Hello! Lovely to meet you!
Welcome friends! Lovely to have you here. So where exactly is "here"? And what on earth is a ThinkerBelle? "Here" is a blog space on all things that interest this little strategist, namely design, social media and technology. I like to think that "ThinkerBelle" (my strategist persona) lives at the intersection of these three domains. I hope you enjoy this space, please comment and don't be a stranger. I appreciate you being here. Follow me in the tweetverse if you like @thaz7.
Latest
planningness!
Excited to make stuff? Absolutely! Last week I was lucky enough to participate in the new wave of planners conferences. Note: I did not say ATTEND, I said PARTICIPATE–this was SO much more than just a bunch of lectures on stuffy, formal processes and models. This was about MAKING something new and wonderful. I wrote a quick thought piece on some specifics of what I learned and took away that you can check out here: http://thas.posterous.com/planningness-thoughts-planningness
What I would like to touch on here was the feeling of empowerment and well, responsibility, on all of us to start breaking old paradigms and making things that are really going to work for our clients and ultimately restore our sanity. It’s not going to be easy, but we have to do it. It’s not change for change sake, or that we are a bunch of “rebellious kids”. It’s change because the WHOLE WORLD HAS CHANGED. It’s time to wake up.
We are in a radically different communications world than we were even a year ago. A statistic like 1 out of every 4 pages viewed in the US is facebook is staggering–it’s NOT A FAD. Social media is changing the way we communicate. As I’ve said many times before, Facebook won’t be “it” forever, but there will be something else that will take it to even the next level. It’ll only get deeper. And no it is not about broadcasting to the world that you’re eating a sandwich. Take that a step further…you (as in ANYONE with access to the internet) have the power to broadcast yourself. As mobile technology surges forward and becomes more accessible, it will empower MORE people to have this real time access. THIS is the nugget we all have to be thinking about. Bad review? Be prepared. That loud 5% is going to get EVEN louder. EVEN faster.
So what does that mean to advertising/communications? Well first and foremost, let’s not get any delusions of grandeur. We (advertisers/marketers) aren’t as important as we would love to think we are. Unless our brands are TRULY pervasive, smart and unyieldingly transparent, we’re in a bit of trouble. It’s not just about having a clever positioning, snappy tagline and a few nice pictures. You must mean more. It’s about actions. Actions born of beliefs. Ask yourself what your brand does in this world to make it matter to your audiences. That’s your new approach to advertising.
I believe a really great articulation of this came in the Advocacy and Conversation talk from Frank Striefler. Yes, I’m a bit biased, as I worked with him in crafting the presentation/workshop, but in all sincerity Frank is one of the most gifted thinkers I’ve ever had the honor to work with, it was an incredible learning experience. Creating a framework that was complex, yet completely understandable was not a feat for the weak of heart (then again, creating advocacy is not easy either, and over simplification is a complete error). This is something I’m incredibly proud to say I was a part of, so please peruse. It’s truly built to provoke thought, so soak it in for a second! It’s fun stuff!!
And I encourage you to follow up on some of the readings suggested in the presentation. I assure you, they will change the way you look at what you do.
http://www.slideshare.net/strieflerf/planningness-conference-draft1
