4. âA group of
people who form
relationships
over time, by
interacting regularly
around contexts
which are of interest
to all of themâ
Jake McKee, communityguy.com
30. âWe havenât had all the
groups weâve wantedâŠ
âŠweâve simply had all the
groups we could affordâ
Clay Shirky, âHere comes everybodyâ,
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38. quot;The history of the
modern media age is
littered with casualties of
people who believed in
technology
rather than
content.quot;
Iâd like to thank the APA for inviting me this afternoon to talk about the future of advertising from a perspective of how to use communications in the futureâŠ
The best way to see the future would be to have a time machineBut time machines go it two directions; we can see the future, but we can also go back in time and look at the past
But what Iâd actually like to talk to you about is communities⊠the past, present and future of them â because it underpins everything we do as marketers
So, what is a community?Itâs only ever these three elements; it just so happens the circumstances in which communities have existed have changed
Iâd like to talk about three distinct eras⊠pre-industrial, industrial, and the network era
Think about how people formed communities in a world before mass-production; they were restricted to forming face-to-face relationships with the people in their immediate surroundings, and by and large the contexts they formed communities around would be focused on how their village or town, and their livelihoods within it, could survive and thrive.
The communication of information was limited by the nature of geography too⊠the distance between communities meant information travelled very slowly from one community to another
So communities were very local indeed. People were bound by geographical restrictions, and furthermore by social restrictions. We all had a place. But things began to changeâŠ
The industrial revolution changed communities all over the country, and the world. Small rural communities began to come together more in urban locations, around factories and mills⊠communities got bigger. And they got bigger because the factory and mill owners needed the workers for mass production of goodsâŠ
We mass-produced everything; matches, pins, canned food, carsâŠ
âŠbut with one small caveat⊠as long as everything was the homogeneous, as long it was the same
The mass media industry, born in the fires of the industrial revolution, works exactly along the same principles as mass production.The chain goes like this: there are significant production costs involved at the start (building a printing press, or a recording studio, or TV station), and relatively small duplication and distribution costs. All of these costs are initially borne by the creator, and recouped on a one-to-one basis from the consumer.
Then the communications are shipped or broadcast all around the country, so that all of the previously unconnected communities are united through mass media⊠information they all receive at the same time, and are all paying attention to.You could tell every community in the country the same thing all at once.
But the same caveat applies â it all has to be the same message. Exactly the same.
So whilst we now see communities built from face-to-face relationships in their geographical and class restricted locales, they have the âmass mediaâ feeding them information too⊠The things we can relate to each other about come from the mass media⊠because corrie is more exciting than your actual Manchester Terraced street, of courseâŠ
So all across the country, mass ânationalâ communities are being formed who all read the same stuff, watch the same TV, listen to the same radio⊠mass production didnât just mass produce objects and information, it mass-produced consumers
Unsurprising, the mass-producing manufacturers love this⊠the thing about mass production is that you need equally mass consumption to make it financially viable. So manufacturers needed a way to talk to large groups of people.
And because everyone was paying attention to the mass media because it represented such a step up from the dull, everyday local lives they led. I didnât matter then that the communications that companies were forced to produce were homogenous and one-way, because thatâs how people received the rest of their information too.
Our communities were still local, but our frames of reference were from the mass media.Now, you know whatâs coming next, donât youâŠ
The arrival of the network information economy, chiefly characterised by the internet, has ripped the mass-industrial model apart.
Be under no allusions of how deep and structural a change this is; Yochai Benklerâs book âThe Wealth of Networksâ is a fantastic comparison of the shift; he points out that this shift is as fundamentally great a shift as weâve had since Adam Smithâs âThe Wealth of Nationsâ ushered in the industrial age.
And one of the main examples of how big it is in in media; remember the production chain of communications?
In production, people have in their homes a machine capable of producing that which previously only large organisations couldâŠ
Then the nature of digital information as a non-rival good means duplication is near instant, and potentially infinite, at virtually no costâŠ
But perhaps the most important factor is the change in distribution; we can send information to anyone, anywhere, about anything, as long as they are connect to the network.
The chain has been destroyed â itâs been taken out of the hands of the communications creators
Essentially the revolution has meant that that people are no longer just âconsumersâ. They participate in the production, duplication and distribution as much as any creator⊠and they donât just do this with other peopleâs information, they are equally at creating their own unique information too.
And we are connected like never before; if you imagine the scales weighing company-to-person and person-to-person communications, where once they had tipped in favour of mass media, theyâve tipped right back again.
Nowadays, we can form the communities we really want, with anyone around anything.
Clay Shirky makes a great point â we, as people and communities, didnât really want the mass media landscape. But it was the best thing available to us, so we took it.We can form communities ourselves, around whatever we wantâŠ
Which means the big, homogenous brand messages weâve been built to make and deliver of behalf of clients are being increasingly ignored⊠because people have better things to do. Theyâre part of the communities that they are genuinely, enthusiastically involved in.
Oh dear. What are we going to do? Pack up and go home?Hang on though
Weâve always just been about connecting people to companies.The purpose remains the same.The means are different.
We need to do this for companies; look at how they act in a community with peopl
Because right at the centre of it, companies are a little community of their own. People brought together around a common context, a purpose. We need to make sure they are connected as much as possible to the rest of society and the people who want to be a part of that context too.
