Think conversation, not campaign

I think customers want a place in the innovation journey. They want their voice to be considered – good, bad or indifferent. Marketing communications has collided with the contact-center. Marketers need to hang out with the customer service, engineers and R&D folk. Campaigns have end dates, conversations don’t. The job of a brand steward is to architect participation.

Lars Bastholm, Co-Chief Creative Officer, AKQA puts it succinctly:

1. Look at any marketing effort as the beginning of a conversation.

2. Closely monitor the conversation and be ready to respond to consumers.

3.Provide consumers with tools that help them carry on the conversation for you.

4. Leave room for consumers to interact. Make sure your creative universe is big enough that there are unexplored areas.

5. The conversation is over when the consumers say it is, not when the media plan (or the budget) says it is.

6. Listen and learn from the feedback loop.

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- Keith Gerr