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While playing the game Forza 3 on XBox 360 with my son recently I experienced a next-gen reality of how far-reaching brand impression can now be.

I grew up in a Chevy/GM community.  Honestly, I know very little about cars but was influenced enough to believe Chevy beats Ford every time.  As a kid, we loved to make up demeaning acronyms (e.g. F.O.R.D. = Found On Road Dead and Fixed Or Repaired Daily)  I must confess a bent toward GM products; and you can tell by looking in my garage (e.g. 2 Camaros, a Corvette, an Escalade, and a Suburban).

While playing the game I selected a Chevy Corvette as my vehicle of choice; I was shocked to hear my son’s reply, “Dad, Corvette is a dog“.  I almost dropped the game controller.  I asked him why he would say such a thing; I thought he loved my Corvette; even getting to drive it occasionally. His response, “because there are so many better cars to choose from“.

Forza 3 is an amazing game teaching players about performance; allowing you to tweak the performance of your vehicle by adjusting parameters of each car.  And if you damage your car on the track, just like in real life, the performance adjusts accordingly. It is stunningly realistic.

The bad thing about Forza 3 is that is serves up all vehicles on the screen as available options, at the same time.  This leaves the game player comparing all brands in every class of vehicle.  Yes, brand impression, and brand confusion, all at the same time.  Chevy doesn’t stand a chance (and neither does Ford).

I select the Corvette (50k); he selects the Bugatti Veyron (1.8 million).  Can’t wait to look in his garage one of these days.  A tradition broken.

There are two things to aim at in life… First, to get what you want; after that, to enjoy it.  Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.

Logan Pearsall Smith

Imagine a time when no beeps were heard.

The word beep originated following the invention of the klaxon horn around 1910 and was common vernacular by the end of the following decade.

There are also historical references to military equipment invented during World War I emitting the sound of “beep”.  The word officially entered the dictionary in 1927.

How many beeps do you hear each day?

Here are three essentials for effective communications; Content, Channels, & Audience.  The formula for success is simple and applies equally to each essential.

Strategy(Data/Time)+Expertise

Many great organizations with clear mission statements continually fail to realize their full potential for the lack of an effective communications strategy.  Recognizing these three essentials are as equally important as a defined mission. 

1. Content – Represents the brand as a mission-driven message that is either developed or procured for communicating the mission, characteristics, and objectives that define the organization.  This may include content that is developed as subject-matter-expertise, thought-leadership, educational & training, editorial, storytelling, news, etc.
2. Channels – Represents the touch-points, locations, materials, and technologies where audiences come in contact with the brand content (message). Channels ensure the flow of mission-centric contact and require on-going management and updates.  These channels may include Internet, Print, Video, Newsletters, Magazines, Blogs, Social Media, Press, Product Collateral, Cyber and/or Live Events, etc.  Channels are typically categorized as online (digital) or offline (analog) mediums.
3. Audience – Represents identifiable groups or segments of individuals who share characteristics of affinity, likeness, or similarities.  Audiences are typically identified by demographic, geographic, sociographic or psychographic characteristics.

The arrival of the Internet undeniably created a dynamic shift in the distribution of information.  Information is more accessible, at lower (to no) cost than ever before.  But as is the case in any space, new forces emerge to create a cycle of actions and reactions that must balance themselves out over time.

This is increasingly apparent in today’s Internet space.  New web properties are developing faster than the business models they require for support.  Cases in point are Twitter and Hulu.  Both wildly popular, but neither having figured out a sustainable financial model… yet.  Combine this with the rapid development of new mobile technologies such as iPad and Kindle and you get an unexpected merger of  content and technology, creating new channels that redefine the way media is consumed.

Certainly these new developments will create a wake of change.  We are already seeing the pendulum swing back towards a pay for content or access model.  The corrections we are seeing are reactionary, holding true in form to Newton’s Laws of Motion.

With effective marketing becoming more about providing consumer utility, marketers will be required to innovate (see Gerald’s post below for more on innovations).  And innovations won’t be limited to HOW we reach audiences, but will extend to helping define successful business models to sustain them.