It is perhaps less of a challenge and more of a paradox. In the end, to create a strong, provocative, engaging brand experience that drives a strong brand relationship, we need to look at the entire anatomy of the brands we work on.
The complexity of an orchestrated brand campaign involves many aspects of creating great content. On a foundational level, we have imagery, language, sound, texture, icons — all of them create the rich tapestry of our desired experience.
On the strategic level, we need to understand our toolbox in order to create a desired purpose for our brands’ needs.
Why are ideas important? Ideas inspire, they challenge us, motivate us. Ideas change our perceptions and our behaviors. Think of Apple’s “Think Different.” It’s an idea that empowers people; it identifies those who have a passion to make a difference or even change the world. That idea is an invitation into a mind-set, a mind-set that causes action. Now that is powerful.
Before we move into information, I want to build a bridge back to ideas. Aspiration is the second tier of great content creation. If the idea inspires, aspiration is the level that gets our audience to feel connected to our idea. To say “that’s exactly how I feel” or “what I need,” aspiration creates desire to be part of the idea and act upon it on an individual level.
Information: How important is it, then, to educate our audience? To create a bigger conversation. Beyond the speeds and feeds, information helps to peel back the idea and let people enter it with knowledge and to give our brand experience depth and understanding.
In the end, we are orchestrating content that creates a holistic brand expression. One that can just as easily be a website, ad campaign or magazine. It’s only when we understand how, when and where to use that content that our brands become effective to drive the results that we intend them to.