Lars Bastholm and I worked together on a Nike project at Framfab back in 1999. Ever since then I’ve had a great deal of respect for the man. He’s now the Co-Chief Creative Officer at AKQA New York.
The other day Lars wrote an article on Social Storytelling. Lars is commenting on the fact that some people in the business thinks digital cannot keep up the branding story. An opinion that according to me is based on the fact that people are afraid of change and believe things will stay the same for ever. Digital is changing everything, we just have to adapt to it and not try to bend the consumer into old marketing models, it’s not going to work.
Lars ends his article with six checkpoints that’ll help get you started mastering the art of social storytelling and invite consumers into the conversation. A great list. Personally I just love nr 5.
- Look at any marketing effort as the beginning of a conversation.
- Closely monitor the conversation and be ready to respond to consumers.
- Provide consumers with tools that help them carry on the conversation for you.
- Leave room for consumers to interact. Make sure your creative universe is big enough that there are unexplored areas.
- The conversation is over when the consumers say it is, not when the media plan (or the budget) says it is.
- Listen and learn from the feedback loop.
Head over to Creative Online and read the full article.