33
So, how to do it? Well, for the purposes of today, Iâve looked less at the first crucial stages (making sure the community of you own company is right), and more at the role that external communications, and specifically TV, might playâŠ33
Talking of TV, letâs start with something Michael Grade said last year, when he was complaining about GoogleâŠNow, Sir Michael of course has a vested interest in Content, less so in Technology. So maybe he would say that.33
But Emily Bell at The Guardian responded with something very interesting; creativity only goes into the space technology has created for itâŠ33
âŠand most technology folk are motivated by one of four thingsâŠ33
So that was kind of interesting⊠then a smart fellow called Ed Cotton in San Francisco suggested that this was maybe a nice way to think about brands in the future⊠Useful, Entertaining, Educative or Connective.41
Which is really appealing I think as a checklist; what do you DO for people as a brand?42
Because, letâs be honest, people arenât listening to the old âinformationâ messages as much as they were⊠firstly because we get our information from the internet, or from the 200 friends we have at the end of an instant communication device⊠and secondly because, well, the interesting stuff people are sharing with each other is more interesting42
So if weâre about connecting people and companies, itâs not really about just making 30 second vignettes⊠itâs about doing something for people. Being educative, entertaining, useful, connecting them with others
Letâs look at two examplesâŠ44
The first one, perhaps somewhat predictably, is Cadburyâs⊠after all, Cadburyâs have proven that TV still works, right?44
And youâll all be aware of the terrifically entertaining and engaging adsâŠ44
And they do entertain; hereâs a word cloud of the sorts of things people in research said when asked how the ad makes them feel⊠the bigger the words, the more people said itâŠ<number><number>
âŠand more conventionally, a bar chart⊠but significant numbers of people appreciating the fact that Cadburyâs were entertaining themâŠ
So right, fine, entertainment. Cadburyâs clearly have that coveredâŠ50
âŠbut surely just making an entertaining ad isnât any different from the old top down model..?True. Which is why itâs all the other stuff around the TV that makes it work hard.50
Now, more than ever, youâve got to take into account every possible touchpoint with the consumer in your communications mix50
So, with the new eyebrows campaign⊠yes, youâve got TV50
Then thereâs all the PR-able stuff⊠where other people in the media pick it up and run with it50
Thereâs the little fun things around it⊠like the âDennis Healy-atorâ50
âŠand of course you can annoy people on buses the length and breadth of the country with the free ringtone on OrangeâŠ50
âŠand being a new campaign, thereâs lots more comingâŠâŠthat I canât tell you about. Yet.57
Anyway, if you do lots of things around people, they start feeling warmer towards your companyâŠ57
âŠand when that happens, they can now share that warmth with othersâŠ57
One major, major place for Cadburyâs that this happens is of course Youtube. Already thereâs a fair few views of the ad (about 3 million), and the User Generated Content is beginning to pick up tooâŠ57
If it does as well as Gorilla did on Youtube, then weâll be doing well61
What weâre seeing is that the Cadburyâs campaigns are about entertainment, thatâs true. But theyâre more about Connecting people together⊠a shared experience, a moment of joy.62
The stories62
So for Cadbury, TV ads are still an essential part of the plan.But they are just a part. Increasingly, it is unlikely to work on itâs own.65
Which brings me onto the second example; TV is an essential part of this plan too. But thereâs not a TV ad in sightâŠ65
Sage, the business solutions company you may know best as software specialists in accountancy, came to us just over a year ago looking for a way to connect beyond the standard B2B options of trade press and online.65
Now, unlike many B2B companies, who focus on a small niche, potential Sage clients can live anywhere across the UK, and can range from being the sole trader to being pretty large enterprisesâŠ65
So what, we thought, can we offer the SMEs? Can we help them to connect to Sage by offering something that the larger international businesses have lots of that they canât afford?69
Well, one thing that larger organisations have that smaller ones donât usually is a lot of training courses, outward bound exercises, teambuilding, staff training and improvement⊠what if we got Sage to provide some of that for people?69
âŠthen we could do it al over the country too, and reach all the audiencesâŠ69
âŠand hell, if weâre doing all that in this day and age, we might as well film it as content, and make it a competitionâŠâŠbut if weâre now making a programme of it, well, the obvious thing to do would not be to make a brand new format that weâd have to publiciseâŠ69
âŠletâs bring back the format that kickstarted the whole outward-bound business training anywayâŠ69
So we did. Sage, PHD & Drum PHD worked with ITV to secure the rights, produce the show, and broadcast it on primetime ITV1. Itâs already been taken as a format to Ireland, and weâre now looking at a wider worldwide roll out in the future too.69
Very clearly having a central property like the Krypton Factor entertains people. But it wasnât just the entertainment value we were looking forâŠ75
By co-creating such a property, Sage could show how they do indeed live and breathe business; it was the perfect embodiment of the Sage communityâŠ75
On the site thereâs a host of different interviews with noted business people offering useful adviceâŠ<number>
âŠand thereâs the wonderfully addictive suite of brain training games, which not only advance your business brain, they tell you your business IQ, and show you where youâve come compared to everyone elseâŠ<number>
âŠwhich you can then go across to Linkedin to discuss in the groups there dedicated to Training Your Business BrainâŠ<number>
All in all, itâs doing all of the jobs we talked about brands of the future doingâŠ80
âŠand across the country, itâs building up a great community of people who want to train their business brainsâŠ80
82
Weâre now in the middle of this really exciting, rich crossover of the old mass-industry world, and the new network society⊠and what weâre seeing is that, currently, the new world is helping the old world work better.
85
So Iâve no doubt that the future is going to be amazing.