV inform their actions. !Brands that take a stand like this naturally provoke a reappraisal. They force us to think. About the question at hand, and then later about the brand itself and the products.

An empathic, relatable voice

This is a brand that is talking to it’s fans, followers, supporters and customers like a peer. A relateble, empathic peer. And, as a result, consumers are coming to the brand and sharing right back in a remarkable display of trust and relatability.

Actions, Not Words

This is a brand that is actively engaging the world around itself via actions in the world, not just ads in cyberspace. Again, this gives people a real action to respond to, while the brand is demonstrating it’s values in tangible (and photographable) ways. All the more easy for people to react and share.

Results?

Lots and lots of views. Lots and lots of press.

Backlash!

And, in a sign things went well, there’s even been a backlash.

It’s Good (Maybe Great) But Why did it Work?

So the brand is good in and of itself, but why was this particular expression so effective? Especially, when other efforts weren’t nearly as effective?

For one thing, they started to build a community of collaborators early. They raised real money from supports through Kickstarter. Those supporters quite literally bought in. Into the purpose, into the mission, into the story. !In return, GB had a built in audience to go back to when it had the “Girls” video ready to go. !Key point: Even small communities can be collaborators in getting work like this moving across social networks

They worked effectively with other strong voices in the community of concerned moms, engineers, teachers, etc. They reached out to bloggers, small publishers and teachers to engage them in the mission AND spreading the word about the products.

Participatory: They enrolled others in helping to spread their mission and their cause. !They were savvy media jackers who engaged at the emotional AND philosophical level. More importantly, they tapped into: * an audience that felt underserved (women in STEM fields) and would work with the founding team to change that * a clear and fairly well understood need (get more women into STEM) * They leaned on the founders compelling personal story !!

remarkable execution. Great lyrics & musical performance * Editing, production, etc. all are superior * telegenci kids !!Designed for sharing. * Music: Redo of an old song most people my age or younger haven’t heard in a while * Music: Performance was good, but the lyrics were clever and provocative * STEM equivalent of cats = Rube Goldberg (the internet loves Rube Goldberg machines) * Visually - it was great !*

Tipping Point? Or, Holiday Promotional Push?

Timing/Luck

The Formula

Ready Community X Purpose &

Mission X Remarkable Content( ) Paid

Promotion( )Luck

Guidelines for Good

• Purpose Lead

• Clear POV

• Voice

• Actions, Not Ads

Brand

• Aspirational statement

• Designed for sharing

• Participatory

• Remarkable Execution

• Tie to product

Brand Building

Lessons for Modern Marketers

• Build Purpose into your brand buy into the brand > buying the brand

• Build an active community Connect around shared interests beyond product features

• Market with and for your communityCreate opportunities to act together towards your purpose

• Actions> AdsBroadcast what you and the community are doing

WE CREATE AND GROW BUSINESSES.

Thanks!