Technological developments have led to profound changes in several communication paradigms, and despite the fragmentation of attention and the consequent erosion of brands in the consumer's minds, the data help us to work on the context and the relevance of it with the most diverse audiences.
Author Tiago Monteiro | Reading time 3 minutes
They are no longer mere trends; they are established realities and are in the maturing process. From the Internet of Things (which is becoming a thing itself) to the way the different devices communicate with each other or the mass data generation created by that same interconnection (also massive), that we are (as professionals working in the communication and brand building area) in the facing of the emergence of a major challenge: the human and technological ability to understand, optimize and model this whole reality in communication outputs relevant to the audience.
In fact, technological developments have led to profound changes in several communication paradigms, which inevitably influence the media planning process, that is, when we amplify the brand's messages and content with audiences, with the most diverse goals but almost constantly with the same purpose - to influence in some way the needs and attitudes of the one we call "consumer".
Paradoxically, a sophisticated and interconnected world promotes fragmentation and erosion phenomena that make it difficult to achieve the desired scale, only achieved through the media digitalization that creates new products and solutions that interconnect different media, promoting greater fluidity in the transmission of brand messages. It is, moreover, through the synergy’s exploration between the different touchpoints that we maximize the spread of content.
In this complex context, success is based on a duality composed of two main axes:
-
A technical approach represented by the ability to dominate and evolve technology for the benefit of communication, combined with the ability to model and interpret the growing number of data;
-
A holistic logic in which the strategic vision reinforces its importance as a generator of the creation of strategic paths and concrete creative concepts, which guide brands consistently in a goal direction, promoting in a relevant way the construction of it in the audience's minds.
Technological dominance will, therefore, provide more time for strategic and creative thinking, and from data and insights, new tools are born that allow the materialization and implementation of campaigns and actions in this new reality.
Thus, now more than ever, brands need to work on their coherence and relevance, which means that an integrated vision must be applied right in the very creation of the briefing, a moment so often undervalued, but of exceptional importance. It is the briefing that will lay the foundations for the way to go, and it is from the briefing that the entire communication strategy will be developed, whose execution in terms of content creation, respective dissemination, and measurement (planning) will be influenced by that same strategic thinking, built-in turn from that document: the briefing, a simplifying element. For this reason, the briefing is a collaborative process of collecting and synthesizing data that must be structured by a single entity.
Ending with a quote from Rob Norman, GroupM Global Chief Digital Officer:
“Consumer build brands like birds build nests – they pick out fragments of things to create something that is fit for purpose for them. Brand storytelling is more like story discovery now, and brands laying a trail of puzzle pieces.”
