relevance

Brands need to be “relevant” these days, though there’s never been a time when communications succeeded any other way.

But, like ideas about authenticity and engagement, it has many marketers running around as if they’ve discovered some magic elixir that requires the invention of new ideas, platforms, and measurement.

Er, no.

Merriam-Webster defines relevance (noun) as a relation to the matter at hand, and something that is practical and especially socially applicable.

Does "imitate the competition" describe your approach to customer experience design? 

Are you more focused on what your competitors or other companies are doing than on your own business, customers, and customer experience strategy?

Back in 2009, I wrote a piece about failing to communicate and how an abundance of information creates a scarcity of information. I wrote back then:

I’ve always been fascinated by movie trailers – not for how they entice people to see movies, but for the insights they provide into how to make great ads.  After all, ads and trailers serve a similar objective:  convert viewership into action — buy a product or go see a movie.

Last week at the Fast Casual Executive Summit, I introduced “Level 5 Relevance,” a framework for re-thinking corporate social responsibility.  The framework outlines how companies can become a force for positive change while enhancing their customer appeal and long-term competitiveness.

Guest Post by: Monica Shaw

Remember the good ol’ Nescafe Gold Blend adverts? Two lovers, intertwined in a web of passion, romance and instant coffee. Then there’s Nespresso, whose recent ads starring the debonair George Clooney call Nespresso the “rich, sensual, intense, unique” hero of the coffee world.

I often wonder what makes us pull up short. Why do we not step over the line between being comfortable and terrified? Between the center and the edge? Between staying the course on a path we know leads to a slow decline and another that leads to an exciting but unknown future?

Coke reportedly took more than 6% of its UK ad budget last year and put it into social media campaigns. Sales across Europe declined 1%, though its take-home sales in the UK were up 8.3% (Britain's best-selling brand, according to The Grocer magazine).

Heineken's "The Entrance" is a 90-second movie about a youngish James Bond-type who strolls through a fancy party doing the exactly right, funny, or utterly cool things, replete with consistent panache and high production values. Check it out on YouTube (you have to sign-in due to the content, which makes no sense since I don't remember anything morally objectionable in it).

The 2011 International Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas ended yesterday, not with a bang but with a whimper. 

Here's why it’s an anachronism: