They built a massive business based on film, but were unable to react to the digital onslaught as people’s photography behaviour changed beyond recognition, leaving Kodak’s business model high and dry…

Elsewhere there are other examples of formerly successful brands that are struggling to adapt to changing patterns of consumer behaviour.

• Nokia, formerly the dominant name in mobile phones are now struggling in a world of Smartphones and competing platforms.
• Yahoo may have been one of the early names in internet search, but are fighting an uphill battle against the might of Google.
• Borders were the world’s largest book store, but as more people buy books cheaply online or use an e-reader, they are in trouble.
• And more dramatically, UK’s News of the World newspaper was unable to recover from the shame of the phone hacking scandal.

However, for every brand that slowly slips off the map, there are others that manage to reinvent themselves and create a bright new future. Consider the following examples:

• Lego was suffering in the face of electronic toys, but has focused on NPD and integrating technology to stage a major recovery.
• Old Spice was seen as an unfashionable and declining old ‘Dad’s brand’ of deodorant before the introduction of Mustafa.
• Luxury brand Burberry, lost its relevance, and became the uniform of ‘Chavs’, but is now resurgent again as a fashion leader.

Whether through product development, clever marketing or plain opportunism, some brands have managed to turn their fortunes around and can now look forward to the future, rather than dreading it.

The moral of the story is that no-one knows what is around the corner so marketers need to focus some attention on future trends and also to ensure their brands keep evolving to meet changing demands.

Whilst on the subject of change, we’d like to let you know that after over three years this is the final monthly edition of ‘Here’s a thought’.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers and hope that we have been able to provoke some relevant thoughts for you and your brands.

Is your brand at risk of changing consumer demands and what can it do to react?

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Their decision followed a turbulent year around the globe during which people power managed to overturn the status quo in several nations including Egypt and Tunisia…

Protesters have also rallied against the excesses of the corporate world with OccupyWallStreet attracting attention around the world and spawning a number of copycat movements elsewhere.

From strikes in Greece to riots in London, this has been the year in which the power of many has shaken the foundations of our society.

Some brands too have felt the wrath of the protester this year, where their marketing activities have upset people to the point where the complaints, amplified via social media require urgent, remedial action.

But whilst all this angst has been going on, we have also witnessed a quiet revolution, where people power has been harnessed in a positive, constructive way, tackling issues of shared concern.

Consider the following examples:

• Broadcause is a platform that helps align people (and brands) who want to make a difference with causes that need help
• Executives Without Borders is an organisation that recruits senior executives who want to help with global humanitarian projects
• Dermalogica and Kiva, have established Financial Independence through Entrepreneurship, promoting microloans for women
• AT&T in partnership with Causes.com have launched a new social platform, Connect For Good, in order to encourage activism

These campaigns and many others like them, are channelling people’s desire to get involved in a cause and matching them in a positive manner with causes that desperately need the support.

Increasingly, brands are recognising the need to demonstrate greater social responsibility in how they conduct their business and getting involved like this may provide an opportunity to get on the front foot.

If 2011 was the year of the Protester, maybe 2012 will be the year where activism is harnessed to help tackle some of society’s big issues.

Does your brand have a cause it truly believes in and could rally support behind?

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Indeed, if you listen to some of the experts, companies really can’t afford to avoid having a social media presence nowadays….

That may well be true, but there is a big difference between doing it and doing it well – the potential pitfalls are many and dangerous.

And the resulting humiliation can be swift and very public.

Recently, we have seen various examples of social media going bad:

• Qantas launching their poorly timed #qantasluxury promotion, just days after the whole fleet had been grounded.
• Nissan faced a backlash after it emerged that the winner of a $20k Nissan Micra was a close friend of the competition organiser.
• Clothing chain GASP attracted much negative publicity following an email exchange with a disgruntled customer that went viral.
• And going back a bit further, who can forget the furore surrounding Kraft’s ill-fated iSnack 2.0 naming competition for Vegemite?

In hindsight, the fact these activities came unstuck may seem obvious, but presumably at the time, they all seemed like a good idea.

But what these campaigns all seem to have shared is a lack of foresight. A lack of someone saying “hang on a minute, what if…”

In the game of chess, the masters are generally so successful because they plan many moves ahead, anticipating what might happen and ensuring they are able to counter it.

