MSL Conversations

Years ago, I read the book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, by Jack Trout and Al Ries. It was considered revolutionary when it was first published in 1981, especially the idea that, “Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.”

Thirty years later, that concept is still pretty powerful. But the world has changed. Consumers are no longer captive audiences waiting to drink in one-way messages. They’re now creating their own content. They’re using social and digital media to publish and distribute it. They’re assembling their own communities and making their voices heard. Brand marketing is no longer a matter of doing things to consumers’ minds. It’s finding out what’s on their minds and earning the right to join the conversation. Traditional brand positioning isn’t the answer in this environment. What makes more sense is a brand narrative.

The brand narrative concept is still a little squishy, but to me, it’s the art of packaging a brand in bite-sized, sharable pieces wrapped in the consumer’s perspective. Here’s an example: Carter’s is a leading manufacturer of baby clothing. Rather than “positioning” the company’s history or product quality, why not connect with moms’ emotions by engaging them in the intimacy of bedtime rituals? Giving them ways to share their experiences, talk about their feelings as new moms and give each other advice – all made possible by Carter’s – is a lot more compelling than a monologue on fabrics and colors.

I mentioned earning the right to join consumers’ conversations. To do this, you must provide value in the form of entertainment, education or experiences. Think about the conversation you want people to have about you and work backwards. Replace your rigid, one-way, passive brand positioning statement with a flexible, customizable, emotional dialogue your audience can control.

There’s no telling what marketers will say about brand narratives 30 years from now, but it’s working for me right now. What do you think?

The rumor mill for the release of Apple’s iPhone 5 and what new features it will have continues to churn, and one of the most interesting of those rumors is weather the device will have a Near Field Communications chip, or NFC built in. Among other things NFC can be used to support mobile payments, which would represent the convergence of your credit cards with your smartphone.

If iPhone 5 does have an NFC chip, that will clearly put the US market on the fast track for wave to pay solutions. Currently, only one device sold in the US, the Google Nexus S on Sprint, supports NFC payments via the Google Wallet and Paypal mobile. However, similar contactless payment technology has been used in Japan and Korea for years. Japan is now in the process of standardizing their mobile payment systems on NFC, and in Europe and other countries around the world NFC is becoming the standard for wave-to-pay and wave-to “fill in the blank” mobile solutions.

Should iPhone 5 not include NFC that will almost certainly set back the technology for payments for 12 to 16 months. However, even with the potential for a much smaller installed base of NFC smartphone in the market in 2012 – 2013, there are a number of compelling and innovative ways that brands, retailers and marketers can start using NFC technology right now.

If you’re a real DIY techie you can actually add NFC to your existing mobile phone in a few steps and amaze those around you when paying by waving at your local fast food restaurant. Fortunately, there are other work-arounds, which brands and retailers can use to put NFC technology to the test right now. NFC stickers are inexpensive to mass produce, and once the chip that is embedded in one is registered to a mobile number, it opens up many options for applications that can be used to create engaging customer experiences that can spread word of mouth and drive sales.

Renault recently used phone-less NFC as part of their exhibit at the Amsterdam Motor Show allowing attendees to “Like” their cars on Facebook with the wave of a card. This is just one example of the kinds of engagement applications that NFC can support, and savvy retailers are already looking at ways to embed NFC into tags and interactive signage.  Distributing NFC stickers to in-store customers, which are then attached inside or outside the phone, can give brands a compelling platform on which to engage with their most socially active and influential customers.

We’ll know soon just how fast the mobile payment space will grow here in the US, but regardless of that, NFC technology is something that all marketers should begin exploring today.

If you would like to attend my session of NFC for marketers at SXSW Interactive next March, take a few minutes to vote for my panel submission on the topic here.