For a while at Base One we’ve been questioning the logic of the single big idea as the basis of a brand’s campaigns. Having spent years creating consistent and compelling campaigns around a single idea, why change? It’s been proven to work and buyers are still buyers surely?
Well yes, and no. The fact is that Buyers are changing as this extract from a post by Chris Tacy, Chief Innovation Officer at Brand Experience Agency, Method implies:
… now we have an entire new demographic who have grown up not having to take it. And as a result, the control relationship between brands and consumers has changed. And it’s not going back. Technology has helped – but behavior is a big part of this. And at then end of the day… the chickens are coming home to roost. In this new world… The Big Idea doesn’t really hold water. Without the control relationship on the side of the brands, it’s not even justifiable. [http://method.com/#/thoughts/ideasculture/detail/WpPost/17/>]
It’s this change of relationship that is making us rethink. Brand owners have to realise that they will no longer have control of what people think or say about them. We can influence what they say and think but not control it. And our buyers fit many Persona we know that and for each of them the brand can mean different things. Therefore, we need to start developing clusters of brand ideas that can be relevant to different groups, and yet all relevant to the brand.
Strong brands in the future (even B2B brands) need to resonate as part of the sub-cultures that exist within our markets. Sub-cultures are different yet they overlap, so too must the ideas we place at the centre of our brands.
