Bob Greenberg (the R/GA Bob) just wrote a piece on Adweek which talks about how a "holistic social media program can help keep a brand alive."
This paragraph caught my eye, which really captures the gist of his article:
Right now, many brands are leveraging Facebook to launch social media campaigns. But there are limitations: marketers can reach only Facebook members and agencies must work within the constraints of the platform. There's an opportunity for marketers and agencies to identify meaningful experiences through brand-created platforms. This will enable brands to develop owned media channels to springboard campaigns, show content and promote community building.
In other words, all ye who flock to Facebook are akin to lemmings en route on a one-way ticket to cliff central. Enter "brand-created platforms" which is the 3 word (or 2-word if you want to credit the hyphen) pivot upon which this article rests.
So much so that this quote from the preceding paragraph absolutely comes into play, "The campaign (Gap's Born to Fit) points to a future where such social media efforts could eliminate the need for a company Web site."
On the one hand, it's an apparent contradiction. If a brand doesn't need a website, then does it need a "brand-created platform"? On the other hand, it represents a scenario where a "brand-created platform" is neither an old-fashioned, traditional website; nor is it the complete cession of its equity, purpose and point of view to the masses (and certainly to the noise) as per Skittles.
I'm still not sure what the "IT" is from Bob's perspective. Although he points to MyStarbucksIdea, Lego's Ambassador Program and of course, Gap's new effort...I hope it's not a codename for justifying elaborate web development to build highly technical (read: expensive), functional (read: expensive) and experiential (read: expensive) sites.
In the world of social media, things are somewhat topsy-turvy insofar that production is both typically and relatively lower, however human capital/cost/investment is typically signficiantly higher...certainly over time.
That's the midde ground. And it comes in the form of one word: "time." Over time, the community grows. Over time the value of the platform grows. Over time, the initial investment is spread over a longer term - thereby presenting a one two punch of efficiency-effectiveness.
And this is where I'd like to believe that Bob Greenberg and Bob Greenberg (Panasonic's) are sympatico - at least as far as "Living in High Definition" is concerned (Panasonic's community for all things HD, which crayon has been working on with Panasonic for a while now)
As we say at crayon, "marketing is not a campaign; it's a commitment" and whether we're talking about communications, advertising, brand building or even web development, it all applies equally when the goal is to foster and nurture long term, authentic, meaningful and productive relationships with customers.
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