Brands planning a social media campaign would do well to follow the approach of the chess grand masters and apply greater forward thinking to their social media activities.

To anticipate what is the worst that could happen and how they might deal with it. To be proactive, transparent and honest.

Get it wrong and the fall-out could be severe, but get it right and it could earn the brand a new level of respect amongst its audience.

How a brand behaves when in the social media spotlight, especially when under pressure, is likely to shape future consumer perceptions of that brand.

Does your brand have a plan to deal with negative reactions to its social media strategy?

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CGI’s influences are being felt everywhere. New digital effects have wowed audiences in blockbuster films including Avatar, Inception, and the new Planet of the Apes.

Video games themselves have also upped the ante, with the life-like effects of L.A. Noire where players solve crimes involving in-depth characters and tangled motives, a great example…

And today’s games are attracting a rapidly growing audience (upwards of 1.5 billion worldwide) that stretches across a widening age range. Gaming is no longer just for the young, it seems.

As the audience grows, so does its expectations. Through the process of ‘Gamification’, we can see technology become more engaging and possibly having a positive effect on stimulating our minds and behaviour.

But even low-tech gaming examples can still capture the imagination. For instance, Facebook’s FarmVille and Scrabulous, or iPhone’s infamous ‘angry birds’ App which has over 300 million downloads.

The growing appeal of ‘gaming’ in all its forms potentially has a wider implication for marketing. Consumers are expecting more from marketing campaigns and want a more interactive experience.

There are a number of examples of the creative ways in which marketers are trying to entice consumers to ‘play’ with their brand:

• Habitat for Humanity charity in conjunction with Domain property have launched a social media community-building game
• Ikea’s interactive showroom on Facebook allowed you to ‘tag’ an item to win it
• Levi’s iSpyLevi used twitter to give clues to a location. The first person to get there and ask ‘are they Levi’s?’ won a pair of Levi’s
• Google regularly creates animated variations of their logo via ‘doodles’

From basic rewards programmes to advanced computer simulations, playing games is hard-wired into the way we communicate. But what can traditional marketing learn from the popularity of gaming?

There are existing parallels between gaming and traditional marketing – think of incentives like points, badges, next levels and challenges that motivate players to keep playing and buyers to keep buying.

But at the end of the day, it is all about capturing people’s imagination and allowing them to have fun and you don’t need CGI technology for that.

Does your brand offer an opportunity for its consumers to ‘play’?

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And here in 2011 with blockbuster TV shows like The X-Factor and Australia’s Got Talent once again dominating the Australian television landscape, his words seem as relevant now as they did back then…

Maybe people have always had a secret desire for fame but nowadays in a world of social media, YouTube, and blogs, there are far more vehicles available to enable the average person to make their mark.

Take Natalie Tran for instance. A regular Sydney girl who is also the brains (and face) behind Australian Community Channel, a quirky video blog on YouTube that regularly attracts over a million views.

It seems that more people are becoming focused on developing their own personal brand. From license plates to mobile phone covers, there are plenty of ways to develop one’s own unique identity.

When it comes to job-hunting, the concept of a ‘personal brand’ has become an increasingly important way for candidates to differentiate themselves in a competitive employment market.

Marketers have long recognised this ego-led desire and regularly come up with creative ways to connect with Australians through their desire for personalisation. Consider the following examples:

• Converse allows you to design your own version of the sneaker by starting with a ‘blank canvas’.
• Last year Doritos’ ‘Make an ad, make a fortune’ campaign invited consumers to direct their own ad campaign.
• Café Press online allows you to put your own motifs on clothing and other merchandise.
• Vegemite’s ‘toast of the nation’ competition rewards extraordinary achievements of ordinary Australians.

What these and other brands have recognised is the human desire to do something a little different and assert individuality so as to stand out from the crowd.

The best examples of these manage to achieve dual objectives – capturing their audience’s interest, but doing so in a way that also helps to reinforce and energise perceptions of the brand itself.

Without a strong element of brand relevance, there is a risk of marketing activities capturing attention but in a way that is soon forgotten, rather than leaving a lasting and positive impression.

In a uniform world, individuality is something for people to aspire to, and they may well appreciate brands which can help them reach this goal.

Does your brand allow your customers a chance to underline their individuality?

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The success of TV shows like “Who do you think you are?” and websites like Ancestry.com are a couple of interesting cases in point…

These both demonstrate people’s desire to learn more about their heritage in the hope that this will somehow provide greater understanding and meaning to their own identities.

And this trend has not been lost on marketers either, with a number of brands delving back into their past in order to tell consumers the story of their roots.

Here are some examples of brands leveraging their history:

• Johnnie Walker tells the story of the brand’s evolution in this remarkable film featuring Robert Carlyle.
• AMP refers back to their origins and early successes as part of their “Own Tomorrow” campaign.
• Chrysler’s highly acclaimed Eminem spot that celebrates the heritage of Detroit.
• Adidas goes back to their roots to tell the tale of company founder Adi Dassler and how he helped past sportspeople triumph.

These and many other examples all use a storytelling approach to inform people about the brand’s past in the hope that it will engage them in the present and make them become fans in the future.

So what is the appeal in this approach? One thing these stories all have in common is a sense of longevity and authenticity. They help demonstrate that the brand has stood the test of time.

With so many things in our lives nowadays seeming to be temporary or almost ephemeral, there is something quite reassuring about a brand that is built on such long-term substance.

People are able to appreciate a brand that has a history – a story that is real, is interesting, tells them something they didn’t already know and has the ability to engage them.

Whether a full life story, or just a pivotal moment in its evolution, a dip into the past can help differentiate a brand from its competitors in a crowded market.

Does your brand have a history that a wider audience would be interested to hear?”

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Nowadays it seems that we live in a world where social media has given us the opportunity to become connected to an ever widening group of friends. Surely this must be a good thing mustn’t it?

But in reality, the role of technology can also make our lives seem increasingly impersonal, leading to feelings of isolation and raising a number of uncomfortable issues around who our real friends are.

The importance of friendship, combined with the relentless spread of social media helps explain why marketers are so keen to get involved – to penetrate this network and find people willing to ‘befriend’ them.

True friends generally enjoy a close and mutually beneficial bond that strengthens over time and can endure whatever life has to throw at it.

Which sounds a bit like brand loyalty when you think about it. But is it possible for a human being to become friends with a brand? …and if so, how can a brand best facilitate such a relationship?

A look at the most successful brands on Facebook may give a clue:

• Some brands such as McDonalds and RedBull like to interact with their fans via games
• Some brands like to promote a worthy cause such as Coca-Cola supporting ‘live positively’ initiatives for the environment
• Some brands make the consumer the hero e.g. Oreo’s profile picture is a ‘fan of the week’ who sends in a picture of themselves
• Some brands revert to the tried and tested method of giving away free stuff e.g.  Mailchimp giving away free t-shirts to customers

What many of these brands are doing is to utilise the medium in an appropriate way that encourages people to become actively involved.

Whether it is via posts on a brand’s wall, sending in photos, links & videos, adding ‘like’ comments, or participating in discussion pages, they create an environment where people feel they belong.

To some extent, all these, and other successful brands are doing in the social media space, is to base their activities on underlying values that characterise friendships in the real world.

Any brand wanting to have more friends, should take a leaf from ‘real’ friendships and focus on shared interests, giving freely, and being responsive.

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On this day in 1789, there was an uprising of the people who stormed the Bastille prison and brought about the end of feudalism and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy (we have a new French employee at The Seed so feel fairly well informed on the topic).

In the modern day world of marketing we are also witnessing a revolution of sorts. Less violent for sure, but also of great significance and marking a fundamental shift in the ways brands communicate…

In the old ‘feudal’ days, brands were happy to dictate terms to the people, telling them only what they wanted them to hear and not engaging in any meaningful dialogue. But this has all changed.

A variety of factors including the ubiquity of the internet, widespread broadband access, the emergence of digital channels and the massive influence of social media have combined to drive this change.

Trends forecasting company, The Future Laboratory, refer to ‘Brandtocracies’, created by an environment in which consumers increasingly expect brand relationships to be based on a conversation.

Nowadays, consumers can become far more actively involved with brands, championing causes they believe in and helping to expose or bring down brands (or people) they feel are doing the wrong thing.

