What The Wheel of Concept tells us about the state of digital marketing
I’m sure you’ve all seen the wonderful Wheel of Concept app from Tribal DDB (former employers). You name the brand, its spins the wheel and delivers you a fashionable digital concept (think Crowdsourcing, iPad app, Augmented Reality etc).
The ideas is so funny because its so cynical. And so true. Another former Tribal strategist wrote a great piece last week in London’s Campaign magazine on the fetishing of technological novelty in the creative industry. There is a distinct tendency towards neophilia in our world. I guess if you’re trying to present yourself at the frontier of marketing innovation you’ve got to throw some cool new shit around.
Is it this constant fascination with the new that makes us forget our true calling: to create strong emotional connections between people and brands. All the evidence suggests that it is emotional engagement that delivers the behavioural change we’re seeking. I recently called on Twitter for examples of awesome digital campaigns that genuinely moved people emotionally (almost all responses were video-based BTW). The best by far was the iHobo app from the De Paul charity.
You download a homeless person to your phone and have to care for them for three days. While they take drugs, get soaked, sick and threatened. It dragged me into their cause and I actually ‘felt’ for this virtual hobo (and yes, I’ve been buying The Big Issue homeless person's magazine since).
I’m as excited as the next geek by the potential of digital technology to change our lives and societies for the better. But let’s not forget that the marketer's job is to make stuff that works, even though it might not emplpy cutting-edge technology every single time.
