Advertising Week 2015 is in full swing. The annual event is the world's premier gathering of marketing and communication leaders, a culmination of the industry's best and brightest from celebrities - like Ryan Seacrest, Zoe Saldana, Trevor Noah and Demi Lovato - to big brand CEOs and industry leaders - like Sheryl Sandberg, Tim Armstrong, Pete Cashmore and Bethenny Frankel. There's no shortage of people from brand, agency, technology, startup and media companies in attendance, leaders who're making real business decisions and inspiring the future of the industry.
Given this, Lithium, of course, had to make an appearance. In the middle of Times Square New York, at the NASDAQ Center, Lithium's Eric Channing Brown hosted a session titled, "Your Digital Strategy is Killing You...Learn How Total Community Can Save You" with panelists representing GoPro, Kaplow Communications and Skype - here are some of the highlights of the session.
Channing Brown opened the session by noting that brands need to compete by answering consumers' extreme expectations and that consumers are also creating their own experiences on social. He highlighted the recent "Get Peanutized" marketing campaign for the upcoming Peanuts Movie as an example of how brands are taking advantage of this new reality.
To further elaborate on consumers' changing expectations and why a Total Community approach is critical, Channing Brown pointed to stats which found that 82% of business leaders say that their customers have higher expectations compared to just three years ago.
That kicked-off a lively conversation around the Total Community concept. During the session, all the panelists touched on the importance of having a holistic customer ecosystem, authenticity and the differences and similarities between customer service and marketing.
Brian Griffin, Community Strategist at GoPro, provided some great insight into how GoPro engages its very enthusiastic customers and followers in their GoPro Community. In the session, Brian stated that "rather than influencing, we want to enable our customers - our community is how we can deliver the entire experience." He also gave some great advice on interacting with customers: "be sincere, be honest, and be as transparent as possible. Let them know that there's a community where you can get your solution."
Angie Hill, General Manager for Audience Marketing at Skype, brought a wealth of ideas regarding the media mix of today, digital storytelling, and how to use various social channels to engage an audience. "Understanding audience segmentation is core to how we can influence the product to keep up with an ever-changing market," Hill said. Her marketing team works closely with the Skype Community to make sure Skype has a holistic voice for users. "Skype is learning new ways to use Skype from our users."
"We believe in one brand story told in many different ways," said Liz Kaplow, founder of Kaplow Communications. Kaplow is at the cutting edge of PR, influencer relations, and integrated marketing - including new digital approaches. Kaplow shared her wisdom on how campaigns are evolving and how to best deal with the extreme expectations today. "We're doing so much social listening now to develop the brand voice and brand story, so it becomes a more valuable conversation."
Channing Brown also asked the panelists and the campaigns of the future and what they'll look like.
"The campaign of the future will be an amazing adventure to hear about a brand story," Kaplow said. "Campaigns will be more like exciting moments that punctuate the conversation."
"This is a bit scary, but we - marketers - will no longer have control," added Hill. "Customers will represent the brand and shape the campaign experience."
"The trick moving forward is extending campaigns so the conversation never ends," said Griffin. "Community can help with that and allow conversations to continue to take place, even after the campaign is over."
The session closed with Channing Brown asking the panel to, name a brand who has really excelled in the new era of extreme expectations. Griffin highlighted Sephora, based on its amazing and vibrant online community, called Beauty Talk. Hill gave her vote to Virgin Airlines, highlighting its rewards, packaging and consistent experience across all customer touch points. Kaplow noted the efforts of AT&T in its impactful ad campaigns and personalized messaging to consumers.
What do you think the campaign of the future looks like and which brand gets your vote for already leveraging a Total Community approach? Put your answers in the comments