Users, Not AudiencesPlanning the Digital Brand

Kip VoytekSVP, Communications & Experience Planning

SVP/ECD, R/GA

Before that, game designer, union organizer, speechwriter, programmer, physical computing hobbyist, digital dilettante.

WHY AM I UP HERE

STRUCTURE

this that

Background - Game Design

“a series of interesting choices” - Bruce Shelly

Rhythms of Software and Marketing

Usability Greater Functionality Meaningful Brand Engagement

Background - Interaction Design

Interaction Design

Experience Design

Communications Planning

Experience Planning

(R)Evolution #1: Convergence of Design & Planning

Insight Big Idea Campaign

Crafting/Designing/Planning

Brand Experiences & Product Extensions

(R)Evolution #2: Many ideas, not just one big one

Story

Content

Product Extension

Utility

(R)Evolution #3: Broadened remit

User

Human

Customer

Prospect

Target

Persona

Customer

Influencer

Segment

(R)evolution #4: Moving “targets” (aka people)

All of them, none of them

All the time, never

Multiple leans

Real-Time

Social

Want Utility

Compute everywhere

Move as they want

AudienceNeeds & Emotions

Being Digital

Category Conventions& Standards

User Behaviors on-site

Culture/alContext

(R)evolution #5: New types of insight(s)

(R)evolution #6: Redefining Emotion

Emotion triggers action, meaning

sustains it.- Cindy Chastain, IxDA10

(R)evolution #6: Redefining Emotion

Utility is the most important emotion

(R)evolution #6: Redefining Emotion

Utility is the

only emotion

AWARENESS TRIALEFFECTIVE

USESATISFACTION

EARLY SUCCESS

CONSIDERATION

Many: 1 awareness leads to success for core users

Success leads to 1:1 advocacy

AWARENESSAWARENESS

AWARENESSAWARENESS

(R)evolution #7: User-Generated . . . Awareness

(R)evolution #8: Reprise

(R)evolution #9: Presence in Social/Conversations

Blogs & Personal

Publishing

Video Sharing Networks

Mico-blog &Status tools

Social Networks

Brand Content- Site- microsite- distribution- articles- tools- blogs- status- videos- pics- links- UGC

3rd Party Content Sites- site

- articles- readers comments- editorial comments

Customer & Prospect Conversations

BRAND VALUES & STRATEGY Brand Promise

TONE & VOICE

AWARENESSINFORMATION & RESEARCH

USEFULNESS& FUNCTIONALITY

Campaign/Message

Enjoying/Using

Product

Insights& Briefs

Story UtilityContent

(R)evolution #8: Expanded Brand Picture

From one big idea to a whole bunch of multi-sized ones

Big ideas can over-focus you on:

• Novelty• The unique whatever• The differentiator, one-ness• One feature• All the features• Ideation at the expense of design and execution, quality and depth

Messages always have big ideas, products usually don’t

Platforms need more than one big idea

NBA NCAA Street HS LbJ Kobe

Campaign Campaign

Platform

Nike & Basketball

“Advertising is subtractive, digital is additive.” - Nick Law, CCO R/GA

But we need concision

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done.

- The Beloved Chairman (Jobs)

Requirements for Insight/Takeaway/Brief

portable you can hold it in your head

intuitive the value benefit are immediately graspable

rich the concept goes somewhere, allows for input

partly negative it inherently says no

New Models & Metaphors: Mantras, Haikus, Partis, Building Statements

The ending bits

• Users, not audience

• Function + utility + message + emotion + engagement + delight

• The medium is the message and the product

• Individual people, individual paths, individual needs

• Whatever the web is (social, interactive, co-created, loose and will) so is your brand

Further reading, exploring . . .

Read digital:

Emergence, Steven Johnson

Designing Interactions, Bill Moggridge (CD is key)

101 Things I learned in Architecture School, Matthew Frederick

The BLDG|BLOG BOOK, Geoff Manaugh

Live Digital:

Get to level 20 in World of Warcraft (ferrealz)

Do your info-graphics in Illustrator

Play with the “Game of Life” or Turtle Art

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