mobileYouth®

The above slide is a quote from Peter Van Stolk (founder Jones Soda) on how great brands are shaped by great people.

The Intrapreneurs…The Crazy Ones

If you’re going to do anything great, you’ve got to break some eggshells.

Creating a great brand means treading on a few toes, taking a few hits and singling yourself out for criticism. The question is not how you’ll do this but is it in you?

This is the challenge facing agents of change – the intrapreneurs, the crazy ones. This is for those who believe the Britney Spears model is “so done”, for those that know it’s the End of the Pepsi Generation, for those that don’t need focus groups to tell them their product is great.

For every single agent of change is met by either the conspiracy of silence or the cowardice of acquiescence. While brands may generous and gregarious to the customer, internally their politics are dominated by hoarding rather than collaboration and resistance rather than progress.

Most Brands are Built on Fear

Even though the evidence is plain to see, fear demotes brand capabilities to simply rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.

Here’s a poignant quote from one change agent – Paula Rosch – highlighted in Grant McCracken’s insightful interview:

I remember I would be so exhilarated when I would do innovative consumer or Scout research – anything was possible, until I re-entered the cement atrium of the corporate building, understood the challenges of selling new insights, and felt the air leak out before I passed the security desk

Cyrus Oshidar of MTV knew that to resonate with Indian youth it simply wasn’t a case of reinterpreting the masterbrand for the region, it was a case of reinventing. The rule book was ripped up. The irreverance that pervaded the MTV India brand at launch smacked not only of the MTV USA of old but also an authentic belief from the creative brain behind that brand that this is what youth wanted.

Fear Keeps Us Doing the Same Old…

Yes, advertising is no longer king of content. Yes, there’s a cover up. Yes some marketers are vocally expressing doubts about TV. Yes, most ad impressions are “mostly fiction” but let’s face it despite the sea change experienced at the grass roots of marketing - you’ll never get fired for booking a TV campaign.

Fear is pervasive. Most brand marketers are scared of what youth have to say about their product. Most perceive their job as “…not being paid to talk to customers”.

Most believe “risk” means deciding between TV or Facebook.

It’s not about the “TV or Facebook” debate because the strength of future youth brands will stem not from the decisions made about media but the risks taken in making the brand relevant to youth. Engaging youth is media-neutral. We need to move marketing away from media facing ideas to customer facing ideas.

Most Brands are too Scared to Give Youth What They Want

We’ll continue to annoy, cajole and talk to youth in loud voices. We’ll continue to employ the drumming monkey, the gopher thing, David Beckham or some clever gem from the agency that’ll win them an award because we’d rather drive our brand into the ground and die a death of a thousand cuts than break a few eggshells.

The days of “brand building” through traditional media are dead.

Why? Because being creative today no longer is the domain of the creatives. It’s not about the big idea, it’s not about finding new ways to get in their face, it’s not about listening and it certainly isn’t about adding Facebook to your online presence. It’s not even about finding the right CMO because the CMO is no longer relevant to the future of marketing. That’s why for many true creatives today, creativity starts with ignoring everybody and going it alone.

Marketing isn’t a department, it’s a mindset. Your marketers are your customers and their chief is the CEO.

Being “creative” is about taking risks.

It’s about creating a meaningful dialogue between the brand and the customer. It’s as easy yet as often overlooked as that. Peter Van Stolk did it while at the Jones helm. Upon his departure who took over? An ex-Coke guy. The rest, as they say, is history…

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