What\u2019s your brand\u2019s value proposition? According to Alexander Manu, it no longer matters.<\/p>\n
The value proposition, long held as a key piece of a successful brand\u2019s business model, has vanished, replaced by a new sort of value \u2013 value delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is how, not what,\u201d said Manu, a strategic innovation advisor, author and professor, during the Strategy <\/em>Ad-Tech Conference in Toronto last month. \u201cNobody cares about Uber\u2019s value proposition. It is about value delivery. How do I get to that destination? It places the \u201chow\u201d in the centre and everything else revolves around it.\u201d<\/p>\n Manu lead conference attendees through the ways in which technology are changing human behaviour and how it applies to marketers. Here are a few of the other takeaways from his talk.<\/p>\n The end of demographics <\/strong><\/p>\n Manu argued that, thanks to technology, the traditional model of demographics no longer applies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are connected to a behaviour space, that\u2019s our demographic,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can be of any age and we belong to the same experience, we play the same games.”<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone who plays [mobile game Monument Valley<\/em>] doesn\u2019t feel old or young \u2013 they are feeling they are part of that ecosystem, part of that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n He also noted how video calling services FaceTime and WhatsApp make the world both bigger and smaller at the same time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were never networked on this scale before, we don\u2019t know deeply what it means,\u201d Manu said. \u201cAll we know is that a social object + social presence created social media. These three things create the conversation economy.\u201d<\/p>\n Brands Need To Become Human<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf your toilet could speak, what is the first question you would ask it?\u201d <\/p>\n Manu used this question to illustrate how consumers now want technology to give them wisdom. Because the idea of the talking toilet is no longer so far-fetched (they exist, In Japan, of course) and there is little doubt that our toothbrushes will one day be able to identify health issues through our gums, long before we visit the dentist. In this context, brands will need to speak to consumers with a human voice, not to sell but to help.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything is converging towards wisdom. I don\u2019t want information, data,\u201d Manu said. \u201cI want meaning, I want purpose in my life. I want the catalyst that tells me where the best option is available and then brings it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Brand Action Is Brand Building<\/strong><\/p>\n Today, when brands are engaging more frequently with consumers throughout the day, brands are being built at the same time they are being managed, Manu said.<\/p>\n Content management then becomes very important.<\/p>\n Manu predicted the next evolution of the Internet will add a new wrinkle to the challenge \u2013 arguing that we are moving toward a day when every device is passively connected and social media will also be passive.<\/p>\n “People will not be posting \u2013 people will be tracked and things will be posted for them, with their permission.”<\/p>\n “So passively-connected everything creates a different demand because now I have a contextual-only presence,\u201c he said. \u201cAs a brand, I want to be present in everyone\u2019s life but in a contextual way, which means I need to learn a great deal about ontology [the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being] and taxonomy [the branch of science concerned with classification].”<\/p>\n What\u2019s A Marketer To Do?<\/strong><\/p>\n Aside from brushing up on taxonomy and ontology, brands will need location-proximity and mobile device strategies, Manu said.<\/p>\n One issue marketers will need to address is how to actually engage consumers in their experiences at different times of the day, Manu said. And that means actual engagement, helping a person to continue their journey rather than disrupting it.<\/p>\n “People\u2019s actions expressed as data are a new form of currency but location-based, structured data is the marketing media of choice,” Manu said. <\/p>\n That gives content marketers a new mission, \u201cas the curator of the experience of everyday life.”<\/p>\n \u201c[Brands] need to create more opportunities for people to maximize their own life experience,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means integrating the physical and digital of every brand, which is happening right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What\u2019s your brand\u2019s value proposition? According to Alexander Manu, it no longer matters.<\/p>\n The value proposition, long held as a key piece of a successful brand\u2019s business model, has vanished, replaced by a new sort of value \u2013 value delivery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is how, not what,\u201d said Manu, a strategic innovation advisor, author and professor, during the Strategy <\/em>Ad-Tech Conference in Toronto last month. \u201cNobody cares about Uber\u2019s value proposition. It is about value delivery. How do I get to that destination? It places the \u201chow\u201d in the centre and everything else revolves around it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[691,160,692],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n