There’s no doubt that technology and technological change have transformed consumers’ lives and the way they communicate with brands, so it falls to marketers to do some ‘future gazing’ to see how their brands can remain relevant in this brave new world.

Indeed the past decade has witnessed the most rapid technological change since the industrial revolution of the 18th century. Gartner currently estimates that there are 1.4 billion computing platforms and devices worldwide and project that figure to grow to 2 billion by 2016. That means PCs, tablets and mobile devices (even wearable tech) are going to become more important, not less and brands need to keep up.

The rollercoaster ride is far from over and the pace of digital disruption looks set to continue at a dizzying rate, putting brands under pressure to embrace new trends.

So how can marketers stay relevant?

Firstly it’s important to note that I can’t stand the phrase ‘disruptive marketing’, and while this is a very dangerous environment for commercial rigidity, I think ‘disruption’ is one of those awful marketing buzzwords: full of energy but with no inherent meaning. It can only explain things in retrospect but offers little direction going forward.

Nowadays it seems there are no rules, everything is ‘disrupted’. Cat-saturated entertainment sites can now lure top editorial talent from Newsweek, a car company willingly puts all its technology in the public domain and a beer producer can raise millions in an oversubscribed IPO via Facebook. But the truth is smart brands have always flourished where there is an acute consumer need or frustration. It’s just now that frustration has never been louder or more explicit.

Perhaps the two brightest examples of smart brands in recent months are Tinder and Über. The former has arguably done to online dating sites what Netflix did to Blockbusters. While Über is the current poster child for ‘disruptive ’business’ with every start-up aspiring to be the ’über of XXXXXXX’.

What both of these brands have in common, and indeed most ‘disruptive’ businesses, is that they have identified a very real frustration which has created a product or service that specifically addresses this need and then ensured its users are able to extol this service or product once they had experienced it for themselves. This is no different to the creative approach we take when we start on content campaigns.

We will listen to online conversations that are happening / are about to happen to find appropriate opportunities to participate (and often it’s the negative conversations that are the most creatively fertile). Then we create something that directly contributes to that conversation and builds on a debate, a theme or a trend. Finally we make it effortless for those who have enjoyed that piece of content to evangelise about it and most importantly share it, with their friends and peers.

So ‘disruption’ as a strategy in isolation is somewhat misguided (and as a creative strategy clichéd and old-fashioned). Business success can only be ‘disruptive’ once it has blown the old guard out of the water. This requires identifying that universal frustration and creating the perfect response to that need. It is often just a case of looking in different places to find out what those ‘needs’ might be.

 

By Matt Golding, co-founder of Rubber Republic co-founder and director of Bodyform Responds: The Truth. 


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