Has Your Marketing Become Digital Tapioca? Try the Big Idea!

The following great column by MEK's creative director appeared recently in Inside Indiana Business. If you work in any aspect of communications today, it's definitely worth a read!

Stop Commoditizing Communication – Capture the Strategic Creative Advantage

By Tim Meyers, Creative Director, The MEK Group

Is automation driving your marketing? Is your advertising and creative work dependent on templates and populated by clip art? Does your social media messaging automatically appear on Facebook, then on Twitter, then on your Web site – popping up over and over again until it’s digital tapioca?

What ever happened to the all-compelling “big idea” that drove brand messaging home, regardless of the channel or the platform?

This type of high-octane creative – which still exists today – represents a Big Idea that re-positions an entire company for success. It represents what companies used to go to advertising agencies for: a hot, creative idea that drove the business, an idea that transformed. These transformational ideas create strong, believable brands that literally became part of our culture.

Today, with all of the advances in communication, one might think that this principle is even more true. Ironically, the opposite has manifested itself in many instances, blurring strong communication elements down to meaningless blobs of redundant obviousness. Differentiation in an automated world is the next best thing to an oxymoron.

Advances in communication technology, in desktop publishing, in video production and in portable mobile devices should have created communication excellence. Instead, it’s created a new level of communication clutter that is nearly incomprehensible. Much of what passes for communication today is simply awful.

Because production capacity has become cheap, communication has lurched toward commoditization. A great idea, a great brand, a great campaign – these all take time to nurture, develop, produce and execute. Instead, it is far easier to cut budgets, slam together template ads, spots or PowerPoint presentations and then call it “communication,” even though few are certain to what it’s communicating or even whether it’s communicating. It’s incredibly – and unfortunately – easy to think that one is communicating, when in reality all that is happening is the creation of more and more confusing and brand-busting clutter.

With clutter comes anxiety, so bad communication bruises brands – some fatally – even though people may not be aware of it.

At MEK we’ve found three things that will help change the world and get us back to real communication.

1) Automation is not a bad thing, as long as it adds real value to all points of a transaction. Quantity is not necessarily quality, and in an era where plenty of alternatives exist, you want to ensure that you are tantalizing and delighting your customers with real authentic messages.

2) A strong creative idea, fueled by relevant and strong content, can change the world. Or it can at least change the world that you and your customers are used to.

3) Communication platforms like Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist a few years ago. Their replacements – or the platforms that will enhance them – are probably already in development. Accordingly, it’s not about the platform or the technology. It’s about the idea, the content, and the message.

Industry labels like advertising, PR and media buying are changing right in front us. What many PR, marketing and creative people do today – compared to a decade ago – is in most cases dramatically different. And there’s a reason for that change, due to the changing playing field. However, the Big Idea and how to make it strategically happen has always been a major key.

Want to be successful in the second decade of the 21st century? Resist the ease and the siren call of commoditization. There used to be a popular saying in advertising that went something like this: cheap, fast, effective – pick two. In today’s incredibly cluttered communication environment, the saying should perhaps go like this: savvy, simple, relevant – pick three.

Strategic marketing is not a commodity. It doesn’t come in a ready-to-use box. So, fight back and champion the big idea, the big brand, and cheerfully reject those efforts to commoditize real excellence in communication.

Will My Religion Hurt My Career?

An e-mail posting from BNET recently asked this question: "Will my religion hurt my career?" If one were to follow stereotypes, could this be a HR outcome to evangelistic quasi-preaching in one's workplace?

While clicking through to the BNET story reveals something quite different (a little "bait and switch" about derogatory career perceptions of online atheism), the question remains a fair one. I for one have been asked in a respective work environment whether or not I had "been saved," which--despite the good intentions of person leading with the question--didn't really advance the theological cause they were espousing.

After all, in my world, brand equals performance. How one acts, how one performs, has much to do with the perceived promise and credibility of their personal brand. I would daresay that this is especially true concerning the validity -- and/or career-enhancing elements -- of any proffered spiritual belief system. That being said, do you want to be known as a religious person? Or, perhaps better said, do you want to have the reputation that your spiritual values are openly reflected in how you conduct yourself at work or in life? From a career perspective, what elements of personal brand equity should be considered here?

One could surmise that from personal career or brand considerations, the real question distills down to this: could one responsibly and appropriately advance their career through a real application of their religion? The ancient New Testament writer James (who possessed a very strong positive reputation in both ancient Christian and Jewish communities) declares: "Faith without deeds [applied behavioral application] is dead" or, as he says earlier a bit more forcefully, "faith without deeds is useless." (James 2:26, 20, New International Version). An element of real performance is more than suggested here.

From traditional Christian and Jewish perspectives, I would then humbly suggest that at least one aspect of applied religion would be most beneficial to one's career. Both practicing Jews and Christians share a critical teaching from the Hebrew Tanakh that would certainly advance one's career from performance and productivity perspectives: "Whatsoever thy hand attaineth to do by thy strength, that do" (Ecclesiastes 9:10, Jewish Publication Society). This piece of wise advice is translated in a more contemporary fashion as "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might" (New International Version of the Bible). Without indulging further in stereotyping, would this be a productive consideration for those of the Gen X entitlement mindset? (Not, mind you, that all members of the Gen X era eschew productivity)

The direction and expectation for high and ethical performance at work is ramped up even higher for practicing Christians, as Jesus Christ Himself is quoted as commanding His followers to "let your light [behavior] shine before men, that they may see your good deeds" (Matthew 5:16, NIV). The Apostle Paul, an individual credited with spreading Christianity across an entire Empire, echos the ancient Hebrew writings when he commanded a Greek congregation: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (Colossians 3:23, NIV).

Of the five "P's" commonly cited for success (passion, patience, persistence, perception and purpose), passion remains the top or close to the top as a key driver for achievement. In this age, "working with all your might" would certainly be a key brand differentiator. So, whether you're a Boomer, Gen X or era-independent, if you want to advance your spiritual beliefs, perhaps you should consider the paraphrased performance-focused advice of Francis of Assisi: "Preach often. When necessary, use words."

With that as a workplace backdrop (with appropriate career advancement in mind), are you a high performer? The Apostle Peter noted that a high-performing Christian will attract attention (I Peter 3:15). If there exists perceived connectivity between your outstanding work performance and your spiritual belief system, then the chances are then that your religion will be viewed both as the driver, and as high performing and attractive. If that is the case, what then will happen to your career?

After all, from a practical persuasive point of view, demonstration and performance trumps rhetoric and theology any day.