Insights from Mumbrella 360
Mumbrella 360, where the media and marketing industry gathers to talk about itself was held last week. And I was lucky enough to attend. Like the unpredictable Sydney weather, there was a real sense that the industry is on the edge of mass change and disruption. The continued debate around digital transparency, the blurring of consultancies and creative agencies and the predicted flat industry growth, raised some major challenges we will contend with over the next few years. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Over the two days, I was inspired and reminded of why we do what we do. Here’s my top takeaways.
1. Context Matters
In the opening keynote address, Scott Hagedorn CEO of Hearts and Science, reminded us that where you put your brand is important. Context builds equity and in the race for audience reach and hyper-targeting we have divorced content from context. I was watching a news video on the recent London terrorist attack, and was served with an ad. Do you really want people to be thinking about your brand while they watch a tragedy? Think about where your brand’s content is being placed, does it reinforce your brand’s positioning? Will the context influence purchase intent?
2. Treat social media as a behavior not just a channel
Muara Tuohy, Head of Social Marketing and Influencer Relations at Mozilla Firefox, urged brands to view social media as a tool to understand and build consumer insights. Tuohy, argues that social media is a mirror to our culture and that while it is often blamed for society’s problems we must remember that humans are behind the posts, memes and technology. Tuohy referred to the Aria Hotel as an example, they mapped social conversation about the hotel and discovered that Aria had no single thing that attracted guests but rather lots of journeys that made it differentiated, this insight led to the #howwevegas campaign. Is social listening an opportunity to better understand your audiences and their behaviours?
3. Live and breathe your brand purpose
While not a new concept, Tesla is a brilliant example of a brand that delivers on its purpose across all touchpoints. Heath Walker, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, ANZ, talked about Tesla’s focus on truly putting the customer first to achieve their mission. Sustainability is not always an easy sell, but Tesla’s choice to focus their efforts and dollars into supporting and rewarding owners is paying off. Reinvesting into the “pioneers” who believe in their purpose, has led to satisfaction levels any brand would envy, with 90% of customers saying they will only ever buy Tesla. Are all your brand activities working towards achieving your brand purpose or mission? Is your brand purpose worth engaging in for people or is it time to revisit it?
4. The rise of human experience (HX)
Ben Bilboul, CEO of Karmarama discussed their shift from customer experience to human experience, saying we are in the age of the customer and need to offer more than just transactions. With the rise of digital technologies in our lives, human connection has never been more important for brands. This was further emphasised over the two days by the criticism of digital creativity, or lack of it. As Scott Hagedorn put it, we need to concentrate on “thumb stopping creative”, creative that puts human insight at the heart of it. We have more data and information on our audiences than ever before but are we using it to connect with people in a meaningful way?
5. Stop and smell the surburban roses
Bachie host, Osher Gunsberg, reminded us that as marketers and advertisers we are not “normal” people. Referring to ThinkTV’s Adnation survey, Adland respondents estimated 78% of everyday Australians would have used Netflix that week, when actually it was only 28%. While blatantly trying to sell the merits of TV advertising, it was a timely reminder that sometimes we need to put down the kale and kombucha and venture out of our inner-city offices to better understand the average Australian.
So, on that note, I’m shutting down my laptop, finishing my matcha latte and heading out to connect with some humans!