There are many examples of this revolution in the marketplace:

• FBI Radio’s ‘Ask Richard’ campaign, asking people to contact Richard Branson to help raise funds to keep the station alive
•  Vodafail – a site set up by a disgruntled Vodafone customer that gained national news coverage and even spawned a video
• The about-face from Gerry Harvey following his ill-fated campaign against cheaper online retailers being exempt from GST
• ING customers in The Netherlands taking to social media to help block bonuses being paid to the bank’s senior executives

As consumers become more emboldened and inspired by these and other campaigns, they are likely to become even more militant in the future. And brands would be wise to heed the warning.

This revolution may spell trouble for those clinging to the old establishment, but also creates opportunities for brands willing to embrace a spirit of dialogue.

How well has your brand adapted to the new consumer revolution?

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Whilst some groups may be better off, it is likely that with such a large budget deficit to deal with, many will find themselves with less in their pocket and will need to look for ways to stretch the budget further…

This idea of ‘smarter shopping’ was one of the primary themes that emerged from a major piece of Lifestyle research The Seed conducted recently on behalf of ACP magazines.

Our research suggested a legacy of the GFC is that people have changed attitudes towards consumption and are now generally more cautious, with 85% claiming to ‘always look for better value options’.

But this doesn’t always mean cheaper prices, rather a case of seeking out the best possible quality and the most relevant products for a palatable price point.

It also helps to explain the inexorable growth in the appeal of home brands which have shifted from being seen purely as a cost-saving option to more of a smarter choice in many categories.

There are many examples of brands tapping into a ‘smarter’ mindset:

• Smart Cars advocate putting an end to mindless consumption in their ‘Against Dumb’ campaign
• Wisebread is a community of bloggers that are helping people to ‘live large on a small budget’
• UBank tells us that living beyond your means doesn’t make sense in their ‘saving is the new spending’ campaign
• Foxtel uses the end of the financial year as a reason for people to sign up for a smarter package for 6 months in its EOFYS sale

These brands and many more like them have recognised what people are seeking in the post-GFC world, and are looking to satisfy the consumer’s desire to make informed, savvy purchase decisions.

There is a real sense that although people’s GFC-led concerns may have been eased somewhat and they may have money saved up, they will not be returning to pre-GFC profligacy when it comes to spending.

People have always tightened belts when times are hard, but it seems now this behaviour has become hard-wired, regardless of the prevailing economy.

What is your brand doing to recognise and reward the smarter shopper mindset?

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It is a time for sober reflection. A time when we are able to acknowledge some of the values that capture what it means to be Australian – courage, mateship, support…

Long considered a sacred date on the calendar, last year and again this year, VB have courted controversy by harnessing the occasion for an Anzac-themed marketing promotion, their “Raise a Glass appeal”.

And VB’s agency, Droga5 have also leveraged Anzac Day as an appropriate time to encourage Australians to send SMS messages of support to our troops serving overseas on behalf of client Telstra.

But while some are trying to embody positive Australian values at this time, another advertiser (Australian Hotel Association) is treading the well-worn path of accusing someone of being “Un-Australian”.

These examples raise an interesting question around just what it does mean to be Australian nowadays, and how brands can attach themselves to these values (or if indeed, they have the right to).

In recent times, a number of brands have tried to link themselves to ‘Australianness’, either directly or indirectly. Consider the following:

• MLA’s long-running Sam Kekovitch Lamb campaign, tackles ‘Un-Australianness’ in a humorous way that is very Australian
• Bushells taking a rise out of English tea drinking etiquette, whilst underlining the Australianness of their Australian Breakfast tea
• Then there was last year’s widely criticised “nothing like Australia” campaign from Tourism Australia, packed full of Australiana

At a time when patriotism has been coming under the microscope around the world, it sometimes seems harder than ever to define what it means to be Australian in such a multicultural society.

It also suggests that brands that choose to play the Australian card are best advised to do so by reflecting core Aussie values rather than trying to attract customers purely by claiming to be Australian.

This could open the door for marketers to credibly link their brand to values that are authentic and also reflective of Australia’s future, not its past.

Does your brand share any similar values to those of modern-day Australia?

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