David Armano

Building brands in the mad men era was a relatively straight forward endeavor... 

A brand needed to effectively communicate its value to the consumer, plainly stating its functional benefits and for the more enduring brands—connecting with consumers at the emotional level typically through a story told via television led advertising campaigns. 

Moment in time—the world seems obsessed with the renaissance of app led live video streaming and the rivalry between MeerKat and Twitter backed Periscope. 

Debating who will win is a moot point.

We needn't look much further than our everyday lives to realize that the way we consume, share and produce our own media has changed drastically. The major forces in this evolution are largely a combination of hardware and software (mobile) combined with connectivity (social) all accelerated in the context of time which gives the impression of immediacy (real-time).

"To improve is to change; to perfect is to change often"

~Winston Churchill

"We have met the enemy and he is us."

~Pogo

We can do better.

Recently, I attended an industry roundtable alongside a variety of marketers from different industries, all on the brand side. These are smart and accomplished individuals who gathered together to discuss real time marketing and what it means for their organizations.

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

~Mark Twain

“Real-time marketing”—just uttering the phrase evokes images of hastily photo-shopped images and ham fisted attempts to join online conversations. The stakes can be high—last week’s big winner in the responsive category during the Grammys was of course Arby’s to which the spoils of considerable earned media coverage and over 6000 new Twitter followers were awarded. Many other brands weren’t as fortunate.

It's not easy to determine which trends and movements are worth paying attention to. We live in an age where technology seems to move at pace that's impossible to keep up with. I spend a lot of my time dealing with global brands who are looking to scale and integrate social as part of their core marketing—and in some cases business strategies, and I can tell you first hand that these organizations have their work cut out for them as we are now in the trenches of operationalizing the disruptions caused by digital's latest iteration.

Today, the talk of the town amongst marketers is the potential for brands to act as publishers and media companies, going direct to their customers or consumers in the fight to earn attention. It's a lofty ambition but worth pursuing as there are three drivers changing how we spend our time and attention.