It got me thinking a lot about how we talk about apps, services and generally what’s next – particularly in digital marketing. It seems to make sense that rather than to continually chase after the latest toy or technology, digital brands and the planners behind them should start first with values. Not unlike a solid strategy leads to the right tactics, or even how form follows function, so too should a digital marketing experience be built on the right values.

Starting with the values – the constants that remain unchanged and resonate in ways that matter most – provides a guiding framework for thinking about what’s next in digital marketing.

Is this a big idea? Maybe. Maybe not, but I like how it changes our thinking. So I thought I’d put together a quick deck on this principle and submit it to the AAAA Transformers Program for consideration.

I think there are others that have done a wonderful job discussing many of these themes as well, including big ideas in what’s next in marketing and branded utilities, but I thought I’d share a couple ideas to the larger conversation in hopes that they add a little extra value.

Feedback would be lovely.

PSFK lists some of the common characteristics among the ranked brands as:

Utility – Aim to enhance your usefulness for the consumer. In doing so, look not only at your product or service, but the eco-system that surrounds it.

Experimentation – Constant innovation is the essential element of growth. Continual- ly push the boundaries of your offering and create ancillary products.

Design – Premium aesthetics coupled with consistent delivery wins every time. A premium experience can be applied to any product or service, no matter where it sits on the price spectrum. Make your audience feel valued, encouraging them to include you as part of their identity.

Community and listening – Create a sense of community for your customers. Actively engage them and listen to what they have to say. They are the best source of guidance for improved service.

Change the model – Look at your consumers’ eco-system of needs and change your business model to suit them.

Beyond the 30 second ad – Of the top 100 largest advertising spenders in 2008, none of them made it onto this list. Instead of spending money on advertising, leverage the existing community that’s involved with your brand to promote your products and services.

Environmental priorities - Brands in the lower half of the list lose points prizing innovation over environmental responsibility. Build in sustainable practices wherever you can in your brand’s eco-system.

At the heart of the presentation, is a core value that marketing should be doing things with and for people. Isakson explains that this means the future of marketing and advertising should be:

1. Collaborative…like Nike’s ChalkBot
2. Generous…like TOMS
3. Experimental…like BestBuy’s Twelpforce
4. Helpful…like IBM’s Seer
5. Playful…like T-Mobile’s Flash Mob Dance
   
6. Personal…like BK.com
7. Honest…like Amazon’s response to Kindle mistakes
8. Participatory…like MadMen on Twitter

“R/GA has established itself as a leading digital agency. It has three pieces of work shortlisted at Cannes, including its “Dear Mr. President” campaign for Pepsi. Nick Law, North American chief creative officer for the New York shop, talks here about the blurring of digital and traditional agencies, the importance of agency culture, and what’s next for Nike Plus.”

The notorious winemaker Randall Graham of Bonny Doon Vineyard has had a circuitous journey to success, and now, 25 years later, has a new-found focus. Despite turning huge profits on popular, money-making wines, Graham has opted to pare back his offerings:

“I took stock of my situation,” he said, as we sat down recently in the new tasting room of his winery, which, not surprisingly, occupies an old granola factory here in this free-spirited university town. “My wines were O.K., but was I really doing anything distinctive or special? The world doesn’t need these wines — I was writing and talking about terroir but I wasn’t doing what I was saying. I wanted to be congruent with myself.”

Amazingly enough, it’s Graham’s return to creating original, unique wines that is the most daring move:

“I’m taking a risk, but it’s a rational risk,” he said. “Maybe it’ll turn out great, maybe not. But I’ll have made a sincere effort to create something new and strange and different, which may be the best you can hope for in the New World.”

No tricks, gimmickery or distractions – simply a focus on creating something original and good for the world that folks will enjoy.

1. The web is transitioning from mere interactivity to a more dynamic, real-time web where read-write functions are heading towards balanced synchronicity. The real-time web, as I have argued in the past, is the next logical step in the Internet’s evolution.
2. The complete disaggregation of the web in parallel with the slow decline of the destination web.
3. More and more people are publishing more and more “social objects” and sharing them online. That data deluge is creating a new kind of search opportunity.

Via Ed Cotton

The first is a video clip from a few weeks ago at Social Media Week (via Richard Ting) , but has an excellent lineup of speakers including Gary Vaynerchuck, Ian Schafer, Brian Morrissey and moderated by John Adell.

Social Media Week NY: ‘Making the Brand: Social Media For the Long Haul’ from Panman Productions on Vimeo.

The second piece is from the always insightful W+K London blog, highlighting their recent coverage from the Times of India:

To borrow a quote from a book by another agency a few years ago, who in turn borrowed it from Lao Tzu who wrote it nearly three thousand years ago in his classic, Tao Te Ching: “Evolved individuals know that people who are not intuitive can be dangerous to work with, since they are guided solely by the current appearance of things that are in reality, changing. Evolved individuals seek out others who have intuition and vision – a form of intelligence that comes from cultivating the instincts, observing the direction of change, apprehending the evolution of ideas.”

I think it’s evil to persuade kids to start smoking, to cynically manipulate the electoral or political process, to lie to people in ways that cause disastrous side effects. I think it’s evil to sell a patent medicine when an effective one is available. I think it’s evil to come up with new ways to make obesity acceptable so you can make a few more bucks.

… I’ve got a lot of nerve telling you that what you do might be immoral. It’s immoral to rob someone’s house and burn it to the ground, but is it immoral to market them into foreclosure? Well, if marketing works, if it’s worth the time and money, then I don’t think it matters a bit if you’re doing your job. It’s still wrong.

Just like every powerful tool, the impact comes from the craftsman, not the tool… For me, marketing works for society when the marketer and consumer are both aware of what’s happening and are both satisfied with the ultimate outcome.

I think Godin puts it best when he writes: “Just because you can market something doesn’t mean you should.”

Which is true for any profession – not just marketers – there is a responsibility inherent in all that we do, and like the painful lessons we’re learning from Wall Street, simply because something can be done, does not mean it should be done.

It’s a revolution that’s already being ignited by innovators as disparate as Wal-Mart, Google, Threadless, Nike, Apple, and Etsy. They’re playing by a new set of institutional rules – institutional rules that are letting them redraw the boundaries of value creation, while yesterday’s incumbents continue to fail en masse. These rules depend, in large part, on media.

Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 – Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.

Making great products that people love is pretty simple. It all comes down to three things: A simple user experience, design the product around its socialability of uncovering memories and pleasure of a product…

• Understand the core feature that a user wants and then relentlessly reduce complexity and unnecessarily elements until you get to a simple user experience.
• Map out the product’s socialability – its affiliation with social groups and any product or its category and how it is connected to different social groups or product group.
• Look hard to find memories that are related to the product and pleasure that are directly and indirectly associated by using the product. Hire an anthropologist to help.