The age of the individual

In consumer advertising, we transitioned from the age of experience to the age of the individual. Don't worry; I'll get there. Corporate communications often align with these trends, but this one seemed challenging to implement. Let me assist.

Never has it been more critical for organizations to have a brand purpose, aiming to embody and integrate it into all facets of their operations—both internally and externally.

As wellness advocates say, it’s about speaking your truth and living your best life. Whether it’s genuine or not, it impacts everything we do.

As a result, the concept of not merely storytelling but ‘storyliving’ emerged 🤮. Regular readers will know this branding style annoys me. But let me simplify explaining the shift.

This change occurred across two distinct mediums: Creative Content and Audience Communication.

This shift reflects the movement in the consumer world, impacting us significantly. This is what deserves our attention.

Creative content evolved into:

• Personalized

• Value-driven

• 'Authentic'

Audience communication, on the other hand, became:

• Scalable

• Requiring consent

• Private

Let's delve deeper.

Mass Personalization:

Media began as shared experiences—a communal gathering around campfires, movies, and TV—an adventure shared by many. Now, we opt for individually tailored streams of unreality through subscriptions. This trend might be why truth is fading; we're limited to seeing only what we desire or what algorithms think we desire.

Channel curation represents mass personalization. I determine my preferences and fulfill them.

Value-Driven:

Our identities are the narratives we craft for ourselves, while culture comprises the tales we share. In today's experience-driven economy, the key question is: Does the client perceive value? Does the message resonate with their values? It doesn’t necessarily need to be political, but it must be purposeful.

Purpose often gets misunderstood—it doesn't always have to aim to change the world. It could be as straightforward as bringing joy or having some fun. Why not?

Authenticity:

Regarding authenticity, I've previously expressed my thoughts on this in episode 01. Feel free to pop past here.

For audience communication, my ethos revolves around purposeful creation and distribution rather than mere repurposing.

Scalable content:

Clients often seek higher output for their creative content investment, desiring volume. However, the norm—creating something traditional and then repurposing fragments—isn't an efficient content strategy; it's more like a chop shop. We have the capability to offer better advice and create more effective content.

Privacy:

Privacy is significant, but its importance is often misunderstood. Pass your phone to the person next to you, give them the unlock code? No thanks. It’s simple, mobile first means the device you consume on is yours. Privacy really means singular experience. Ever think about that when we create?

Consent:

A paywall, Ad blockers, opt in or out, subscribe to my newsletter? Half your audience will use ad blockers. That means the rhetoric of “it's easy to reach people and difficult to grab their attention” doesn’t apply. Sorry, but you can’t reach me if I don’t want you to. Therefore your story has to interest me.

So, how can corporate communicators keep up? It's time to get creative.

Take a page from Amazon and Netflix: they leverage algorithms to study user behavior and preferences, providing personalized product recommendations or movie suggestions based on past interactions. This tailored approach shapes the shopping or viewing experience for each user.

Similarly, corporations can personalize internal newsletters, updates, or announcements for employees. Customizing content according to departments, roles, or interests guarantees that information resonates and captivates different teams within the organization.

Everything above can be tweaked for corporate, you just have to identify the trend and adapt accordingly.

As you were.

MrMcK.