The On-Demand Brand

Rick Mathieson

📚 GENRE: Business & Finance

📃 PAGES: 282

✅ COMPLETED: May 19, 2023

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Rick Mathieson explains how marketing has changed in the digital era and why those who don’t adapt will be left behind. The On-Demand Brand delivers 10 rules for succeeding in our new world of marketing and advertising where capturing attention can be challenging. 

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Insights Drive Ideas — Everything should start with consumer insights. Insights drive ideas, and ideas drive content and execution. When you know something valuable about your target customer, you can use it to create ideas that will make an impact. Coming up with consumer insights boils down to creating audience profiles by studying and listening to your target customer. Find an angle and use it. 

2️⃣ Get Creative — With the technology and digital resources now available to us, there is almost no limit to what we can do in marketing. Get creative. With so much content floating around, it is now very difficult to earn consumer attention. Many companies have created branded shows, apps, and video games. You have to get creative and deliver value to have any chance of standing out with people.  

3️⃣ Culture Counts — A great way to get attention in the digital era is to link your brand with something in pop culture that is already engaging people (i.e. a show, a movie, a trend). Pay attention to what is going on in the world. If there is an opportunity to associate your brand with something that is already trending and creative conversation in pop culture, take it. Try to “hook” your brand into the conversation. 

Favorite Quote

“Content and functionality are the new creativity — it’s not about whether you have a whiz-bang rich media banner running… Are you doing something that’s actually helpful and useful to people?”

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • Digital Era — The rise of the digital era has changed how consumers interact with advertising. There is so much content floating around. As somebody in marketing or advertising, you now have to focus on creating experiences for the consumer. The traditional banner ad isn’t going to cut it anymore. People want engaging content that is entertaining, interactive, and delivers value. If you don’t provide that, they’re moving on. Fast.
  • Book Layout — This book delivers 10 marketing principles essential to thriving in today’s highly digital world. The strategies were constructed by the author after many interviews with marketing leaders at companies like FedEx, Mastercard, American Express, Yahoo, Allstate, HP, and more. 

Ch. 1: Rule 1 — Insight Comes Before Inspiration

  • Know the Audience — Know your customer extremely well. Many of your marketing decisions will be based on who your customer is — what drives him, his pain points, what makes him happy, what makes him sad, and what he ultimately wants in life. Every brand has a unique customer base — you have to know yours well to make effective decisions about content and platform. 
  • Insights Drive Ideas — Insights drive ideas. When you know something important about your audience, it gives you an edge and a sense of direction. Having insights about your target consumer helps you create content that resonates with them. When you create content that resonates with the audience, they are more likely to share it with people. Consumer insights drive everything. It all starts here. 
  • Get Creative — With the digital technology capabilities available today, there is almost no limit to what you can do in marketing and advertising. Get creative. Think big. Find ways to use different platforms to create an interactive experience for consumers that entertains and delivers value. 
  • Chapter Takeaway — In today’s marketing world, insights drive ideas and ideas drive content and delivery. Study your target consumer closely and find insights about him that you can use to your advantage when thinking of ideas. Find an angle. The better the insight, the better your advantage. 

Ch. 2: Rule 2 — Don't Repurpose, Reimagine

  • Sky’s the Limit — In today’s digital world, nothing is off limits in marketing and advertising. If you can imagine it, you can probably do it. It’s about thinking big and coming up with ideas that resonate with your target audience. It’s about creating interactive and engaging experiences for your audience. Whether it’s a website, game, app, social media post, or something else, there are so many different ways you can deliver your message on digital platforms.
    • Quote (P. 32): “You’ve got to invent new ways to help your customers engage with your brand and make it their own.”
    • Quote (P. 49): “Content and functionality are the new creativity — it’s not about whether you have a whiz-bang rich media banner running… Are you doing something that’s actually helpful and useful to people?”
  • Consumers Own the Brand — At the end of the day, consumers own your brand. They should be involved in the creation and evolution of your brand. You have to find ways to invite them to be active participants in the brand by using interactive experiences designed to get them involved. Doing this requires a lot of risk-taking because you’re giving up control of the brand to some degree. But it’s what encourages participation and engagement from consumers. And when consumers are spending time with your brand, they’re more likely to buy your products. Find ways to get consumers involved! 
  • Culture Counts — Pay attention to what’s happening in the culture. What are people interested in? What are people watching? What are people engaging with? What’s popular? These are key things to pay attention to. You can sometimes find a great intersection between your brand and something that’s poplar in the culture. You can then exploit the connection by making some sort of partnership.
    • Quote (P. 54): “There are themes that are going through pop culture. And they’re unsettling themes, questions. We find a little piece of that, and we try to hook our creative into that, so that when the work comes out, it’s part of a larger conversation.” — Alex Bogusky, Former Cochairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky
      • Takeaway — Pay attention to what’s going on in the world and try to find opportunities to hook your brand into the conversation. You want to insert yourself into things that people are already talking about and interested in. This allows you to build awareness around your brand, connect with people, and become part of the larger conversation.
    • Ex. Degree Deodorant — Degree paid for a lot of advertising on the show 24 because it was a perfect natural fit with the product’s brand message of staying cool under stress. Jack Bauer, the show’s main character, epitomized that message. The show was extremely popular, and Degree found a way to link its message with the show.
  • Chapter Takeaway — With the digital capabilities available to us now, there’s no limit to what you can do. There are so many ways you can deliver your idea. With the help of its ad agency, Burger King once made a series of simple Xbox video games to create an interactive and fun experience for consumers. Think big. 

