Brand communication for 2014.

It’s the start of a new year and everyone’s sharing creative ideas around the globe. Here are some of the biggest findings plus a few ideas on how to go about working with them.

Authenticity in globalisation. To start with we need to infuse authenticity into the globalisation effect we are experiencing if we are to fulfill engagement potential with consumers who are clearly stimulated by both areas.

As creative people, we will be providing major focus on this to bring tangible qualities to the digital age.

Increasingly mindful of life style and substance, authenticity will become increasingly sought after by people in all walks of life as they seek to create their own strategies and ideas to deal with circumstances. Mixing traditional values with new thinking and consideration on a global level is a hot topic - ask any religious leaders.

Instant gratification isn't as effective anymore. Brands need to develop means of pre-gratification. I see this as a way to incorporate a more authentic and humanistic approach to overall brand communication and strategy rather than something to hit on in the short term.

At the heart of everything for me is love – it always will be. We're humans, not robots.

However, as markets become more aware of this and so more immune to this style of approach. Brands will need to convince the consumer of their empathy if they want to create and maintain meaningful connections that enable a continuous dialog of engagement.

Celebrating imperfections. Perfectly imperfect will prove to be bigger than ever this year. This creates a more authentic feel to brands and brings the type of tangible qualities needed for business, especially online, to thrive in the digital age. Check out our work for Stilton Butchers over the past few years to see this in effect. Our work has helped to create back to back record years for the company in several areas including the bottom line.

Two second communication; the world in pictures. I’m sure you don’t need to me to point out the we are communicating more than ever with pictures. A high level of creativity and understanding of this quick and direct form of communication is key. Consumers get things much faster using this strategy but be careful; they will dislike as quickly as like.

To summarise: Applying harmony and authenticity to creativity that is skilfully integrated in to our complex, globalised environment will help to provide the nourishment we crave as humans.

Brands that do this will win in 2014 - and way beyond.

Simon Bell.

Director at Sensation Creative.
www.SensationCreative.com

Screenager Love

Mobile, Mini Tablet, Tablet, Laptop, Desktop, TV, The Big Screen.

Welcome to the 'Screen Age' where we are all ‘screenagers’, virtually immune to distraction away from our interest onscreen.

In this world, advertising for business has become all but a brand awareness exercise for many. Ads fail to connect, people are disengaged and harder to reach. Anyone that tells you anything different is not speaking the truth.

Consider how many ads you were subject to yesterday. Depending on your environment it could be 100, 200, 300 even more.

Now ask yourself this: How many adverts do you remember from yesterday?

Think of just three.

Struggling? Have you become immune to most types of advertising - have you switched off? You're not alone.

Now think about your adverts wherever they may appear, online in print it doesn't matter. 

Take Facebook as an example. You might have 10 thousand, 50 thousand or 100 thousand likes on your page but what is the real engagement with your brand’s adverts in a business sense - to actually make money - be honest with yourself, this is where the journey begins.

The fact is money to the tune of billions each year is wasted on ads that fail to engage with their own potential let alone potential with the consumer mainly because business assumes that it's safe in the middle.

Brands that seek to address the issue of real engagement, not statistics that point out the quantity of traffic or where it's pushed from, will find value in creating truly meaningful connections with consumers. These are the brands that will create the highest revenue both now and in the future.

There is a real need to move beyond, 'Oh that's the new ad for X,Y or Z' to 'Wow, I need this in my life!' Brands need to create a movement.

Businesses that want to understand this will find loyalty and even love for their brands that goes beyond price point, beyond attribute, beyond reason. And this is the most powerful position for any brand. This change will not come from the safety of the middle where everything is average – it will come from the edge where all great ideas come from, just like natural evolution.

This is part of the future beyond brands.

It will takes guts, a leap of faith, call it what you will, but it will work and will get your brand in a better position in the heart and mind of the consumer than it currently occupies today. If you have kept up with Sensation Creative you will know our client’s are proof of this.

In 2014, stop being a slave of the ordinary. Start creating meaningful consumer-brand connections and start experiencing some screenage love for your brand in the era of now. 

www.SensationCreative.com