Digital Brand Strategy

by Richard Watkinson [see his profile here]

 

Digital Brand Strategy is all about your ability to:

adapt.

: Change your behaviour so that it is easier to go forward

: Change your skills and confidence so that you function better tomorrow

: Change (content, brand strategies, etc.) so that it embraces the future

 

Digital brand strategy is about understanding properly the deep dark world of digital branding.

We look at ideas good and bad and get the inside story on how they were produced so that we can make the right choices going forward.

Tribes and onions help us simplify and illustrate how we approach digital brand strategies. We need to understand fully the many different layers on how we communicate in todays digital space. Basic brand strategy thinking comes into play here so that we do not develop content that does not fit with the brand.

Tribes and the commonalities they have help us develop ideas that allow us to be more experimental and interact with our brand audience. Think about what audiences have in common and then think again deeper. Co-Create with the client on your side and go forward together.

Not important what google or data numbers turn up or what you think. It is important to understand real insights from your brand audience. Unlock these insights that make ideas different in their own way. Straight Outta Somewhere idea came from an insight looking at film of the interviews of some of the artists in Compton saying how they are proud to be where they are from even though people know it is a bad and dangerous area. This insight built an idea that adds many layers to the Beats By Dre brand. But all these layers are still relevant to the brand.

We look at how we can develop more relevant strategic ideas that will fit within the layers of the brand. Take a look at being experimental in your approach and pushing your ideas to the edge. Make people angry! Add wood to the fire and make the ideas burn.

Digital brand strategy is about a journey of understanding branding better in today’s digital space. It is about having the confidence to go forward in a different way. We need to understand through Co-Creation how we can adapt to this new way of thinking. It could be a promotional installation at a mall that we want out brand audience to interact with and take photos to share on social media. We look at the different processes to adapt your skills so that you have the confidence to go forward and think about digital brand strategy.

 

Richard is an Englishman from Yorkshire who is passionate about Digital Transformation and Branding. Started as a brand planner at Chiat/Day in New York later launching his own brand planning consultancy out of Manhattan for 8 years. Richard wanted a fresh challenge and moved to the digital and creative hot spot of Stockholm around 2000, working on the global Nokia business for six years until they completely lost the plot. 

One of the most experienced and awarded creative brand strategists regarding how to guide brands and their agency partners to succeed and innovate in the digital, mobile, social space and beyond. 

- August 2015 -