Ch. 3: Rule 3 — Don't Just Join the Conversation, Spark It

  • Use Social Media — There are many ways social media can help you from a marketing perspective. It allows you to build close relationships with consumers, watch for trends, and hear what consumers are saying about you. 

Ch. 4: Rule 4 — There's No Business Without Show Business

  • Branded Content — Many companies have teamed up with their ad agencies to create branded content, including show episodes. The idea is to attract consumers and build a community by providing value in the form of entertainment. While branded programming may no longer be the best idea because of how many professional streaming services there are now, this is an example of thinking big and delivering value in today’s digital-driven world. 
    • Quote (P. 96): “Branded entertainment in its truest form really gives the brand a platform to elevate itself outside the traditional sale of a product in into culture — giving it relevance with ownership of entertainment that is really multipurposed, and played out in a lot of different media to create an ongoing relationship with its customers.”

Ch. 5: Rule 5 — Want Control? Give It Away

  • Consumer Content — Today, anybody can create an ad, video, graphic, or any other form of content and get it front of millions of people. Rather than fighting consumers, one way to get them involved with your brand in the digital era is to have them participate in your campaigns by encouraging the submission of user-generated content. Many companies have done this successfully. 
    • Ex. Doritos — Leading up to Super Bowl XLIII, Doritos offered $1 million to anyone who could create a Super Bowl commercial for Doritos that trumped other ads in USA Today’s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter, in which consumers vote for their favorite ads. One of the videos submitted to Doritos ended up ranking higher on the Ad Meter than big companies like Anheuser-Busch. Because everyone has the ability to create content now, inviting consumers to submit their own creative content can be a good strategy. It also gets consumers involved with your brand, which is what you want. 

Ch. 6: Rule 6 — It's Good to Play Games with Your Customers

  • Branded Games — In line with trying to think big in the digital era, many companies and their ad agencies have gone to the extent of creating branded video games to get consumers involved with their brand. The idea is to get people to spend time interacting with the brand. Games shouldn’t be done just for the sake of doing them — they should only be executed if they make sense in the grand scheme of your overall marketing goals. 
    • Ex. Burger King Games — Burger King once made serval Xbox video games that people were able to buy for $4. The games clicked with people and the company made a lot of money. It also earned a lot of publicity and brand awareness. 

Ch. 7: Rule 7 — Products Are the New Services

  • Deliver Value — As other books have outlined, today’s marketers have to find ways to deliver value to consumers. It’s not just about pushing a message anymore. The content has to provide value in some way, whether it’s education, entertainment, humor, or anything else. Today’s ad agencies are creating tools, games, videos, microsites, apps, and more for their clients. It’s all an effort to deliver something useful to the consumer. 
  • Facts, Please — Anytime you’re trying to convince a company to do things differently, it’s extremely useful to approach the leadership team with facts and hard data. It’s great to have an opinion about how things should be done, but hard facts are the most persuasive. 
  • Think Ahead — In marketing, things move fast and you have to keep up with the new platforms and technologies that people are using. Otherwise, you’ll be left behind. At the end of the day, successful marketing is about delivering a message to people where they’re at and where they’re spending time. To do that, you have to know where people are spending time. You have to know the social media platforms people enjoy using. At an even deeper level, you have to know the types of content they enjoy consuming. This all takes study. 
  • Ideas Before Execution — Technology is interesting and important, but the thing that defines great brand and great marketers is having great ideas. The idea should always come first. From there, you can figure out the best channels and mediums to deliver the idea. You shouldn’t, for example, create an app just because everyone else is doing it; it has to align with the overall idea. 
  • Take Risks — As new technology is developed and becomes available, companies have to be willing to try things without being afraid to fail. You’ll never be able to meet consumers where they’re spending time if you aren’t willing to take some risks and try things. Leadership teams should always embrace and promote a culture of innovation and risk-taking. That’s how you grow. Being scared will never do it. 

Ch. 8: Rule 8 — Mobile Is Where It's At

  • Marketing on Mobile — People are glued to their phones. The best way to reach people is on social media and by building apps. This is where most people spend a lot of their time every day.